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Post by emron on Jan 28, 2018 19:16:27 GMT 12
25 January 1940 SS Biarritz was torpedoed by U-14 36 nautical miles NW of Ymuiden, Holland. She sank quickly and only one lifeboat with 19 people got away. 26 crewmen and 11 passengers (among them several women) died. 21 survivors and three bodies were picked up by the Norwegian SS Borgholm, which sailed nearby and were taken to Ymuiden. U-19 sank Latvian ship Everene 5 miles off of the eastern coast of Britain; 1 man was killed and 30 were rescued by fishing boats Dole and Evesham. Several hours later at 0930 hours, U-19 sank Norwegian ship Gudveig; 10 men were killed and 8 were rescued. A site near the village of Oswiecim (Auschwitz), Poland was selected for construction of a concentration camp.
25 January 1941 British Admiral Sir John Tovey departed Scapa Flow, with a fleet to intercept German pocket battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau believed to be in the Iceland-Faroes passage. Both Greek and Italian forces reported many cases of frostbite among the troops fighting in the mountains. Italian forces were reported to be also suffering through an outbreak of typhoid. HMS Illustrious arrived at Alexandria, Egypt. After sundown, British minelaying cruiser HMS Latona and destroyers HMS Hero, HMS Hotspur, and HMS Encounter departed Alexandria, Egypt for Tobruk, Libya. They were discovered and attacked by 10 German Stuka dive bombers and 2 Italian S.79 medium bombers 35 miles away from their destination. HMS Latona was hit by a 500kg bomb and sank at 2230 when the fire detonated the magazine; 27 were killed. HMS Hero was damaged by three near misses.
25 January 1942 German troops captured Msus, Libya, together with 30 British Valentine tanks. Japanese aircraft attacked Rangoon, Burma for the third day in a row. Meanwhile, Archibald Wavell ordered that the airfield at Moulmein, Burma to be defended, which was being threatened by troops of the Japanese 55th infantry Division. Troops of the Japanese Imperial Guard captured Batu Pahat, British Malaya; in response, Lieutenant General Arthur Percival ordered troops in Malaya to withdraw to Singapore. Meanwhile, Allied convoy BM10 from Bombay, India arrived at Singapore, disembarking 4,745 troops of the Indian 44th Infantry Brigade, vehicles, and supplies.
25 January 1943 Germans evacuated Voronezh and Armavir in southern Russia. A second torpedo from U-575 struck SS City of Flint on the port side aft of the bridge and the ship sank bow first at 23.05 hours about 300 miles south of Flores, Azores. Two crewmen and four armed guards died in the attack. The chief cook Robert Daigle was picked up by U-575 and was later interned in a POW camp. Three of the boats stayed in the area for two days before setting sail for the Azores. They used a portable radio for sending distress calls. The following day, the Portuguese destroyer Lima picked up 48 men and landed them at Ponta del Garda, Azores. On 28 January, destroyer HMS Quadrant rescued the ten survivors in the fourth boat and landed them in Gibraltar. SS Lackenby, a straggler from Convoy SC-117, was hit by two torpedoes from U-624 and sank south of Cape Farewell. The master, 38 crewmembers and five gunners were lost.
25 January 1944 As part of the 20-ship Convoy JW-56A proceeding to the Kola Inlet, Russia, Canadian-owned SS Fort Bellingham was torpedoed and sunk by combined attack from U-360 and U-957. Thirty-nine members of her crew were lost; SS Penelope Barker was sunk by two torpedoes from U-278. One officer, nine crewmen, five armed guards and a passenger were lost. The survivors were picked up 40 minutes later by HMS Savage and taken to Murmansk; Escorting destroyer HMS Obdurate was also damaged by a torpedo from U-360. The Red Army captured the railway junction at Krasnogvardeisk, south-west of Leningrad. The newly operational battleship, USS New Jersey (Captain Carl F. Holden), joined Rear Admiral Frederick C. Sherman's TG58.3 in time to participate in Operation Flintlock, the occupation of the Marshall Islands. Carriers Junyo, Hiyo, and Ryuho delivered 62 A6M, 18 D3A, and 18 B5N aircraft to Rabaul.
25 January 1945 German forces in East Prussia almost cut off by the two-pronged Soviet advance, began evacuation operations. They will continue until April. Soviet forces began a new offensive on the central segment of the German defences north of Budapest. British carriers set sail from Indian Ocean for Australia, on their way to join the US Navy in the Pacific. Bombardment of Iwo Jima continued, led by USS Indiana with accompanying cruisers and destroyers.
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Post by emron on Jan 27, 2018 21:33:17 GMT 12
24 January 1940 German submarine U-44 torpedoed and sank French cargo ship Alsacien 4 miles off of Lisbon, Portugal, killing 4. U-23 torpedoed and sank Norwegian cargo ship Varild off of the eastern coast of Scotland, killing the entire crew of 15. Finnish Army Force Talvela and Soviet 8th Army exchanged attacks at Kolla in Finland, along the Aitto River.
24 January 1941 In one of the first tank battles in this arena, the British 4th Armoured Brigade pushed back Italian forces at Mechili, Libya. 8 medium Italian tanks were destroyed and one captured. The British lost one cruiser and six light tanks. With the fall today of the frontier post of Liboi, Lt. Gen. Cunningham was poised to advance from Kenya into Italian Somaliland. Six months ago Britain had one battalion and a brigade of King's African Rifles in Kenya. Now it had 75,000 men, mostly from African colonies, South Africa and India. Cunningham aimed to cross into Italian Somaliland as far as the river Juba and the port of Kismayu, before a major advance further into the territory and onto Ethiopia after the rains in June. German He 114 seaplane from armed merchant cruiser Atlantis attacked British ship Mandasor 300 miles east of the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. Atlantis soon arrived, stopping Mandasor with gunfire, killing 6. A launch from Atlantis rescued 82 survivors. Mandasor was eventually sunk with a torpedo. As the He 114 aircraft attempted to land in the water for recovery, the rough seas caused it to capsize. Four Allied cruisers later arrived on the scene in response, but Atlantis had already departed. Lord Halifax arrived at Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, aboard battleship HMS King George V. He had arrived to take up his new post as the British ambassador to the United States.
24 January 1942 Soviet forces on the Donets front in the Ukraine broke through German positions in the Izyum area and captured Barvenkova, about 40 miles east of Lozovaya. In Libya the British Eighth Army's 13 Corps prepared to counterattack or, if the enemy could not be contained, to fall back on line Derna-Mechili as the Axis offensive briefly halted. Rear elements of the Mergui garrison arrived at Rangoon, Burma. Moulmein was now threatened. The outline of the plan for withdrawal to Singapore Island was issued. Hard fighting continued at Batu Pahat. The Japanese were approaching Kluang, in the Indian 9th Division sector. In the Battle off Balikpapan, Borneo, four U.S. destroyers attacked the Japanese Borneo invasion convoy. Destroyer USS John D. Ford was damaged by gunfire but sank transport Tsuruga Maru; USS Parrott sank transport Sumanoura Maru; USS Paul Jones and USS Pope sank transport Tatsukami Maru; USS Paul Jones also sank cargo ship Kuretaki Maru; and USS Parrott also sank Patrol Boat No.37. A fifth (Tsugura Maru) was sunk by a Dutch submarine (K-KVIII) before the destroyer attack.
24 January 1943 The Soviets once again demanded surrender from the encircled German forces in Stalingrad. Responding to Friedrich Paulus' message requesting permission to surrender as his men were now nearly out of ammunition and medical supplies, Adolf Hitler told Paulus to fight to the last man even if defeat was imminent. Admiral Ainsworth led a US naval taskforce into the Kula Gulf to bombard a Japanese airfield site on Kolombangara north of Guadalcanal. Cruisers Honolulu, St. Louis, Nashville, Helena and destroyers Nicholas, DeHaven, Radford and O'Bannon were involved. Later in the day, aircraft of Carrier Air Group CVG-6 from the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3), bombed the same objectives.
24 January 1944 1st and 2nd Ukraine Fronts began a major offensive, capturing Pushkin and Pashovsk in the Ukraine. German submarines attacked Murmansk-bound convoy JW 56A. U.S. freighter SS Penelope Barker was torpedoed and sunk by U-278 about 115 miles from North Cape, Norway; 15 crewmen were killed. Anzio, Italy: Luftwaffe aircraft attacked and sank the British hospital ship St. David; they also damaged destroyer USS Plunkett and minesweeper USS Prevail; an aerial torpedo damaged destroyer USS Mayo; Allied troops paused, giving Germany time to bring up reinforcements. The Battle of Cassino began. The US 100th Infantry Battalion fought in the first two assaults. Hitler ordered that the Gustav Line was to be held at all costs. Meanwhile, French forces attacked north of Monte Cassino and US 34th Infantry Division attacked across the Rapido River north of Cassino. Over 200 US aircraft, including USMC TBF Avengers, supported by a large concentration of RNZAF, USAAF, USMC and USN fighters, raided Japanese shipping at Rabaul, destroying 83 Japanese planes - one of many such raids which were being launched by the four carrier groups now at the disposal of the US Admiral Spruance.
24 January 1945 The Red Army captured Gleiwitz. Silesia, Poland. Around noon the first Soviet tanks reached Buda, Hungary coming from Budakeszi in the north. Calapan was taken by US forces. Organized Japanese resistance on Mindoro Island, Philippines ended. In the Volcano Islands, USN Task Group 94.9 consisting of the battleship USS Indiana, three heavy cruisers, seven destroyers and a light minelayer and preceded by a barrier patrol of PB4Y Liberators, bombarded Iwo Jima, together with USAAF B-24 Liberators escorted by P-38 Lightnings. Northeast of Iwo Jima, destroyers USS Dunlap and USS Fanning) sank transport I-Go Yoneyama Maru and auxiliary minesweepers Keinan Maru and No.7 Showa Maru, a small Japanese three-ship convoy that had just arrived that morning. The Fleet Air Arm delivered a major air strike against the vital Japanese oil refineries at Palembang, Sumatra, launched from four fleet aircraft carriers.
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Post by emron on Jan 27, 2018 13:15:15 GMT 12
23 January 1940 Finnish 9th Division arrived at the village of Kuhmo to prepare for a planned attack on the Soviet 54th Division. German submarine U-19 discovered a group of 20 unescorted steamers off Northumberland. With one torpedo each, she sank Norwegian ship Pluto at 0843 and British ship Baltanglia at 0855. Britain was gripped in the coldest winter since 1894; Southampton docks and parts of the river Thames were frozen over. 23 January 1941 German pocket battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were spotted in the Great Belt between mainland Denmark and the island of Zealand by a British agent who alerted the Admiralty in London. British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, damaged by Stuka dive bombers on 10 Jan, completed temporary repairs and departed Malta for Alexandria, Egypt with destroyers HMS Jervis, HMS Juno, HMS Janus, and HMS Greyhound in escort. Her sister ship HMS Formidable was sent out via the Cape of Good Hope, but it was some weeks before she reached the Eastern Mediterranean. In Tobruk harbour, British minesweeping trawlers HMT Arthur Cavanagh and HMT Milford Countess began clearing sunken Italian ships. An advance guard of the Australian 6th Division, supported by British units, was ordered to advance on Derna located about 100 miles by road west-northwest of Tobruk.
23 January 1942 Thrusting strongly southwest from Valdal Hills, northwest of Moscow, the Soviet Army reached Cholm, the German centre of resistance near the boundary of the Centre and Northern Army Groups, and encircled it. Four Swordfish of 830 Naval Air Squadron based on Malta torpedoed and sank a heavily escorted Italian supply ship bound for Tripoli, Libya. Japanese aircraft began intensified attacks on the Rangoon area in effort to destroy Allied aircraft in Burma. Pilots of the 1st and 2nd Fighter Squadrons, American Volunteer Group (AVG “The Flying Tigers”) shot down twelve Nakajima Ki-27 fighters and five Kawasaki Ki-32 light bombers. Rearguards from the Segamat and Muar fronts completed a withdrawal through Yong Peng, Malaya. Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival, General Officer Commanding Malaya Command, ordered the implementation of the plan for the withdrawal of British and Commonwealth troops to Singapore Island. Japanese invasion forces moved south in two convoys, one through Makassar Strait to Balikpapan on Borneo and the other through Molucca Passage to Kendari on Celebes Island. On Sumatra, RAF reinforcements from the Middle East began arriving at Palembang, where one of the two airfields was attacked for the first time by enemy planes. The Japanese 55th Regimental Group, numbering about 5300 troops, landed at Rabaul while the Maizuru Special Naval Landing Force landed at Kavieng on New Ireland Island. The small Australian garrison at Rabaul numbered 76 officers and 1314 other ranks. Elements of the Japanese Fourth Fleet invade Kieta on Bougainville Island without opposition. The oiler USS Neches was torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine HIJMS I-72, 136 miles west-southwest of Pearl Harbour, The loss of the oiler supporting Task Force TF11 forced cancellation of the projected raid on Wake Island. Task Force TF 6814 departed New York for New Zealand and then to New Caledonia. This unit with other additions would become the Americal Division.
23 January 1943 The US freighter City of Flint (the same vessel that had been involved in a major diplomatic incident in Oct 1939) was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by the German submarine U-575. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau sailed for Norway again with Prinz Eugen but were detected one more time by British planes and therefore returned to the Baltic. Soviet forces captured Armavir, an important rail junction in the Caucasus oilfields. The British Eighth Army captured Tripoli, Libya. In nine days of talks at Casablanca, in Morocco, Mr Churchill and President Roosevelt settled their war campaign plans for the year. It was the fourth wartime meeting between the two leaders. The Papuan campaign ended. After three weeks of bloody fighting in the pestilential swamps of the New Guinea coast, the Allies have reoccupied Sanananda, eliminating the final enemy pockets on Papua. An attack by an estimated 100 Japanese occurred about 2:30 am from the "Gifu" Guadalcanal. Later that morning the 2nd Btn 35th Infantry formed skirmish lines and moved in. Captured were 40 mg; 200 rifles; and an estimated 431 Japanese soldiers dead. The stronghold had finally fallen after a month of isolation. After sundown and into the following day, American cruisers and destroyers bombarded Kolombangara, New Georgia.
23 January 1944 50,000 men were now ashore at Anzio, Italy. A German air attack sank the British destroyer HMS Janus and damaged her sister ship, HMS Jervis. An air-launched torpedo set off the magazine on Janus and the explosion caused heavy loss of life. There were 162 casualties. US aircraft attacked Rabaul, New Britain. The Japanese lost at least 13 fighters.
23 January 1945 The French First Army halted the German offensive, North Wind, at the last bridge before Strasbourg. Kriegsmarine units began the evacuation of German civilians from Ostpreußen (East Prussia) and Danzig (Operation Hannibal). Meanwhile, Soviet troops reached Elbing, Danzig-Westpreußen, Germany (now Elblag) on the Baltic coast. Soviet units reached the Oder River in the Silesia region of occupied Poland. Anglo-Indian troops captured Myinmu, Burma. The last Japanese survivors drowned themselves in the Irrawaddy River to avoid capture.
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Post by emron on Jan 27, 2018 11:50:44 GMT 12
22 January 1940 The Finns, with Swedes and Norwegians already fighting with them, announced the formation of a "Foreign Legion" which would include British volunteers.
22 January 1941 German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau departed from Kiel, Germany for Operation Berlin, a raid on merchant shipping in the Atlantic. At dawn in Tobruk, Libya, Major-General Della Mura, commander of the 61st Infantry Division Sirte, surrendered with several thousand troops. The 6th Australian Cavalry Regiment reached the port and took the surrender of Admiral Vietina and the naval garrison. By 3:45 p.m., 20,000 prisoners, 208 guns and 87 tanks had been captured. 4th Indian Division attacked Italian positions at Keru, Eritrea, Italian East Africa, leading to General Fongoli surrendering his 1,200 men. The heavy cruiser USS Louisville arrived at New York City, with US$148million in British gold brought from Simonstown, South Africa, to be deposited in American banks.
22 January 1942 SS Athelcrown dispersed from Convoy ON-56, was torpedoed and sunk by U-82 SE of Cape Race. Five crewmembers were lost. The master, 26 crewmembers and six gunners were picked up by the British merchant Argos Hill and landed at Halifax. A British warship rescued eight more. Four crewmembers found the abandoned, drifting wreck of the Diala, which had been torpedoed on 15 January by U-553. They remained on board for eight days before they were rescued by the Swedish merchant Saturnus and landed in the Faroe Islands. Leningrad: Evacuation of citizens began via the "ice road" across Lake Ladoga. (About 440,000 people were transported out of Leningrad between 22 January and 15 April 1942.) Meanwhile, Soviet forces recaptured Uvarovo, 20 miles west of Mozhaisk. Axis forces captured Antelat and Agedabia in, Libya. The Indian 16th Brigade broke off action in the Kawkareik area and fell back toward Moulmein, Burma. The six-day battle on the Muar front, Burma, ends in victory for the Japanese. The Indian 45th Brigade, despite close air and naval support during the operation, was destroyed as a fighting body. The Muar force destroyed its vehicles and weapons and pushed toward Yong Peng. 161 Australian, Indian, and Dutch wounded that were left behind at Parit Sulong were taken prisoner and then executed by the Japanese. On Bataan, Philippines, General Douglas MacArthur ordered the withdrawal of the entire Mauban-Abucay line southward to a final defence position, behind the Pilar-Bagac Road. Japanese troops landed on New Ireland, Bismarck Islands and captured Kavieng. Carrier-based aircraft from HIJMS Akagi and Kaga attacked Rabaul for the third straight day. The last surviving Hudson bomber was used to evacuate the wounded airmen from the hospital on Namanula Hill, taking them to Port Moresby. In the afternoon, Australian troops began to sabotage airfield facilities to prevent Japanese use after capture; when destroying a bomb store, the resulting explosion was much larger than expected, and it killed several natives and the vibration damaged all nearby radios, thus the last message sent out at 1600 hours would become Rabaul's final radio message. Tokyo: Tojo warned Australia that "if you continue resistance, we Japanese will show you no mercy." Carrier based aircraft from HIJMS Shokaku and Zuikaku attacked Lae, Salamaua and Bulolo. New Guinea.
22 January 1943 The RAF conducted its first combat operation using the new Mitchell Mk.II bombers. Six aircraft from No. 98 and No. 180 Squadrons were sent out to attack oil installations at Ghent in Belgium. One aircraft was shot down by flak over the target and two others were lost when attacked by Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters. Following this disaster the RAF's Mitchell squadrons were stood down to concentrate on developing new tactics to fend off enemy fighters The Red Army began its final attacks at Stalingrad. Allied forces won the battle at Sanananda, New Guinea. Supported by a tank inherited from the Marines, manned by the 25th Div. Reconnaissance Squadron, a gap was opened in the defences of the Gifu, Guadalcanal that allowed the 2nd Btn to occupy a new line inside the outer rim of pillboxes.
22 January 1944 Soviet forces surrounded the Germans at Vitebsk. 36,000 Allied troops landed at Anzio, Italy, facing little opposition. The US invasion fleet ("Galvanic" Assault Force") sailed for the Marshall Islands, opening Operation Flintlock, which aimed at their capture.
22 January 1945 Four squadrons of Spitfire fighters of the RAF, carrying bombs, knocked out a German liquid oxygen rocket fuel factory at Alblasserdam in the Netherlands. The remnants of the German 4th Panzer Army successfully fled to the Oder River in eastern Germany. Soviet forces captured Allenstein and Insterburg in Ostpreußen (East Prussia). Indian 20th Division captured Monywa, Burma on the Chindwin River and reached the Irrawady River at Myinmu. Anglo-Indian troops began assaulting Kangaw, Burma. Meanwhile, off the coast, additional troops were disembarked on Ramree Island and Royal Marine commandos landed at Daingbon Chaung on the coast By this date, all Japanese troops in Yunnan Province, China were pushed to the Burma side of the Sino-Burmese border Aircraft from HMS Indefatigable attack Palembang, Malaya. USS Yorktown (Essex-class) launched raids on Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands.
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Post by emron on Jan 27, 2018 10:13:00 GMT 12
21 January 1940 While escorting a merchant ship Cyprian Prince to Scapa Flow, E class destroyer HMS Exmouth exploded and sank at 0444 off Tarbett Ness in the Moray Firth, with the loss of her total company of 189. After the war German records showed that the destroyer had been torpedoed by U-22. At 0711 U-22 torpedoed Danish ship SS Tekla, killing 9; 9 crew members survived, rescued by HMS Sikh and Norwegian ship Iris. Asama Maru was intercepted by British light cruiser HMS Liverpool 56 kilometres from the island of Niijima south of Yokohama, Japan. British sailors boarded the ship and removed 21 passengers suspected of being German sailors from the previously scuttled German liner Columbus before letting Asama Maru go. Britain and Japan had not yet entered a state of war at this time.
21 January 1941 Commonwealth force attacked Tobruk at 0830 hours, strongly assisted by naval and air forces and led by elements of the Australian 6th Infantry Division, 16th Australian Brigade who cleared a path for 18 British Matilda tanks and a few captured Italian tanks to pass through, leading infantrymen. The Italian cruiser San Giorgio, damaged earlier in the month by the RAF and beached in Tobruk harbour, where she was used as a fortress mounting anti-aircraft guns, was set on fire from the air and put out of action. By dusk, the Commonwealth forces were ranged along the edge of the escarpment overlooking the town, and the western and south-western portions of the perimeter were safely under control. The last recorded charge by cavalry against a British battery occurred in Eritrea, Italian East Africa when a battery of the 144th (Surrey and Sussex Yeomanry) Field Regiment Royal Artillery was surprised by about sixty mounted Eritreans, led by an Italian officer, who came on at the gallop firing from the saddle and lobbing grenades as they charged.
21 January 1942 German General Erwin Rommel began his counterattack into Cyrenaica from El Agheila, Libya. The Chinese Government accepted the proposal that U.S. Major General Joseph W. Stilwell act as chief of the Generalissimo's Allied staff and agreed to give him executive authority over Allied Units. Japanese forces began a drive on Moulmein, Burma. In Malaya the withdrawal of defence forces from the Muar and Segamat fronts continued. Japanese Sakaguchi Detachment departed the island of Tarakan for Balikpapan, Dutch Borneo. Cruiser USS Boise, cruiser USS Marblehead, and four destroyers departed Koepang, Dutch Timor to intercept; en route, USS Boise hit a rock and USS Marblehead suffered engine trouble, thus the destroyers would sail on by themselves. Carrier-based Japanese aircraft from HIJMS Akagi and Kaga again bombed Rabaul on New Britain Island while aircraft from HIJMS Shokaku and Zuikaku bombed Kavieng on New Ireland Island. USAAF’s Hawaiian Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses of Task Group 8.9 flew from Canton Island in the Phoenix Islands to Nandi, Fiji.
21 January 1943 The first German daylight raid on the British capital for six months killed 38 children and six teachers at a girls' junior school at Catford, in south-east London. Soviet troops captured Voroshilovsky and Stavropol in the Caucasus region of southern Russia, claiming 500,000 German dead and 200,000 Germans captured in the last two months of fighting. Carrier USS Yorktown (Essex-class) CV-10 was launched at Newport News, Virginia, sponsored by Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt.
21 January 1944 General Eisenhower held a first meeting with his commanders to plan the Allied invasion of France. In half an hour over Berlin, 769 Lancasters and Halifaxes last night dropped over 2,300 tons of bombs on the city. It was the heaviest blow yet directed at Hitler's capital, with bombs falling at 80 tons a minute. In the mid-morning, German 15th Panzergrenadier Division wiped out the US beachheads along the Rapido River in Italy, forcing the survivors to withdraw back across the river. During the day, German 29th Panzergrenadier Division and 90th Panzergrenadier Division arrived in the region as reinforcement. After dark, US 141st Regiment and 143rd Regiment crossed the river again and established precarious footholds. The Canberra Pact, a treaty of mutual co-operation between the governments of Australia and New Zealand, was signed by prime ministers Peter Fraser and John Curtin.
21 January 1945 Red Army units captured Tannenburg, East Prussia, Germany (now Stebark, Poland), but only after the Germans destroyed the monument memorializing the 1914 German victory over the Soviets. Indian troops land on Ramree Island and attack Kangaw, Burma. USS Yorktown (Essex-class) and USS Ticonderoga launched raids on Formosa. Ticonderoga was struck by two special attack aircraft about 120 miles southeast, killing 143 men and injuring 202 others.
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Post by emron on Jan 25, 2018 7:46:11 GMT 12
20 January 1940 U-44 torpedoed and sank Greek steamer Ekatontarchos Dracoulis off Portugal at 0415 hours, killing 6. U-57 torpedoed and sank Norwegian steamer Miranda 30 miles off of Scotland, killing 14. 3 survivors were rescued on the next day by exploration ship Discovery II and taken to Kirkwall. British tanker MV Caroni River hit a mine laid the day before by German submarine U-34 in Falmouth Bay, England and sank; she was on her sea trials, all 43 aboard survived. All Europe was held in the icy grip of one of its severest frosts on record. On the borders of Norway and Sweden the mercury froze in the thermometers; German mines off Heligoland were being exploded by ice-floes; On the Finnish front, a temperature of 100 degrees of frost was recorded. Nearly 1,000 Russian soldiers were believed to have died of exposure. In China 20,000 have died and the war has been halted. 20 January 1941 Washington: Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated as President for the third time. He was the first President to hold the office for three successive terms. German cruiser Admiral Scheer sank British ship Stanpark and captured Dutch ship Barneveld 1,000 miles off the coast of Angola. German Kriegsmarine ordered the construction of 75 new submarines. RAF Wellington and Blenheim bombers, monitor HMS Terror, and gunboats HMS Gnat and HMS Ladybird attacked Italian positions at Tobruk, Libya overnight. 20 January 1942 Churchill ordered that Singapore "be converted into a citadel and defended to the death." Hawker Hurricane fighters, sent as reinforcements to Singapore, shot down eight Japanese bombers from a force of 27 attacking the city. Ground troops had less success, however, as the Indian and Australian retreat from Bakri, Malaya was cut off by the Japanese. Also on this date, more Japanese troops landed at Endau, The Japanese advance guard crossed the border into Burma heading for Moulmein. American destroyer USS Edsall and Australian minesweeper HMAS Deloraine sank Japanese submarine I-124 with depth charges 60 miles northwest of Darwin, Australia, killing 80. Japanese South Seas Force Transport Fleet ships crossed the Equator en route to Rabaul, New Britain at 0500 hours; it was the first Japanese Army force to cross the Equator in history. Ninety Japanese carrier-based aircraft from the aircraft carriers HIJMS Akagi, HIJMS Kaga, HIJMS Shokaku and HIJMS Zuikaku attacked Rabaul on New Britain Island, causing serious damage. No. 24 Squadron RAAF lost six aircraft (3 shot down, 1 wrecked after take-off and 2 damaged in crash landings) leaving two Wirraways in commission. The U.S. Second Marine Brigade arrived at Pago Pago on Tutuila Island, America Samoa, in transports SS Lurline, SS Matsonia, and SS Monterey, along with cargo ship USS Jupiter and ammunition ship USS Lassen, to protect that portion of the important lifeline to Australia. Cover for the operation was provided by Task Force 8 (TF 8) formed around aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) (Vice Admiral William F. Halsey Jr.) and TF 17 (Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher) formed around aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CV-5).
20 January 1943 The German Luftwaffe was forced to abandon any further hit-and-run fighter-bomber raids on London, after five Fw 190 aircraft were lost within half an hour to the RAF Manston based Typhoon fighters of Wing Commander Roland Beamont's No. 609 Squadron. USS Silversides attacked a Japanese convoy 286 miles from Truk, Caroline Islands en route to the Solomon Islands, sinking transport Meiu Maru and damaging Surabaya Maru. The latter would later be scuttled by destroyer Asagumo.
20 January 1944 Soviet troops advancing south-west from Pulkovo and south-east from Oranienbaum join up, encircling the Germans around Leningrad and sealing off the corridor to Finland. After sundown, US 141st Regiment and 143rd Regiment attacked across the Rapido River in Italy.
20 January 1945 American forces of XIV Corps pushing inland from their beach-head at Lingayen Gulf on Luzon were tonight on the outskirts of San Miguel, some 90 miles from Manila. The US troops had met no opposition on the beaches when they landed on 9 January, but the fighting had since been fierce, particularly at the Agno river. US President Roosevelt took the oath of office for his 4th term.
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Post by emron on Jan 24, 2018 21:41:01 GMT 12
19 January 1940 U-9 torpedoed and sank Swedish merchant ship Patricia, in the North Sea; 19 men were killed; 4 survivors were later picked up by Swedish merchant ship Frigg. U-55 sank Norwegian vessel Telnes off the Orkney Islands, Scotland; 18 lives were lost. U-59 torpedoed and sank French steamer Quiberon off Great Yarmouth, England. All men aboard were killed. British destroyer Grenville hit a naval mine and sank in the Thames Estuary killing 77. 108 survivors were rescued by two destroyers that braved the minefield. Columbia pictures released its 44th Three Stooges comedy, You Nazty Spy. Moe Howard was the first American actor to impersonate Hitler, predating Chaplin’s The Great Dictator by nine months. For that, he got on Hitler’s death list.
19 January 1941 The destroyer HMS Greyhound, escorting a convoy to Greece, sank Italian submarine 'Neghelli' off Phalconera in the Aegean with depth charges, killing the entire crew of 46. British and Commonwealth troops attacked Italian Eritrea. 4th and 5th Indian Infantry Divisions captured the railway junction at Kassala, Sudan, on the border with Italian Eritrea. This allowed the column led by British General William Platt to march south.
19 January 1942 In attacks against unescorted coastal shipping, German submarines sank unarmed merchant ships off the East Coast of the U.S: U-66 sank Canadian ship Lady Hawkins 150 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina; 251 were killed, 71 survived; U-123 sank US ship City of Atlanta (43 were killed, 3 survived) and US ship Norvana in the same general area, killing 43 of 46 aboard; US tanker Malay was damaged in the same attack. Japanese troops captured the airfield at Tavoy, Burma. Because of this, it is decided to withdraw the Mergui garrison by sea to Rangoon at once, Beginning at 0700 hours, the Japanese landing force came ashore unopposed in Sandakan. The British Governor surrendered British North Borneo. 19 January 1943 Destroyer HMS Antelope and corvette HMCS Port Arthur sank Italian submarine Tritone while escorting Convoy MKS-6 off Bougie, Algeria. Attu Island, Aleutians was subjected to a naval bombardment, by a US fleet of two cruisers and four destroyers.
19 January 1944 U-641 sunk in the North Atlantic south-west of Ireland, by depth charges from the British corvette HMS Violet. 50 dead (all hands lost). Soviet troops of the 59th Army take Novgorod, and push on to Estonia. In a co-ordinated offensive by the garrison troops and the armies of the Volkhov front, the Russians tore a 25-mile gap in the German siege lines around Leningrad. In doing so they smashed seven enemy divisions and captured 37 of the long-range guns which had been systematically bombarding the city. British forces established bridgeheads on the north side of the Gariglian, Italy. Backed by naval gunfire, troops of the British X Corps led by General Richard McCreery crossed the lower Garigliano river in landing craft and established vital bridgeheads on the northern bank. Minturno fell to the US 5th Army, which now attempted to cross the heavily defended Rapido river.
19 January 1945 Red Army captured Kraków and Lódz, Poland and entered East Prussia, Germany from the south. Submarine HMS Penang damaged by Japanese aircraft near Penang. Malaya; sunk by Japanese surface forces later that day. No survivors.
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Post by emron on Jan 23, 2018 21:27:31 GMT 12
18 January 1940 Waltham Abbey, Essex: Nazi saboteurs were blamed for an explosion at an arms factory which killed five people. Mr Leo O'Hagan and Mr Stanley Sewell employees of the Royal Gunpowder Factory, were working on over 1,000lbs of unstable nitro-glycerine when an explosion partly wrecked their building. Mr William Sylvester was even closer to the blast. However, despite the obvious danger, all three men remained at their posts until the danger was past. All were awarded the Empire Gallantry Medal (later exchanged for the George Cross). Having already destroyed Soviet 163rd and 44th Divisions, Finnish Army Colonel Siilasvuo was ordered to take the Finnish 9th Division 30 miles south to Kuhmo to attack the Soviet 54th Division under the command of Chuikov. U-44 sank the Danish vessel Canadian Reefer in the Bay of Biscay. The crew of 26 were rescued by a Spanish trawler. U-25 sank Swedish merchant ship Pajala with three torpedoes in the North Sea. Escort HMS Northern Duke rescued 35 after unsuccessfully depth charging U-25. U-55 sank Swedish merchant ship Foxen in the North Sea, killing 17. U-9 attacked Swedish merchant ship Patricia with two torpedoes in the North Sea, but the torpedoes went astray, hitting and sinking Flandria instead. Norwegian merchant ship Balzac would rescue four survivors two days later.
18 January 1941 German cruiser Admiral Scheer captured Norwegian tanker Sandefjord 1,000 miles off the coast of Angola, Portuguese West Africa. The ship, along with her cargo of 11,000 tons of crude oil, was sent to France as a prize ship. German armed merchant cruiser Kormoran sank British tanker British Union 700 miles west of the Canary Islands, killing 10. 28 survivors were captured by Kormoran and 7 survivors were rescued by British auxiliary cruiser HMS Arawa on the following day. German Luftwaffe Stuka dive bombers attacked Malta for the third consecutive day, destroying 6 RAF aircraft and damaging many more at the Luqa and Hal Far airfields. The Indian 45th Brigade, reinforced, repelled further Japanese attacks in the Muar-Yong Peng area and destroyed a number of tanks, but the landing of a strong Japanese force a few miles north of Batu Pahat increased the danger in this sector. In the evening, the Commander of West Force ordered a withdrawal. The Entire Muar front was placed temporarily under Indian 3 Corps command. During the night, the Indian 9th Division fell back behind the Muar River, as did the Australian 27th Brigade Group behind the Segamat River. The RAF bomber group withdrew from Singapore Island. to Sumatra, Netherlands East Indies.
18 January 1943 It had taken five days of fierce fighting for the Russians to break the German ring around Leningrad, as the Germans have spent the last year building their siege fortifications with minefields, and a network of concrete pillboxes. The victory was yet another triumph for the meticulous planning of Georgi Zhukov who was made a Marshal of the Soviet Union today, the first Russian field commander of this war to be so honoured.
18 January 1944 Repeated Soviet attacks near Vitebsk, Byelorussia were repulsed by German Armeegruppe Mitte.
18 January 1945 German troops evacuated Kraków, Poland. Soviet troops reached Lódz, Poland. Allied aircraft attacked Japanese positions at Monywa, Burma while the Indian 20th Division assaulted the port city on the Chindwin River.
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Post by emron on Jan 23, 2018 20:53:53 GMT 12
David, thanks for confirming this time frame. Comparing the 2 rear turrets at MOTAT, they have identical saw cuts through the main castings so I'm thinking that a batch of them were processed together and then progressively swapped out. That would allow most of the Sunderlands to remain in operation. There were only seven flying in the fleet by then and probably plenty of spare turrets to choose from. The changes needed on the front turrets weren't as complicated but may still have required removal.
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Post by emron on Jan 22, 2018 20:19:53 GMT 12
17 January 1940 German submarine U-25 torpedoed and sank British steamer Polzella near the Shetland Islands, Scotland and her entire crew was killed. When the Norwegian (neutral) ship Enid came to rescue any potential survivors, U-25 shelled, torpedoed, and sank her too. Enid's crew of 16 were later rescued by British trawler Granada and Danish merchant ship Kina. Finland registered temperatures as low as -45 degrees Celsius. The cold weather posed problems for both Finnish and Soviet troops fighting there. Polish cryptographers working in Paris, cracked the German air force's Enigma codes, making it possible to intercept and read all the Luftwaffe's secret transmissions.
17 January 1941 U-96 attacked British liner Almeda Star 200 miles west of Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, firing four torpedoes and her deck gun. Four lifeboats were launched before Almeda Star sank, but when seven British destroyers arrived, none of them were found, thus all aboard were lost (137 crew, 29 gunners, and 194 passengers). U-106 sank British ship Zealandic off the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, with three torpedoes. 73 survivors took to three lifeboats, but none were ever found.
17 January 1942 In the first U-boat attack on an Arctic convoy U-454 attacked Allied convoy PQ-8 20 miles off the Kola Inlet in northern Russia, sinking British Tribal-class destroyer HMS Matabele; (236 were killed, 2 survived), sinking Soviet trawler RT-68 Enisej, and damaging British merchant ship Harmatris (civilian convoy commodore's flagship). Later in the day, surviving ships of PQ-8 arrived in Murmansk, Russia. HMS Indomitable departed Port Sudan in British East Africa with 48 RAF Hurricane fighters for Singapore in Operation Opposition. Destroyer HMS Gurkha was hit by one torpedo from U-133 and caught fire from bow to stern and 9 crew were killed. HNMS Isaac Sweers towed Gurkha clear of the burning oil on the surface. They were north of Bardia, Libya. 240 crew members were then transferred to the Dutch destroyer by boats and landed at Tobruk in the evening. The burning destroyer had to be scuttled north of Sidi Barrani. 30 Corps, British Eighth Army, received the surrender of the Halfaya garrison and took 5500 German and Italian prisoners. With the destruction of the Axis forces in East Cyrenaica and reopening of communication line from there into Egypt, the first phase of Libyan campaign was successfully concluded. A Japanese fleet consisting of four carriers (Akagi, Kaga, Zuikaku, Shokaku), two battleships (Hiei, Kirishima), and several cruisers and destroyers departed Truk, Caroline Islands under the command of Chuichi Nagumo for Rabaul, New Britain.
17 January 1943 37 105mm and 12 155mm artillery pounded the Gifu area with 1,700 shells between 1430 and 1600 on Guadalcanal. US forces also used loudspeakers to broadcast a demand for surrender. A Japanese convoy carrying Japanese Army troops transferred from China departed Truk, Caroline Islands for Shortland Islands, Solomons.
17 January 1944 British X Corps of the 5th Army began Operation Panther with attacks along the river Garigliano, Italy. U-377 was sunk in the North Atlantic southwest of Ireland by depth charges from destroyer HMS Wanderer and frigate HMS Glenarm; 52 dead (all hands lost). U-544 was sunk in the North Atlantic north-west of the Azores by depth charges and rockets from Avenger aircraft (VC-13) of the US escort carrier USS Guadalcanal; 57 dead (all hands lost).
17 January 1945 The encircled Axis garrison in Budapest, Hungary withdrew across the Danube River to Buda. After crossing the Warthe River, Soviet troops expanded their bridgehead to 160 miles wide and 100 miles deep, causing the Germans to evacuate Warsaw, Poland. USAAF XX Bomber Command launched 90 B-29 bombers from Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China against Shinchiku Airfield in northern Formosa. Most made it over the target area, damaging hangars, barracks, and other buildings. This was to be the final B-29 mission against Formosa.
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Post by emron on Jan 21, 2018 22:41:00 GMT 12
16 January 1940 British tanker Inverdargle, with 12,000 tons of aviation fuel aboard, struck a naval mine in the Bristol Channel at 1619 hours, broke in two and sank. All 49 aboard were killed. Following the loss to the Allies of invasion plans, and with the weather worsening, Hitler cancelled the attack on the west until spring and ordered preparations for an assault on Scandinavia.
16 January 1941 In successive waves 80 Stukas hit Valetta harbour, Malta, causing major damage to port installations and several nearby churches. The casualty figures were said to be high and soldiers and sailors were called in to unload ships when stevedores refused to work under fire. The Luftwaffe’s principal target HMS Illustrious was hit by only one bomb, but more damage was caused to her hull by underwater explosions. HMAS Perth was also damaged in the raid. German submarine U-96 sank British troopship Oropesa with three torpedoes 150 miles northwest of Ireland at 0616 hours; 106 were killed. Survivors drifted in 6 lifeboats, but only 5 lifeboats, containing 143, were found and rescued.
16 January 1942 Movie actress Carole Lombard died in crash of TWA DC-3 NC1946 at Table Rock Mountain, Nevada, near Las Vegas, at age 33. She was returning from a tour to promote war bonds in Indianapolis, Indiana. Lombard, married to Clark Gable since 1939, was one of Hollywood's most glamorous stars of the 1930s. German submarine U-402 attacked British troop transport Llangibby Castle of Allied convoy WS15 north of the Azores islands at 1115 hours, blowing off the rudder and killing 26. Despite follow-up attacks by Fw 200 aircraft, Llangibby Castle would reach Horta, Azores for temporary repairs. The 46th Brigade, Indian 17th Division, arrived in Burma. The Japanese attacked and eventually outflanked Imperial forces at Myitta, threatening Tavoy. The Japanese crossed the Muar River, Malaya and forced the Indian 45th Brigade from Muar, on the south bank; the Japanese continued landings on west coast in the Muar-Batu Pahat area, increasing the threat to communications. Japanese aircraft attacked Rabaul, New Britain, destroying fuel stores, bomb stockpiles, and other facilities at Vunakanau Airfield. Two Wirraway fighters were scrambled to intercept, but they failed to reached the Japanese aircraft in time. 6 hours later, several flying boats followed up with an attack with fragmentation bombs.
16 January 1943 Soviet troops captured Pitomnik Airfield west of Stalingrad, denying the Germans the ability to fly in supplies and fly out wounded men. The Allies penetrated the Buerat Line, Libya.
16 January 1944 General Eisenhower assumed the post as Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in England.
16 January 1945 US First and Third Armies linked up near Houffalize, Belgium, while British Second Army attacked near Maas River. The Germans were pushed back to the line prior to the launch of the Ardennes Offensive. Hitler left the FHQ "Adlerhorst" near Bad Neuheim in the Taunus mountains and returned to the Berlin Reichskanzlei for the final time by special train (Führersonderzug). He moved permanently into the concrete Berlin Bunker located underground at the Reich Chancellery.
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Post by emron on Jan 21, 2018 21:08:45 GMT 12
15 January 1940 At 0013, SS Fagerheim was hit by one torpedo from U-44 about 80 miles South-West of Quessant, Brittany, broke in two and sank. The survivors were rescued and taken to Vigo, Spain. At 0705 hours, the neutral Arendskerk was spotted by U-44 about 100 miles SW of Ouessant and tried to escape when the U-boat was sighted. It needed seven shots across her bow to stop the vessel. When the papers were checked it became clear that she carried contraband and the crew was ordered to abandon ship. At 1010, one torpedo struck in the engine room, breaking the ship in two. The aft part sank, but the forepart remained afloat and had to be sunk 30 minutes later by 18 shells from the deck gun. The survivors were picked up by the Italian merchant Fedora, transferred to the Dutch merchant Poelau Bras and landed at Lisbon. 15 January 1941 The Italian motor ship Citta di Messina, escorted by the torpedo boat Centauro, was torpedoed and sunk by the submarine HMS Regent in the Mediterranean. It was the first sinking of a supply ship bound for North African in 1941. Five years after he was forced into exile Haile Selassie, the Emperor of Ethiopia, returned home. He was flown over the frontier from Sudan shortly after 11am by the RAF. British forces from Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and Kenya mounted a major offensive against Italian Somaliland to drive the Italians out of the Horn of Africa. 15 January 1942 German submarine U-552 sank the ship Dayrose at 0138 hours; 38 were killed, 4 survived. To the south, German submarine U-123 sank British tanker Coimbra off Sandy Hook, New Jersey, USA at 0941 hours; 36 were killed, 10 survived. At 1134 hours, again off Newfoundland, U-203 sank Portuguese trawler Catalina, killing all aboard. Near the end of the day at 2317 hours, U-553 blew the bow off of the tanker Diala; 57 were killed, 8 survived; the wreckage of Diala remained afloat. U-577 (Type VIIC) was sunk in the Mediterranean northwest of Mersa Matruh, by depth charges from a British Swordfish aircraft (Sqn. 815/G); 43 dead (all crew lost). Troops of the Japanese 55th Division advanced into Burma north of Mergui. Though not one of Japan's original war aims, Burma was invaded to eliminate a possible threat to the Japanese army in Malaya.
15 January 1943 On the Virginia side of the Potomac River outside Washington, DC, a new Headquarters building for the Armed Forces of the US was completed. Due to the 5 sided architectural design, it will become known as "The Pentagon". B-17E-BO Flying Fortress 41-9045 of 414th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), Twelfth Air Force, based at Biskra, Algeria, crashed at Athenry, County Galway, Eire en-route from Gibraltar to the UK. Aboard were four U.S. Army generals: Jacob L. Devers, Commanding General Armoured Force; Edward Brooks, Commanding General 11th Armoured Division; Williston Palmer; and William Sexton who all emerged unscathed. They were briefly detained by the Local Defence Forces, the auxiliary force of the Irish Army, but soon were transported over the border to Northern Ireland, and the next day, they resumed their work in England. The British Eighth Army opened a drive on Tripoli, Libya, moving forward in three columns, those on right and in centre under personal command of General Bernard L. Montgomery, the outflanking force on the left was under XXX Corps command. The 7th Armoured Division and New Zealand 2nd Division, the enveloping force, drove the Axis back to Wadi Zem Zem. The coastal advance by the 51st Division began at 2230 hours and met little opposition. In the Andaman Sea, six Tenth Air Force B-24 Liberators hit shipping in a convoy. One of the vessels, the Japanese Army cargo ship SS Nichimei Maru, was carrying Allied POWs. She was sunk about 211 nautical miles south-southeast of Rangoon, Burma, about 500 POWs were lost. In Papua New Guinea, preparations were made for an all-out offensive to clear the Sanananda area. On Guadalcanal, the 2nd Marine Division continued to make slow progress in the coastal sector, despite use of tanks and a flame thrower.
15 January 1944 U-377 was sunk in the North Atlantic by one of its own Zaunkønig (T5) acoustic torpedoes that had circled; 52 dead (all hands lost). The U.S. Fifth Army successfully concluded operations against the Winter Line with the capture by the U.S. II Corps of Mt. Trocchio; they were now confronted by the Gustav Line, which followed the Garigliano, Gari, and Rapido Rivers to Cassino and continued to the British Eighth Army boundary along the hills above Cassino. Troops of the Leningrad Front, having quietly concentrated west of Leningrad, opened a powerful offensive for that city on the northern front. Other Red Army forces began assault on Novgorod from the south. The capture of Sio, New Guinea by the Australian 2/17th Battalion, 21st Brigade, 9th Division, represented the final destruction of the Japanese 20th Division in the protracted Huon Peninsula campaign of 1943-1944. 15 January 1945 Italian battleship Conte Di Cavour was sunk during an aerial bombardment at Trieste. This was the third time that the ship was sunk during WW2. After three years, while Nationalist China was totally isolated from its Allies except for the airlift from India, the Burma Road can now reopen. The US-built oil pipeline, laid along the Ledo Road, will be extended all the way to Yunnan. The last Japanese positions threatening the Burma Road, around Wanting and Namhkam, were now being mopped up. During a strike on Toboi Wharf in Simpson Harbour at Rabaul, conducted by Corsair aircraft of RNZAF 14 and 16 Squadrons, flying from Green Island and Piva, one was knocked down by anti-aircraft fire. While returning at nightfall to Green Island some encountered a tropical storm. Five of the Corsairs crashed into the sea, one crashed at Green Island as it was making its landing approach and a seventh disappeared in cloud and was never located.
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Post by emron on Jan 21, 2018 17:03:32 GMT 12
Does anyone recall what year that the RNZAF Sunderland turrets were de-milled ? I understand that NZ4111 still had gun mounts fitted in 1959 when it had the accident in the Chathams. NZ4108 was in storage by 1956 so probably wasn't part of the mod program if that occurred after 1959. All of the turrets salvaged from NZ4112, 4114 and 4115, when the fleet was retired, had been de-milled and their interiors were all painted the same green. Before I get some colour matching done on the original paint, does anyone have the spec. for that final scheme ?
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Post by emron on Jan 20, 2018 20:48:35 GMT 12
14 January 1940 USN auxiliary USS Bear (AG-29) reached Bay of Whales. Along with Interior Department USMS North Star, USS Bear would establish the two bases to be used in the U.S. Antarctic Service's 1939-1941 expedition under Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, USN (Retired). The Japanese Prime Minister, General Nobuyki Abe, and all his Cabinet resigned and Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai was chosen to form a new government.
14 January 1941 German armed merchant cruiser Pinguin captured almost an entire Norwegian whaling fleet (whale oil tanker Solglimt, factory ships Ole Wegger and Pelagos, and 11 of their attendant whalers) in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica. Pinguin's operation was the single most successful performance by a German auxiliary cruiser in World War II. More than 36,000 tons of shipping, 20,000 tons of whale oil with a value of over four million US dollars, and 10,000 tons of fuel oil were captured. This was all done without a single shot being fired and without any casualties.
14 January 1942 The first flight of the Sikorsky VS316 XR-4 helicopter prototype was made at Stratford, Connecticut. It would become, as the R-4, the first Allied helicopter ordered into production by the US government. The German battleship Tirpitz and pocket battleship Admiral Scheer transferred from Wilhelmshaven, Germany, to Trondheim, Norway, escorted by four destroyers. This departure was four days later than originally planned. Japanese troops captured Malacca on the west coast but they were to be held north of the line Muar-Segamat-Mersmg, if possible. Part of the Japanese invasion fleet for Rabaul, New Britain departed from Guam, Mariana Islands.
14 January 1943 The Casablanca Conference began in French Morocco, attended by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill with their military advisers. Stalin was unable to join them due to the critical situation at the Stalingrad front. In Libya: XXX Corps, British Eighth Army moved forward in preparation for an assault on the Buerat line and drive on Tripoli. In the first submarine resupply mission, USS Gudgeon (SS-211) landed six men and 2,000 pounds of equipment and supplies near Catmon Point, Negros, Philippines.
14 January 1944 The USAAF Eighth Air Force flew Mission 183: 356 B-17 Flying Fortresses and 156 B-24 Liberators bombed 20 of 21 V-weapon sites in the Pas de Calais area. The bombers were escorted by 98 P-38 Lightnings, 504 P-47 Thunderbolts and 43 Ninth Air Force P-51 Mustangs. During the night, RAF Bomber Command sent 82 aircraft, 59 Stirlings, 13 Halifaxes and ten Mosquitos, to attack V-weapon sites: 31 each bomb Bristillerie and La Glacerie, 30 hit Ailly-Le-Haut-Clocher and 14 attack Bonnetot-sur-Dieppe. The Red Army took Mozyr and Kalinkovichi, near Gomel, and renewed attacks around Novgorod to relieve Leningrad.
14 January 1945 Over 280 USAAF Ninth Air Force A-20 Invaders and B-26 Marauders struck bridges and communications centres in the base area of the Ardennes salient and in other areas of western Germany. Fighters escorted USAAF Eighth and Ninth Air Force bombers, flew armed reconnaissance and patrols, attacked numerous ground targets, and supported the U.S. First Army in the Vielsalm, Belgium area and the U.S. Third Army around Diekirch, Luxembourg. The First Canadian Army forced the Germans across the Rhine River opposite Wesel, ending a month-long campaign west of the Rhine. The Canadians lost 5,304 dead in the Rhine campaign. The USAAF Eighth Air Force flew Mission 791: 911 bombers and 860 fighters were dispatched to attack oil refineries and plants in central Germany and highway bridges at Cologne. During the day RAF Bomber Command sent 134 Lancasters to attack the marshalling yards at Saarbrücken, during the night 928 aircraft were sent to attack six targets. In the British Fourteenth Army's Indian XXXIII Corps area, Burma, the Indian 19th Division secured a bridgehead across the Irrawaddy River at Thabeikkyin, evoking speedy and violent reaction from the Japanese. The USAAF Twentieth Air Force's XX Bomber Command flew Mission 28: 82 B-29 Superfortressess out of Chengtu, China, were dispatched to bomb air installations at Kagi; 55 hit the primary target while one bombed Heito; 22 others hit alternates and targets of opportunity at several points, among them Taichu Airfield, Formosa. The USAAF Twentieth Air Force's XXI Bomber Command flew Mission 19: 73 B-29 Superfortresses from the Mariana Islands were dispatched to bomb the Mitsubishi aircraft plant at Nagoya; 40 hit the primary target and 23 hit alternates and targets of opportunity.
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Post by emron on Jan 19, 2018 22:14:36 GMT 12
13 January 1940 German submarine U-20 torpedoed Swedish steamer Sylvia north east of Aberdeen, Scotland. Sylvia sank within a minute, taking the lives of the entire crew of 20. The Yakovlev YA-26 prototype, later to become the Yak-1 fighter, took flight. This prototype would be lost in an accident in Apr 1940.
13 January 1941 In Albania, General Ugo Cavallero, the Chief of the Italian General Staff, relieved General Soddu of the Italian command as Greek troops consolidated their advance on the Klisura front.
13 January 1942 The Dutch commander on Tarakan Island, Borneo surrendered to the Japanese and they completed mopping up the island. The Japanese assault force boarded ships tomorrow for the assault on Balikpapan. Allied convoy DM1 arrived at Singapore from Durban, South Africa, delivering 9,100 troops, anti-aircraft guns, and 52 Hurricane fighters (with 24 pilots).
13 January 1943 U-224 (Type VIIC) was sunk in the western Mediterranean west of Algiers, by ramming and depth charges from the Canadian corvette HMCS Ville de Quebec; 45 dead, one survivor. Ville de Quebec was escorting Gibraltar to North Africa convoy TE-13 when she detected U-224. She attacked with depth charges, which blew the submarine to the surface. Ville de Quebec then rammed the submarine just as the Weapons Officer, LtzS Dankworth, emerged from the conning tower hatch to survey the damage. He was thrown clear of the boat and became the only survivor. He was rescued 30 minutes later by HMCS Port Arthur. The surfaced German type IXC submarine U-507 was sunk about 150 nautical miles north-northwest of Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil, by depth charges from a USN PBY-5A Catalina aircraft of Patrol Squadron VP-83 based at NAF Natal, Brazil; all 54 crewmen were lost.
13 January 1944 In U.S. Fifth Army's II Corps area, Italy, the 168th Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division, finished clearing the heights overlooking Le Pastinelle and the Rapido Plain. Major General Kenneth B Wolfe, Commanding General of the USAAF Twentieth Air Force's XX Bomber Command, arrived at New Delhi with the advanced echelon staff. This was the first important movement of personnel for Operation Matterhorn, the plan which will be approved in April 1944 for the bombing of Japan by B-29 Supergortresses based in the Calcutta area and staging through advanced fields at Chengtu, China. U-231 (Type VIIC) was sunk about 439 nautical miles northeast of Lagens Field, Azores by depth charges from a British Wellington Mk. XIV aircraft (Sqdn 172/L). The aircraft was equipped with a Leigh light: 7 dead, 43 survivors.
13 January 1945 Ardennes: The Germans opened the Ardennes gamble with around 250,000 men; a month later, fighting a grim rear-guard action, they have lost upwards of 120,000 killed, wounded and captured, and are facing a US force of 600,000. The Americans have 8,607 dead and 68,283 wounded or missing, and the British 1,400 dead. While providing air support in Lingayen Gulf, Philippines, the Casablanca-Class escort aircraft carrier USS Salamaua (CVE-96) with Composite Squadron VC-87 on board, was struck by a kamikaze carrying two 250 kg bombs on the flight deck killing 15 and wounding 80+. Damage was extensive; the flight deck, the hangar deck, and spaces below blazed with a multitude of fires. One of the bombs, failing to explode, punched through the starboard side at the waterline. Power, communications, and steering failed; one of her engine rooms flooded and the starboard engine quit. However damage control was successful and temporary repairs enabled the ship to return to San Francisco.
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Post by emron on Jan 19, 2018 20:56:45 GMT 12
12 January 1940 At 0650, SS Denmark was hit by one torpedo from U-23 when she was anchored in a Bay in the Shetlands. She exploded, broke in two and drifted ashore. The Svenska Frivilligkåren (Swedish Volunteer Corps, (SFK)), saw action for the first time when the planes of the Flygflottilj 19 (Gloster Gladiators and Hawker Harts) began to fly combat missions. At the same time SFK's AA-artillery took the responsibility of the aerial defence of northern Finland. The U.S. Interior Department 1,434 ton wooden ice ship USMS North Star of the U.S. Antarctic Service, reached Bay of Whales, and immediately began discharging cargo to establish West Base. Ice conditions prohibited unloading at the original chosen site, King Edward VII Land.
12 January 1941 RAF Hurricane fighters based on Malta attacked Catania airfield on Sicily in an attempt to prevent German and Italian planes from attacking Malta while temporary repairs were carried out on the crippled aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious. British armoured divisions rushed their efforts to repair tanks and put them into operational status for the upcoming attack on Tobruk, Libya. Meanwhile, HMS Protector departed Bardia, Libya with 1,058 Italian prisoners of war, sailing for Alexandria, Egypt.
12 January 1942 Hitler ordered the battle cruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst to sail from Brest to Norway. U-374 (Type VIIC) was sunk in the western Mediterranean east of Cape Spartivento, by torpedoes from the British submarine HMS Unbeaten; 43 dead, but 1 survivor taken into captivity. U-77 sighted two destroyers off Tobruk and fired a spread of four torpedoes of which one hit the stern of HMS Kimberley. The explosion blew off her stern and immediately stopped the vessel, which was missed by a coup de grâce later. HMS Heythrop towed the destroyer to Alexandria. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, General Officer Commanding Panzer Gruppe Africa, adopted his subordinates' plan to prepare a surprise counteroffensive against the British in Libya. Neither the German nor the Italian High Command were informed of the plans. As a result, British codebreakers who were reading top-secret German messages with their Enigma machine couldn’t warn the unprepared 8th Army. The consequences for Singapore from the fall of Kuala Lumpur were grave. Despite attempts to burn them, huge quantities of supplies have fallen into Japanese hands, and the possession of the airfields in the area will facilitate the intensification of the air bombardment against Singapore's bases and installations. The Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS) approved U.S. plans to garrison the islands along the proposed ferry route from Hawaii to Australia. Local defence forces were to be based at American Samoa, Bora Bora, Canton Island, Christmas Island, the Fiji Islands and Palmyra Island. The CCS also approved the deployment of a USAAF fighter squadron to New Caledonia. 12 January 1943 The Amulet Force, 2,000 men under command of Brigadier General Lloyd E. Jones completed an unopposed invasion on Amchitka, Aleutian Islands, covered by Task Group 8.6, consisting of the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis, light cruisers USS Detroit and Raleigh and four destroyers.
12 January 1944 British General Harold Alexander, Commander in Chief 15th Army Group, directed the U.S. Fifth Army to impose maximum losses on the Germans south of Rome and to clear Rome; advance to the general line Civitavecchia-Viterbo-Terni and later to Pisa-Pistoia-Florence. The long-range objective of the British Eighth Army was the Faenza-Ravenna region. The importance of speed was stressed.
12 January 1945 In the U.S. Seventh Army's VI Corps area, France, the Germans have shifted from aggressive offensive to stubborn defensive in the bitche salient. In the U.S. Third Army's VIII Corps area, Belgium, the Germans continued withdrawing. The 87th Infantry Division took Tonny, Amberloup, Lavacherie, Orreux, Fosset, Sprimont, and a road junction northeast of Sprimont. In the Barents Sea, German submarine U-956 torpedoed and sank the Soviet destroyer Dejatelnyj (ex USS Herndon DD-198 and later HMS Churchill) about 54 nautical miles east of Murmansk, U.S.S.R. The destroyer was escorting Convoy KB-1. A major Soviet attack began when the Red Army today unleashed its major winter offensive, hurling 163 divisions at the German positions in Poland and East Prussia, and was sweeping forward with massed tanks under a huge artillery bombardment and clouds of warplanes against 30 German divisions. The Germans were fighting from well-prepared defensive positions, but they were outnumbered by five tanks to one. Aircraft carrier TF 38, under the command of Vice Admiral John S. McCain, hit Japanese shipping, airfields, and other shore installations in the South China Sea and in southeastern French Indochina. Among the sunken vessels was the Ch 43 (442T). This subchaser, with the help of Ch 15 and W18, sank the submarine U.S.S. Wahoo in La Perouse Strait on 11 October 1943. In the East China Sea off the west coast of Luzon, Philippines, Japanese kamikazes damaged destroyer escorts USS Richard W. Suesens and Gilligan; attacked transport USS Zeilin (APA-3); and tank landing ship USS LST-700; suicide pilots targeted U.S. merchant ships, damaging five freighters. On one ship, 129 of the 506 Army troops aboard were killed.
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Post by emron on Jan 19, 2018 15:29:17 GMT 12
11 January 1941 Hitler issued his 22nd war directive, ordering preparations for reinforcements to be sent to aid Italian armies in North Africa (Operation Sunflower) and Albania (Operation Alpine Violets). British cruisers HMS Gloucester and Southampton were attacked 120 miles east of Sicily, Italy, by 12 Ju.87 dive bombers, hitting Gloucester with one 500kg bomb that failed to explode (9 killed, 13 wounded) and Southampton with two 500kg bombs (98 killed). Southampton was abandoned by the 727 survivors at 1900 hours, then was scuttled by a torpedo from cruiser HMS Orion.
11 January 1942 The South African 2nd Division of 30 Corps, British Eighth Army, attacked Sollum, Libya, just across the Egyptian border, and captured it early on 12 January. 13 Corps pursued Rommel's forces toward El Agheila. Japanese troops entered Kuala Lumpur, Malaya, unopposed, capturing large amounts of supplies and ammunition left behind by the evacuating British and colonial troops. Japanese troops began the campaign against the Dutch East Indies by landing on Tarakan island off Borneo. In the face of superior forces, Dutch commanders at Tarakan decided to destroy the 700 oil wells present on Tarakan to prevent enemy use. In the II Corps area on Bataan, Philippines, the Japanese advancing down the east coast drove back the outpost line of the 57th Infantry, Philippine Scouts, crossed the Calaguiman River and after nightfall began an assault on the main line of resistance.
11 January 1943 In the darkness before dawn this morning, with the thermometer at -23C, the Red Army opened Operation Iskra (Spark) to break the German siege of Leningrad. The US 3rd Btn 35th Infantry on Guadalcanal captured the Japanese "Sea Horse" position at 1330 hours. 11 January 1944 Count Galeazzo Ciano, Mussolini’s son-in-law and the former foreign minister, was led in front of a firing squad in the prison at Verona, Italy, today and shot for treason. Four other fascist ex-leaders were executed with him and 13 others were sentenced in their absence on 8 January. HMS Tally Ho, one of the Royal Navy submarine flotilla based at Trincomalee, Ceylon, caught the Japanese light cruiser Kuma in the Malacca Strait, one of the very few large Japanese warships then operating in the area, and sank her with two torpedoes. The airfield at Siador, New Guinea, became operational after repairs.
11 January 1945 British forces captured La Roche-en-Ardenne, Belgium, northwest of Bastogne. At 1515, U-1055 attacked ships from a just dispersed coastal convoy in the Irish Sea west of Anglesey; the first torpedo exploded behind the Yugoslavian steam merchant Senga, while other torpedoes sank the Roanoke and Normandy Coast. The Normandy Coast sank within two minutes, taking 18 crewmembers and one gunner with her. The master, five crewmembers and two gunners were picked up by patrol ship HMS PC-74 and landed at Holyhead on 12 January.
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Post by emron on Jan 19, 2018 14:20:18 GMT 12
10 January 1940 Four passenger liners departed Sydney, carrying the Australian 16th Brigade bound for Egypt. The ships, escorted by the heavy cruiser HMAS Australia, would rendezvous with the convoy carrying the New Zealand 4th Brigade that sailed from Auckland on 6 January.
10 January 1941 Italian torpedo boats Vega and Circe attacked the Allied convoy Excess in the Strait of Sicily at dawn; cruiser HMS Bonaventure's gunfire and destroyer HMS Hereward's torpedo sank Vega. At 0815 hours, the convoy made rendezvous with the Mediterranean Fleet (with two battleships, one carrier, and seven destroyers). Shortly after, destroyer HMS Gallant hit a mine, killing 58 and wounding 25; she was towed to Malta for repairs. At 1235 hours, German Stuka dive bombers, newly arrived to the theatre, attacked HMS Illustrious, hitting her with 6 bombs, destroying the elevator and starting fires in the hangar deck, killing 124; she also sailed to Malta to receive repairs. Illustrious being out of service meant the Axis now had air superiority in the theatre. British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, received confirmation from intercepts of German signals, decrypted at Bletchley Park, that the German build-up in Romania formed a grave threat to Greece. He promptly ordered draft contingency plans for the commitment of a British expeditionary force to the Greek mainland.
10 January 1942 The Indian 3 Corps abandoned Port Swettenham and Kuala Lumpur while falling back to cover the Port Dickson and Seremban area. General Douglas MacArthur, Commander in Chief US Army Forces Far East, made his only visit to the Bataan peninsula and his failure to return caused deep bitterness among the defenders. General Archibald Lord Wavell, Commander in Chief Australian-British-Dutch-American (ABDA) Command, South West Pacific area, flew to Java, where he conferred with members of the ABDA staff; he then established headquarters at Lembang, 10 miles north of Bandoeng. The landing ship HMAS Kanimbla sailed from Melbourne, escorting convoy MS.1 consisting of three ships bound for Singapore and four for the Netherlands East Indies. Meanwhile, the heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra sailed from Sydney, escorting convoy MS.2 to Singapore. After a 55-minute bombardment by thousands of guns and rocket-launchers, and employing seven armies, the Red Army began Operation Ring, the final annihilation of the tattered remnants of the German 6.Armee defending themselves desperately against all odds in the ruins of Stalingrad. 10 January 1943 The USN transport submarine USS Argonaut (APS-1) the largest submarine ever built in the U.S. up to this time, was sunk in the Solomon Sea about 88 nautical miles south of Rabaul by gunfire from IJN destroyers Maikaze and Isokaze from short range. Argonaut had been forced to surface following a prolonged bomb and depth charge attack. There were no survivors from the 105 officers and men aboard. At 3,128 tons she had been designed primarily as a minelayer but later, in 1942, was converted to a troop carrying submarine and based at Brisbane, Australia. 10 January 1944 In the U.S. Fifth Army's II Corps area, Italy, the 34th Infantry Division's 168th Infantry Regiment columns pushed toward Cervaro across hills north of the St. Vittore-Cervaro road; the 2nd Battalion of the 135th Infantry Regiment, to the left, advanced northwest from La Chiaia to threaten Cervaro from the south; Task Force B, on the right, headed toward Capraro Hill. The Germans strongly resisted all these thrusts. In Northeast New Guinea, over 100 USAAF Fifth Air Force heavy, medium, and light bombers, and fighters attacked the Madang, Alexishafen, and Bogadjim areas and the coastline from Madang to Sio.
10 January 1945 In Belgium, the British Second Army's XXX Corps, the 51st Division, which had taken over from the 53rd, attacked near Laroche in the Ardennes. The US 1st and 3rd Armies also continued their advances. In U.S. Sixth Army area on Luzon, Phillipines, army reserve began landing. In the XIV Corps area, the 185th Infantry Regiment, 40th Infantry Division took Labrador while the 160th Infantry Regiment pushed along Highway 13 toward Aguilar, reaching the Umanday area. Japanese assault demolition boats infiltrated the transport areas off Lingayen, sinking an infantry landing craft (mortar) and an infantry landing craft (gunboat), and damaging destroyers USS Robinson and Philip, transport USS War Hawk and tank landing ship USS LST-610. Japanese air attacks against the fleet off Lingayen continued, damaging destroyer USS Wickes; kamikazes damaged destroyer escort USS Leray Wilson and attack transport USS Dupage.
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Post by emron on Jan 14, 2018 19:41:59 GMT 12
Sorry your war correspondent's computer has crashed. Updates should resume later in the week.
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Post by emron on Jan 10, 2018 21:51:29 GMT 12
9 January 1940 S class submarine HMS Starfish was abandoned and scuttled in the North Sea southwest of Heligoland after a failed attempt to torpedo German minesweeper M7. Starfish was forced to surface following a depth charge attack. This was the third RN submarine to be lost within as many days. Submarine operations in the area were abandoned.
9 January 1941 The prototype Avro Type 683 four-engined Manchester III aircraft, RAF serial BT308, maiden flight performed by test pilot H. A. "Bill" Thorn at RAF Ringway, Cheshire. Australian 6th Division and British 7th Armoured Division completed the encirclement of Tobruk, Libya. 25,000 Italian troops were now trapped.
9 January 1942 The Soviet Northwest, Volkhov and Kalinin Fronts launched a major offensive in the Valdai Hill area west and northwest of Moscow. The Soviets had rapid success despite fierce German resistance. After studying the situation in Malaya, General Sir Archibald Wavell, the new Allied Supreme Commander in the Far East, ordered the immediate fortification of Singapore's north coast. An Australian Hudson bomber conducted a reconnaissance mission from Kavieng, New Ireland over Truk, Caroline Islands; it was the longest RAAF flight to date. The crew of the Hudson spotted a large invasion fleet being prepared at Truk.
9 January 1943 Scharnhorst and Gneisenau left Gotenhafen, Germany, for Norway together with the Prinz Eugen and three destroyers. Piloted by Eddie Allen and Milo Burcham, the Lockheed Constellation made its first flight from Lockheed Air Terminal in Burbank, California to Muroc Army Air Base (now Edwards AFB) Muroc, California; The aircraft, Lockheed Model 049-46-10, msn 049-1961, was painted in USAAF camouflage colours but carried the civilian registration NX25600.
9 January 1944 A second airfield, Piva South (Piva Yoke) fighter strip was completed on Bougainville.
9 January 1945 After preparatory aerial and naval bombardment the U.S. Sixth Army, under Lieutenant General Walter Krueger, began landing on shores of Lingayen Gulf, Philippines. The bombardment force, Task Group 77.2 (Vice Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf) consisting of six battleships; two Australian and three USN heavy cruisers, one light cruiser and one RAN and 20 USN destroyers and aircraft from the escort carrier force, Task Group 77.4 (Rear Admiral Calvin T. Durgin), consisting of 20 escort aircraft carriers. Japanese air attacks and assault demolition boats continued to vex the invasion forces off the beaches. Kamikazes crash battleship USS Mississippi, light cruiser USS Columbia, and destroyer escort USS Hodges Japanese assault demolition boats damaged transport USS War Hawk and tank landing ships USS LST-925 and LST-1028. In addition the fifth suicide aircraft to hit Australia during the operation struck; although it intended to take out the cruiser's bridge, the aircraft hit a mast strut and the forward exhaust funnel and fell overboard. Although there were no casualties, the crash damaged the funnel, radar, and wireless systems, and the decision was made to withdraw the cruiser for repairs.
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