WE REMEMBER AUGUST 19th

August 19

We Remember:

1934:     GERMANY: A plebiscite in Germany approved the vesting of sole executive power in Adolf Hitler as Fuhrer.    (Jack McKillop)

1939:     Nevile Henderson notes that while Churchill is inspecting the defences of France, Chamberlain is still fishing in Scotland. However, Lord Halifax and his advisors agree that the Prime Minister should be enabled to stay on holiday. Halifax sends a telegram to Mussolini and at the same time begins to draft a letter for Chamberlain to send to Hitler. (Andy Etherington)

Poland:
Warsaw: Colonel Beck replies to French Pressure with 'un "non" catigorique. (Andy Etherington)

After two further meetings with von der Schulenberg, Molotov suddenly produces a draft Russo-German pact and invites Ribbentrop to Moscow on the 26th or 27th. An Economic agreement is signed. (Andy Etherington)

LUXEMBOURG: The Chamber of Deputies grants the Grand Duchess and her
cabinet full executive and legislative powers for the duration of the
impending war.  (Jack McKillop)

1940:     Churchill is again on the radio, broadcasting about the Battle of Britain.  He praises the RAF fighter pilots in saying: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." 

RAF   4 Group (Whitley). Bombs power station at Schornewitz. (Andy Etherington)

The Admiralty oil depot at Pembroke Dock is bombed, and burns fiercely.
The Home Guard is preparing stocks of Molotov cocktails. (Andy Etherington)

The British were evacuating Somaliland, the capital of which, Berbera fell today. For 16 days 6,000 Imperial troops fought nearly 30,000 Italians. (Andy Etherington)

In the U.S., the first production North American B-25 Mitchell, North American Model NA-62, USAAC serial number 40-2165, makes its first flight at Inglewood, California.
   The newly formed Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) issues honorary pilot license Number 1 to Orville Wright. (Jack McKillop)

CANADA: The first bombing and gunnery school under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan is established at Jarvis, Ontario.  (Jack McKillop)

1941:     The first convoy leaves Iceland for the USSR.  The carrier HMS Argus is ferrying Hurricanes, complete with pilots, to Russia.

The Wake Detachment, 1st Marine Defense Battalion, arrives on Wake Island in the cargo ship USS Regulus (AK-14) to begin work on defensive positions.   (Jack McKillop)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: USS Hopewell (DD-181), commissioned as HMS Bath (I-17) on 23 Sep. 1940; while escorting her sixth convoy (OG71) between Liverpool and Gibraltar, is torpedoed by U-204 about 369 nautical miles (683 kilometers) west-southwest of Cork, ナre (now Ireland), in position 49N, 17W, and sinks rapidly . (Ron Babuka and Jack McKillop)

U.S.: In baseball, Pittsburgh Pirates manager Frankie Frisch is ejected by umpire Jocko Conlan from the second game of a doubleheader when he appears on the field with an umbrella to protest the playing conditions at
Brooklyn's Ebbets Field. The rainy argument is later portrayed in a famous oil painting by artist Norman Rockwell. (Jack McKillop)

1942:     FRANCE: During Operation JUBILEE, 4,963 Canadians of the 2nd Canadian Division, 1000 British Commandoes of Nos 3 & 4 Commando and 50 U.S. Army Rangers raid  along a 10 mile (16 kilometer) wide beachhead centered on the English Channel port of Dieppe. This raid will end in disaster. It ends with a long casualty list of 3600 Allied soldier vs. 60 Germans and most of the installations designated for destruction are not reached, much less destroyed. Some lessons about opposed landings are learned. This raid will become one of the most controversial actions of the war.
      Two Canadians, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Merritt of the South Saskatchewan Regiment and Captain (Reverend) John Foote of the Canadian Chaplain Services, assigned to the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, are awarded the Victoria Cross for their actions during the raid. Colonel Merritt is awarded the medal for leading an assault on the Scie River bridge while Captain Foote is awarded the medal for voluntarily leaving the landing craft evacuating him and surrendering to the Germans in order to minister to POWs. (John Nicholas and Jack McKillop)

Whilst participating in the Dieppe raid, destroyer HMS Berkeley is subjected to a number of air attacks which cause serious structural damage. She is abandoned and finally scuttled by a torpedo fired from HMS Albrighton 4
miles NW of Dieppe at 49 57N 01 04E. (Alex Gordon)

In the Aleutian Islands, mechanical failure prevents a US 11th Air Force B-24 Liberator from flying reconnaissance over Tanaga Island. (Jack McKillop)

The US Eighth Air Force flies Mission 2: 22 B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb Drucat Airfield, Abbeville, France between 1032-1040 hours while 6 B-17s fly a diversion. This mission is flown to occupy the Luftwaffe and prevent them from opposing an invasion by over 5,000 Allied troops, mostly Canadians, who raid Dieppe, France. 123 Spitfire Mk Vs of the US VIII Fighter Command support the raid on Dieppe and claim 1-1-5 Luftwaffe aircraft with the loss of 8 Spitfires; 2d Lieutenant Samuel F Junkin Jr of the 309th Fighter Squadron, 31st Fighter Group, flying a Spitfire Mk V in support of the amphibious raid on Dieppe, shoots down a German fighter, this being the first aerial victory won by an 8th Air Force fighter pilot flying from the UK. (Jack McKillop)

SOLOMON ISLANDS: General Nishino, with the Kawaguchi Detachment, approaches Guadalcanal by sea. His men read a training manual that says, "Westerners -- being very haughty, effeminate, and cowardly -- intensely dislike fighting in the rain or mist or in the dark. They cannot conceive night to be a proper time for battle -- though it is excellent for dancing. In these weaknesses lie our great opportunity."
      Colonel Kiyamo Ichiki's First Echelon of 917 men arrives at Guadalcanal's Taivu Point at 0100 hours local. The men unload and start marching in the dark nine miles to Tetere, where they take a break.
      Early in the morning, Martin Clemens is asked to provide native guides and scouts to locate the Ichiki force. Daniel Pule is assigned to a Marine patrol, and police Sergeant Major Jacob Vouza leads a native patrol of his own.
      Early that day, Marine Captain Charles H. Brush hits the trail with a
patrol of 60 men from Company A, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines. They run an encounter a 38-man patrol from Ichiki's detachment. A jungle firefight
ensues, and the Marines kill all but five of the Japanese. Brush notes that
the bodies of four Japanese officers and 29 men wear the star insignia of
the Imperial Army as opposed to the chrysanthemum of the Imperial Navy on
their fresh clothes. Obviously this is a new force. Their large amounts of
communications equipment suggest a large unit. Their maps show the Japanese know the Marine positions. Brush immediately returns to headquarters.
      The Japanese survivors return to Ichiki's force and although his patrol has been annihilated, Ichiki presses on through the jungle.
      Marine General Vandegrift studies the captured maps, and realizes that the Japanese are coming and know his dispositions. His officers urge a counterattack but Vandegrift wisely decides to await the Japanese within his perimeter.
      The Marines will dig in along Alligator Creek, which Martin Clemens
has named after its inhabitants, which are actually crocodiles. The Marines think the sluggish waterway is actually the Tenaru River.
      Three Japanese destroyers, HIJMS Kagero, HIJMS Hagikaze and HIJMS
Maikaze, shell Tulagi. Allied Air Forces B-17s, flying from Espiritu Santo,
bomb the destroyers and one aircraft scores direct hits on the HIJMS
Hagikaze's stern, killing 33 and wounding 13. Hagikaze limps home.  (Jack
McKillop)

In the Seychelle Islands in the Indian Ocean northeast of Africa's Zanzibar, the Japanese submarine HIJMS I-29 launches a "Glen" reconnaissance seaplane (Yokosuka E14Y, Navy Type 0 Small Reconnaissance Seaplane) to reconnoiter the islands. (Jack McKillop)

Polish General Anders along with 115,000 Poles, held as prisoners since the fall of 1939, leaves the Soviet Union.   General Anders feels that for the first time since September of 1939, he was indeed a free man. 
     The decision was made, March 26, 1942, that the only way to properly feed and equip the Polish Army in the Soviet Union was to transport them to Iran.   Once in Iran, the British could provide adequate food and equipment to train and prepare the Poles for combat. (Alex Bielakowski)

EGYPT: The Commander in Chief, Middle East, Field Marshal Harold Alexander orders Eighth Army Commander General Bernard Montgomery to hold positions while preparing the offensive.  (Jack McKillop)

NEW GUINEA: Lead elements of 7 Australian Division, veterans of Tobruk, arrive at Port Moresby, to stem the Japanese tide.  (Jack McKillop)

U.S.S.R.: Leningrad is still besieged, but warm weather enables ferries to cross Lake Ladoga bringing in much needed supplies and evacuating civilians.  (Jack McKillop).

1943:     PORTUGAL: U.S. General Bedell Smith, Eisenhower's Chief of Staff, and British General Kenneth Strong arrive in Lisbon to continue discussions with the Italians about surrender negotiations. General Giuseppe Castellano heads the Italian delegation. Castellano wants an agreement that would allow Italy to join the Allies and fight the Germans. He's shocked when the Allies insist on unconditional surrender.

Luftwaffe Chief of Staff, Jeschonnek commits suicide after being criticized for the effects of the attacks two days ago on Schweinfurt and Peenemunde.

EAST INDIES: In the Moluccas Islands of the Netherlands East Indies, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Larat Island in the Tanimbar Islands between Portugese Timor and New Guinea and Saumlakki on Yamdena Island. B-25 Mitchells bomb Koepang on Dutch Timor, Fuiloro and Lautem in Portugese Timor. (Jack McKillop)

NEW GUINEA: In Dutch New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators attack Manokwari, sink small craft near Babo. (Jack McKillop)

The Combined Chiefs of Staff meeting in Ottawa, Ontario agree that the US will not invade the Japanese Kurile Islands due to the poor weather in the area and instead, will only bombard the islands by sea and air and monitor the Japanese via aerial photographic reconnaissance. As a result of this decision, US troop strength in the Aleutians is reduced to 113,000 by the end of 1943. (Jack McKillop)

In India, Major General Howard C Davidson becomes Commanding General of the US Tenth Air Force replacing Major General Clayton L Bissell. The change is a result of a complaint against Bissell by Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek because Bissell and Major General Claire L Chennault, Commanding General of the Fourteenth Air Force in China, do not get along. (Jack McKillop)

The US Eighth Air Force's VIII Air Support Command and VIII Bomber Command in England both fly missions.
     The VIII Air Support Command flies Missions 27A, 27B and 28 against 3 Luftwaffe airfields in France without loss. (1) 36 B-26B Marauders bomb Glisy Airfield at Amiens at 1129 hours; they claim 1-0-2 Luftwaffe aircraft. (2) 35 B-26s are attack Nord Airfield at Poix at 1218 hours. (3) 36 B-26s are dispatched to Bryas Sud Airfield but the target is obscured by cloud and the mission is aborted.
     The VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 85 against 3 Luftwaffe airfields in The Netherlands. (1) 38 B-17s attack Gilze-Rijen at 1802-1814 hours and 55 hit Flushing at 1756 hours; they claim 29-1-2 Luftwaffe aircraft; 4 B-17's are lost; escort is provided by 175 P-47 Thunderbolts who claim 9-2-4 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1 P-47 is lost. (2) 45 B-17s are dispatched to Woensdrecht Airfield but weather prevents them hitting the target. (Jack McKillop)

ITALY: The marshalling yard at Foggia is bombed by 71 B-24 Liberators of the USAAF's Ninth Air Force and 162 B-17 Flying Fortresses of the Northwest African Strategic Air Force while almost 100 medium bombers hit marshalling yards at Sapri and Salerno; the bombers, and escorting P-38 Lightnings claim 34 German planes shot down, against 8 losses. During the night of 19/20 August, RAF Liberators of No. 205 Group bomb two targets: 49 bomb the Foggia marshalling yard and 37 bomb the beaches at Sapri.  (Jack McKillop)

In the Solomon Islands, US Thirteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells, operating in pairs and with fighter escort, hit barges at Timbala Bay on Vella Lavella Island, Kakasa radio station on Gill Island, and a beached vessel in Paraso Bay. From this date through 28 August, Japanese airplanes attack Allied forces in the Barakoma area of Vella Lavella Island, losing a considerable number of aircraft (claims total about 50) to Allied fighters and ground fire without doing any great damage to the Allies. On Baanga Island, US Army ground forces finally capture the Japanese artillery pieces which have been shelling Munda Airfield on New Georgia Island. (Jack McKillop)

ATLANTIC: Aircraft of Composite Squadron Twenty Five (VC 25) from the escort aircraft carrier USS Croatan (CVE-25) attack German submarine U-134, northwest of the Azores, but the sub escapes.

PACIFIC OCEAN: The USN submarine USS Finback (SS-230) sinks Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser HIJMS Cha 109 (ex-Dutch patrol vessel Kawi) about 21 nautical miles (39 kilometers) west-northwest of Boeroe (now buru) Island, Netherlands East Indies, in position 03.01S, 125.50E. (Jack McKillop)

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: The USN submarine USS Finback (SS-230) sinks Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser HIJMS Cha 109 (ex-Dutch patrol vessel Kawi) off the east coast of Celebes Island in position 03.01S, 125.50E. (Jack McKillop)

In the U.S., the motion picture "A Lady Takes a Chance" is released today. This romantic western comedy is directed by Henry Hathaway and stars John Wayne, Jean Arthur and Phil Silvers. A wide-eyed city girl pursued by many men (Arthur) boards a bus driven by a zany driver (Silvers) and meets a handsome rodeo star (Wayne). (Jack McKillop)

1944:     FRANCE: The US XV Corps reaches the Seine at Mates Grasicourt.
     The Polish 1st Armored Division links up with the U.S. 90th Infantry Division at Chambois, a village 15 miles  (24 kilometers) southeast of Falaise thereby closing the Falaise Pocket. German loses in the ensuing four day battle are 10,000 dead and 40,000 captured.  (Jack McKillop)
     The French resistance in Paris begins open operations against the Germans as police and partisans seize public buildings and begin battling the city's German garrison. Wehrmacht commander Dietrich von Choltitz disobeys Hitler's order to turn Paris into "a field of ruins." He arranges a five-day truce to evacuate his troops.  (John Nicholas and Jack McKillop)
     In southern France, USAAF Twelfth Air Force A-20 Havocs hit marshalling yards while B-25s and B-26s bomb road and rail bridges throughout southeastern France; fighter-bombers and fighters continue to pound enemy communications north and west, of the beachhead and guns in the immediate battle area as the US Seventh Army's Task Force Butler crosses the Durance River and moves north to Sisteron and Digne.  (Jack McKillop)
     The USN battleship USS Nevada (BB-36), French battleship Lorraine, and heavy cruiser USS Augusta (CA-31) conduct reconnaissance in force off Toulon to support the U.S. Army's Third Division and French troops making a drive on that port. Escorted by four destroyers, Nevada, Lorraine, and Augusta shell the harbor and batteries at St. Mandrier; heavy cruiser USS Quincy (CA-71) provides counter-battery fire on Giens, from position south of Isle Port Cros.  (Jack McKillop)
     German submarines U-123 and U-129 are scuttled to avoid capture at Lorient.  (Jack McKillop)

In the Kurile Islands, the US Eleventh Air Force dispatches a weather sortie and a shipping sweep by 4 B-25s with negative results. (Jack McKillop)

ROMANIA: Using H2X radar, 65 B-17 Flying Fortresses, supported by 125 P-51 Mustangs, of the USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force based in Italy bomb two oil refineries at Ploesti for the third consecutive day.  (Jack McKillop)

YUGOSLAVIA: Two B-17 Flying Fortresses of the USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force in Italy, visually bomb the railroad at Cuprija.  (Jack McKillop)

In the Palau Islands, radar-equipped B-24s of the US Thirteenth Air Force attack Japanese airfields and defenses during the night of 19/20 August. (Jack McKillop)

BORNEO: USN submarine USS Redfin (SS-272) lays mines off British Sarawak.  (Jack McKillop)

SOUTH CHINA SEA: Two USN submarines sink three Japanese ships off the west coast of Luzon, Philippine Islands:
   - USN submarine attacks on Japanese convoy HI 71, begun the previous day, continue as USS Bluefish (SS-222) sinks fast fleet tanker/seaplane carrier HIJMS Hayasui, about 57 nautical miles (106 kilometers) west of Vigan in position 17.34N, 119.23E, and damages hospital ship Awa Maru about 50 nautical miles (80 kilometers) west of Vigan in position 17.36N, 119.38E.
   - USS Spadefish (SS-411) sinks a Japanese landing craft depot repair ship about 82 nautical miles (151 kilometers) north-northwest of Vigan, in position 8.48N, 119.47E.  (Jack McKillop)

U-466 (Type VIIC) which had been damaged on 5 July, 1944 by bombs from US B-24 aircraft at Toulon, France, is scuttled 19 Aug,  during the Allied invasion of southern France.  (Alex Gordon)

1945:     The US War Production Board removes most of its controls over manufacturing activity.

Two B-25Js of the US Far East Air Force's 345th Bombardment Group (Medium) intercept 2 IJN G4M "Betty" bombers north of Ie Shima, Ryukyu Islands. The Japanese aircraft carry a delegation from Tokyo enroute to Manila, Philippine Islands, to meet General MacArthur's staff to work out details of the surrender. The G4Ms are painted all white with green crosses on the wings, fuselage and vertical tail surface and use the call signs "Bataan I" and "Bataan II." The Japanese land on Ie Shima and transfer to USAAF C-54 Skymasters for the flight to Manila. On the return flight from Ie Shima to Japan, the Japanese aircraft run out of fuel and ditch in Tokyo Bay but the delegation is rescued and completes the mission. (Jack McKillop)

PACIFIC: The formation of fleet Marine and Navy landing forces from officers and men afloat begins; these men are transferred, at sea, to transports for the impending occupation of Yokosuka under Commander, Task Force 31.  (Jack McKillop)