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Post by emron on Mar 25, 2020 9:42:47 GMT 12
24 March 1945
Western Europe: Operation Plunder; At 2.00am the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division landed between Wesel and Rees, followed by the U.S. 30th Infantry Division south of Wesel and U.S. 79th Infantry Division. Tanks and other heavy equipment was carried by Navy LCVPs. At 9.45am construction began of a pontoon bridge 3 miles south of Wesel which was completed in record time; the first truck crossed at 4.00pm. In the British Second Army's 30 Corps area, 51st Div was unable to overcome determined resistance by enemy paratroopers at Rees. In 12 Corps area, 1st Commando Brigade cleared large parts of Wesel in street-to-street fighting; 15th Div, overran Mehr and Haffen; 30th Div gained firm bridgehead 4-6 miles deep south of Wesel, clearing a number of towns and villages; 79th Div, on it’s north, cleared Stapp and Dinslaken; to the South overran Overbruch, Vier Linden, and Walsum. Operation Varsity; Starting at 10.00am 2,029 IX Troop Carrier Command C-47s and gliders plus 839 RAF aircraft and gliders dropped 21,000 paratroopers and glider troops of the British 6th and U.S. 17th Airborne Divisions around Wesel. Both assault divs took their initial objectives, reaching Issel River and securing crossings, and made contact with each other and with British 12 Corps. In Support 1,714 Eighth Air Force B-17s and B-24s bombed airfields in western and north-western Germany. Escorting the bombers were 1,297 P-47s and P-51s. 700 Ninth Air Force A-20s, A-26 and B-26 attacked communications centres, rail bridges, flak positions and other targets. In U.S. First Army area, VII Corps expanded it’s bridgehead to assigned line of departure for breakout assault, though enemy contested every inch gained and made frequent and determined counterattacks, In U.S. Third Army area, XII Corps expanded and strengthened it’s Rhine bridgehead and committed armour through it in an effort to break through to the Main. After a night-long fight, Ludwigshafen fell to 94th Div in the morning when it’s northern and southern assault forces met in centre of the city. 12th Armoured Div completed its mission, capturing Speyer in zone of CCB in the morning and Germersheim in zone of CCR after nightfall.
Eastern Europe: Moscow announced that troops of Third Ukrainian Front on the offensive SW of Budapest had advanced about 44 miles on a broad front and captured numerous towns, among them Szekesfehervar, Mor, Zirc, Veszprem, and Enying.
Japan: XXI Bomber Command Mission 45: during the night of 24/25 March, 223 B-29s attacked an aircraft-engine plant at Nagoya.
Ryukyu Islands: The final pre-invasion operations by Task Force 58 and Task Group 52.1 (the Support Carrier Group) were conducted. A strike force of 112 USMC and USN aircraft sank an entire eight-ship convoy 150 miles north-west of Okinawa.
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Post by emron on Mar 26, 2020 21:44:12 GMT 12
26 March 1945
Iwo Jima: Last night, a 300-man Japanese force launched a final counter-attack in the vicinity of Airfield No. 2. Army pilots, Seabees and Marines of the 5th Pioneer Battalion and 28th Marines fought the Japanese force for up to 90 minutes, suffering heavy casualties (53 killed, 120 wounded). The island was officially declared secure at 09:00 this morning.
Ryukyu Islands: Operation Iceberg started with preliminary landings by 77th Div, on Kerama Is. to secure seaplane base and fleet anchorages in preparation for the main invasion of Okinawa. After naval and aerial bombardment, 4 units of 77th Div landed on as many islands of the Kerama group almost simultaneously: RCT 305 first, on Aka Island. and with little difficulty secured town of Aka and cleared two thirds of the island; RCT 306, seized Geruma Island where howitzers were unloaded to support future operations; RCT 306 took Hokaji Island. without opposition; RCT 305 secured about a third of Zamami Island and held firm against counterattacks. So successful were the scheduled landings that a reserve force, RCT 307 landed on Yakabi Island in the afternoon and cleared it with ease. Patrols of Fleet Marine Force Amphib Rcn Bn, attached to 77th Div, landed on Keise Island, which was within artillery range of most of southern Okinawa, and found it free of enemy. Warships and planes from fast and escort carriers of Fifth Fleet supported ground operations. Enemy air reaction to the invasion was light, consisting largely of uncoordinated attacks on shipping by suicide planes.Air and long-range naval gunfire bombardment of Okinawa continued.
Sakishima Islands: Carrier aircraft of the British Pacific Fleet carried out attacks today on airfields on the Sakishima Islands, between Okinawa and Formosa, to prevent their use by Japanese aircraft during the upcoming invasion of Okinawa. Cruiser HMNZS Gambia was a part of the anti-aircraft screen around the carriers.
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Post by emron on Mar 27, 2020 20:37:32 GMT 12
27 March 1940
New Zealand: Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage died in Wellington aged 68. As the 23rd Prime Minister he had led the first Labour Government since 6 December 1935. He was succeeded by his deputy Peter Fraser.
27 March 1945
United Kingdom: The final two V-2 rockets to fall on England today both caused casualties. One landed 7:12am at Hughes Mansions, Stepney, London; 2 city blocks were flattened, 134 were killed and 49 seriously injured. The other landed 4:48pm at Orpington, Kent where Ivy Millikamp became the last British civilian to be killed by a V-2; 23 others were seriously injured.
Western Europe: in U.S. Third Army’s VIII Corps area. 87th Div expanded the bridgehead to the Lahn River line on it's north flank where contact was made with First Army, and to a general line Bergnassau-Scheuern-Holzhausen road on right, overrunning approximately 20 towns. 89th Div crossed the last of its combat elements over the Rhine and expanded the bridgehead toward Wiesbaden; In XII Corps area, 5th Div took over Frankfurt bridgehead and finished crossing 3 battalions into the city, which it was methodically clearing. Helped by CCA of 4th Armoured Div, elements of 328th and 101st Regiments, 26th Div, slowly expanded Hanau bridgehead; Grosskrotzenberg was cleared, but enemy resisted house to house in Hanau.
Eastern Europe: Troops of the Second White Russian Front broke into Danzig and Gdynia and street fighting ensued. First Ukrainian Front overran Silesian towns of Strehlen (S of Breslau) and Rybnik (E of Ratibor); forces of Fourth Ukrainian Front overran Zory and Wodzislaw, SE of Ratibor. In Hungary, troops of Second and Third Ukrainian Fronts continued west toward Austria. Sakishima Islands: Task Force 57 completed it’s mission and withdrew this evening to it’s fuelling area east of Luzon. During the two days the carrier aircraft flew 574 sorties and all the enemy airfields on the islands, as well as barracks, wireless and radar stations, were bombed and strafed. Several coastal ships were also attacked and one blew up. Twenty Japanese aircraft were destroyed on the ground and one in the air.
Japan: XXI Bomber Command Mission 46: In support of the Okinawa invasion 151 B-29s bombed airfields and an aircraft factory on Kyushu. During the night of 27/28 March, 97 B-29s mined Shimonoseki Strait. This, combined with further intensive day and night aerial bombardment by other aircraft and submarine action in waters about Japan, will yield excellent results.
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Post by emron on Mar 29, 2020 10:04:08 GMT 12
28 March 1945
Western Europe: Without consulting Prime Minister Churchill or President Roosevelt first, General Eisenhower sent Stalin a telegram giving details of his order of battle and saying that he intended to send the main weight of his advance across southern Germany and Austria. The main thrust was to be toward Erfurt and Leipzig and a secondary effort was to go for Nuremberg, thus leaving Berlin to the Russians alone. As the invasion of Germany commenced, Eisenhower had a total of 90 full-strength divisions under his command (4.5 million troops), with the number of armoured divisions now reaching 25. The Allied front along the Rhine stretched 450 miles from the river's mouth at the North Sea in the Netherlands to the Swiss border in the south. He immediately ordered the change and with the 12th rather than 21 Army Group to make the main effort. Eastern Europe: Troops of Second White Russian Front captured the naval base of Gdynia and cleared the western part of Danzig. Continuing west along the south bank of the Danube in region east of Budapest, Second Ukrainian forces took Gyoer.
Burma: Lieutenant General Shinichi Tanaka ordered the Japanese 33rd Army to break off the siege of Meiktila and prepare to resist further Allied advances to the south. Members of the Burmese National Army, who until now had been fighting alongside the Japanese, yesterday openly declared war on them and rose up in a country-wide rebellion.
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Post by emron on Mar 29, 2020 18:41:14 GMT 12
29 March 1945
United Kingdom: Sittingbourne, Kent; AA gunners shot down what is thought to be the last V-1 launched against Britain as launch sites in the Low Countries were overrun by advancing Allied troops.
Western Europe: In U.S. Third Army’s XX Corps area, 5th Div completed capture of Frankfurt, which it then polices. In U.S. Seventh Army's XV Corps area, enemy was resisting 157th Infantry attacks from house to house in Aschaffenburg and Schweinheim. 44th Div moved into Mannheim, from which the German garrison had withdrawn.
Eastern Europe: Troops of Third White Russian Front mopped up remnants of the encircled enemy groups SW of Koenigsberg in East Prussia. Fighting continued in east part of Danzig. In Hungary, troops of Third Ukrainian Front drove to Austrian frontier, capturing Szombathely, Koeszeg, and Kapuva. Malaya: During the night of 29/30 March, XX Bomber Command B-29s flew their last mission from bases in India when 24 bombed oil storage facilities in Singapore. The B-29 units then began transferring to bases in the Mariana Islands. Ryukyu Islands: 77th Div completed capture of the Kerama Island group. The anchorage and seaplane base were put into operation. With approaches to Okinawa landing beaches now cleared of mines, naval surface vessels moved in to pound assault area at close range. Aircraft continued to bombard Okinawa. Underwater demolition teams reconnoitred Hagushi beaches. Elements of TF 58, after uneventful search for enemy fleet units off Japan, attacked Kyushu airfields and enemy shipping on return trip to Okinawa.
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Post by emron on Mar 31, 2020 19:30:20 GMT 12
30 March 1945
Germany: Aircraft from RAF and U.S. Eighth Air Force bombed the three major ports of Bremen, Hamburg and Wilhelmshaven. The German cruiser Köln was sunk at dock in Wilhelmshaven but did not capsize. Since her guns remained above water, the ship was used as an artillery battery to defend the city from advancing Allied forces. She served in this capacity until the end of the war in May. Submarine U-429 was sunk near Wilhelmshaven; U-430 near Bremen; U-348 near Hamburg and U-1167 near the Deutsche Werke yard in Hamburg.
Eastern Europe: Troops of Second White Russian Front completed capture of Danzig. In Silesia, Soviet units were eliminating encircled enemy forces at Glogau and Breslau. Some elements of Second Ukrainian Front opened offensive along border of Czechoslovakia and Hungary, speeding west across Hron and Nitta Rivers toward Slovak capital of Bratislava. Other elements of this front continued to clear south bank of the Danube in Hungary. Some elements of Third Ukrainian Front drove into Austria from vicinity of Hungarian town of Koeszeg while others gained ground west of Lake Balaton; still others, assisted by Bulgarian troops, thrust quickly southward from Lake Balaton to the Drava River along border of Hungary and Yugoslavia. Burma: In British Fourteenth Army's 33 Corps area, Kyaukse fell to Indian 20th Div after hard fighting. In 4 Corps area, with Meiktila secure, Indian 17th Div and 255th Tank Brigade started south toward Pyawbwe.
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Post by emron on Apr 2, 2020 19:03:47 GMT 12
1 April 1945
Western Europe: The US 1st and 9th Armies linked up at Lippstadt cutting off the Ruhr. 325,000 men of the German 15th and 5th Panzer Armies under Field Marshal Model were surrounded.
Eastern Europe: Troops of First Ukrainian Front completed destruction of the German garrison of Glogau, on the Oder in Silesia. Second Ukrainian Front continued west astride the Danube toward Vienna; elements north of the river reached positions within 13 miles of Bratislava. Troops of Third Ukrainian Front overran Sopron (Hungary); pushed farther NW toward Wiener Neustadt and Vienna (Austria); with assistance of Bulgarians, continued clearing region SW of Lake Balaton in Hungary. Okinawa: Operation Iceberg; Joint Expeditionary Force (TF 51) landed Tenth Army on SW shore of Okinawa in vicinity of Hagushi at 0830, following intensive naval and aerial bombardment by supporting forces of Fifth Fleet. Northern Attack Force (TF 53) put 6th and 1st Marine Divs, III Amphibious Corps, ashore north of Bishi River while Southern Attack Force (TF 55) landed 7th and 96th Divs, XXIV Corps, south of the river. Japanese offer little opposition as assault units moved inland to gain beachhead of about 15,000 yards in length and 4,000-5,000 yards in depth. As a diversion, 2nd Marine Div feints landing on SE shore of Okinawa. Air opposition was light but kamikazes, destined to play a more important role as the campaign progresses, caused some damage to shipping. The enemy carries out it’s first successful mission using “Ohka” suicide planes today when they damaged the battleship USS West Virginia (BB-48), attacked transports USS Hinsdale (APA-120) and USS Alpine (APA-92), and tank landing ship USS LST-884. In U.S. Tenth Army's III Amphib. Corps area, 6th Marine Div, employing 22nd Regiment on north and 4th on south took Yontan airfield with ease. 1st Marine Div landed to south and with 7th Regiment on north and 5th on south, sped east beyond Sobe in conjunction with XXIV Corps to south. In XXIV Corps area, 7th Div moved quickly eastward with 17th Infantry on left and 32nd on right, seizing Kadena airfield. 96th Div, to south, moved forward to secure commanding ground south and SE of its beaches, pushing to river beyond Chatan on coast. East China Sea: A kamikaze attack on Task Force 57 killed 14 sailors on board British carrier HMS Indefatigable and damaged the destroyer HMS Ulster.
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Post by emron on Apr 3, 2020 12:55:07 GMT 12
2 April 1940
Germany: Chancellor Adolf Hitler ordered that Operation Weserubung, the invasion of Norway and Denmark, to be carried out. The planned start date was 9 April.
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Post by emron on Apr 3, 2020 20:11:22 GMT 12
3 April 1940
United Kingdom: Operation Wilfred and Plan R4; The British began to receive reports of a heavy build-up of shipping and troops in the Baltic German ports of Rostock, Stettin and Swinemunde. It was assumed that this was part of a force being sent to counter an Allied move against Scandinavia (the Germans had some awareness of Allied plans as a result of their own intelligence) and so today the British took the decision to proceed with Operation Wilfred; to lay mines in the channel between Norway and her offshore islands and prevent the transport of Swedish iron ore through neutral Norwegian waters. This would force ships, carrying ore to be used to sustain the German war effort, out into the open sea where the blockading ships of Contraband Control could sink or capture them. The date of 8 April was set for the Admiralty to implement it. Envisaging that Operation Wilfred would provoke a furious enemy response, notwithstanding the preparations already underway in their Baltic ports, a parallel initiative, Plan R4, was ordered to prevent German landings by sending strong British and French forces to occupy the key Norwegian ports of Narvik, Stavanger, Bergen and Trondheim, before they marched to the Swedish frontier and took control of the iron ore sites. Immediately four cruisers (HMS Berwick, York, Devonshire and Glasgow) sailed to Rosyth to embark units of the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment, troops that would be transported to Norway as part of the Plan R4 if deemed necessary. Additional troops embarked onto transport ships in the Clyde with further troops, held in readiness until indications of German intentions justified sending them to Norway.
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Post by emron on Apr 5, 2020 20:37:22 GMT 12
5 April 1940
United Kingdom: Operation Wilfred; Mining the Norwegian Leads. The three groups departed today from Scapa Flow; Force WV led by battlecruiser HMS Renown (Vice-Admiral W. J. Whitworth) with 4 minelaying destroyers and 4 escort destroyers was to lay a minefield at the mouth of Vestfjord; Force WB led by light cruiser HMS Birmingham with 2 minelaying destroyers to lay a simulated minefield off the Bud headland as a diversion; Force WS led by auxiliary minelayer HMS Teviot Bank with 4 minelaying destroyers to lay a minefield off Stadtlandet.
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Post by emron on Apr 6, 2020 20:51:26 GMT 12
6 April 1940
Germany: Operation Weserubung; Invasion of Norway. The first part of the invasion force departed from the Schillig roadstead outside Wilhelmshaven at midnight. Gruppe 1: Battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau as distant cover, plus 10 destroyers with 2,000 mountain troops to attack Narvik; Gruppe 2: Heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper and four destroyers with 1,700 troops to attack Trondheim.
6 April 1945
Western Europe: Germany; Two American armies with the Rühr industrial heartland in their grip have been rounding up some 20,000 prisoners daily. With the figure already touching 100,000, they reckon the final total will be well over 300,000 when the final pockets of resistance from Field Marshal Walter Model's Army Group B have been eliminated. Simpson's US Ninth Army came down from the north to join up with Hodge's First at Lippstadt, east of the Rühr valley. In this area, Warburg was captured after German civilians armed with bazookas, put up token resistance to the First Army. The Ninth was now clearing up Hamm, a railway centre and industrial town on the northern edge of the Rühr. Eastern Europe: Some elements of Second Ukrainian Front clearing the region north of the Danube reached Morava River line NE of Vienna on a 37-mile front while others to south closed in on Vienna from the east. Troops of Third Ukrainian Front were clearing southern suburbs of Vienna. Japan: Operation Ten-Go; Battleship Yamato and nine escorts (the cruiser Yahagi and eight destroyers) sailed from Tokuyama for Okinawa where, in concert with kamikaze and Okinawa-based army units, were ordered to attack the Allied forces assembled on and around Okinawa. Yamato would then be beached to act as an unsinkable gun emplacement and continue to fight until destroyed. Okinawa: The Japanese made a belated but all-out air effort against shipping and Okinawa beaches. Of some 400 planes involved, about three quarters ware destroyed. Kamikazes sank 2 destroyers, a mine sweeper, 2 ammunition ships, and an LST and damaged other shipping.
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Post by emron on Apr 8, 2020 10:30:39 GMT 12
7 April 1945
Western Europe: There was heavy fighting by US 1st and 9th Armies around the Ruhr pocket. The British were closing on Hanover on the autobahn to Berlin, while another spearhead was driving for Bremen. In the south, the Americans have broken through to Wurzburg. The 282nd Combat Engineer Battalion of Patton's 3d Army, discovered the Reichsbank gold reserve cache in the Kaiseroda potassium mine at Merkers. The haul included 8,198 bars of gold bullion; 55 boxes of crated gold bullion; hundreds of bags of gold items; over 1,300 bags of gold Reichsmarks, British gold pounds, and French gold francs; 711 bags of American twenty-dollar gold pieces; hundreds of bags of gold and silver coins; hundreds of bags of foreign currency; 9 bags of valuable coins; 2,380 bags and 1,300 boxes of Reichsmarks (2.76 billion Reichsmarks); 20 silver bars; 40 bags containing silver bars; 63 boxes and 55 bags of silver plate; 1 bag containing six platinum bars; and 110 bags from various countries.
Japan: Operation Ten-Go; Having been notified of it’s presence navigating the Bungo Strait last night by U.S. submarines Threadfin and Hackleback, the crew of a Martin PBM-3D Mariner of VPB-21, based at Kerama Retto anchorage in the Ryukyu Islands, this morning spotted the Japanese “Surface Special Attack Force” built around the battleship HIJMS Yamato and alerted the Fifth Fleet. Task Force 58 launched 386 aircraft and this afternoon the battleship and the light cruiser HIJMS Yahagi were sunk west-southwest of Kagoshima, Japan. Also sunk were destroyers HIJMS Asashimo, Hamakaze, Isokaze and Kasumi; the destroyers HIJMS Suzutsuki, Hatsushimo, Yukikaze and Suzutsuki were damaged. Yahagi sank at 14.05, the victim of twelve bombs and seven torpedoes. At the same time, a final flight of torpedo bombers attacked Yamato from her starboard side. By 14:20, the power went out and her remaining 25mm anti-aircraft guns began to drop into the sea. Three minutes later Yamato capsized. Her main 46cm turrets fell off, and as she rolled suction was created that drew swimming crewmen back toward the ship. When the roll reached approximately 120°, one of the two bow magazines detonated in a tremendous explosion. The resulting mushroom cloud over 3.5 miles high was seen 100 miles away in Kyushu. Yamato sank rapidly, losing an estimated 3,055 of her 3,332 crew, including fleet commander Vice-Admiral Seichi Ito. The few survivors were recovered by the four surviving destroyers, which withdrew to Japan. From the first attack at 12:37 to the explosion at 14:23 Yamato, the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleship ever constructed, was hit by at least 11 torpedoes and 6 bombs. There may have been two more torpedo and bomb hits, but this was not confirmed.
Okinawa: Fleet units shot down 54 kamikazes against the loss of 10 fighters. High speed minesweeper USS Emmons, irreparably damaged by five kamikazes the previous day, was scuttled by high speed minesweeper USS Ellyson; tank landing ship USS LST-447 sank as the result of damage inflicted by kamikaze the previous day. Motor gunboat PGM-18 was sunk by mine; while picking up PGM-18's survivors, motor minesweeper YMS-103 was damaged by mine. Also off Okinawa, kamikazes damaged carrier USS Hancock (a suicide plane cartwheeled across her flight deck and crashed into a group of planes while its bomb hit the port catapult to cause a tremendous explosion); battleship USS Maryland (a suicide plane loaded with a 500-pound bomb crashed the top of turret No. 3 from starboard at dusk); destroyers USS Longshaw and USS Bennett; destroyer escort USS Wesson and motor minesweeper YMS-81; a shore battery damaged motor minesweeper YMS-427; tank landing ship USS LST-698 was damaged by grounding; tank landing ship USS LST-890 was damaged in collision with LST-788.
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Post by emron on Apr 8, 2020 18:38:28 GMT 12
8 April 1940
Norway: Operation Wilfred and Operation Weserubung; Today was the designated day for the mining to be carried out and Britain informed the Norwegian authorities of its intention to lay mines inside their territorial waters. Soon afterwards, Force WB simulated mine-laying off the Bud headland by using oil drums and patrolled the area to "warn" shipping of the danger. Force WV duly carried out its task and laid the minefield in the mouth of Vestfjord. At 05:15 this morning, the Allies broadcast a statement to the world that justified their action and defined the minefield areas. The Norwegian government issued a strong protest and demanded their immediate removal. Destroyer HMS Glowworm, having been detached yesterday from the task force to search for a man lost overboard was on her way to rejoin battleship HMS Renown when she encountered the German destroyers, Z11 Bernd von Arnim and Z18 Hans Ludemann, in the heavy fog before 8:00am. The destroyers were part of a German naval detachment, led by the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper on its way to land troops at Trondheim for the German invasion of Norway. Glowworm opened fire and the German destroyers attempted to disengage, signalling for help. The request was soon answered by Admiral Hipper which spotted Glowworm and opened fire with her 8-inch main guns, hitting the destroyer with the fourth salvo. Despite major damage soon after from the cruiser’s 4.1-inch guns, Glowworm fired five torpedoes from one mounting at a range of 870 yd, but all missed. The destroyer fell back through her smoke screen to buy time to get her second torpedo mount working but the two ships were very close when they emerged from the smoke and Lieutenant Commander Roope ordered a hard turn to starboard to ram the cruiser. Glowworm struck the cruiser just abaft the anchor and the collision broke off the destroyer’s bow and the rest of the ship scraped along Hipper’s side, gouging open several holes in the latter's hull and destroying her forward starboard torpedo mounting. One German sailor was knocked overboard by the collision. Hipper took on some 500 tons of water before the leaks could be isolated, but was not seriously damaged. Glowworm was on fire when she drifted clear and her boilers exploded at 10:24, taking 109 of her crew with her. Admiral Hipper hove to in order to rescue her man overboard and Glowworm’s survivors. The German sailor was not found, but 40 British sailors were recovered. Lieutenant Commander Gerard Broadmead Roope who drowned when he could no longer hang on to a rope whilst being pulled up the side of the cruiser, was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. Although not gazetted until 1945 this was the first deed for which the VC was awarded during WW2. Meanwhile Renown, which had diverted to assist Glowworm, was in action with the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau 80 miles west of the Lofotens. Although damage was inflicted by both sides, the Germans failed to take their opportunity to sink the older and slower British battlecruiser. Later an iron ore ship, Rio de Janeiro travelling from Stettin (in northern Germany) was sunk in the Skaggerak by the Polish submarine Orzel, part of the Royal Navy's 2nd Submarine Flotilla. The ship was carrying troops, horses and tanks for the German invasion of Norway. Around half of the 300 men on board were drowned, with the survivors telling the crews of the Norwegian fishing boats that picked them up that they were on their way to Bergen to save it from the British. A few hours later, two other German ships (the Posidonia and the Krete) were also sunk in the same area. Late in the evening Gruppe 5 was spotted by the Norwegian guard vessel Pol III. Pol III was fired at; her captain Leif Welding-Olsen became the first Norwegian killed in action during the invasion.
Germany: Invasion Force Gruppe 3 comprising light cruisers Koln and Konigsberg, artillery training ship Bremse, Schnellboot mother-ship Karl Peters, two torpedo boats and five motor torpedo boats with 1,900 troops sailed from Wilhelmshaven to Bergen; Gruppe 4 comprising light cruiser Karlsruhe, three torpedo boats, seven motor torpedo boats and Schnellboot mother-ship Tsingtau with 1,100 troops sailed from Bremerhaven to Kristiansand and Arendal; Gruppe 5 comprising heavy cruisers Blucher and Lutzow, light cruiser Emden, three torpedo boats and eight minesweepers with 2,000 troops left Strander Bucht and steamed to the Oslofjord, where they arrived at midnight. Twenty eight submarines of the Kriegsmarine formed a protective screen across the western approaches to Norway.
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Post by emron on Apr 11, 2020 19:51:08 GMT 12
9 April 1940
Scandinavia: Operation Weserubung; The invasion of Denmark began as 5am when three troopships sailed into Copenhagen harbour. Trawlers escorted by E-boats then brought troops into all Denmark's ports and major islands, giving them control of the vital sea passages, the Skagerrak and the Kattegat, between Denmark and Norway. Airborne troops landed at Aalborg airfield and motorised troops crossed Denmark's land frontier at Flensburg and Tondern. At Gjedser a ferry came in carrying troops and an armoured train. Two squadrons of German Messerschmitt Bf110s attacked Vaeriose airfield and destroyed ten Danish aircraft and seriously damaged another fourteen, thereby wiping out half of the entire Army Air Service. Faced with the explicit threat of the bombing the civilian population of Copenhagen, King Christian and the entire Danish government capitulated at approximately 06:00, in exchange they were to retain political independence in domestic matters. The invasion of Denmark lasted less than six hours and was the shortest military campaign conducted by the Germans during the war. The Norwegian Invasion began with landings at Oslo, Bergen, Kristiansand, Trondheim and Narvik. Parachute troops were used at Oslo, the landing at Sola Air Station was the first opposed paratrooper attack in history. There was a. heroic, but wholly ineffective, stand by the old Norwegian armoured coastal defence ships Norge and Eidsvold at Narvik. Both ships were torpedoed and sunk with great loss of life. At approx 0400 the new German heavy cruiser "Blücher" carrying Rear-Admiral Kummetz, General Erwin Engelbrecht and 1000 troops of the 163rd. Infantry Division approached the Drøbak Narrows in the Oslo Fjord. The Oscarsborg fortress opened fire with its 1905 Krupp 28 cm. guns to good effect. Blücher was set on fire but continued forward, until almost immediately it came within range of the Austrian-built torpedo battery and was hit by two of the torpedoes. This sealed her fate, and about two hours later Blücher rolled over and sank with very heavy loss of life totalling 600–1,000 men. Admiral Kummetz and General Engelbrecht were able to swim ashore and were made prisoners by the Norwegians; Torpedo boat Albatros was also sunk in the Oslofjord. Cruiser Königsberg was damaged near Bergen by coastal batteries. Within 24 hours all of the planned objectives had been captured and occupied.
9 April 1945
Western Europe: During an RAF attack on Kiel Harbour, Kriegsmarine cruiser Admiral Scheer was bombed and capsized at it's dock, Hipper and Emden were also heavily damaged.
Eastern Europe: Königsberg Fortress surrendered to the Soviets. The siege had lasted 59 days. The fighting cost the Germans 42,000 men dead and 27,000 captured. A quarter of the city's population, 25,000 civilians, also died in the fighting because Hitler refused to allow their evacuation.
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Post by emron on Apr 11, 2020 21:45:03 GMT 12
10 April 1940
Norwegian Campaign: First Battle of Narvik: The 2nd Destroyer Flotilla (Capt. Warburton-Lee with HMS Hardy, Havock, Hostile, Hotspur and Hunter) entered Ofotfjord to attack the German ships assigned to the occupation of Narvik. These included 10 large destroyers. Six transports were sunk together with destroyers 'Anton Schmitt' and 'Wilhelm Heidkamp'. Others were damaged, but as 2nd Flotilla retired, HMS Hardy was sunk by gunfire; HMS Hunter was sunk by gunfire and collision; HMS Hotspur was badly damaged. Capt. Bernard Armitage Warburton-Lee (b. 1895) RN was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. The remaining German destroyers were now low on fuel and ammunition, allowing Hostile and Havock to come back to aid the retreat of Hotspur. Shortly after the First Battle of Narvik, two more German ships were sunk by British forces. During the night of 9/10 April, the submarine HMS Truant intercepted and sank the light cruiser Karlsruhe shortly after she had left Kristiansand having been damaged earlier by the shore fortifications there. Cruiser Königsberg, damaged by shore batteries in the landings at Bergen was sunk at her moorings by FAA Skuas of 800 and 803 Squadrons flying from the Orkneys. This was the first major warship to be sunk by air attack. All but one Skua returned to base after the 330 mile night crossing of the North Sea. Today carrier HMS Furious and battleship HMS Warspite joined the Home Fleet. However Luftwaffe bombers launched an assault of their own against the Home Fleet damaging cruisers HMS Devonshire, Glasgow and Southampton and sinking the destroyer HMS Gurkha. Because their anti-aircraft measures had proved ineffective, the Home Fleet was forced to withdraw north. Submarine HMS Tarpon was sunk in the Norwegian Sea by depth charges. Ssubmarine HMS Thistle was torpedoed and sunk by U-4 off Skudesnes, in the Lofoten Islands of Norway. U-50 on patrol off the Shetlands in support of the Norwegian invasion, was sunk by destroyer HMS Hero.
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Post by emron on Apr 12, 2020 10:08:32 GMT 12
11 April 1940
Norwegian Campaign: Returning from the Oslo landings, German pocket battleship Lutzow was torpedoed and badly damaged by submarine HMS Spearfish in the Skagerrak. Cruiser HMS Penelope was damaged when she ran aground in Vestfjord on her way into Narvik. 6 Wellingtons attacked Stavanger airport, this was the first RAF bombing operation against a target in the interior.
Mediterranean Sea: Under orders to return to to Britain urgently from Alexandria, carriers HMS Ark Royal and HMS Glorious arrived independently at Malta, and then departed for Gibraltar escorted by the destroyers HMAS Stuart, HMS Bulldog, Westcott and Wishard.
11 April 1945
Germany: The US 9th Army reached the River Elbe. Eisenhower had already issued orders for them to stop advancing further east despite Berlin being only 60 miles distant. The US 3rd Army took Weimar. The Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp was liberated by troops of 3rd Armoured Division, 104th Infantry Division and 9th Infantry Division. Most of the prisoners had been evacuated by the SS in the previous week to other camps. Only several hundred of the sick rermained along with around 1300 bodies of prisoners who had died at the barracks. Other troops stumbled upon the intact Mittelwerk V-weapon plant at neighbouring Nordhausen, where the prisoners had been used as forced labour. The U.S. troops removed as much material as possible to keep it from the Russians. A detachment of troops of the 9th Armoured Infantry Battalion of the 6th Armoured Division arrived at the main Buchenwald camp complex at 3:15 p.m. Later in the day elements of the 83rd Infantry Division overran Langenstein and liberated 21.000 from that sub-camp.
Burma: British troops captured Pyawbe, opening the route to Rangoon.
Okinawa: A single Kamikaze plummeted over the flight deck of carrier USS Enterrprise, glanced off the side and its engine damaged the ship at the waterline. The bomb the aircraft was carrying, exploded beneath the ship, lifting the hull about 3 feet rupturing eight fuel tanks and damaging some machinery. Enterprise retired to Ulithi Atoll in the Caroline Islands for repairs. Another suicide plane crashed just below the main deck level on battleship USS Missouri. The starboard wing of the plane was thrown far forward, starting a gasoline fire at 5-inch Gunmount No. 3. Yet the battleship suffered only superficial damage and the fire was brought quickly under control. The Missouri remained on station as part of Task Force 58. Other vessels that suffered lesser damage included carrier USS Essex and destroyers USS Kidd, Hale, Black and Hank; destroyer escort USS Samuel S. Miles and an LCS.
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Post by emron on Apr 12, 2020 20:11:49 GMT 12
12 April 1945
Western Europe: The 9th US Army crossed the River Elbe at Magdeburg. Patton's forces took Erfurt.
Occupied Germany: General Eisenhower with George Patton and Omar Bradley visited the Ohrdruf concentration camp, part of the Buchenwald complex and the first camp to be be liberated by the US Army. Seeing the Nazi crimes committed at Ohrdruf made a powerful impression on all three and Eisenhower wanted the world to know quickly the horrible truth about what had happened at the concentration camps.
Okinawa: Nine "Bettys" attacked the U.S. fleet off Okinawa. The destroyer USS Mannert L. Abele was hit, broke in two, and sank, witnessed by LSMR-189 CO James M. Stewart. It was the first Allied ship to be sunk by a Yokosuka Ohka rocket powered, human guided suicide attack aircraft. High speed minesweeper USS Jeffers destroyed an Ohka with AA fire 50 yd from the ship, but the resulting explosion was still powerful enough to cause extensive damage, forcing Jeffers to withdraw. The destroyer USS Stanly was attacked by two Ohkas. One struck above the waterline just behind the ship's bow, its charge passing completely through the hull and splashing into the sea, where it detonated underwater, causing little damage to the ship. The other Ohka narrowly missed (its pilot probably killed by anti-aircraft fire) and crashed into the sea. Other kamikazes sank support landing craft LCS-33 and damaged battleships USS Idaho and Tennessee, destroyers USS Purdy, Cassin Young and Zellars and destroyer escorts USS Riddle, Rall, Walter C. Wann and Whitehurst and light minelayer USS Lindsey; minesweeper Gladiator was also damaged by the near-miss of a kamikaze.
USA: President Franklin D. Roosevelt had been staying at his retreat in Warm Springs, Georgia since March 29. This afternoon he suffered a massive cerebral haemorrhage and died shortly after at 3.35 pm. He was 63. It was only 82 days into his record fourth term in office and less than a month before the surrender of Germany. Harry S.Truman was sworn in as his successor at 7:09 pm in the West Wing of the White House.
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Post by emron on Apr 14, 2020 20:23:45 GMT 12
13 April 1940
Norwegian Campaign: With it becoming more evident that the bulk of the German fleet had slipped out of Norwegian waters, the Home Fleet continued north to Narvik in the hope of catching the remaining destroyers. Yesterday, they came in range of Narvik and an aerial attack from HMS Furious was attempted but the results were disappointing. This morning, battleship HMS Warspite and nine destroyers were sent into the Narvik Fjords to finish off the remaining German ships. Warspite’s Swordfish catapult aircraft was sent ahead and as well as locating two of the German destroyers it sank an enemy submarine, U-64, the first such occurrence. Warspite’s destroyers travelled 3 miles in advance of the battleship and were the first to engage their German counterparts which had come to meet them, thus starting the Second Battle of Narvik. The German ships were running low on ammunition and were gradually pushed back to the harbour. By this afternoon, most attempted to flee up the Rombaksfjord, the only exception being Z19 Hermann Kunne which beached herself as she made for the Herjangsfjord and was destroyed by HMS Eskimo. Four British destroyers continued to chase the German ships up through the Rombaksfjord, Eskimo was soon damaged by the waiting opposition. However, the German situation was hopeless, having run out of fuel as well as ammunition and by the time the remaining British ships arrived, the German crews had abandoned and scuttled their ships: Bernd von Arnim, Diether von Roeder, Erich Giese, Erich Koellner, Georg Thiele, Hans Ludermann and Wolfgang Zenker. By 18:30 the British ships were making their way out of the now cleared fjord.
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Post by emron on Apr 15, 2020 18:03:28 GMT 12
14 April 1940
Norwegian Campaign: The German advances north from Oslo in the Glamma Valley near Lake Mjösa were delayed by skilful action of the Norwegian forces. Maj. Gen. Ruge now had 12,000 troops, but no armour and no anti-tank weaponry. Ruge’s plan was to make his stand in the mountainous country 160 miles south of Trondheim where the Norwegian’s could use the terrain to their advantage while relying on the Allies to capture the city of Trondheim. Strategically placed with an excellent deep harbour and at the head of two valleys - the Gudbrandsal and the Osterdal - that lead south through the mountains to Oslo, it also lay on the only road and rail link with northern Norway, and currently it is only lightly defended with 1,700 mountain troops. Meanwhile the advance party of the Allied Expeditionary Force landed at Namsos and Harstad. Despite being told that the Germans had fled Narvik, as a precaution Maj. Gen. P.J. Macksey, landed his 3 infantry battalions at Harstad, 35 miles north of Narvik which was still in the hands of the Norwegians. The RAF mounted two bombing raids on Stavanger aerodrome by aircraft based at Lossiemouth, Scotland. The Fleet Air Arm also launched strikes against naval targets at Bergen from RNAS Hatston, Orkney Islands. Submarine HMS Tarpon on patrol off southern Norway was sunk by German minesweeper M6.
Gibraltar: Vice-Admiral Lionel V. Wells shifted his flag to HMS Glorious which then departed Gibraltar at 2130 in company with the destroyers HMS Velox and Watchman and sailed for the Clyde. HMS Ark Royal remained at Gibraltar.
14 April 1945
France: A series of attacks on remaining German positions, which deny the Allies use of port facilities in the Bordeaux area, began today and will last for 6 days. The Eighth Air Force flew Mission 948: 1,167 bombers were dispatched, in advance of an assault by a French detachment of the Sixth Army Group, on the 20,000 strong enemy garrison defending pockets in the south-west at Royan, in the Gironde estuary. The French battleship Lorraine provided bombardment support.
Central Germany: With Patton's Third Army thrusting through the Thuringian Forest to Dresden and Leipzig, the gap between the Americans and the Russians was closing rapidly and Germany was being sliced in two. There were fears that Hitler may attempt a last-ditch defence in the southern redoubt based on Berchtesgaden. French and American troops were closing on the Danube before crossing into Bavaria. In the north, the British were moving on Bremen, Hamburg and Wilhelmshaven to forestall any attempt to mount a defence of the ports. Relentless Allied air attacks on Germany were wiping out the Luftwaffe on the tarmac and the Kriegsmarine in harbour. Figures show that 1,738 enemy aircraft were destroyed in a week's attacks on 59 airfields. A total of 332 were shot down in air combat. Many German planes were now limited by a lack of fuel. Japan: Not a building is left standing in ten square miles of Tokyo after a four-hour fire-bomb raid last night by 327 USAAF B-29s Where yesterday there were wooden homes, workshops and munitions factories, there was only smoking rubble in which thousands were feared to have died. The imperial palace was also damaged. The fire-storm started as 2,139 tons of incendiaries filled with jellied petrol set buildings burning so fiercely that all air was consumed, creating strong winds that spread the fire further - until there was nothing left to burn.
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Post by emron on Apr 17, 2020 18:09:46 GMT 12
15 April 1940
Norwegian Campaign: The Main Body of the British 24th Guards Brigade arrived at Harstad, Norway. As the troopships approached the port, escorting destroyers HMS Brazen and HMS Fearless found U-49 and sank her. HMS Furious was detached from the Home Fleet with three escorting destroyers, HMS Isis, Ilex and Imogen and proceeded to enter a heretofore unnamed fiord which was immediately dubbed "Furious" fjord. At 1726 a striking force of nine Swordfish were dispatched to bomb grounded German transport aircraft on a frozen lake north of Narvik. The aircraft attacked in clear weather and results were good. Several direct hits were obtained. It was noted that the 250s blew large holes in the ice, and it was felt that the "runways" were made unserviceable.
!5 April 1945
Western Europe: The Eighth Air Force flews Mission 951: 1,348 unescorted bombers were dispatched to attack strongpoints on the French Atlantic coast; the first two forces made the sole operational employment of napalm bombs by the Eighth Air Force against German ground installations (pillboxes, gunpits, tank trenches, and heavy gun emplacements); The results were negligible and HQ recommended its discontinuance against this type of target. 21 Army Group: In Canadian First Army's Canadian 1 Corps area, 49th Div completed capture of Arnhem. Canadian 5th Armoured Div began drive from there to Zuider Zee. Liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp: The first British troops entered Bergen-Belsen, near Celle in northern Germany, on Sunday at 3 p.m., led by Brigadier H.L. Glyn Hughes, the Chief Medical Officer of the British Second Army. They found over 13,000 unburied bodies and (including the satellite camps) around 60,000 inmates, most acutely sick and starving. The prisoners had been without food or water for days before the Allied arrival, partially due to allied bombing. Immediately before and after liberation, prisoners were dying at around 500 per day, mostly from typhus. The British Army immediately began to organise the relief effort. Their first priorities were to bury the dead, contain the spread of disease, restore the water supply and arrange the distribution of food that was suitable for starving prisoners in various stages of malnutrition.
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