We Remember:
1939: No. 39 squadron (RAF) sets out from Risalpur (North-West Frontier of India) with 9 Blenheims I's on the first leg of its intended transfer to Kallang, Singapore. Due to the British government's concern over the defence of the naval base at Singapore, some units are transferred from the North-West Frontier of India. (Andy Etherington)
Fearing Germany will go to war with Poland, Il Duce, Benito Mussolini, and Count Galeazzo Ciano, his son-in-law and Foreign Minister, discuss possible ways to evade the terms of the Pact of Steel, signed with Germany on 23 May. The pact commits them to aiding Germany, but Italy is 3 years short of readiness for war. (Andy Etherington)
German authorities tell the Poles that their customs officials can no longer work in the port of Danzig. (Andy Etherington)
1940: In Finland, the U.S. Army transport USAT American Legion reaches Petsamo to embark American U.S. citizens who had been living in Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. (Jack McKillop)
In the U.S., Columbia Records cut the prices of its 12-inch (30.48 cm) classical records. The records are priced to sell at US$1 (US$11.76 in year 2000 dollars). Within two weeks, RCA Victor did the same and ended a record-buying slump brought on by disinterested consumers. (Jack McKillop)
Philippine Commonwealth President Manuel Quezon asks the War Department for a subsidy of $100 per soldier. This was rejected on the advice of High Commissioner Francis Sayre, who thought it was a money-making scheme for the Commonwealth. (Marc Small)
1941: Japan presents proposals for concessions in China and Indochina and asking for the end to the freeze on assets by the US. These proposals are rejected. They respond with a request for Konoye to meet with President Roosevelt. The question of this meeting is not resolved until after Roosevelt and Churchill meet at Placentia Bay.
The USN's Task Force 16 (Rear Admiral William R. Monroe), formed around the aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CV-7), battleship USS Mississippi (BB-41), heavy cruisers USS Quincy (CA-39) and USS Wichita (CA-45), and five destroyers, delivers U.S. Army troops, transported in transport USS American Legion (AP-35), stores ship USS Mizar (AF-12), and cargo ship USS Almaack (AK-27), to Reykjavik, Iceland. The aircraft carrier USS Wasp launches 30 P-40Cs and three Stearman PT-13 Kaydets of the USAAF's 33d Pursuit Squadron to provide air defense for the U.S. forces from Reykjavik Airport. (Jack McKillop)
In the Territory of Hawaii, an executive order transfers the U.S. Coast Guard's Honolulu District from the Treasury Department to the U.S. Navy in the first step toward shifting the USCG to USN control. (Jack McKillop)
1942: General Alexander is chosen to command the Middle east and General Gott is appointed to command the British 8th Army. These changes are made by Churchill and General Brooke while on an inspection trip in Eqypt.
The 17th Army of Army Group A captures Tikhoretsk, Russia.
The Soviet city of Voronezh falls to the German army. (Jack McKillop)
U-210 (Type VIIC) is sunk in the North Atlantic south of Cape Farewell, Greenland, in position 54.24N, 34.37W, by ramming, depth charges and gunfire from the Canadian destroyer HMCS Assiniboine. 6 dead, 37 survivors.
A picture of the bows of the Canadian ship after this ramming is included on the Uboat.net website.
U-578 (Type VIIC) is listed as missing in the Bay of Biscay since this
day, with its final position unknown. 49 dead (all crew lost), but the cause of this loss remains a mystery. (Alex Gordon)
1943: Troina, Sicily falls to the US 1st Division. The "Big Red One" has had a bitter, tough fight. The British are advancing on Adrana.
Zolochev NW of Kharkov falls to the Red Army.
In the Solomons, Japanese installations on Santa Isabel Island are attacked: 20 USAAF P-39 Airacobras and P-40s hit the Tanagaba Harbor area; and 24 USAAF B-17s and B-24 Liberators and 24 B-25s, join 50+ USN and USMC F4U Corsairs and SBD Dauntlesses which the Rekata Bay area, hitting bivouac and supply areas.
Shortly before 2400 hours local, the Battle of Vella Gulf is joined as six destroyers of the USN's Task Group 36.2 (Commander Frederick Moosbrugger) attack four Japanese destroyers attempting to bring troops and supplies to Kolombangara Island in Vella Gulf; USN destroyers USS Dunlap (DD-384), USS Craven (DD-382), and USS Maury (DD-401) sink IJN destroyers HIJMS Kawakaze, HIJMS Hagikaze, and HIJMS Arashi, at position 07.50S, 156.47E. U.S. forces suffers no damage. (Jack McKillop)
On the ground in Sicily, US troops are unable to cross the Furiano River as fierce resistance continues. At Troina, troops push through the town and 1 mile (1.6 km) to the east before opposition halts them. The British take Biancavilla, and Adrano falls as the enemy pulls out during the night of 6/7 August.
In the air, 60+ USAAF Ninth Air Force B-26 Marauders bomb Bronte, Catania, and Randazzo and the area north of the Adrano-Biancavilla road; 20+ others bomb road intersections in Adrano and Bronte; and 100+ P-40s attack shipping and shore targets in the Messina area while 30 others attack shipping on the west coast. Northwest African Strategic Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb coastal roads near Messina; B-26s and B-25 Mitchells hit a road junction southwest of Badiazza and railroad bridges north of Gesso; Northwest African Tactical Air Force light and medium
bombers hit roads, junctions, and buildings in the Troina, Adrano, Biancavilla, Tortorici, Bronte, Piranino, and Randazzo areas and the Bagnara, Italy area; and fighter-bombers hit shipping from Vibo Valentia south to the Straits of Messina. (Jack McKillop)
In the U.S., the motion picture "Above Suspicion" is released. Based on a Helen MacInnes novel, this spy thriller, directed by Richard Thorpe, stars Joan Crawford, Fred MacMurray, Conrad Veidt, Basil Rathbone and Reginald Owen; Peter Lawford appears as a student in an uncredited role. The plot has Oxford professor MacMurray and his bride Crawford off on a European honeymoon on the eve of World War II but they are actually spying for British intelligence. This was Veidt's last film; he died on 3 April 1943 after previously appearing in "Casablanca.
1944: The US 4th Armored Division advances on Lorient, France. Vire is liberated by the US 29th Division.
1 Regiment of the US 77th Division takes heavy casualties repelling a Japanese counterattack on Guam.
Allied forces in Florence, Italy cross the Arno River into the northern part of the city.
In Poland, the Germans begin the deportation of 70,000 Jews from Lodz to Auschwitz. (Jack McKillop)
The USAAF's Eighth Air Force in England flies two missions.
Mission 524: 1,186 bombers and 740 fighters are dispatched to attack oil refineries, aircraft, ordnance and other factories in Germany and V-weapon sites in France; 24 bombers and 8 fighters are lost:
1. Of 414 B-17s dispatched, 126 hit Brandenburg assembly plants, 74 hit Genshagen, 69 hit Brandenburg munitions industry, 12 hit Stendal Airfield and 8 hit targets of opportunity; they claim 0-0-3 Luftwaffe aircraft; 11 B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 168 P-51 Mustangs; they claim 19-0-2 aircraft; 2 P-51s are lost.
2. Of 154 B-17s dispatched, 83 hit Berlin aircraft engine factories, 45 hit Berlin diesel factories, 7 hit targets of opportunity and 4 hit Nordholz Airfield; they claim 0-2-3 aircraft; 5 B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 107 P-51s; they claim 4-0-0 aircraft in the air and 2-0-4 on the ground; a P-51 is lost.
3. In an Operation FRANTIC mission, 75 B-17s hit the Rahmel aircraft factories at Gdynia, Poland and proceed to bases in the USSR; they claim 0-2-2 aircraft. Escort is provided by 154 P-51s; they claim 7-2-3 aircraft; 4 P-51s are lost.
4. Of 445 B-24s dispatched, 72 hit Hamburg/Schulau oil refinery, 62 hit Hamburg/Rhenania-
5. 24 of 91 B-24s dispatched hit 2 V-weapon sites in the Pas de Calais, France, area. Escort is provided by 24 P-47s.
Mission 526: 7 B-17s drop leaflets in France during the night.
36 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions in France; a B-24 is lost. (Jack McKillop)
In France, USAAF Ninth Air Force A-20 Havocs and B-26s hit bridges, fuel and ammunition dumps, and a locomotive depot at Beauvais, Beaumont-sur-
Sixty USAAF Fifteenth Air Force fighters take off from Operation FRANTIC bases in the USSR, attack Craiova marshalling yard and other railroad targets in the Bucharest-Ploesti, Rumania area, and land at Italian bases. Close to 700 B-17s and B-24s, operating against targets in southeastern France, attack oil storage at Le Pouziii, Le Pontet, and Lyon, railroad bridges at Le Pouzin, Avignon, Tarascon, Rambert, and Givors, marshalling yards at Portes-les-Valences and Miramas, and submarine pens at Toulon where they sink the German submarines U-471, U-952 and U-969; 43 P-38s dive-bomb airfields at Orange/Plan de Dieu, and Valence; P-38s and P-51s fly about 200 sorties in support of bombing missions. (Jack McKillop)
Whilst escorting convoy EBC.66, corvette HMCS Regina is attacked and
sunk by U-667 (Oberleutnant zur See Karl-Heinz Lange). Location: English
Channel off Trevose Head, Cornwall at 50 42N 05 03W.
U-471 (Type VIIC) is bombed in dry dock in Toulon, France, at position 43.07N, 05.55E, by bombs from American B-24 Liberator aircraft. Raised in 1945 and returned to service as French MillŽ from 1946. Stricken 9 July, 1963 as Q339.
U-952 (Type VIIC) is sunk on 6 Aug 1944 in Toulon by US bombs.
U-969 (Type VIIC) is destroyed in Toulon, France by bombs from US B-24 aircraft,
U-736 (Type VIIC) is sunk in the Bay of Biscay west of St. Nazaire, at position 47.19N, 04.16W, by depth charges from the British frigate HMS Loch Killin. 28 dead, 20 survivors were taken into captivity. (Alex Gordon)
1945: Major Richard I . Bong is killed when the jet engine of the
Lockheed P-80A-1-LO Shooting Star he is flying flames out at low altitude
and the aircraft crashes. The accident occurred at Van Nuys Metropolitan
Airport, Los Angeles, California. Bong shot down 40 Japanese aircraft in
146 combat sorties while flying a Lockheed P-38 Lightning making him the
top American ace of all time. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his
World War II exploits. After returning to the U.S., Bong had been assigned
to the 412th Fighter Group, the P-80 test unit.
Dick Bong was the USA's Ace of Aces during WWII flying a P-38 Lightning and had shot down 40 enemy planes over New Guinea and the Philippines when his commander General George C. Kenney pulled him out of combat. He had been awarded the Medal of Honor presented by General Douglas MacArthur in 1944. Had he lived seven more weeks until September 24th he would have turned 25.
http://www.cpintern
(Drew Halevy, Jack McKillop, Rob George, Forest Garner, and Gene Hanson)
The Enola Gay, a B-29 of the 509th Composite Group, drops the first Atomic Bomb over Hiroshima. The pilot Col Paul Tibbets has named his aircraft after his mother. The weapon is uranium fission and the yield is in the area of 20,000 tons of TNT. It destroys 60% of the city and kills approximately 80,000 immediately. It is not the most devastating air attack of the war. The March fire raids on Tokyo have had a larger effect.
AMPLIFYING THE ABOVE:
In Japan, the world's first atomic attack takes place. At 0245 hours local, Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Commanding Officer of the 509th Composite Group, pilots the Martin-built, Boeing B-29-45-MO Superfortress, s/n 44-86292, named ENOLA GAY after Tibbets' mother, off the runway at North Field, Tinian Island, Mariana Islands; at 2-minute intervals, 2 observation B-29s follow, Major Charles W Sweeney's GREAT ARTISTE and Captain George W Marquardt's Number 91. ENOLA GAY is carrying a uranium fission bomb, nicknamed "Little Boy," with a yield in the area of 12,500 tons (11,340 metric tons) of TNT. The bomb has several inscriptions scribbled on its casing, one of which reads,"Greetings to the Emperor from the men of the Indianapolis" (the heavy cruiser that transported the bomb casing to the Marianas and was subsequently sunk). Seven B-29s had been designated for the mission. One was a spare that was to stand by at Iwo Jima where there were facilities for unloading and reloading the
bomb in case of an abort. Three were weather planes that had been dispatched in advance of the attack to determine weather conditions over the three proposed targets, i.e., Hiroshima, the primary; Kokura, the secondary; and Nagasaki, the tertiary. The Twentieth Air Force, with other missions scheduled, would provide air-sea rescue service, but no plane except those on the mission was to approach within 50 miles (80.5 km) of the target from 4 hours before to 6 hours after the strike, even for rescue purposes. Thereafter 2 photo reconnaissance F-13 Superfortresses were to take photographs. The ENOLA GAY and the two observation aircraft rendezvoused at Iwo Jima and began to climb to bombing altitude. At 0710 hours, the "bomb commander and weaponeer," Commander William B. Parsons, USN, and his assistant, Lieutenant Morris R. Jeppson, armed the bomb. At 0815 hours, Tibbets received a weather report from the aircraft over Hiroshima: "2/10 lower and middle, and 2/10 at 15,000 feet
(4,572 meters)" thus sealing the city's doom. The initial point (IP) is reached at 0911 hours and at 0915 hours (0815 hours Japan time), the atomic bomb is released over Hiroshima at 31,600 feet (9,632 meters); it explodes 50 seconds later at an altitude of 1,900 feet (579 meters); 80+% of the buildings are destroyed and over 71,000 people (Japanese figures; US figures say from 70,000 to 80,000) are killed. After an uneventful return flight, ENOLA GAY lands on Tinian at 1458 hours local, followed within the hour by the 2 observation B-29s. Although there is tremendous destruction and death, it is still less than the firebomb raid on Tokyo during the predawn hours of 10 March 1945 when 279 B-29s dropped 1,665 tons (1,510 metric tons) of incendiaries on the Tokyo urban area from 4,900 to 9,200 feet (1,494 to 2,804 meters) destroying 267,171 buildings, about 25% of the total in the Tokyo area, rendering over 1 million persons homeless, killing 83,793 and wounding 40,918. (Jack
McKillop)
Other members of the Enola Gay crew were: Capt. Robert A. Lewis, co-pilot; Wyatt E. Duzenberry, Flight Engineer; Major Thomas W. Ferebee, Bombardier; PFC Richard H. Nelson, Radar Operator; Staff Sgt. George R. Ceron, Gunner; Capt. Theodore Z. Van Kirk, Navigator. (John Nicholas)
Almost 100 Twentieth Air Force fighters from Iwo Jima attack airfields and military installations at 6 locations throughout the general area around Tokyo. (Jack McKillop)
Far East Air Forces Okinawa-based aircraft pound targets on Kyushu, Japan; 150+ P-47s and A-26 Invaders fight bad weather to hit the primary, Miyakonojo; 170+ B-24s, B-25s, and P-47s hit Kagoshima as a secondary target; and 60+ B-25s and P-51s attack shipping and ground targets
of opportunity in the Tsushima Strait area and in the northern Ryukyu Islands. P-51s operating in the area between Kyushu and Korea bomb an airfield and strafe numerous targets of opportunity on Saishu Island and P-47s bomb Anjo on Tanega Island. Other aircraft, operating individually or in pairs, hit various targets of opportunity on the southern Korea coast, in the Inland Sea, southern Honshu, western Shikoku Island, throughout the northern Ryukyu Islands, and in the Shanghai, China area. (Jack McKillop)
The Japanese Army refuses to automatically acknowledge the Atomic Bomb at Hiroshima. They send an investigation team to find out the cause and possible defenses. This report will not be received until August 12.
In China, carrier-based aircraft of the USN's Task Group 95.3 (Vice Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf), in the escort carriers USS Lunga Point (CVE-94), USS Makin Island (CVE-93) and USS Cape Gloucester (CVE-109) strike enemy shipping in Tinghai Harbor. (Jack McKillop)
On Wake Island, carrier-based aircraft in the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid (CV-11) bomb Japanese installations as the ship is en route from Pearl Harbor to join Task Force 38 in the western Pacific. (Jack McKillop)
Off the Malay Peninsula, the USN submarine USS Bugara (SS-331) comes across the RN submarine HMS Sleuth and four Japanese junks. In a display of Anglo-American cooperation, the Americans assist the British by sinking two of the enemy craft by gunfire in position 06.51N, 101.44E. (Jack McKillop)
Submarine USS Bullhead (SS-332), CO Edward R. Holt, Jr., is sunk by aircraft off Bali. All hands are lost. (Joe Sauder)
In the U.S., the top pop songs today are (1) "The More I See You" by Dick Haymes (2) "Dream" by The Pied Pipers; (3) "Sentimental Journey" by Les Brown and his Orchestra with vocal by Doris Day; and (4) "Oklahoma Hills" by Jack Guthrie. (Jack McKillop)
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