July 22
We Remember:
1940: RAF 4 Group (Whitley). Bombs aircraft factory at Bremen and industrial targets Ruhr. 2 Group (Blenheim). 107 Sqn. Bombs Creil - started a fire visible 40 miles away. (Andy Etherington)
The first victory by a Blenheim Mark 1F night fighter, equipped with airborne radar. (Andy Etherington)
The British war cabinet today approved a draft document signed 19 July by Neville Chamberlain, now the Lord President of the Council, creating a new secret organization, the Special Operations Executive (SOE). ItÕs aim, in ChurchillÕs words, is to Òset Europe alight.Ó (Andy Etherington)
Prince Konoye Fumimaro is appointed prime minister of Japan. (Andy Etherington)
1941: Italian planes locate part of the Convoy of Operation Substance which left Gibraltar yesterday. The Italian Fleet stays in port, expecting a ferry flight of aircraft to Malta.
The Italian sub Alagi heard the convoy of Operation Substance but could not attack while the sub Diaspro fired 4 torpedoes to the Ark Royal and HMAS Nestor but missed. 8 SM79s torpedo bombers and 15 bombers (SM79 and Cant Z1007) take off from Sardinia to attack the convoy but failed to find it. (Andrea Galliano)
British Minister of State for the Middle East Sir Oliver Lyttleton makes several concessions to de Gaulle. General Dentz and several Vichy French officers should be segregated, if necessary, in Palestine; that the British government should not intervene in political and administrative affairs in Syria; and that it would 'protect the historical interests of the French in Syria.' de Gaulle proposes a neww application of the armistice convention. He also suggests that the British should limit themselves to 'the military operations against the common enemy.' Lyttleton agrees on behalf of the British. (Andy Etherington)
The new foreign minister, Teijiro Toyoda, reaffirms Japan's alliance with Germany and Italy.
While the Finnish attack in Karelia is in progress (often against heavy Soviet resistance), Colonel Ruben Lagus, the commander of the 5th Div., is nominated the first repicient of a new decoration, the Mannerheim Cross (2nd class). (Mikko HŠrmeinen)
1942: British forces, including the 23rd Armored Brigade, south of Ruweisat have taken heavy losses. Robbel however, decides that the drain on his strength has been too much. Both sides pause to regroup. The British are better situated to receive reinforcements. And Malta is recovering.
Maj-Gen Horii's South Seas Detachment begin the trek along the Kokoda Trail from Buna, New Guinea. This trail leads over the Owen Stanley Mountains (11,000 feet; 3340 meters) towards Port Moresby. Due to the loss in the Naval Battle of the Coral Sea, the Japanese have arrived at this overland route to capture Port Moresby.
AMPLIFYING THE ABOVE:
USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses mount 3 attacks and B-25 Mitchells, B-26 Marauders, P-39 and P-400 Airacobras and RAAF P-40s mount 5 attacks against IJN shipping and landing barges off Buna. The aircraft damage a destroyer and sink an army transport. (Jack McKillop)
Note on the Above:
Apparently, Port Moresby is a snorkeling center now.
http://www.loloata.
(Tom Hickox)
US President Roosevelt agrees with the British that ÒSledgehammerÓ is not possible in 1942. He instructs his planners in London to find Òanother place for US troops to fight in 1942Ó.
Ships bearing the 1st Marine Division sail from Wellington, NZ for the Koro island rehearsal, prior to the landings in the southern Solomon Islands now set for August 7.
AMPLIFYING THE ABOVE:
USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses mount 3 attacks and B-25 Mitchells, B-26 Marauders, P-39 and P-400 Airacobras and RAAF P-40s mount 5 attacks against IJN shipping and landing barges off Buna. The aircraft damage a destroyer and sink an army transport. (Jack McKillop)
In Poland, the Germans begin the systematic deportation of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka concentration camp. (Jack McKillop)
In the U.S., gasoline rationing is implemented. (Jack McKillop)
1943: US forces enter Palermo on Sicily. This cuts off 50,000 Italian troops on the west side of the island. It does not stop the mobile German troops from escaping.
Amplifying the Above:
These "US forces" were the American 7th Army commanded by Gen. George S. Patton, Jr. (Gene Hanson)
AMPLIFYING THE ABOVE:
On the ground in Sicily, US Seventh Army troops take Palermo; and the 1st Infantry Division continues north, taking Bompietro.
In the air, Northwest African Tactical Air Force (NATAF) light bombers hit Randazzo, the railroad at Falcone, the road west of Marina, Adrano, Paterno, Troina, and Misterbianco. (Jack McKillop)
Two battleships and fours cruisers are the heavy ships in the US bombardment of Kiska in the Aleutians.
AMPLIFYING THE ABOVE:
In the Aleutians, the USN's Task Groups 16.1 and 16.2, under Rear Admiral Robert C. Griffin, bombard Kiska Island. TG 16.1, composed of the heavy cruisers USS Louisville (CA-28), USS San Francisco (CA-38) and USS Wichita (CA-45), the light cruiser USS Santa Fe (CL-60) and five destroyers, fires 1,719 rounds for 21 minutes at the Main Camp and Little Kiska Island. TG 16.2, composed of the battleships USS Mississippi (BB-41) and USS New Mexico (BB-40), the heavy cruiser USS Portland (CA-33) and four destroyers, fires 1,084 rounds for 18 minutes on North and South Head, Sunrise Hill and the Submarine Base. The Japanese return fire but it is ineffective. IJN submarines are reported but they turn out to be two porpoises and three whales.
The USAAF's Eleventh Air Force dispatches 26 B-25s, 17 B-24 Liberators, 13 P-40s, and 20 P-38 Lightnings to hit North Head, Main Camp, and the submarine base on Kiska, as well as coastal defenses and AA guns at both Kiska and Little Kiska Islands, starting numerous fires. Intense and heavy AA fire downs one B-25 (crew saved) and damages 18 aircraft of which another B-25 crashes at base. A B-25 photographs the southern and western Kiska Island shores and a B-24 flies radar reconnaissance over Kiska Island. (Jack McKillop)
In Italy during the night of 21/22 July, Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) Wellingtons bomb Capodichino Airfield and Salerno marshalling yard. During the day, 100+ B-17s bomb the Battipaglia marshalling yard and Foggia; B-26s hit a Salerno bridge and marshalling yard; and fighters fly a sweep over Maddalena Island, strafing factories, trucks, and small vessels. (Jack McKillop)
In England, the results of the first phase of the Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) are good according to a report of the British Joint Intelligence Committee. The report maintains the CBO has caused Germany to adopt a defensive air strategy resulting in more than half its fighter strength being employed on the Western Front at the expense of the Eastern and Mediterranean Fronts as well as causing considerable damage to transportation, the synthetic rubber industry, and the fuel, iron, and coal industries of the Ruhr. (Jack McKillop)
In the Solomons, USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators, 18 TBF Avengers and 18 SBD Dauntlesses, escorted by 134 Allied fighters, attack an IJN resupply convoy off Cape Friendship, Bougainville Island. The SBDs and TBFs sink the seaplane tender HIJMS Nisshin. (Jack McKillop)
1944: Chelm falls to RokossovskyÕs First Belorussian Front on their advance to Lublin.
Both Marine divisions advance about 1 mile from their beachhead positions taken yesterday in the invasion of Guam.
Napalm is used for the first time in the Pacific against targets on Tinian. The mission was flown by USAAF P-47s to burn out heavy brush overlooking the landing beach. The early mixture with gasoline was less than satisfactory. (Jack McKillop)
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt sails for Hawaii in the heavy cruiser USS Baltimore (CA-68) to confer with Admiral Chester W. Nimitz and General Douglas MacArthur. (Jack McKillop)
The USAAF's Eighth Air Force in England flies two missions.
Mission 488: Seven B-17s drop leaflets on Bremen, Hamburg and Kiel, Germany. Escort is provided by 27 P-51 Mustangs.
Mission 489: Seven B-17s drop leaflets in France and the Netherlands during the night.
Forty four B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions during the night. (Jack McKillop)
In France, The USAAF's Ninth Air Force dispatches a group of A-20 Havocs and two groups of B-26s to attack a rail bridge at Bourth and fuel dumps at Foret de Conches and Flers; four groups of fighter-bombers fly armed reconnaissance and rail cutting missions during the late evening; a fighter group escorts the bombers; and fighters of the IX Tactical Air Command escort 100+ C-47 Skytrains on a supply-evacuation run to the Continent, and provide cover over the battle area. (Jack McKillop)
In Rumania, 76 P-38s and 58 P-51s begin the second Fifteenth Air Force shuttle missions, attacking airfields at Zilistea and Buzau (claiming the destruction of 56 enemy aircraft) and landing at Operation FRANTIC bases in the USSR; 458 B-17s and B-24s (with fighter escorts) bomb an oil refinery at Ploesti and other bombers hit alternate targets of the Verciorova marshalling yard, Orsova railroad bridge, and Kragujevac, Yugoslavia marshalling yard. (Jack McKillop)
In Poland, the Soviets set up the communist-controlle
Following an air and artillery bombardment, U.S. Army personnel clear the last organized Japanese pocket on Biak Island off New Guinea. (Jack McKillop)
The motion picture "The Adventures of Mark Twain" is released in the U.S. Directed by Irving Rapper, the film stars Fredric March (as Twain), Alexis Smith, Donald Crisp, Alan Hale, John Carradine and Percy Kilbride; Diana Barrymore is cast in a bit part while Peter Lawford has an uncredited bit part. This "Hollywoodized" version of Samuel Clemens is not a great biography but it is entertaining. The film is nominated for three technical Academy Awards. (Jack McKillop)
1945: The USAAF's Twentieth Air Force based in the Marianas flies a bombing and a mining mission during the night of 22/23 July; 1 B-29 is lost.
Mission 282: 23 B-29 Superfortresses, staging through Iwo Jima, mine Shimonoseki Strait and the Korea coast at Najin-which is the longest B-29 combat mission of the war-and in the Pusan-Masan, Korea area; a B-29 is lost.
Mission 283: 72 B-29s bomb the coal liquefaction company at the Imperial Fuel Industry Company at Ube.
100+ Iwo Jima Island-based P-51s hit airfields, rail installations, and other tactical targets at Itami, Hanshin, Sano, Tokushima, Takamatsu, and Minato, Japan.
The USN's Task Force 93 under Rear Admiral John H. Brown, consisting of the light cruisers USS Concord (CL-10) and USS Richmond (CL-9) and five destroyers, bombards Japanese installations on Paramushiru Island, Kurile Islands. The bombardment is unopposed. (Jack McKillop)
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