Konrad Morgen
"The Bloodhound Judge"
Investigating corruption within the SS
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Konrad Morgen was born on the 8 June 1908 in Frankfurt –am – Main, the son of a railroad worker. He chose a career in the legal profession and graduated from the University of Frankfurt and The Hague Academy of International Law, and became a judge in Stettin.
He was posted to the Hauptamt SS- Gericht (the main office of the legal department) in Krakow and was responsible for investigating cases of corruption, his tenacity in prosecuting the course of justice earned him the nickname "The Bloodhound Judge".
After a disagreement with Freidrich Wilhelm Kruger – Higher SS and Police Leader East he was posted to the front-line to serve in the SS Wiking Division, but in 1943 he was re-assigned to the ReichsKriminalPolizeiAmt (RKPA) to investigate financial crimes, and was now an Oberstrurmfuhrer.
In July 1943 Morgen investigated alleged corruption and irregularities at the Buchenwald Concentration camp in Weimar. Karl Otto Koch the commandant was investigated, as was his wife Ilse, and Koch was found guilty and executed by the SS on the 26 April 1945.
Also in the summer of 1943 Morgen and a team of Kriminalpolizei officers were sent from Berlin to Lublin, following information sent by Johannes Muller, commander of the Sicherheitspolizei in Lublin, who had heard of a Jewish wedding at a camp attended by over 1,000 guests, including members of the SS.
Morgen’s enquiries led him to a camp – described to him in Lublin as “impenetrable and mysterious” – this camp was the death camp at Sobibor where he found Wirth.
To his astonishment, Wirth admitted responsibility for the Jewish wedding at the death camp. Morgen asked what all these Jews and the SS unit were doing there at Sobibor, anyway.
Wirth then disclosed to Morgen that on the orders of the Fuhrer he was carrying out the extermination of the Jews. Morgen, nonplussed asked “what this had to do with the Jewish wedding?”
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Wirth then explained to Morgen the huge deception operation he had organised in the three Aktion Reinhard death camps where Jewish workers were employed in the extermination and seizure of their property.
Wirth further explained that he had “given them every freedom, so to speak, given them a financial share in the exploitation of the victims.” In this way he had allowed the Jewish wedding to take place.
At first Morgen thought Wirth’s story of mass –extermination in the death camps to be pure fantasy, until he went to the “Alter Flugplatz” camp near Majdanek and discovered that not only was this the depot where the victims personal belongings were sent from Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka death camps, but also Wirth’s headquarters.
Morgen recalled:
“It was a camp which held the belongings, or a part of the belongings of the victims. Because of the extent of this – there were unheard of piles of watches stacked up there – I had to realise that something monstrous was going on here.
I was also shown the valuables; I can say that I have never seen so much gold, especially foreign gold. I saw all kinds of money from all over the world collected together, as well as melted-down gold, whole ingots of gold.
I also saw the headquarters from where Wirth directed his operations; it was very small and inconspicuous. He actually had only three or four people with him. I also talked to them."
At Wirth’s Inspector of Aktion Reinhard Camps headquarters, Morgen also observed the T4 couriers arriving and departing:
“These couriers actually came from Berlin, Tiergartenstrasse 4, the Fuhrer’s Chancellery, and returned there. I examined Wirth’s correspondence and confirmed a great deal.”
Morgen also carried out investigations of corruption at Majdanek where commandant Florstedt was found guilty of corruption and he was executed by the SS on the 15 April 1945 at Buchenwald concentration camp. Hermann Hackmann was also found guilty, and sentenced to serve in an SS penal unit.
By the second half of 1943 Morgen went to Auschwitz concentration camp to investigate corruption. He headed a commission consisting of Obersturmfuhrer Reimers, Hauptsturmfuhrer Bartsch and Hauptsturmfuhrer Dr Fischer.
Konrad Morgen describes his visit:
“What triggered my investigation was an Army postal packet sent back home from Auschwitz and the customs had opened this packet and found there were one or two kilos of gold in it.
And it was dental gold and then nobody could work out how this dentist had got hold of so much gold and I was supposed to go down there and find out what was behind it.
One morning very early I arrived by train and was very curious to see what sort of place it was and somehow or other you had the feeling that a place where such incredible ghastly things were happening on such a huge scale that it would somehow exude a frightful aura, that there would be something peculiar about it.
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But no, there it was, a perfectly ordinary, grey, miserable, dirty industrial town. It was all perfectly normal, you didn’t see anything of the concentration camp either.
I was picked up in the commandant’s car, and a few minutes later found myself face to face with Commandant Hoss…. I explained my business to him and asked him to show me, the whole concentration camp including the extermination machinery. Then he gave me a chap to guide me round and we made a very thorough tour.”
Morgen recalled visiting the gas chambers and the SS living quarters:
“The crematoriums weren’t really noticeable. The ground was hollowed on an incline, and an outsider would only see that the wagons disappeared into a depression in the ground.
A big door led to the so-called undressing room, where there were numbered places and cloakroom tickets. Arrows on the wall pointed to the showers. The signs were in six or seven languages. In the enormous crematorium everything was spick and span. Nothing suggested that thousands of people had been gassed and burned the previous night. Nothing was left of them, not even a speck of dust on the oven fittings.
I wanted to meet the SS people and went to the SS guardroom in Birkenau. There I got my first real shock. While guardrooms were generally of Spartan simplicity, here SS men lay on couches and dozed, staring ahead glassy-eyed.
Instead of a desk there was a hotel kitchen stove in the room and four or five young Jewesses of Oriental beauty were making potato pancakes and feeding the SS men, who had themselves waited on like pashas. The SS men and the female prisoners used the familiar form, “Du” with one another.
At my horrified questioning look, my escort simply shrugged his shoulders and said that the men had a hard night behind them, they had to process several transports.
At a final locker check, it turned out in a few lockers, a wealth of gold, pearls rings, and currency of all countries was piled up. In one or two lockers there were genitals of freshly slaughtered bulls, which were supposed to enhance potency. I had never seen anything like it.” Evidence of theft by SS men were deposited in a barracks which burnt down on the 7 December 1943, so all the evidence was destroyed.
Maximillian Grabner director of the Political Department in Auschwitz was arrested by Dr Morgen accused of killing 2,000 prisoners “beyond the general guidelines.” Grabner’s was tried by an SS court in Weimar but was never concluded but he was tried and sentenced to death by the Supreme War Tribunal in Krakow in 1947.
Morgen carried out investigations into corruption at other camps such as Sachsenhausen, Flossenberg, Vught, Dachau and Plaszow, and the list of major SS men investigated is as follows:
Name | Rank | Location |
Karl Otto Koch | SS-Standartenfuhrer | Buchenwald |
Hermann Florstedt | SS-Standartenfuhrer | Majdanek |
Hermann Hackmann | SS- Hauptsturmfuhrer | Majdanek |
Hans Loritz | SS- Oberfuhrer | Sachsenhausen |
Adam Gruenewald | SS- Sturmbannfuhrer | Vught |
Karl Kuenstler | SS- Obersturmbannfuhrer | Flossenburg |
Alex Piorkowski | SS- Obersturmbannfuhrer | Dachau |
Maximillian Grabner | SS- Untersturmfuhrer | Auschwitz |
Gerhard Palitzsch | SS- Hauptscharfuhrer | Auschwitz |
Amon Goth | SS- Hauptsturmfuhrer | Plaszow |
Hans Aumeier | SS- Sturmbannfuhrer | Auschwitz |
After the war he appeared as a witness at the trial of major war criminals in front of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, at the trial of the SS WVHA functionaries, and at the Auschwitz trial in Frankfurt –am – Main in 1965.
Konrad Morgen died on the 4 February 1982.
July 21
We Remember:
Today is Belgium's National Day. (Glenn Steinberg)
1940: Hitler again brings up the attack in the East in an OKH conference. Planning for troop movements east will begin later this month.
RAF 4 Group (Whitley). Bombs marshalling yards at Hamm and Soest and aircraft factory at Kassel. (Andy Etherington)
RAF 2 Group (Blenheim). 107 Sqn. Bombs Caen, Morlaix and Querqueville. (Andy Etherington)
The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania today succumbed to Russian pressure and ÒunanimouslyÓ decided to become Soviet Republics and join the Soviet Union. EstoniaÕs parliamentary session was attended by StalinÕs representative, Mr Zhdanov. (Andy Etherington)
1941: France accepts Japan's demand for military control of French Indochina. (Jack McKillop)
US President Roosevelt asks Congress to extend the Selective Service (the Draft) period from 1 year to 30 months.
Soviets withdraw their forces from the Dniestr.
Hugh Dalton, the Minister for Economic Warfare and head of the Special Operations Executive, tells Churchill that he can now "set in motion ... schemes for full-scale revolution in Europe." (Andy Etherington)
General de Gaulle meets with the Minister of State in Cairo, Oliver Lyttleton. Angy over the treatment of the Free French by the Syrian armistice he hands Lyttleton a memorandum: "Free France, that is to say France, is no longer willing to entrust to the British military command the duty of exercising command over the French troops in the Middle East. General de Gaulle and the French Empire Defence Council are resuming full and entire disposal of all the French forces of the Levant as from 24 July 1941, at midday." (Andy Etherington)
SS troops, near Minsk, rope together 45 Jews and order 30 White Russians to bury them alive in a pit; when the White Russians refuse, all 75 victims are machine-gunned to death. (Andy Etherington)
During the night German bombers took off from airfields near Smolensk on a heading for Moscow, and the commander of the Moscow air defense, Maj. Gen. M.S. Gromadin, set off the first grand alert in the Soviet capital. The raid was carried out by 127 bombers flying in several waves, which dropped 104 metric tons of bombs. The Soviet high command, STAVKA, allegedly knew about the German preparations for the assault 2 days before it took place, and this explains why German air crews reported that defensive fire over Moscow was even more powerful than over London. But despite the heavy flak fire, only a few Soviet night fighters appeared to fight off the attackers. (Andy Etherington)
Convoy "Substance" leaves Gibraltar for Malta. (Andy Etherington)
U.S.S.R.: The Soviet Navy lists submarine M-94 Baltic Fleet near Ristna Lighthouse (sunk by U-140 off Dago Island) (Mike Yared)
1942: Units from General HoriiÕs 18th Japanese Army land at Gona on New Guinea.
AMPLIFYING THE ABOVE:
This is the "RI" Operation. The IJN lands 2,000 troops at Gona, New Guinea; these troops are tasked with crossing the Owen Stanley Mountains and capturing Port Moresby. (Jack McKillop)
In England, Lieutenant General Dwight D Eisenhower assigns to theUSAAF's 8th Air Force the mission of carrying out, in collaboration with the RAF, the degree of air operations with the view of attaining air domination over western France by 1 April 1943. (Jack McKillop)
The British decide to mount a major attack against the Afrika Korps in North Africa. They are aware of the logistics problems detailed by Rommel to the OKW, through their reading of ULTRA.
Admiral Leahy is appointed as US President RooseveltÕs personal Chief of Staff.
Admiral Mikawa, CO of the IJN 8th Fleet at Rabaul, requests additional destroyers from Tokyo. He will again make this request on the 23rd adding a prediction that the Americans will land on Gaudalcanal before the airfield becomes operational.
After an eighteen day layoff during which fuel limitations had curtailed the activities of all MaltaÕs strike aircraft, particularly the combined Beaufort Squadron (39 and 217), activity began to pick up. Plans were well along for what would prove to be the climactic Malta convoy, due to begin in a fortnight. In preparation, their lordships had begun reinforcing the islandÕs air power, including the first flight of another veteran Beaufort Squadron, 86, from the UK, led by one of Pat Gibbs old 1940 squadron mates, SL James Robert Hyde, DFC, RAF.
Although the details of exactly how desperate the situation was on Malta have never been fully revealed, clearly things were critical. Stocks of food, fuel, and ordnance were on their last legs. In fact, the situation was so bad, that the August convoy would, for all intents, be the final Òthrow of the dieÓ for the British efforts to hold the island, as there was less than a one month supply of food for the islands populace, civilian and military. Recognizing that the carefully hoarded fuel reserve for the strike planes could all be for naught, the new AOC Malta, Air Vice-Marshall Keith Park, RAF (hero of the Battle of Britain) intended to utilize his strike aircraft aggressively, retaining only the fuel needed to defend the convoy when it came.
Ultra reports indicated a new convoy had departed Brindisi enroute for Bengasi. So informed, a PR Spitfire from 69 Squadron was dispatched and soon located the target, the brand new 16-knot motor ship Rosolino Pilo (8,326 BRT) with a strong escort of four warships, DD Pigafetta, DD Premuda, TB Circe, and Clio.
Gibbs led off the striking force at 0955, consisting of nine Beauforts (two 39, four 86, three 217) from and five Beaufighter (one other aborted). They found the target just before noon off Cape Geroghambo, and executed a textbook attack from both bows. Sweeping in at low altitude they apparently caught the Italians by surprise, the light flak damaging only one Beaufort. Unfortunately, despite reports of three hits being obtained, Rosolino Pilo escaped with only light casualties from the Beauforts strafing as they swept past her, arriving in Bengasi on 23 July. (Mark Horan)
1943: The British take Gerbini, the Canadians take Leonforte and the Americans take Corleone and Castelvetrano on Sicily.
A Free Germany Committee formed in Soviet Union. (Glenn Steinberg)
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel is on an inspection of German defenses in Greece. (Glenn Steinberg)
In the Aleutians, two USN destroyers bombard Japanese positions in the Gertrude Cove area of Kiska Island.
The IJN agains dispatches a force consisting of 3 light cruisers, 10 destroyers, a escort vessel and a tanker to evacuate the Japanese forces on Kiska. Due to fuel shortages, this must be the last attempt.
Nine Eleventh Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Kiska Island targets, including the runway, North Head, and Main Camp area where fires are observed. Poor weather cancels other scheduled missions. (Jack McKillop)
On the ground in Sicily, US Rangers seize Castelvetrano and the airport; the US 82d Airborne Division takes San Margherita and the US 3d Infantry Division takes Corleone; the US 45th Infantry Division, pushing northwest, takes Valledolmo; and the US lst Infantry Division clears Alimena. In the British 30 Corps area, the Canadian 1 Division takes Leonforte.
During the night, Northwest African Tactical Air Force light bombers hit motor transport convoys in the Randazzo, Sicily area. This area is again hit during the day by about 20 Ninth Air Force B-25 Mitchells. (Jack McKillop)
In Italy during the night of 20/21 July, Wellingtons of the Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) hit Crotone Airfield and the Naples marshalling yardy. During the day, NASAF B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb Grosseto Airfield. (Jack McKillop)
In the Solomon Islands in a series of sorties in support of ground forces, 22 B-25s, 50+ USAAF and USN fighters, and 170+ USMC and USN dive bombers blast IJA positions in the Bairoko area on New Georgia Island; 135 tons of bombs are dropped. About 60+ IJN aircraft targets in the Rendova area minutes after the last Allied aircraft leaves the area. (Jack McKillop)
U-662 (Type VIIC) is sunk 21 July, in the South Atlantic in the Amazon Estuary, at position 03.56N, 48.46W, by depth charges from a Catalina aircraft (VP-94/P-4). 44 dead. The commander and 3 other crew members were fished out of the sea after 17 days.
Over a period of only few days this boat had been attacked by a USAAF B-24 Liberator while hunting convoy TF.2. Then came an attack by a B-18 aircraft and finally squadron's VP-94 Catalinas located the boat and after one unsuccessful attack another VP-94 aircraft managed to sink the
persistent boat. (Alex Gordon)
AMPLIFYING THE ABOVE
The aircraft was a PBY-5A Catalina from the Belem (Brazil) detachment of the USN's Patrol Squadron Ninety Four (VP-94). U-662 was commanded by Oberstleutenant Heinz-Eberhard MŸller. The PBY crew dropped life rafts for the survivors from the attack and the German submariners were later picked up by PC 494 from Task Force 2. (Jack McKillop)
1944: The French Expeditionary Corps is taken out of the line in Italy. They begin to prepare for the Anvil/Dragoon operation.
General GeigerÕs III Amhibious Corps land on Guam. Admiral Connolly commands the naval forces which include TF 53 directly and 3 groups of TF 58 in support. The 3rd Marine Division lands at Asan and the 1st Mrine Division lands near Agat. The defending Japanese are the 29th Division under General Takashima. General Obata CO of the 31st Army is on the island.
AMPLIFYING THE ABOVE:
Operation STEVEDORE commences in the morning when USMC units came ashore on both sides of Orote Peninsula. The 3d Marine Division landed on the north beach near the town of Agana, while the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade assaulted the south beach near Agat. Opposition was surprisingly heavy after weeks of preparatory fire, and 22 amtracs were sunk. By nightfall, the Marines had pushed 1 mile (1.6 km) inland at both points. In the afternoon, the Army's 77th Infantry Division landed but even befroe they hit the beach, they had to contend with a problem that the Marines did not face. Because the 77th was in corps reseve, the division had no amtracs allotted; when landing craft reached the reef line, troops had to debark and wade several hundred yards to the beach. Tanks and trucks had to be towed by bulldozers, and some were lost in the surf. Most of the 305th Infantry Regiment were ashore by 2130 hours, in time to help turn back the expected enemy counterattack which cost the J
apanese 268 killed. (Jack McKillop)
The Russian Third Baltic Front takes Ostrov.
German General Zeitzler resigns as Chief of Staff at OKH and is replaced by Guderian.
The USAAF's Eighth Air Force in England flies two missions.
Mission 486: 1,110 bombers and 795 fighters are dispatched in 4 forces to bomb targets in Germany, among them 4 aircraft plants and 2 ball bearing plants; 31 bombers and 8 fighters are lost:
1. Of 433 B-24s dispatched, 106 hit Munich, 93 hit Saarbrucken marshalling yards, 78 hit targets of opportunity, 54 hit Oberpfeffenhofen, 33 hit Neuabuing, 13 hit Bullay Bridge, and 9 hit Schorndorf; they claim 10-2-0 Luftwaffe aircraft; 22 B-24s are lost. Escort is provided by 262 P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51 Mustangs; they claim 2-0-1 aircraft in the air and 3-0-10 n the ground; 5 P-51s are lost.
2. Of 96 B-24s dispatched, 48 hit targets of opportunity, 17 hit Duren, 12 hit Walldrun marshalling yard and 9 hit Indenboden; 2 B-24s are lost. Escort is provided by 109 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 1-0-0 aircraft.
3. Of 241 B-17s dispatched, 90 hit Regensburg/Obertrau
4. Of 340 B-17s dispatched, 99 hit Schweinfurt, 70 hit Ebelsbach, 59 hit Ludwigshafen, 13 hit Bad Kreuznach, 13 hit Ebelsbach, 13 hit targets of opportunity, 12 hit Bad Munster, 12 hit Lachen, 12 hit Simmern marshalling yard, 8 hit Wurzburg, and 5 hit Neckargemund; 3 B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 187 P-38s, P-47s and P-51s; a P-38 is lost.
Mission 487: 8 B-17s drop leaflets in France during the night. (Jack McKillop)
In France, weather prevents all USAAF Ninth Air Force combat operations except for 1 fighter group which is dispatched on armed reconnaissance but is recalled before reaching the Continent; Less than 15 reconnaissance and evacuation sorties are flown. (Jack McKillop)
The USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force in Italy dispatches 362 B-17s and B-24s to hit targets in Czechoslovakia; B-17s and B-24s bomb the Brux synthetic oil refinery; B-24s also hit the marshalling yard at Mestre; 100+ other bombers are forced to abort due to bad weather; P-38s and P-51s provide escort. (Jack McKillop)
U-212 (Type VIIC) is sunk 21 July, in the English Channel south of Brighton, at position 50.27N, 00.13W, by depth charges from the British frigates HMS Curzon and Ekins. 49 dead (all crew lost). (Alex Gordon)
In the U.S., the delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, nominate Senator Harry S. Truman of Missouri to be their vice president candidate. Truman replaces Henry Wallace, the current vice president. In Room 708 of the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago, President Roosevelt told Truman at the convention that he wanted him on the ticket. (Jack McKillop)
We Remember:
Today is Belgium's National Day. (Glenn Steinberg)
1940: Hitler again brings up the attack in the East in an OKH conference. Planning for troop movements east will begin later this month.
RAF 4 Group (Whitley). Bombs marshalling yards at Hamm and Soest and aircraft factory at Kassel. (Andy Etherington)
RAF 2 Group (Blenheim). 107 Sqn. Bombs Caen, Morlaix and Querqueville. (Andy Etherington)
The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania today succumbed to Russian pressure and ÒunanimouslyÓ decided to become Soviet Republics and join the Soviet Union. EstoniaÕs parliamentary session was attended by StalinÕs representative, Mr Zhdanov. (Andy Etherington)
1941: France accepts Japan's demand for military control of French Indochina. (Jack McKillop)
US President Roosevelt asks Congress to extend the Selective Service (the Draft) period from 1 year to 30 months.
Soviets withdraw their forces from the Dniestr.
Hugh Dalton, the Minister for Economic Warfare and head of the Special Operations Executive, tells Churchill that he can now "set in motion ... schemes for full-scale revolution in Europe." (Andy Etherington)
General de Gaulle meets with the Minister of State in Cairo, Oliver Lyttleton. Angy over the treatment of the Free French by the Syrian armistice he hands Lyttleton a memorandum: "Free France, that is to say France, is no longer willing to entrust to the British military command the duty of exercising command over the French troops in the Middle East. General de Gaulle and the French Empire Defence Council are resuming full and entire disposal of all the French forces of the Levant as from 24 July 1941, at midday." (Andy Etherington)
SS troops, near Minsk, rope together 45 Jews and order 30 White Russians to bury them alive in a pit; when the White Russians refuse, all 75 victims are machine-gunned to death. (Andy Etherington)
During the night German bombers took off from airfields near Smolensk on a heading for Moscow, and the commander of the Moscow air defense, Maj. Gen. M.S. Gromadin, set off the first grand alert in the Soviet capital. The raid was carried out by 127 bombers flying in several waves, which dropped 104 metric tons of bombs. The Soviet high command, STAVKA, allegedly knew about the German preparations for the assault 2 days before it took place, and this explains why German air crews reported that defensive fire over Moscow was even more powerful than over London. But despite the heavy flak fire, only a few Soviet night fighters appeared to fight off the attackers. (Andy Etherington)
Convoy "Substance" leaves Gibraltar for Malta. (Andy Etherington)
U.S.S.R.: The Soviet Navy lists submarine M-94 Baltic Fleet near Ristna Lighthouse (sunk by U-140 off Dago Island) (Mike Yared)
1942: Units from General HoriiÕs 18th Japanese Army land at Gona on New Guinea.
AMPLIFYING THE ABOVE:
This is the "RI" Operation. The IJN lands 2,000 troops at Gona, New Guinea; these troops are tasked with crossing the Owen Stanley Mountains and capturing Port Moresby. (Jack McKillop)
In England, Lieutenant General Dwight D Eisenhower assigns to theUSAAF's 8th Air Force the mission of carrying out, in collaboration with the RAF, the degree of air operations with the view of attaining air domination over western France by 1 April 1943. (Jack McKillop)
The British decide to mount a major attack against the Afrika Korps in North Africa. They are aware of the logistics problems detailed by Rommel to the OKW, through their reading of ULTRA.
Admiral Leahy is appointed as US President RooseveltÕs personal Chief of Staff.
Admiral Mikawa, CO of the IJN 8th Fleet at Rabaul, requests additional destroyers from Tokyo. He will again make this request on the 23rd adding a prediction that the Americans will land on Gaudalcanal before the airfield becomes operational.
After an eighteen day layoff during which fuel limitations had curtailed the activities of all MaltaÕs strike aircraft, particularly the combined Beaufort Squadron (39 and 217), activity began to pick up. Plans were well along for what would prove to be the climactic Malta convoy, due to begin in a fortnight. In preparation, their lordships had begun reinforcing the islandÕs air power, including the first flight of another veteran Beaufort Squadron, 86, from the UK, led by one of Pat Gibbs old 1940 squadron mates, SL James Robert Hyde, DFC, RAF.
Although the details of exactly how desperate the situation was on Malta have never been fully revealed, clearly things were critical. Stocks of food, fuel, and ordnance were on their last legs. In fact, the situation was so bad, that the August convoy would, for all intents, be the final Òthrow of the dieÓ for the British efforts to hold the island, as there was less than a one month supply of food for the islands populace, civilian and military. Recognizing that the carefully hoarded fuel reserve for the strike planes could all be for naught, the new AOC Malta, Air Vice-Marshall Keith Park, RAF (hero of the Battle of Britain) intended to utilize his strike aircraft aggressively, retaining only the fuel needed to defend the convoy when it came.
Ultra reports indicated a new convoy had departed Brindisi enroute for Bengasi. So informed, a PR Spitfire from 69 Squadron was dispatched and soon located the target, the brand new 16-knot motor ship Rosolino Pilo (8,326 BRT) with a strong escort of four warships, DD Pigafetta, DD Premuda, TB Circe, and Clio.
Gibbs led off the striking force at 0955, consisting of nine Beauforts (two 39, four 86, three 217) from and five Beaufighter (one other aborted). They found the target just before noon off Cape Geroghambo, and executed a textbook attack from both bows. Sweeping in at low altitude they apparently caught the Italians by surprise, the light flak damaging only one Beaufort. Unfortunately, despite reports of three hits being obtained, Rosolino Pilo escaped with only light casualties from the Beauforts strafing as they swept past her, arriving in Bengasi on 23 July. (Mark Horan)
1943: The British take Gerbini, the Canadians take Leonforte and the Americans take Corleone and Castelvetrano on Sicily.
A Free Germany Committee formed in Soviet Union. (Glenn Steinberg)
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel is on an inspection of German defenses in Greece. (Glenn Steinberg)
In the Aleutians, two USN destroyers bombard Japanese positions in the Gertrude Cove area of Kiska Island.
The IJN agains dispatches a force consisting of 3 light cruisers, 10 destroyers, a escort vessel and a tanker to evacuate the Japanese forces on Kiska. Due to fuel shortages, this must be the last attempt.
Nine Eleventh Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Kiska Island targets, including the runway, North Head, and Main Camp area where fires are observed. Poor weather cancels other scheduled missions. (Jack McKillop)
On the ground in Sicily, US Rangers seize Castelvetrano and the airport; the US 82d Airborne Division takes San Margherita and the US 3d Infantry Division takes Corleone; the US 45th Infantry Division, pushing northwest, takes Valledolmo; and the US lst Infantry Division clears Alimena. In the British 30 Corps area, the Canadian 1 Division takes Leonforte.
During the night, Northwest African Tactical Air Force light bombers hit motor transport convoys in the Randazzo, Sicily area. This area is again hit during the day by about 20 Ninth Air Force B-25 Mitchells. (Jack McKillop)
In Italy during the night of 20/21 July, Wellingtons of the Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) hit Crotone Airfield and the Naples marshalling yardy. During the day, NASAF B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb Grosseto Airfield. (Jack McKillop)
In the Solomon Islands in a series of sorties in support of ground forces, 22 B-25s, 50+ USAAF and USN fighters, and 170+ USMC and USN dive bombers blast IJA positions in the Bairoko area on New Georgia Island; 135 tons of bombs are dropped. About 60+ IJN aircraft targets in the Rendova area minutes after the last Allied aircraft leaves the area. (Jack McKillop)
U-662 (Type VIIC) is sunk 21 July, in the South Atlantic in the Amazon Estuary, at position 03.56N, 48.46W, by depth charges from a Catalina aircraft (VP-94/P-4). 44 dead. The commander and 3 other crew members were fished out of the sea after 17 days.
Over a period of only few days this boat had been attacked by a USAAF B-24 Liberator while hunting convoy TF.2. Then came an attack by a B-18 aircraft and finally squadron's VP-94 Catalinas located the boat and after one unsuccessful attack another VP-94 aircraft managed to sink the
persistent boat. (Alex Gordon)
AMPLIFYING THE ABOVE
The aircraft was a PBY-5A Catalina from the Belem (Brazil) detachment of the USN's Patrol Squadron Ninety Four (VP-94). U-662 was commanded by Oberstleutenant Heinz-Eberhard MŸller. The PBY crew dropped life rafts for the survivors from the attack and the German submariners were later picked up by PC 494 from Task Force 2. (Jack McKillop)
1944: The French Expeditionary Corps is taken out of the line in Italy. They begin to prepare for the Anvil/Dragoon operation.
General GeigerÕs III Amhibious Corps land on Guam. Admiral Connolly commands the naval forces which include TF 53 directly and 3 groups of TF 58 in support. The 3rd Marine Division lands at Asan and the 1st Mrine Division lands near Agat. The defending Japanese are the 29th Division under General Takashima. General Obata CO of the 31st Army is on the island.
AMPLIFYING THE ABOVE:
Operation STEVEDORE commences in the morning when USMC units came ashore on both sides of Orote Peninsula. The 3d Marine Division landed on the north beach near the town of Agana, while the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade assaulted the south beach near Agat. Opposition was surprisingly heavy after weeks of preparatory fire, and 22 amtracs were sunk. By nightfall, the Marines had pushed 1 mile (1.6 km) inland at both points. In the afternoon, the Army's 77th Infantry Division landed but even befroe they hit the beach, they had to contend with a problem that the Marines did not face. Because the 77th was in corps reseve, the division had no amtracs allotted; when landing craft reached the reef line, troops had to debark and wade several hundred yards to the beach. Tanks and trucks had to be towed by bulldozers, and some were lost in the surf. Most of the 305th Infantry Regiment were ashore by 2130 hours, in time to help turn back the expected enemy counterattack which cost the J
apanese 268 killed. (Jack McKillop)
The Russian Third Baltic Front takes Ostrov.
German General Zeitzler resigns as Chief of Staff at OKH and is replaced by Guderian.
The USAAF's Eighth Air Force in England flies two missions.
Mission 486: 1,110 bombers and 795 fighters are dispatched in 4 forces to bomb targets in Germany, among them 4 aircraft plants and 2 ball bearing plants; 31 bombers and 8 fighters are lost:
1. Of 433 B-24s dispatched, 106 hit Munich, 93 hit Saarbrucken marshalling yards, 78 hit targets of opportunity, 54 hit Oberpfeffenhofen, 33 hit Neuabuing, 13 hit Bullay Bridge, and 9 hit Schorndorf; they claim 10-2-0 Luftwaffe aircraft; 22 B-24s are lost. Escort is provided by 262 P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51 Mustangs; they claim 2-0-1 aircraft in the air and 3-0-10 n the ground; 5 P-51s are lost.
2. Of 96 B-24s dispatched, 48 hit targets of opportunity, 17 hit Duren, 12 hit Walldrun marshalling yard and 9 hit Indenboden; 2 B-24s are lost. Escort is provided by 109 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 1-0-0 aircraft.
3. Of 241 B-17s dispatched, 90 hit Regensburg/Obertrau
4. Of 340 B-17s dispatched, 99 hit Schweinfurt, 70 hit Ebelsbach, 59 hit Ludwigshafen, 13 hit Bad Kreuznach, 13 hit Ebelsbach, 13 hit targets of opportunity, 12 hit Bad Munster, 12 hit Lachen, 12 hit Simmern marshalling yard, 8 hit Wurzburg, and 5 hit Neckargemund; 3 B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 187 P-38s, P-47s and P-51s; a P-38 is lost.
Mission 487: 8 B-17s drop leaflets in France during the night. (Jack McKillop)
In France, weather prevents all USAAF Ninth Air Force combat operations except for 1 fighter group which is dispatched on armed reconnaissance but is recalled before reaching the Continent; Less than 15 reconnaissance and evacuation sorties are flown. (Jack McKillop)
The USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force in Italy dispatches 362 B-17s and B-24s to hit targets in Czechoslovakia; B-17s and B-24s bomb the Brux synthetic oil refinery; B-24s also hit the marshalling yard at Mestre; 100+ other bombers are forced to abort due to bad weather; P-38s and P-51s provide escort. (Jack McKillop)
U-212 (Type VIIC) is sunk 21 July, in the English Channel south of Brighton, at position 50.27N, 00.13W, by depth charges from the British frigates HMS Curzon and Ekins. 49 dead (all crew lost). (Alex Gordon)
In the U.S., the delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, nominate Senator Harry S. Truman of Missouri to be their vice president candidate. Truman replaces Henry Wallace, the current vice president. In Room 708 of the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago, President Roosevelt told Truman at the convention that he wanted him on the ticket. (Jack McKillop)
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