206 - Allied Tidal Wave in Romania - WW2 - August 6, 1943

[@WorldWarTwo]

Join the TimeGhost Army: bit.ly/WW2_206_PI Last week, we asked you how important Italy was to this war, and to what extent they bolstered Germany's war effort. With Romania getting bombed this week, we ask you the same for Romania.

[@skyefreya1562]

Why are you directing people to the day by day Instagram coverage when there hasn't been a post in over a month?

[@ИльяКим-ю3е]

Add in videos ww2 general nicolae dascalescu, general françois ingold, robert de Roux, jacques arthuys, henry Louis gabriel michaud, Marcel haegelen , Lorenzo Vivalda, Giovanni Battista oxilia, Antonio gandin, brunetto brunetti, czechoslovak heroes ww2 františek pospíšil, františek masařík, Jan Kruszewski, marian kukieł, zdzisław wincenty przyjalkowsky, tadeusz strefan münnich?

[@ИльяКим-ю3е]

General Charles delestraint was communist in ww2? Answer this please

[@ИльяКим-ю3е]

Antonio gandin, brunetto brunetti, Giorgio Carlo calvi di bergolo in 1943-1945 we're against Germans and ISR ? Answer this please🙏🙏

[@guillaumedeschamps1087]

@@skyefreya1562 It'll come back, friend. Don't worry.

[@paultyson4389]

The Australian coast watcher actually saw the explosion when Kennedy's PT boat was cut in two and he reported it to the Americans. They told him they'd lost a PT boat in the area and asked him to send some natives to investigate which he did. They found Kennedy and his surviving crew because two at the rear of the craft had been lost when it was cut in two. Kennedy gave the natives the coconut message and the coast watcher organized their retrieval. Kennedy I believe also tried to contact the crew of the Japanese destroyer which survived the war.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks Paul, great info

[@roymartin500]

Both comments are great to me as I knew little about this until watching this episode and reading these comments. Thanks.

[@jeanineking7311]

May 1,1961 before he visited J F K, the Australian coast watcher Reg Evans appeared on the game show, “To Tell The Truth”. A very young and beautiful Betty White quips,” whichever one you are, you’ll be happy to know he’s got a good job with steady work.”. He won $750 and a carton of Salom cigarrettes. It’s on you tube.

[@brianthomas2434]

@@jeanineking7311 Betty was 39 at the time. Even at 99, she was young and beautiful.

[@paultyson4389]

@@WorldWarTwo You are very welcome.

[@spudskie3907]

Two interesting things about JFK: 1. He was initially rejected by the Army and Navy as medically unfit. Through his father's connections, he was able to join the Naval Reserve. Usually, you hear about family connections to get out of serving. JFK wanted to get in and fight. 2. He invited the captain of the destroyer that rammed his boat, Kohei Hanami, to his inauguration.

[@johndicks3064]

@@jackdoyle7453 Naaa. The guy was a man, and wanted to do man's job in a time when things like that were looked up to. Had he been a smaller man after or before the war I could understand your opinion but we wasn't. The guy stood up for what was right, and at the time to stand up for what was was right meant serving your country and he did.

[@Tecmaster96]

@@jackdoyle7453 really hard for you to believe someone would wanna serve their country huh?

[@johndicks3064]

@@jackdoyle7453 Too bad he did you ignorant little dipshit, you should do your research instead of being a little dum ass

[@jnstonbely5215]

@@johndicks3064 Bravo John. You said it perfectly . JFK was a fine President & much has been said that had he lived & had been re-elected , we would not have gone into Vietnam ; despite “The Domino Theory”. And his reason was because the French had empowered the Diem brothers , but they were lazy ( corrupt), and the worsening situation there was , once again, what colonialism reaps. But he may have had to change his mind if Ho chi Minh had seized the South , then he wouldn’t have the luxury of our not going in to help them or the communists next targeted country .....

[@leeboy26]

@@jackdoyle7453 And couldn't keep his dick in his pants whilst bleating on about family values.

[@Paladin1873]

My late friend, Gene Spencer, was a waist gunner on the Ploesti raid. Their plane was so shot up that they violated orders and crash-landed in Turkey. I believe their pilot or co-pilot was killed and the rest of the crew was interned until the OSS arranged their "escape" with the aid of Turkish officials. I have a copy of their escape orders, complete with per diem expenditure authorizations for each man. Gene's last name was misspelled on the the orders, but this did not prevent his successful return to Allied lines. Here's an excerpt from an email I had from him in 2006 regarding how he much later acquired a souvenir part from his old B-24. I've added clarifying information in brackets. "About the B-24 part. Our plane was the only one that actually came close to crashing in Turkey. We landed in a big plowed field and we rolled about a mile because we had no brakes or flaps and ended up nosed up in a big ditch. Some [USAF] Light Colonel that was stationed near there [after the war] met someone that was just a boy when the plane "crashed" and over the years he and others cannibalized it for parts and this Colonel secured some from this man. I think that he contacted my bombardier [now] M/General Triantafallu and he gave the Colonel the addresses of all the known crew members and the Colonel sent each of us a souvenir. i got a piece of tubing (Hydraulic). Pat has it at home now. I flew over that crash site in 1955 and it [his B-24] was still there with a fence around it. It might still be there for all I know. The other 9 aircraft that made it to Turkey landed on airport without damage. I think that the Turkish Gvt. put them into service eventually as cargo planes except for one that the crew talked the Turks into letting them warm up the engines and they absconded with the goods back to Malta or somewhere safe nice trick it was. I'm really proud of them."

[@WorldWarTwo]

That's so interesting! Thanks for sharing.

[@hilariousname6826]

Just out of curiosity: any idea what nationality the name "Triantafallu" might be?

[@khornateberzerker5439]

@@hilariousname6826 I would assume it comes from the Greek surname 'Triantafyllou', which is an almost perfect match. It could be an anglicization, or even a simplification on a parent's immigration papers, God knows how many of those happened in Greece after the 1922 immigration wave. In any case, I assume they substituted the 'y' for an 'e', on the assumption it would be pronounced as it is e.g in 'eve', and simplified the greek 'ou' for a simple 'u', giving pretty much the same phonetic result. As a sidenote, I believe it refers to this gentleman here: www.af.mil/About-Us/Biographies/Display/Article/105376/major-general-rockly-triantafellu/

[@hannahskipper2764]

Super cool!

[@hilariousname6826]

@@khornateberzerker5439 Interesting - thanks!

[@ariochiv]

The number of divisions involved in fighting on the Russian front boggles the imagination. I can't express too strongly how superb the animated maps are, and the crucial role they play in making these engagements understandable. Excellent work.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you for watching & helping us remember these immense, tragic battles

[@theoutlook55]

Indeed

[@florianbraun1492]

It also makes the Soviet ability to concentrate force really obvious. The Germans were in such serious trouble, but it's unclear that they understood it. Being on the defensive against an enemy that can concentrate a 4:1 advantage almost at will just about anywhere on the front is simply not something you can operate your way out of.

[@ariochiv]

​@@florianbraun1492 What strikes me is that despite this overwhelming numerical superiority, defending prepared positions and having full fore-knowledge of the coming attack, the Kursk battle was still a close-run thing. Though it looks at this point as if the Germans are in full retreat, we need to remind ourselves (spoiler! :D) that this is only mid-1943, and this fight will drag on for another two whole years.

[@theoutlook55]

@@ariochiv oh, how was it a close battle? I mean the Germans did give the Soviets what for and won some initial tactical victories but I just don't see any way that it could have been a strategic victory justifying the risky offensive.

[@davidkinsey8657]

Five Medals of Honor were awarded to airmen for actions at Ploesti, 3 posthumously. The most awarded for any single air raid in the war.

[@johngetty3839]

IMO, the raid would have had a better result if Gen. Ent had not had the two lead groups turn too early which would have avoided the confusion over the targets with planes crisscrossing each other. The general should have let the navigators and pilots do their job unmolested. And they did knock at least one refinery out of the war even if the others returned to operation. I've always believed this raid would make a great epic movie and with the special effects available thses days it could be fabulous.

[@capt_von_ondine5962]

Just finished a book on the mission to shoot down Yamamoto's plane. After the mission 5 of the pilots were up for Medal of Honor. Apparently after the mission a couple of the pilots gave a war correspondent too much info on what happened and when the correspondent submitted the article to censors the censors thought that the Japanese might figure out that their codes had been broken. Halsey got word of this. Called in the 2 pilots. Chewed them out and threw the MoH recommendations in the trash. They got Navy Crosses instead.

[@thisnicklldo]

@@johngetty3839 Good idea. It could be titled Catch-22.

[@Genessyss]

that's why you don't fuck with us Romanians

[@stevekaczynski3793]

@@aleksazunjic9672 Often the case. The 11 VCs awarded for Rorke's Drift in the Zulu War, for example, were partly about compensating for the British disaster at Isandhlwana the previous day when a battalion and a half of British soldiers was annihilated by Zulu warriors.

[@StevePdue]

Saw the island of Vella Lavella was mentioned. I had an uncle that landed on the island as a scout. He was injured on coral and taken in and hidden by locals from the Japanese occupiers. He said he remembers seeing the enemies feet walking by the hut that he was hiding under.Years later my cousin went back to the island while writing a book about her dads experiences. There she found the chief of the local tribe, who was named by his father,(the chief during ww2), David. My uncles name.

[@caryblack5985]

Thanks for your family's history in WWII.

[@theoutlook55]

Whoa. Solid story. Kudos to your uncle.

[@gunman47]

Sometimes I wonder how history may have changed had the two Solomon Islands coast watchers, Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana, not found John F. Kennedy and his PT-109 crew. The amount of alternate history that could have happened from this point would have been quite a lot to imagine about.

[@Dustz92]

Worst case scenario ends with all of us dead during the cuban missile crisis

[@ploegdbq]

Joe Jr was the eldest son and was supposed to be the politician of the group. His death in the war shifted attention to John.

[@RamboKingz23]

Worst case scenario, none of us alive and none of the legislative ideas he had for America (especially Black Americans) would never have been put into action Best case scenario, he wouldn't be the last president to be assassinated. (That's like the only good thing I could think about)

[@leonbaylon1893]

@@frenzalrhomb6919 Spoiler Alert! Joseph F. Kennedy died on August 12, 1944 on board a remote controlled B-24 "Liberator" which is part of Operation Anvil had 9,600 kilograms of Torpex which prematurely detonated over near the North Sea coast. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_P._Kennedy_Jr. According to Wikipedia : Aphrodite and Anvil were the World War II code names of United States Army Air Forces and United States Navy operations to use Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated PB4Y bombers as precision-guided munitions against bunkers and other hardened/reinforced enemy facilities, such as "Crossbow" operations against German long range missiles. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Aphrodite

[@DC_10]

Just imagine if Hitler had a tiny bit more artistic talent...

[@GeneralSmitty91]

For my college history senior thesis project in 2014, I interviewed 4 WWII from Rye, NY and created a short documentary for the local historical society in collaboration with my friend Casey, a film student. One of them named Chet Williams served in the same PT Squadron as Kennedy. His boat was PT 106. It was really cool hearing the story of PT-109 from someone who was an actual eye witness to the events.

[@angelonunez8555]

If anyone's interested, here's a little more data on the Ploesti mission. Of the 53 aircraft lost, 41 were shot down--35 over Romania, two by Bulgarian fighters and four by German fighters over the Ionian Sea. Eight were interned in Turkey, two collided on the return flight and two were lost because of mechanical failure, one of which crashed shortly after takeoff and another which crashed into the sea on the outward flight. This was probably the only major American raid in which the KIA outnumbered the PoW, due to the low altitude at which the raid was flown. The most severely hit bomb group was the 98th, which lost 20 B-24s. At the other end of the scale was the 376th, which lost only three.

[@caryblack5985]

Thanks

[@MichaelMyers87]

Thx for the info.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Angelo Thank you, great piece of information

[@hourlardnsaver362]

One of the B-24s that survived the raid is on display at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.

[@captainstupendo]

Growing up in the US, I've mostly been fed the America-centric history of WWII (IE, Germany was an unstoppable juggernaut that was going to take over the whole world until D-day happened and our boys were just that much tougher). It's been great to see the real, unbiased history of WW2 to see how many players were involved and how the German collapse began far earlier...D-day is still a year away! Thanks for all your hard work Time Ghost team!

[@jaymudd2817]

Plenty of books on Soviet war effort.

[@alexamerling79]

Yeah the Soviets broke the Germans' back.

[@ghostbride8718]

D-day was just the final nail in Germany's coffin, operation Bagration was really the end of Germany

[@TheGM-20XX]

@@alexamerling79 It's the 3 Bs. British Brains, American Brawn, Soviet Blood.

[@steved5495]

@@jaymudd2817 Now there are. There weren't any before the fall of the Soviet Union, and it was only after that that the full extent of the Soviet war effort became known in the West.

[@MGustave]

The anecdotes in the comments sections are really wonderful. Thanks to the Team for bringing us all together in the appreciation and remembrance of history.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you Harry! I think about that every week as I read people's personal family involvement with this history. We've heard from descendants of soldiers in every warring army, heard from unit commanders and soldiers from the same units we cover here, and endless other stories from people's lives. It's part of what makes this TimeGhost Army so special - that appreciation of history and our sharing of it - makes it more than the sum of its parts. I hope you'll stick around and check out all the action to come, and many more anecdotes I'm sure

[@johnmccnj]

7:21 Aaaand the WW2 timeline has finally intersected my childhood memories of watching "Baa Baa Black Sheep". (Vella Lavella was fictionalised to Vella La Cava in the series).

[@johnlieber4687]

"Ice cream supplies have run dangerously low, back to the Hagen line!!!!"

[@thanos_6.0]

Considering how desaster the last few months were for the Axis, the failure of operation Tidel wave was a win the Axis desperately needed. I really wonder how the military leaders and the people of Romenia viewed this win.

[@thebigm7558]

I think the state of the eastern front still overshadowed that

[@robertkras5162]

It would be interesting to understand just how much the home front knew about the state of the fronts from their media. On the German home-front I suspect little more than "today our glorious soldiers continued to battle the Bolsheviks on the eastern front, and to defend Sicily from the capitalist invasion." With details on some brave action of soldiers, and more coverage after substantial victories (which will be fewer and fewer now.) Just considering the contents of the US News Reels and news papers, I don't think you could put together the detail of one of these weekly episodes during the war.

[@michaelvonbiskhoff7771]

Romania had as its main adversary the USSR, not the Western allies. The US and Britain were not viewed badly before Op. Tidal Wave, since the Romanian population was filo-American and the elites always looked towards Western Europe for inspiration, many of them studying there. Ironically, after Tidal Wave, due to what was seen as a chivalric attack that tried to minimise civilian damage, the Americans were viewed in even better light. All US PoWs in Romania were kept in Romania in probably the best conditions on the Axis side

[@DrJones20]

That wasn't a win

[@Raskolnikov70]

Calling it an Axis win is a bit of a stretch. It was more of a swing-and-a-miss by the Allies.

[@nicholasconder4703]

7:50 Captain Hara, commander of the destroyer Shigure, said in his book "Japanese Destroyer Captain" that the only reason he survived is because an American torpedo passed through the rudder of his ship without exploding. Had the torpedo detonated, the Battle of Vella Gulf would have been a clean sweep for the US Navy. He only discovered how lucky he had been some 4 months later when Shigure was in drydock for repairs. Hara was also captaining the Shigure during the action in which Amagiri rammed PT-109.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you Nicholas, great piece of context

[@timerover4633]

The Tidal Wave attack took out the Steaua Română refinery for the rest of the war. As for PT-109, Evans was on Kolumbangara when he saw the explosion. I was part of the search for PT-109 and identified the wreck for Bob Ballard. I did meet one of the native scouts that first located Kennedy and his men, as well as visiting Plum Pudding Island, along with Kolumbangara where I walked the Vila airstrip and New Georgia with the Munda airstrip. The PT boat was not cut in half, but had the starboard side shaved off, resulting in the death of one of the machine gunners and a torpedoman.

[@Southsideindy]

Wow. Good to know. Thanks for posting that!

[@shawnr771]

Thank you for sharing.

[@alexamerling79]

Also August 2nd, an uprising broke out in Treblinka. Can't wait to hear Sparty talk about it in WAH. Great stuff like always Indy!

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks for watching always, Alex!!

[@nicholasconder4703]

11:45 To be fair to Churchill, he remembered the slugging match that occurred in France in 1914-1918, and that the Central Powers were defeated in 1918 primarily because of the collapse of the Macedonian Front (which was well documented in TimeGhost's "The Great War" series). Unfortunately, he was more or less trying to fight the war in a similar manner to WW1, but was obviously ignoring the major differences (militarily and geopolitically) between the two conflicts.

[@WorldWarTwo]

'Soft underbelly' is just bad branding from Churchill in 1943

[@Jbf-76]

I respect Churchill as much as anyone, but his "soft underbelly" idea was totally ego driven to keep Russia out of the Balkins, and Italy turned out to be anything but soft.. Churchill miscalculated the difficulties Italy presented and it was a heavy price that was paid as a result.

[@ericcarlson3746]

Thanks for the context, I was thinking up post slamming Churchill's folly of the soft underbelly. Then again he also thought up the 'brilliant' plan to knock Turkey out of the first war....

[@nicholasconder4703]

@@ericcarlson3746 Irony is, when you read or watch the history of WW1, that "brilliant plan" of knocking Turkey out of the war was what helped create the domino effect that ended the war, albeit in 1918 rather than 1915.

[@pocketmarcy6990]

@@Jbf-76 he did manage to cause a fair amount of chaos in axis high command as we’ve seen with Italys rapid exit from the war following the invasion of Sicily, I won’t go into weather or not the Italian campaign was worth it, but it certainly managed to do some major damage to the axis powers.

[@indianajones4321]

Italy: We are NOT negotiating with the Allies Also Italy: So we start negotiating with the Allies

[@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623]

@Retired Bore That's the kind of corruption that I like. The one where the common man has a shot at greasing the right palms too.

[@Italianplayercvu]

@Retired Bore wtf i live here, this is literally unacceptable. Also don't give tips if the service isn't excellent, it's not a custom here.

[@Italianplayercvu]

@Retired Bore magia wars have ended, contacless is widespread, financial police crack down on black (meaning unreported) labour, structural improvemts, corruption acceptance diminishes... i think stuff improved

[@WorldWarTwo]

In every country, restaurant workers are nothing if not practical.

[@ericcarlson3746]

Surprise surprise. Just like 1915

[@creatoruser736]

Who wants to tell him the day by day coverage hasn't been happening on the community tab or Facebook for weeks now?

[@davidclark414]

More than a month! Last post was June 28th

[@larslundandersen7722]

@@davidclark414 Fits pretty well with Summer vacation in Europe. I'm sure people behind the scenes have been off on vacation since then. You should probably expect a resumption of business as usual with a week or two. People here in Denmark are really starting to pour back from vacation this weekend. And next weekend is another big one.

[@eldorados_lost_searcher]

I served in the successor unit of one of the bomber groups that participated in the Ploësti Raid. One of the stories I heard was that they sent sixteen photographers in the B-24s to document the raid. Only one returned.

[@johngetty3839]

His name was Jerry Joswick. He had a book come out in 1961 called "Combat Camera Man".

[@eldorados_lost_searcher]

@@johngetty3839 Thank you! I'll be sure to check it out.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

Some of the still photos of the raid are among the best pictures taken of WW2, in my view.

[@Elitist20]

Last week the new US Ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, and General Mark Milley, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with two Australian veteran Coastwatchers and their family members at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you, great piece of info

[@shawnr771]

Thanks to all the Coast Watchers who risked their lives to provide information and helped the sailors and airmen get home.

[@gianniverschueren870]

Oooooh I like this tie. Not sure I've ever seen all these colours used in a single one. Combined with an old-school, midcentury print and you've got yourself a beauty. 4.5/5

[@WorldWarTwo]

Gianni you're always 5/5

[@gianniverschueren870]

@@WorldWarTwo Oh that's so sweet!

[@Josak17]

I would be fascinated by a special episode on the reactions in axis powers to the war turning, among the controlled press, among the civilian population and in the halls of power.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Every episode is a great investment of research, time, and money. We do our best to cover the action of this war every single week and to bring you special episodes regularly, but we can't do it without your support! Join the TimeGhost Army today and help us make more of those specials! www.patreon.com/join/timeghosthistory

[@stevekaczynski3793]

The Gestapo and SS monitored civilian reactions and reported them. By 1944 they would complain of Nazi Party members being increasingly reluctant to wear their badges in public, a sign of declining morale.

[@professorsogol5824]

There was. a total solar eclipse on Aug 1, 1943 so the moon was on the other side of the earth and it was a dark night out in the Blackett Straight when the destroyers encountered the PT boats.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you Professor, that is a great detail.

[@nickgooderham2389]

This week the Canadians continue their eastward advance along the Salso River valley toward Regalbuto and Adrano. Attached to the Canadian forces under Major-General Guy Simmonds is the British 231st (aka Malta) Brigade. It is the Malta Brigade that kicks off the assault on Regalbuto on the 31st this week, taking and holding the heights west of town from the Hermann Goering Engineers. The RCRs of 1st Brigade attempt to enter the town but their advance is checked by heavy fire while crossing a steep ravine. By the 3rd of August the 231st and 1st brigades take Regalbuto, after a well planned flanking maneuver by the Hasty P's finally wrestled the town from 2 battalions of German paratroopers. (The town is left in ruins after having been pummeled by air strikes.) At the same time to the north, 2nd Brigade Edmontons clear hill 736 and the surrounding area after encountering stiff resistance from a reconstituted 382nd Panzer Grenadier Regiment made up of veterans from the Russian front and Africa Corps. On August 5th, a force led by Lt-Colonel Booth consisting of the 4th Reconnaissance Regiment (PLDG), tanks of the Three Rivers Regiment and a company of Seaforths cross the Troina River on route to the village of Carcaci. Waiting in ambush are troops of the German 3rd Parachute Regiment. They are determined, but are unprepared for engaging tanks supported by infantry and are wiped out, fighting to the 'last man', only 12 are taken prisoner. With the route to Carcaci now cleared, the Canadians turn their attention to Mount Revisotto and Mount Seggio directly to the north. On the 6th, three companies of Edmontons make their assault on Revisotto taking the heights under heavy enemy fire, losing one officer and two platoon sergeants killed (among many casualties). Another officer, Lt. Dougan is hit 4 times in both arms and hands but leads his men to capture the objective. Later the same day the PPCLI climb Mount Seggio expecting it to be held in force, but find it abandoned. The road to Adrano is now open and the Vandoos (22nd Regmt) of 3rd Brigade reach the outskirts of town early on the 7th, but are ordered to stand down as the British 78th Division is to be given unrestricted entry. This weeks fighting in the Salso valley costs the Canadians over 150 casualties.

[@merdiolu]

You should also look 78th British "Battleaxe" Divisions capture of Centuripe on 2 - 4 August 1943. 38th Irish Regiment of Battlexae division literally climbed a sheer cliff at rear of Centuripe to capture 3rd Fallschrmjager Regiment positions from behind , decimating two German parachute battalions in Centuripe. General Bernard Montgomery, the British Eighth Army commander, when shown the cliffs of the town after its capture shouted "impossible!" The British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill mentioned the news of the capture in the House of Commons only a few days later, citing the capture as one of the greatest achievements in storming

[@littlekong7685]

Love how Kesselring himself feared the "Elite Canadian Mountain Boys". Ordering his men to focus defence units and paratroopers ambush units where Canadians units were found, considering them the most likely to forward a breach and collapse German defences. It was said the only 2 things slowing the Canadian units were stubborn British commands, and the Thousands of surrendering Italian soldiers they had to wade through. Multiple times Canadian units captured critical or hard to crack positions, or wiped out elite German veteran units, only to be told to stop to let the British catch up and march ahead to claim the objective (Once it was made safe by Canadians of course). Dozens of times Canadian units were the only ones to breach German defensive positions and establish bridgeheads, only to be ordered back as they were alone and without support by the far less organized Americans, and far less focused British units. In house to house fighting the Canadians began "Mouse Holing", going through connecting walls and basements rather than through the walls. They became specialists at hand to hand fighting and were called up to clear "Impossible" streets and push the Germans out house by house where other nations units had failed.

[@ToddSauve]

@@littlekong7685 Eisenhower called the Canadians under his command in Normandy the best troops in his army. 100% volunteers, the only Allied army that could boast that!

[@jackthorton10]

Oh, Canada!

[@fretted4life]

@@ToddSauve You forgot the British Indian Army of course they did fight in Italy till the end of war though not in France.

[@merdiolu]

Details About Operation Tidal Wave 01:39 - 03:28 , a few US B-24 bombers returning after bombing , landed / crashed into Turkish territory and though Turks initially interned their crews , they released and send them back to Allied territory via British / Free French held Syria and Cyprus after a short duration since Turkish goverment clearly recognised from which way the wind of war was blowing now. One of crashed B-24 Liberator bomber wrecks was found off Marmaris , Aegean Sea two decades ago and is in display in a museum at Istanbul now. 11:34 , Churchill's trip in Queen Mary to Canada for Second Quebec Conferance has an interesting side note , in her belowdecks the ship had also been carrying several thousand German POWs captured in North Africa recently to prisoner of war camps in Canada

[@littlekong7685]

And thousands of them would stay in Canada after the war, either because they had little to return to (Soviet occupation was not an ideal situation), or because they like the land and the peace of it. Part of why Alberta has such a booming German community (Ironically welcomed and supported by the Ukrainian and Polish communities found here already).

[@ToddSauve]

@@littlekong7685 Despite its abominable governments, Canada is a great country! It is hard to ruin a country that has so many natural advantages and such incredible resources! 🤔😉😏

[@Williestyle-RobotechxMacross-x]

merdiolu81 ,thank you for posting ao much detailed information and insight. ☺

[@blueboats7530]

I'm sorry, I must have misunderstood you at 18:15 where you said I could learn more on the Instagram day-by-day coverage or the KZbin Community tab. But it was really cool you had a screen-shot of the last ever post from 5 weeks earlier.

[@acespizzer]

I was wondering the same… Is the Instagram day by day still alive?

[@yes_head]

*Whew* That was an action packed week. Great job, Indy and crew! I forgot this was the week of the famous PT-109 incident. I'm wondering if you guys considered making that a special episode unto itself.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you Yeshead

[@juankovacs6033]

14:04 - It's over Anatoly, I have the high ground - You underestimate my cheap tanks - Don't try it (This one doesn't end well for Heinrich-Wan tho)

[@hoderharris]

Just flew home from Bucharest last night. Serendipitous to see this now..

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you for watching, Hoder. Glad you enjoyed the coincidence

[@gunman47]

18:05 A notable event that happened this week on August 3 1943 is that one of General George S. Patton's slapping incidents happen when he was visiting the 15th Evacuation Hospital in the town of Nicosia in Sicily. He would slap Private Charles H. Kuhl of the U.S. 26th Infantry Regiment when he told Patton that he was in hospital (due to malaria, dysentery and shellshock or PTSD) because "I guess I just can't take it", which made Patton lose his temper. There would be another slapping incident on August 10 and eventually both incidents would become public knowledge, leading to calls for Patton to be relived of duty and sent back home to the United States.

[@ronaldfinkelstein6335]

I would think the 'chills' of malaria would have accounted for the "shakes"...would Patton have smacked him nm if he'd been told of the diagnosis?

[@merdiolu]

I think those evac hospitals were in Sicily , not in Cyprus (British territory back then) where as a US Army commander Patton had no authority over

[@gunman47]

@@merdiolu You may be right on this. From the sources I could find online, there are a bit of contradictions on the location of the 15th Evacuation Hospital. Some sources stated that it was in the town of Nicosia, Sicily, so it is possible that other sources may have gotten confused or mistaken it for the more well known city of Nicosia, Cyprus. I'll edit my post accordingly. Thanks for highlighting it.

[@Asahamana]

Sparty might mention this tomorrow

[@TheGunderian]

@@Asahamana This was highlighted in this segment, but good info anyway. I am a big Patton fan, but he was not a perfect human or general. He did much worse than these two slaps. ... commonly encouraged a Take no Prisoners mentality, even overriding or refusing to conduct court martials... planning and conducting a nepotistic prison break in 1945 to rescue his son in law(TF Baum), which got hundreds of men killed for no arguable value militarily. But again, I take Patton as I do any human, as a whole person. He probably saved the lives of ...half a million people, friend and foe, by expediting the war effort. The Germans feared him and his men loved him. He was important enough, after the war, to be killed by US Intelligence for his agitation to fight the Soviets before US troops were demobilized. 'In 1979, OSS Agent, Major Douglas Bazata, asserted that he had been part of a hit team that was tasked to assassinate General Patton.' I have heard this death bed recording, and the son of the man testify as well. Perhaps the cabal that killed Patton used their skills to remove JFK later. But this is all crazy, right!?

[@merdiolu]

Breaching Etna Line (31 July - 7 August 1943) (part 3) Canadian and Scot Advance First on the list of HARDGATE’s objectives was the town of Regalbuto, now held by a strong battlegroup of HG Division combat engineers, a company of Heilmann’s 3. Fallschirmjäger, battery of HG artillery, and a handful of tanks and assault guns. However poor the HG Division might have been at Gela, they were learning fast, especially in terms of defensive operations. Perhaps more importantly, they were no longer fleeing when the chips were down but staying and fighting it out with the kind of Teutonic discipline that had won the Germans so much respect as soldiers. At Regalbuto, an order had been issued to each man making it clear the town was to be held at all costs. It was the job of the 1st Canadian and Malta Brigades to take Regalbuto. The main road from Agira ran along an east-west ridge, and the town itself was surrounded by a number of high hills, all of which would have to be taken in order to unlock the German defence. It was the Dorsets and Hampshires of the Malta Brigade who led the attack on the night of 30 July, the sky soon lit up with flares and a heavy response from machine guns, mortars, artillery and the dreaded Nebelwerfers. Although the Dorsets got a toehold on Monte Serione just to the north of the town, by daybreak the attack had stalled. Brigadier Roy Urquhart, the brigade commander, then sent in the Devons the following night, straight on to the ridge overlooking the road from Agira as it ran into the town. The Devons had had a bloody time at Agira, losing some 200 men; this time, with support from a massive 144 guns, by 2.35 a.m. on 1 August they were able to fire the success signal. The enemy then counter-attacked, pushing them back. Urquhart now arrived on the scene and, bringing forward his reserve company, urged all available men to give it one more effort to clear the ridge a second time. James Donaldson, who had been firing mortars all night, was now out of rounds. ‘We were sitting with our backs to a little slope so we’d be out of danger,’ said Donaldson. Urquhart then appeared and told them to pick up a rifle, fix bayonets and advance. ‘It was the first bayonet charge I’d been in,’ Donaldson added, ‘and the first time I’d been with a rifle company in action.’ They’d not charged so much as walked, picking their way through the prickly-pear cactus plants that seemed to cover the ridge. Canadian artillery was firing shot over their heads as Donaldson picked his way past dead Germans and dead Tommies. ‘We had to keep moving all the time,’ he said - but they did secure the ridge, and this time for good. In doing so, the Devons lost a further twenty-seven killed and eighty-two wounded. It was turning into another attritional battle, with the British and Canadian attack chipping away at the enemy defences with a mass of artillery shelling, Kittyhawk fighter-bombers diving in on enemy positions during the day, and then the infantry pushing forward and clearing another hill by night. The Canadian infantry went in on the night of the 31st-1st along the Dorsets’ route to the north of Regalbuto, but during the day were pinned down on the shale-littered slopes before the town. That night, the Hasty Ps were also thrown into the fray once again - their fourth battle in a fortnight. With all the casualties they had suffered, it was now a very different-looking unit; Farley Mowat had been made intelligence officer, while Bill Kennedy, despite being wounded at Agira, had insisted on remaining with the battalion and had become the third CO in a week. As it happened, General Conrath, most of whose combat engineers lay slaughtered within the battered town, had decided to pull out that night, so that when the Hasty Ps went in, they were able to make swift progress: first they took Monte Tiglio, a mile to the south, with ease, then crossed the road out of town and took another high point, Monte San Giorgio, to the south-east, and then swung north-west and took hold of what had been named Tower Hill behind Regalbuto. By dawn, the battle was over and Regalbuto was in Allied hands. As the Hasty Ps lounged on the slopes overlooking the town early that morning, Allied medium bombers came over. Clearly, word of the town’s capture had not reached them: as Mowat wrote, ‘In leisurely style, they proceeded to churn the already battered streets and houses into heaps of smoking rubble.’ Certainly, there wasn’t much left of Regalbuto after this latest battle - another Sicilian town blasted into ruins. Yet Sicilians were still living in these places. Vincenza La Bruna and her family had suffered quite enough already in the war; but then one day they’d heard artillery shelling, distant at first and getting ever closer. After Agira, their own town had been next - not that Vincenza had known what was coming their way. ‘Suddenly it was hell,’ she said. ‘Planes arrived, flying over the town, strafing everywhere.’ During the bombing on the morning of the 2nd, a neighbour, seeing Vincenza’s sister Pridda, offered her refuge in her house. ‘But I discouraged,’ said Vincenza. ‘If we were to die, it was better to die embraced together, in our house.’When the bombing was over, Vincenza and her family were relieved their house had been spared, although it had suffered blast damage and the front door was in pieces. ‘Outside it was a disaster,’ said Vincenza. ‘Everywhere rubble, debris, fire dust - and corpses.’ Among them was the neighbour who had offered shelter to Pridda. They decided to leave and head to Sparacollo, a farmstead to the north-east of the town, picking their way through the debris and past frightened and distressed townspeople, many of whom were looking for dead or missing relatives. It was desperate. As part of the realigning and reorganization of Eighth Army prior to the launch of the new offensive, 13th Infantry Brigade were ordered up to Sferro and temporarily attached to the 51st Highland Division. The Scots were due to launch an assault across the Dittaino towards the town of Adrano in the Etna foothills, and General Leese wanted a brigade kept at Sferro to form a firm base. First to be sent from the 2nd Inniskillings were B Company and Advance HQ which included David Cole, newly promoted captain after the fighting at Lemon Bridge; advancement could come quickly during a vicious campaign like this one. Just getting clear of the Catania Plain had involved dodging a few shells but, after safely reaching the rear, Cole and the rest of Advance HQ had embussed and trundled over the network of dusty grit roads until, clearing a ridge and heading down the long, straight route to Sferro, they approached the town just as night descended. Cole had heard nothing but bad things about Sferro, and first impressions didn’t change his mind. Up ahead, flames leaped from a burning oil wagon on the railway line. As they drew closer, he saw an entire trainload of wagons shattered, burning and wrecked alongside equally smashed buildings. Cole thought it looked more like a Hollywood film set until they reached this godforsaken spot and he saw real chunks of masonry falling from the signal box as it was hit by a shell. Flames danced angrily and billowing oily smoke rolled into the sky. ‘Everywhere the acrid fumes of explosives mingled with the odour of death,’ he wrote. ‘All this and the rattle of machine guns, with their tracers streaking into the sky, strengthened my feeling that this change of residence was not for the better.’ They had arrived as the Highland Division’s artillery was battering the HG Division’s positions to the north and the Germans were replying with a heavy barrage of their own right on to the shattered wreck of Sferro. Clambering swiftly out of their trucks, Cole and his men ran over the tracks to find the battalion HQ of the Highland Division unit they were replacing the following day. The signals officer was in a row of dugouts against a wall beyond a shattered goods shed, the makeshift refuge covered with sleepers and sandbags. There he found two signallers, huddled down and dimly lit by a torch bulb. Soon after, B Company men from his own battalion scuttled past carrying machine guns and ammo boxes. A hundred yards further on one of them opened up with a Tommy gun, which was answered by a burst from a German MP40 submachine gun. Cole survived the night, despite having to undertake some urgent wire repair work and despite the dawn bringing a fresh deluge of mortars down upon them, and when the barrage lifted he was able to look around his blighted surroundings. Sferro stood at the western end of the Catania Plain, with hills to the south rising up to the rear of the British positions, behind which were their own artillery; beyond the narrowing plain to the north was yet another ridgeline from where the enemy were firing, and behind this was the Simeto valley and then the town of Paterno. Sferro stood on the forward Hauptkampflinie, as did Catenanuova, 10 miles to the north-west. In fact, the HG Division were on the point of pulling out from this section of the line and now, on the morning of 31 July, all that remained were rearguards. Every house in Sferro was damaged or totally destroyed. Sicily 1943 - James Holland

[@lag767]

Thanks!

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks for watching, Leo!

[@intheair8203]

Happy to hear about Bulgaria’s involvement in air defense in the Balkans. The bravery of their pilots are often unheard off

[@odysseusrex5908]

By George, it sounds like we're actually starting to win this war. The fact that American ships used torpedoes as their primary weapon in a battle is interesting. Does this mean that the technical problems with the torpedoes have finally been solved? My understanding is that, for many months after Pearl Harbor, only about 10% of our torpedoes would actually explode, and whichever office in the Navy Department was responsible for them refused to even investigate, just blaming the crews for not aiming them properly.

[@caryblack5985]

Here is some information en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_14_torpedo

[@blueboats7530]

The Wikipedia page on the Mark 14 torpedo is very informative. The answer to your question is yes, the contact exploder problem had finally been solved in the summer of 1943, but new exploders were not fully available as of August 1943, so there was some reliance on "field modifications". The failed magnetic exploder was never solved.

[@Williestyle-RobotechxMacross-x]

It was The Bureau of Ordnance the messed up the Mk14 torpedo ( not the first or last for that ... group ).

[@PeterManger]

The just appointed American ambassador is Caroline Kennedy, daughter of JFK. She was very keen to point out the very strong love and personal connection to Australia her family has. And she is just off to Solomons Island for WW2 related matters… and no doubt also add political weight to current issues in the region. She also invited people to approach her and say hello if we see her about. If I do I’ll ask for photo of the coconut 🥥!

[@gunman47]

_We gotta help Vic! (Kelly) He's dead already! There's nothing we can do... (Hakins)_ 4:54 This week on August 5 1943, the eighth mission of the 2005 video game *Call of Duty 2: Big Red One* , the *Farewell to Friends level* under *Corporal Roland Roger* begins at Troina in Italy. In this mission, you must take out the enemy Flak 88s before securing the town of Troina. However in the process, Private Denley is killed by enemy MP40 fire and the squad speaks of him being the toughest soldier they had.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

I read somewhere that three Liberators were downed by the Bulgarian air force, but this was considered disappointing and the Bulgarian fighters proved severely undergunned in the role of attacking four-engine bombers. An upgrade involving use of German-made Me 109s was ordered.

[@germanhernanburgosffrench-4471]

Being on board one those bombers was a very dangerous place to be. The Axis' fighter pilots were lethal guys until the very end of the war. Of course, I want to say: Congratulations, Indy! Being married is a wonderful adventure! God bless you and your special lady.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you Germán ❤️

[@michaelt4706]

My grandfather earned his distinguished flying cross medal for one of his raids over Ploiesti. His group leader was shot down in the approach and he became the lead navigator. After a successful run, he took his group on a alternate return course and returned with no further losses. Many other groups weren't so lucky. He saved many of his fellow airmen lives that day by making a command decision that straid from the initial plan. We still have his award citation proudly framed in our house alongside his medals.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Michael Thank you for sharing about your grandfather's involement

[@grahamcann1761]

As always thank you so very much for the video.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks for watching!

[@steverossini]

My grandmother survived Tidal Wave after a bomb landed on her home.

[@WorldWarTwo]

That's incredible. Very glad she survived.

[@jamesray3251]

Who does your cartographic post production? I love it!

[@WorldWarTwo]

Our in-house maps team makes them! They work hard, and love seeing comments like yours so please stay tuned

[@shawnr771]

Best maps ever.

[@rocksandoil2241]

My father's cousin lost his life over the Romanian oil fields. His body didn't come home for years.

[@WorldWarTwo]

May he rest in peace

[@John21WoW]

Lovely episode, Indy and team! Though 1 minor nitpick on something I finally actually have a small clue about as I live there or better said here, in Ploiesti. There is no accent on the "i" at the end of Ploiesti, the way Indy pronounced it it actually sounds more like "Ploiestii" in romanian rather than "Ploiesti" unless I am missing some major pronounciation changes in the last 80 years and you somehow found an older pronounciation form :) Great pronouciation on the first part of the word from Indy though!

[@vincen4228]

There have been no new posts on Instagram or Community page Day by Day for over a month. I don't see the General Patton post you mentioned.

[@merdiolu]

The Forty-Five Days, July to September 1943 (1) THE international consequences of Mussolini’s dismissal by the king on 25 July 1943 were significant but contained. The Italian ramifications of Mussolini’s fall were less immediately significant, but ultimately uncontainable. There has been so much controversy over the responsibility for and significance of the events from Mussolini’s removal in July 1943 to the signing and declaration of the armistice between Italy and the Allies in September 1943, that it becomes extremely difficult for the historian to clear a path through the retrospective mutual recriminations and mud-slinging of the protagonists. The only place to start is with the announcement to the nation by the 72-year-old Marshal Pietro Badoglio, called out of military retirement by the king to head the new government after the dismissal and arrest of Mussolini on 25 July 1943. Badoglio was a deeply compromised figure, though he probably did not appear so to those who appointed him. A very political military man, Badoglio had successfully ducked and weaved with the Fascist dictatorship for two decades, garnering position, honours, and riches from the regime. Approached by the king before 25 July to be Mussolini’s successor, he had two and a half years of apparently clean hands to recommend him as a credible replacement of the dictator. What Badoglio announced to the nation was that the war would continue, which, once the declaration had sunk in, dampened the popular celebrations which followed the news of Mussolini’s dismissal. The days after 25 July saw the defacing, dismantling, and toppling of some of the public marks and signs of the Fascist regime, the now-familiar symbolical cleansing which usually characterizes the transition from one political regime to another. As elsewhere, such popular anger directed against the outward manifestations of a discredited regime was also a sign of the people’s sense of impotence. People could only take symbolic revenge on a regime which had already fallen; it was activism and opposition after the event. The impact of Italy’s disastrous war on popular morale had destroyed the credibility of Mussolini and the Fascist regime. Quite understandably and predictably, the Italian people expected the end of Mussolini to mean the end of the war, too. It meant the same for the king and the military, also. But they had decided not to take Grandi’s advice and achieve it in the risky and compressed timescale of an immediate and simultaneous changing of sides and declaration of war on Nazi Germany. The war continued because the king and his new government did not want to provoke or provide a pretext for a German-inspired Fascist counter-coup and the German military occupation of Italy. It was the constant fear of German reaction which underpinned and, one has to say, undermined the Badoglio government’s action (and inaction) during the so-called Forty-Five Days between July and September 1943. Some of the government’s irresponsible behaviour only becomes remotely intelligible if you bear in mind that the concern throughout was to withdraw from the war at minimum cost. It wanted to leave the war with the monarchy and state institutions intact, without fighting the Germans-preferably without having to fight anybody-and in a way which would avoid mainland Italy becoming occupied territory and a war zone. One could say that such aims were desirable, even high-minded and in the national interest. But one could not say in the circumstances that they were in any way realistic. It was this lack of realism, and a consequent overestimation of the country’s capacity to function as an international free agent, which ultimately makes the charge of irresponsibility stick. A sign of the government’s lack of perspective was its refusal, or inability, to assess realistically the intentions and actions of Nazi Germany. From the start, Hitler regarded the removal of Mussolini as a betrayal of the Axis alliance, and expected and planned for the eventual Italian exit from the alliance. The Germans substantially increased their military presence in Italy between July and September. Rather than exclusively concentrating its forces in the south for the defence of its ally, Germany also stationed its troops alongside Italian forces in the centre and north, to facilitate their disarmament when the Italian changing of sides occurred. The Germans, in other words, always intended to occupy Italy and always intended to defend their own frontiers not on the Alps, but in Italy itself. The Alps were not the preferred defensive line for the Germans. Occupying Italy would allow them to set up a Fascist government behind their lines, continue to exploit the economic resources of northern Italy, hold on to the Balkans, and keep some of Germany itself out of the range of Allied bombing. There was never any danger of Italy provoking Nazi Germany into action; it was taking action, anyway. The Italian government’s dilatory approach to armistice talks with the Allies was presumably meant as a ruse to reassure the Germans of its continuing loyalty to the Axis alliance. The attempt at deception served to bring about the conditions which made a painless exit from the war even more unlikely than it was at the start. Fall of Mussolini , Italy , Italians , Second World War - Philip Morgan

[@Zen-sx5io]

That last part is something I have to really consider now.

[@guillermosobernesspeare6066]

What happened to the Italian soldiers abroad? Greetings from Mexico.

[@merdiolu]

@@guillermosobernesspeare6066 Once Italy signed armistice with Allies and quit the war , Italian army leaderless disintegrated , Hitler and Nazis reacted with total fury , disarming Italian military and ruthlessly killed (even murdered en masse after surrender to Germans) any Italian soldier or military unit who fought back against German occupation of Italy or its overseas territories. Thousands of Italians were massacred by Germans in Dordenecesse Islands at Aegean Sea and Balkans because they fought back German attempts to disarm and forced labour them. So Italian units in Mediterranean like Sardinia and Corsica though , relieved by Allies and joined Allied ranks as Italian Royal co-belligerent army.

[@gordybing1727]

@@guillermosobernesspeare6066 Movie "Captain Corelli's Mandolin".

[@ericcarlson3746]

Thanks! This context is superb

[@TheMrMitosis]

I’m not trying to be rude by any means. Why has the Instagram coverage day by day stopped since July 1st and not been updated?

[@CrimsonTemplar2]

Another great video. Good job Indy & team.

[@WorldWarTwo]

We thank you!

[@merdiolu]

U-Boat Hunt in Central Atlantic and Bay of Biscay (31 July - 6th August 1943) (2) U-Boat Hunt in Bay of Biscay Type VII German submarine U-383, commanded by Horst Kremser, age twenty-five, which sailed from Brest on July 29. On August 1, a Sunderland flying boat of RAF Coastal Command Squadron 228, piloted by Stanley White, found and attacked U-383. On the first run German gunners riddled the Sunderland, inflicting heavy damage on the starboard wing. On a second run White dropped seven depth charges that destroyed the U-boat. He reported that he saw Germans jumping into the water, but owing to his own damage, could not stay. Kremser had time to radio an SOS to Control stating he was “unable to dive” and “out of control.” In response, German aircraft, three torpedo boats, and three U-boats looked for survivors of U-383 the next day, but found none. The U-454 and U-706 sailed in company from La Pallice to patrol in Mediterranean on July 29. It was the fourth start in July for the U-706, commanded by Alexander von Zitzewitz, who had been bedeviled by a series of mechanical failures. On July 30, von Zitzewitz in U-706 and the U-454, commanded by Burkhard Hackländer, joined two boats from Brest for the Biscay crossing. The next afternoon, August 1, a Sunderland flying boat of RAF Coastal Command Australian Squadron 10, piloted by Kenneth G. Fry on Musketry patrol, spotted the four U-boats on the surface. Fry gave the alarm and attacked Hackländer’s veteran U-454. Flying into heavy flak, he dropped six depth charges. These missiles destroyed U-454 but the flak so badly damaged the Sunderland that it crashed in flames. Fry and five other Australian aircrew died; six survived and were rescued by the sloop Wren of Captain Johnny Walker’s Support Group 2. Another sloop of that group, Kite, rescued Hackländer, his second watch officer Gerhard Braun, and twelve enlisted men. On the morning of August 2, a Hampden bomber of RAF Coastal Command Canadian Squadron 415, piloted by Charles G. Ruttan, found Zitzewitz in U-706 by radar and attacked with six depth charges in the face of heavy flak, results that were never undetermined. Responding to the alarm, a B-24 of Army Air Forces ASW Squadron 4, piloted by Joseph L. Hamilton, boldly flew into flak and dropped twelve depth charges in a close straddle from an altitude of fifty feet. These destroyed U-706, which sank in mere seconds. Hamilton reported “at least fifteen men” in the water. He dropped them a dinghy, but only the second watch officer, Henner Lappe, and three enlisted men survived. A Catalina flying boat of RAF Coastal Command Squadron 210 guided the frigate HMS Waveney of the Royal Navy 40th Support Group to the scene and she rescued the four Germans. The loss of all three U-boats assigned to reinforce the Mediterranean force left that command at thirteen boats, most of them based at Toulon, France. The veteran Type IXB U-106, commanded by a new skipper, Wolf-Dietrich Damerow, age twenty-four, who had served on the boat as a watch officer for almost two years. He sailed from Lorient in company with a sister ship, U-107, which, as related, planted a minefield in American waters. On the fifth day out, August 1, Damerow reported that he had repelled an aircraft, but that it or another was shadowing the boat, doubtless calling in other planes. The shadower was a Wellington bomber of the new RAF Coastal Command Canadian Squadron 407, piloted by a British officer, J. C. Archer, who had dropped six depth charges and had indeed given the alarm. Two Sunderland flying boats responded on August 2: one from RAF Coastal Command Squadron 228, piloted by Reader D. Hanbury, and one from Coastal Command Australian Squadron 461, piloted by Irwin A. F. Clarke. Both aircraft strafed and dropped six depth charges that wrecked and sank U-106. In reaction to Damerow’s SOS, U-boat Control sent four JU-88s and three torpedo boats. The aircraft arrived too late, but the torpedo boats rescued Damerow, his log book, and thirty-five other Germans. Damerow, however, did not survive the war. The new Type XIV tanker U-489, commanded by Adalbert Schmandt, age thirty- three, which sailed from Kiel on July 22 in company with a new Type VII, U-647, commanded by Willi Hertin, age twenty-nine. Off Norway on July 29, Control notified Schmandt and Hertin to search for a German aircrew that had ditched after a losing match with a Beaufighter of RCAF Canadian Squadron 404. Schmandt found the three Germans, took them on board, and proceeded to the Atlantic, still in company with the U-647. A few days later, on August 3, a Hudson bomber of RAF Coastal Command Squadron 269, flown by E.L J. Brame, found the tanker U-489 in a position south of Iceland and mounted two attacks with 100-pound ASW bombs in the face of the U-boat’s quad 20mm and other flak guns. The first bomb missed, but the second fell close. When two other aircraft appeared (a B-17 bomber and a Catalina flying boat), Schmandt dived deep (656 feet) and escaped. But the single bomb caused a leak of seawater into the after battery, posing the possibility of chlorine gas. Schmandt surfaced to radio U-boat Control of the mishap and to request orders, drawing in “several destroyers” that drove the boat under again. Schmandt’s men fixed the leak, but the warships mounted a dogged hunt, dropping depth charges. None fell close; however, the destroyers held U-489 down until her batteries were exhausted, and she was forced to surface the next morning. When U-489 came up on August 4, a Sunderland flying boat of RCAF Canadian Squadron 423, piloted by A. A. Bishop, son of a World War I ace, spotted her almost immediately and notified the destroyers and others. Bishop then attacked U-489 from the stern, flying straight into the flak from the quad 20mm, which set the aircraft on fire. Bishop dropped six accurate shallow-set depth charges that wrecked U-489, then crash-landed into the sea. Six of the plane’s eleven-man crew survived, including Bishop. When three Royal Navy destroyers, including HMS Castleton and HMS Orwell appeared, Schmandt ordered his crew to abandon ship and scuttle the wrecked submarine. After sea cocks were opened up and as U-489 went down, there was an unexplained but “terrific” explosion in the aft section that mortally wounded the chief engineer. About twenty minutes later, HMS Castleton picked up Schmandt and the other fifty-three members of the crew, including the chief engineer, who later died. Hitler's U-Boat War - Clay Blair Jr

[@GeorgeSemel]

Monte Markham, the actor, and documentary filmmaker made a very good documentary on the Polisti Raid for the History Channel back in 1993 or 94. Well worth the effort to watch if you can find it.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks for the recommendation George

[@Soundbrigade]

You mentioned Sweden ... !!! My father guarded those German soldiers travelling thru Sweden back in those days. I never asked him much about it but he said they (the Germans) were gentle and polite. I am so surprised how the Axis can put up such a resistance after the loss at Stalingrad and Kursk. How much resources do they still have left?

[@caryblack5985]

They still have millions of men in uniform and they still produce a large number of tanks, planes and armaments. However they have fewer resources in every area than the Allies.

[@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623]

They still have the resources of most of Europe occupied by them to plunder. German resources will go down fast from this point though, by the end of 1943 they will lose half of Italy, half of the Ukraine. By the end of 1944 they will have lost most of Italy, France, Belgium, the USSR, Finland, Romania and its crucial oilfields, Greece, Bulgaria, most of Yugoslavia, half of Hungary and half of Poland. By early 1945 German industry is out of resources and their only production will come from supplies that were still in stock. In the end Germany never stood a chance in a protracted war. The new factories of the USSR behind the Urals produced more tanks already in 1942 then Germany did. Britain had the resources of its Empire to pour into the war, India alone contributed more manpower then Canada, Australia and New Zealand combined. And the industrial output of the US was such that it allowed the US to fight a war in Europe AND the Pacific, AND supply the UK and the Free French, AND keep the USSR alive and afloat. And it was safe from attack from any of the Axis powers. It's a mystery that both Germany and Japan thought they would stand a chance in a war with the US, in addition to war with the USSR and the UK. Once they failed to get a quick decisive victory it was game over.

[@Soundbrigade]

@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 I am a bit aware that the Axis (Germans) still had resources and in spite of heavy bombardments many factories had gone underground, but still - mentally it is hard to grasp the power with which the Germans fought back. This may be a .... "cliffhanger" ... no ... when you ruin the story by exposing the end ... spoiler alert! ... but we know how hard the Soviet army had to pass the Seelow Heights. I believe all that I am told but still ...

[@tigertank06]

@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 But the Axis could have won had they been more strategic in their battles and attacks.

[@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623]

@@Soundbrigade The Germans fought back hard because they knew what shit they had pulled and rightly feared that there would be a price to pay for it after the war. Or towards the end, as the Red Army's campaign of revenge in East Prussia proved. 10 mln women in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia raped by the Wehrmacht. No wonder the German frauleins ended up paying for those crimes. And there was also the Allied call for unconditional surrender. That scared the living shit out of both the Germans and the Japanese. If both countries were allowed to surrender like Germany had done in 1918, armistice followed by a negotiated peace, the war would probably have ended a lot earlier. After the German generals had killed or deposed Hitler, because he was against any repeat of 1918. But I reckon there would be more support for a coup then happened after the failed bomb plot, as unconditional surrender made most German generals conclude it was pointless to surrender. Better to fight on. As for Seelow, the Germans did have the advantage of being able to fortify the shit out of those positions, knowing where Zhukov would have to strike. And Heinrici was one of their best defensive commanders. Konev on the other hand crossed the Neisse to the South in a day, , same with Rokossovsky to the North, so not so much German fighting spirit as the advantage of a well prepared kill zone where the Germans concentrated what they still had.

[@merdiolu]

Breaching Etna Line (31 July - 7 August 1943) (part 4) 78th British "Battleaxe" Division Breakthrough at Centuripe Now arriving just up the road at Catenanuova were the 78th ‘Battleaxe’ Division, which Montgomery planned to throw into the line immediately. Although the division was only a year old, its core had been formed from men who had served with the BEF in France and Belgium back in 1940, and so there was a good layer of experience, further enriched by the campaign in Tunisia. Setting sail in an LST on 27 July, the 17th Field Regiment had reached Avola at 8.30 a.m. on the 29th. ‘Unloaded the ship in forty-five minutes,’ Major Peter Pettit jotted in his diary, ‘(sixty-odd vehicles on two decks and 200 souls).’ The division was due to go into action the following day, 30 July, so getting them into the line and in position was a challenge, not helped by a freak thunderstorm that broke out as they wound their way north. ‘Streets in Vizzini and Palazzolo running like torrents,’ noted Pettit. ‘Mountains again, bad roads and bends. Heard guns again and smelt the peculiar odour of dead men." That same night, the leading elements of 78th Division, on the right of the Canadian 3rd Infantry Brigade, pushed across the River Dittaino and took Catenanuova with barely a shot: Hanns Cibulka’s battery and the HG Division’s troops had already pulled back to the Etna Line now that Agira had fallen and the old Hauptkampflinie had collapsed. The following night the 51st Highlanders, on 78th Division’s right, also pushed forward, clearing the ridge beyond and seeing off counter-attacks from the last of the HG men. Gerbini was, at long last, in British hands. From down in the Dittaino valley, the town of Centuripe could be seen in the distance, perched impossibly high in the mountains. At certain times of the day when the sun was high, it twinkled and shimmered, a silvery line on the top of a briefly flat crest. The town sat on neither the Hauptkampflinie nor the Etna Line, but roughly in between the two, a jutting outpost. However, because of its height, and because it lay on the same ridge as Leonforte, Assoro, Agira and Regalbuto, it stood sentinel to the Etna Line, imperiously guarding the key towns of Paterno and Adrano. If the British could get up on Centuripe, they would be able to stare down at these latter towns and unlock the entire position around the south of Etna - and with it, Misterbianco and Catania. Equally, if the Germans there could hold on, then they could very well frustrate British ambitions for quite some time to come. Centuripe was one of the most extraordinary towns in all of Sicily. Built on the apex of a number of spurs and ridgelines and then spread along them, from the air it looked either rather like a thick-limbed starfish or a prostrate man, depending on the angle of view. Lying some 2,000 feet above the Dittaino and Simetovalleys, it could be reached only via one winding, narrow road of numerous switchbacks that ran from one valley up to the town and then back down again to the other. All around it were the arms and legs of the ridges that fanned out from its centre, and which plunged precipitously, sometimes in sheer drops, at other places in a series of 6-foot-high terraced walls, elsewhere in banks of loose stone and scree. Guarding Centuripe now were some of the best German troops on the island, men from ‘King’ Ludwig Heilmann’s 3. Fallschirmjäger - the 1. Bataillon and much of the 2. Bataillon - bolstered by some Panzer Mk IIIs, a field artillery battery and an anti-tank troop from the HG Panzer Grenadier Division. Fallschirmjäger had double the number of machine guns a normal infantry unit would have - one every five men, rather than one every ten. This meant that every approach up to the town was covered not only by mortars and artillery fire, but also - and especially - by machine guns, whose teams had been placed in such a way that the moment anyone attacking showed their head, they would come within the field of fire. It was the newly arrived 78th British Battleaxe Division who were given the unenviable task of capturing this imposing objective; and, because of the successful capture of Catenanuova more quickly than expected, Major-General Evelegh decided to bring forward his attack by twenty-four hours. As a result, his 36th Brigade were sent in to attack on Sunday, 1 August. The key to their chances of success, as always, was the fire support - even Fallschirmjäger couldn’t be firing their MGs properly when shells were falling all around them - but Major Peter Pettit and the 17th Field Artillery were struggling to find the right places to set up their batteries of 25-pounders. Excellent field guns though they were, each weighed more than 1½ tons and required a Morris Commercial Quad - or equivalent - gun tractor to tow it, plus an extra ammunition limber. The 17th, like all British field artillery regiments, consisted of three batteries of eight guns, so twenty-four in all - and while they were terrific once in position, the problem in Sicily, particularly when firing at such an oddly shaped and difficult bit of high ground as Centuripe, was successfully getting them into good firing positions in the first place; below the town, there were few opportunities for a 25-pounder, Quad and limber to get off the road and deploy. ‘We recce almond groves on steep hillside and move in after dark,’ noted Pettit in his diary. ‘Very difficult country, rocks, bad roads and worse tracks cratered or landslid.’ Evelegh’s 36th Brigade managed to cross the open country before nightfall and then launched its attack that night - but made only limited progress, so that by first light the next day, 2 August, none of the infantry battalions were in the town itself, but rather were pinned down some way short, Centuripe still towering over them up slopes that looked even more precipitous and impossible than they did from the valley floor. During the morning, they continued to try to inch their way further up the slopes; but while progress could be made through the hidden gullies and folds in the land, the moment they emerged into the open, machine-gun bullets scythed through the air and another wave of mortars whistled down. As the day progressed, however, so the supporting artillery increasingly began to join the fight. In all, there were three field regiments and a further three regiments of medium artillery firing 5.5-inch howitzers, so the best part of 150 guns in support, of which only a fraction had been available the day before. Getting them into position was not at all easy, because the road up was both covered by enemy fire and cratered; the engineers worked ceaselessly to repair it so that the artillery could get into position. Peter Pettit and the 17th FA moved up as close as they could, but the road was a nightmare to climb. ‘It is cut out of mountainsides,’ he jotted in his diary, ‘with hairpin bends galore and steeply terraced almond groves on either side. Go over and you drop for hundreds of feet.’ Sicily 1943 - James Holland

[@merdiolu]

General Evelegh decided to bring in a second brigade, the 38th Irish, to attack the town again that night; one of its battalions, the 2nd London Irish Rifles, were to climb west of the town and capture three high features, Hills 611, 704 and 703 on their maps, which covered the north-west of the town. From here, the London Irish could give mortar and machine-gun support for an assault by the 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers - or ‘Faughs’ as they were known - who were to attack the town’s cemetery at the end of the western arm of Centuripe’s prostrate man. The 6th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, meanwhile, were to attack up what had already been dubbed ‘Suicide Gully’ - the prostrate man’s left leg. In the 6th Skins, 10 Platoon sergeant in A Company was Ray Phillips, a tough soldier who’d fought well in Tunisia. As a rule of thumb, infantrymen - of whatever nationality - could be divided into four rough groups, which for argument’s sake could be labelled A, B, C and D. Most fell into Category C - men who were willing to do their bit but didn’t want to be there, weren’t interested in using their initiative very much, wanted to keep their heads down and prayed they might survive. Category Ds were those who simply couldn’t cope at all - who were terrified, and who would most likely crumble in the face of danger or run away. Numbers in Category D were small. Then there were Category As - adrenalin junkies, thrill-seekers, who regarded war as little more than Boy Scouts with guns. These were the most gung-ho and would be the first to join any special forces. There weren’t many of these, either. But then there were the Category Bs - men who didn’t want to be in the war, would far rather be at home, but would go the extra mile to get the job done and who would selflessly look out for others above themselves. These were comparatively few in number, but there were enough of them to keep the armies going. Typically, they were company commanders or sergeants. They were the backbone of any infantry unit, the glue around which the Category Cs could function. Sergeant Ray Phillips was one such man. The battalion had moved up the previous day, 1 August, marching through cleared minefields, over blown bridges, on through Catenanuova and past what had been the HG Division command post. All around them they had seen a lot of abandoned equipment and transport, as well as plenty of dead. ‘The pioneer battalion had gone on ahead,’ noted the battalion diarist, ‘and had buried most of the dead Boche by the time the main body arrived so the stench wasn’t too bad, but the hum of a dead mule wasn’t too pleasant.’ Orders to push on up and take over from 36th Brigade were received and they were told to be ready to move at 3.30 the following morning, 2 August. They moved out at 4 a.m., heading up the slopes for the best part of 2 miles, which entailed a climb of nearly 2,000 feet along tracks so bad even the mules couldn’t cope; there was nothing for it but to hump everything themselves, including the No. 22 radio set, which weighed more than 16kg, plus spare batteries. They had been expecting to climb straight into the town, but when mortars started falling nearby it became clear that 36th Brigade had not managed to take the peaks and that they would have to do that first. They paused on a knoll marked on their maps as Point 640, hidden from view from the summit, and began sending out patrols, while B Company moved across a gully to Point 664, in order to attack up the right leg of the prostrate man. The heat, as ever, bore down. Exhausted after their climb, they were short of water and energy, so Brigade HQ decided they should not launch their attack until later that afternoon. The battalion was briefed for attack at 3 p.m., by which time mortars and Nebelwerfers were screaming over and they started to take casualties. In A Company alone, two men were killed and eleven injured. They set off at 4.30, with C Company leading behind heavy artillery fire. Their first objective was Point 709, on which stood a large church, Santa Nicola, at the end of the left leg. Following behind were A Company, led off by 10 Platoon. Sergeant Phillips had listened carefully to the briefing; there was no alternative to Suicide Gully; they could expect MG42s to fire on them, and there were lots of Jerry paratroopers about. The situation, Phillips thought, looked pretty hopeless. They were also told to carry their rations as well as ammo and the men began to grumble. Phillips wasn’t having it. ‘The damn job’s got to be done,’ he told them, ‘so let’s do it.’ Phillips had a new platoon commander, Lieutenant Samuel Morrow, who he thought was a grand chap, but who was about to go into action for the first time. As they got moving, the air was soon filled with zipping bullets and fizzing shards of shrapnel and Morrow was hit in the head, so Phillips took over command. Up ahead, C Company had somehow managed to get into the edge of the town, but there were still plenty of enemy firing at Phillips and his men as they scaled an almost sheer 100-foot-high rock face. ‘God, what a job,’ he wrote. ‘It seemed impossible with all the arms, ammo and weight of food etc., still, bashed on we did, it was child’s play for Jerry to pick us off as we were climbing, still he was a hell of a poor shot and only got 4 of my boys, the bastard.’ On they went, and Phillips managed to clamber up on to the road that ran around and beneath the Church of Santa Nicola, the rest of the platoon following. Then one of his best men lost his footing, stumbled and fell backwards on to a mine which blew him sky high; tragic as it was, Phillips was all too aware they might well have all suffered the same fate. Ahead was a small shack, so he charged it and smashed down the door, but found no enemy inside. It provided a good place for his men to pause and get their wind back, so while they rested, Phillips went for a look around. Shocked by the state of the shacks the townspeople called home, he saw the church at the end of the promontory about 200 yards away so decided that should be their next objective. He was now joined by Major George ‘Hobo’ Crocker, the A Company commander, only recently back in the line, having been wounded in Tunisia. Phillips wondered where the rest of his company was, but it seemed Crocker had lost them in the climb and his wireless set was out of order. There were only twenty-four men now in 10 Platoon, most of them in fact not Irish at all but Welshmen - a not uncommon situation by this stage of the war, as regional regiments were filled with whoever arrived from the training depots. Phillips had also lost his mortar team and his PIAT man, wielding the only anti-tank weapon they had as infantrymen. This was not a time for dilly-dallying, however; Phillips knew they had to get on, and so, having made a quick appreciation, he got his section commanders together - all three corporals he knew he could rely on - and told them the plan. They were going to make a dash for the church. There would be small arms firing at them, but it couldn’t be helped; this was a key objective, overlooked the advance of the rest of the battalion following behind, and had to be secured. And there was only one thing for it: to run as hard as they could. Phillips led 1st Section, and although four of his men were mown down the others reached the church and stormed inside, fortunately finding it empty. With the remainder of the platoon safely in and around the church he took a quick roll-call and discovered he had only thirteen men left, although all three of his NCOs were still standing. No sooner had they had a brief pause to catch their breath again than the Germans counter-attacked, in what looked like company strength. ‘We gave them hell,’ he wrote, ‘fired everything we had into the swines, killed a hell of a lot, good show. Sicily 1943 - James Holland

[@merdiolu]

Being holed up in the church now didn’t seem such a good idea after all, so he told his men they were going to simply charge the enemy. Out they went, shouting and firing Bren guns and Tommy guns from the hip. The startled Germans turned and ran, and Phillips and his men followed right into the heart of the town, to a small triangular piazza. He’d had in mind to push on round to Point 709, which was B Company’s objective on the prostrate man’s right leg, but the town was now swarming with more Germans, who had recovered their balance. Taking cover, they fired back, but more of his men were getting hit. Phillips himself was nicked on the arm and, having had it bandaged up, tried to see if he could get any help, but it was hopeless - they were effectively surrounded. Back with his men, he told them there was nothing for it but to give the enemy hell for as long as possible. With luck, the rest of the battalion would join them. ‘We were in a tight corner,’ he noted, ‘but Jerry had to come and get us and he didn’t dare, for as soon as one poked his head out, he had it.’ They were still holed up as dusk descended. Elsewhere, the sounds of battle could be heard, although from the piazza it was hard to tell from what direction. In fact, by 9 p.m. the London Irish had managed to secure all three of their objectives, the high points to the north-west of the town, while the Faughs had also got on to Point 711, the town’s cemetery, at the end of the left arm of the prostrate man. By now, Phillips had just eight men left - and then his two best Bren gunners, Beer and Dackin, were hit, a big blow. At this point an Italian tank rumbled into a street 150 yards away; Phillips knew he couldn’t allow it to get into the fight, so, grabbing one of the Brens, he let it get within 100 yards then opened up with the machine gun, emptying some thirteen magazines at it. Fortunately, it did the trick: the tank reversed and disappeared out of sight. With darkness, Phillips took two of his remaining men and went out on a recce to see just how many Germans were still about, so that he could judge whether to make a break for it. There seemed to be far too many for comfort and so, getting back to what was left of his platoon, he led them down into a coal cellar where he hoped they could hide until reinforcements arrived. Outside, they could hear the enemy troops talking and searching for them, but eventually it seemed to quieten down and so, telling his men to stay put, he ventured out again, and this time found the rest of the battalion who had begun clearing the town. Hobo Crocker had been wounded and so was sent off to an RAP; and at daylight, Phillips began the search for those of his men who had been killed. ‘Found 3,’ he noted, ‘and as I was going to one I found an Itie taking the boots off the body. I shot the swine dead.’ At roll-call, he had just four men still standing from a platoon of thirty-seven. ‘Too bad,’ he added, ‘but we won the day.’ The Germans, who had already begun thinning out in the town early the previous evening, had now pulled back. The Battleaxe Division had taken Centuripe; and once again, it was the infantry who had had to claw their way forward, and at a terrible cost. For the survivors, there would be more fighting to come; but for the time being, Phillips and the rest of A Company were able to enjoy some hot tea and breakfast and then a chance to sleep for the rest of the day, before loading up on to trucks and moving on, down the winding hairpins amid clouds of dust and on towards Adrano on the Etna Line, their next objective. The successful capture of Centuripe had caused the whole German line to Catania to crack and thus had to withdraw to a new position: the Etna line. This however had to be abandoned and soon plans were made to abandon the island of Sicily as a whole. The London Irish quickly reached high ground on the far side of the Salso, and at night 'E' and 'F' Companies got to the Simeto. As dusk approached, two platoons of 'G' Company moved across the river with reserve ammunition, mortars, and machine-guns for the immediate support of the two other companies. By darkness the bridgehead was secure and the Germans withdrew during the night so that in the morning a fighting patrol from the London Irish located the Germans half-way up the hills on top of which was the next objective, the much-bombed town of Aderno. That, however, was not an Irish Brigade task, for the two other brigades (11th and 36th) of the 78th British Division went through. From the afternoon of August 1 to nightfall on August 5 the Irish Brigade had advanced twenty-five miles fighting battles at Centuripe, Salso, and the Simeto. The battalion spent five days resting in the cool waters of the Simeto, by which time the rest of the division had captured Aderno and Bronte, and were holding the hills on the far side of the latter town. The crossing of the Salso and Simeto Rivers and the fall of Aderno had cut all the German lateral communications west and south of Mount Etna, and caused the fall of Paterno, Santa Maria, and Biancavilla. The 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers, in the meantime, had captured Capella and Monte Maletto and cleared the village. The fall of Maletto and the subsequent rapid approach to Randazzo forced the Germans on their last hurried withdrawal to the sea. News of the capture of Centuripe was met with great enthusiasm in Allied ranks, General Bernard Montgomery, the British Eighth Army commander, when shown the cliffs of the town after its capture shouted "impossible!" The British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill mentioned the news of the capture in the House of Commons only a few days later, citing the capture as one of the greatest achievements in storming Sicily 1943 - James Holland

[@edwardtimberlake4646]

Edward 'Ted' Timberlake. I am proud to have the same name sake as General Edward 'Ted' Timberlake the first commander of the 93rd Bomb Group, known as Ted's Flying Circus. It was he who was the co-planner of the Ploesti raid. As I understand it, information concerning the area of the oil fields was sparse, and the final approaches were flown using Michelin Road Maps. Once the bombing started and fire and smoke blinded the low flying B24's this added to the huge difficulties experienced and contributed to the high losses. Ted's later career took him to the top of the USA Army Air Force in his later years.

[@merdiolu]

U-Boat Hunt in South Atlantic and Caribbean Sea (31 July - 6th August 1943) (1) In mid June , the three U-boats assigned to patrol Brazilian waters, all commanded by Ritterkreuz holders, were Carl Emmermann in the Type IXC U-172; Friedrich Guggenberger, new skipper of Type IXC U-513; and the new Type IXD2 U-cruiser U-199, commanded by Hans-Werner Kraus, age twenty-seven. These boats had troublesome and arduous patrols. Guggenberger in U-513 and Emmermann in U-172 refueled en route, Guggenberger from Ebe Schnoor’s XIV U-tanker U-460* Owing to the loss of U-118, and to the loss of the Type XIV tanker U-463 outbound in Biscay, U-boat Control was compelled to utilize several newly sailing IXC40s as provisional U-tankers. One of these, Kurt Lange in U-530, furious at his diversion to be a supply boat, refueled Emmermann’s U-172 on June 19. For these reasons Emmermann Emmermann was to reach Brazilian waters well behind the other boats. En route to Brazil, Guggenberger, a tough and demanding skipper, conducted so many drills that the crew felt they were back in Baltic workup. On the last day of May, Guggenberger got his first opportunity to lead the crew in the real thing. He found a large (10,000- to 12,000-ton) freighter sailing alone at about 16 knots. He chased her on the surface for several hours, but could not overtake her or get close enough for an effective attack. Finally, in desperation, he shot three torpedoes from very long range. All missed, leaving him with eighteen torpedoes, twelve below (one defective) and, in keeping with the new policy, only six air torpedoes in topside canisters. A new U.S. Navy Fleet Air Wing (Fairwing), 16, commanded by Rossmore D. Lyon, meanwhile , was in the process of deploying to Brazil. It established its headquarters at Recife, adjacent to that of Admiral Jonas H. Ingram, Commander in Chief, Fourth Fleet, the U.S. naval presence in the southwest Atlantic. Entering Brazilian waters first, Guggenberger promptly found targets. On June 21, he sank a 1,700-ton Swedish neutral, deemed to be carrying contraband. Four days later, on June 25, he shot three torpedoes at the 6,000-ton American tanker Eagle. One hit, but she got away and limped into Rio de Janeiro. In due course she was repaired and returned to service. Guggenberger downloaded four air torpedoes and stored the defective electric topside. This rearrangement gave him twelve torpedoes below and two good air torpedoes topside. Kraus in the U-cruiser U-199 was next to arrive in Brazilian waters. If he found these waters to be fallow, Kraus had authority to leave the area, cross the South Atlantic, and patrol off Cape Town. On June 27, he attacked the American Liberty ship Charles Willson Peale with three torpedoes. One or more hit, but she survived and her Armed Guard gun crew counterattacked U-199. Kraus returned fire with a new 37mm flak gun and his 4.1” forward deck gun to little effect. With enemy shells falling close, Kraus dived his big, clumsy boat and withdrew. The damaged Peale ran into Rio. Eventually she, too, was returned to service. Emmermann in U-172 reached Brazilian waters in the last week of June. With customary skill, he and his crew promptly found and sank the 4,700-ton British freighter Vernon City. Upon receiving the report of this sinking, Dönitz awarded Emmermann Oak Leaves to his Ritterkreuz, Later, as was the custom, Hitler personally presented the award to Emmermann. A war correspondent, Helmut Brendt, sailing with Emmermann on this trip, joined in the improvised shipboard celebration. Guggenberger was next to score. On the night of June 30, he found and chased a big freighter that escaped into a rain squall. Relentlessly pursuing on the estimated course of the enemy, Guggenberger came upon a ship, but it was not the same ship. Rather, it was a 1,100-ton Brazilian coaster, Tutola, with a load of coffee. Guggenberger sank her with a single torpedo. Two days later, on July 3, he met a convoy of six ships, escorted by a single aircraft. With a risky, battery-draining burst of underwater speed into merely one hundred feet of water, Guggenberger got close enough to shoot submerged. He fired five torpedoes into the formation at several targets but hit only one, the 7,200-ton American Liberty ship Elihu B. Washburne, which sank. Having received Oak Leaves, Emmermann in U-172 might well have rested on his laurels but that would not have been in character. He continued to hunt aggressively, sinking three more ships: the 6,500-ton American freighter African Star on July 12, the 4,600-ton British freighter Harmonic on July 15, and the 7,200-ton British Liberty ship Fort Chilcotin on July 24. With a bag of four ships for about 23,000 tons, Emmermann soon commenced the voyage home. As will be seen, he, too, had a rough time reaching France. Contemptuous of Allied ASW measures in Brazilian waters, Guggenberger in U-513 continued to hunt boldly on the surface. On July 16, he torpedoed and sank his third ship, the 7,200-ton American Liberty ship Richard Caswell sailing alone about four hundred miles south of Rio de Janeiro. The American Navy’s small (1,800-ton) seaplane tender USS Barnegat, supporting the Mariner flying boats of Squadron VP 74 based at Florianopolis, rescued the survivors. This sinking persuaded the Mariners to patrol that area with greater diligence. Three days later, a Mariner of that squadron, piloted by Roy S. Whitcomb, found Guggenberger’s U-513 on the surface not far from the scene of the Caswell sinking. Guggenberger saw the plane, but dismissed it as probably an “old crate” flown by Brazilians and manned his single 37mm and 20mm guns. After a few rounds, the 20mm jammed, but Guggenberger remained calmly confident as Whitcomb bore in boldly and dropped four depth charges. Two charges hit very close, utterly destroying U-513, which sank instantly. The blasts threw a number of Germans, including Guggenberger, into the sea. Seeing them, Whitcomb made a low pass and dropped two rafts and life jackets. He then notified the tender Barnegat, which, after an unavoidable delay, got under way. When she reached the scene about dusk, she could find only one raft containing Guggenberger and six enlisted men. Forty-six other Germans perished. After extensive interrogation by US Navy authorities, Guggenberger was incarcerated at a POW camp, Papago Park, on an Indian reservation in Arizona. Patrolling farther to the north, near Rio de Janeiro, Kraus in U-199 attacked his first noteworthy ship on July 24, the 4,200-ton British freighter Henzada. The first three torpedoes missed, but one of two stern shots hit and the ship broke in half and sank in twenty minutes. A week later, sixty miles off Rio, Kraus chased a lone ship until dawn on July 31. Responding to the alarm, a Mariner flying boat of Squadron VP 74, piloted by William F. Smith, found U-199 on the surface. Boldly flying into the 20mm and 37mm flak, Smith attacked, dropping six depth charges in his first run and two more in a second run. These explosions badly damaged U-199, but Kraus kept up the flak and ran west toward shallow water, where he intended to bottom and make repairs. Holding firmly to his target, Smith raked U-199 with machine guns and radioed for help. Two Brazilian planes promptly responded, a Hudson bomber and a Catalina flying boat. The Hudson dropped two depth charges that fell wide. While the Hudson, piloted by S. C. Schnoor, strafed the U-boat, the Catalina, piloted by Alberto M. Torres, finally sank U-199 with four depth charges. Twelve of U-199’s sixty-one-man crew, including Kraus, the first and second watch officers, a midshipman, and a warrant quartermaster survived and were rescued by the tender Barnegat, and all eventually wound up in a POW camp. This three-boat foray into Brazilian waters resulted in nine merchant ships sunk for about 44,000 tons and two ships damaged. It was a far better return than the concurrent five-boat foray into United States waters that resulted in only two ships sunk for about 20,000 tons and one ship damaged. But the price was a shock: two of the three boats sunk, one a valuable U-cruiser. Hitler's U-Boat War - Clay Blair Jr

[@merdiolu]

Five of the twelve Type VII U-Boats assigned to the Caribbean offensive were held “outside” to patrol the area east of Trinidad and south to French Guiana on the “bauxite route” As related, while en route to this area, one of these four boats, the U-572, commanded by Heinz Kummetat, age twenty-four, sank the 4,200-ton French tanker Lot from convoy UGS 10. On July 14 and 15, he sank by gun two British sailing vessels southeast of the latter place, the 114-ton Harvard and the 176-ton Gilbert B. Walters. Returning to an area well to the east of Trinidad, Kummetat sought enemy shipping in vain. On July 31, he reported to Control “heavy air” and that U-572 had repelled an aircraft east of Trinidad. About that same time, two of the other three “outside” boats that were also patrolling from Trinidad southward to French Guiana tangled with Allied aircraft: the U-406, commanded by Horst Dieterichs, age thirty-one, and the veteran U-653, commanded by Gerhard Feiler, age thirty-three. Both expended a great deal of ammo in these engagements. As a result, Dieterichs in U-406 requested a rendezvous with Kummetat in U-572 farther north, to take on ammo and gun grease. The Allies learned of the proposed rendezvous from intelligence sources. On August 3, a PBM-3 Mariner flying boat of U.S. Navy Squadron VP 205, piloted by Clifford C. Cox, arrived at the rendezvous and attacked a U-boat, doubtless Kummetat in U-572. Apparently Cox sank U-572 and Kummetat shot down the Mariner because neither was heard from again. Dieterichs in U-406 reported to Control on August 5 that U-572 had failed to keep the rendezvous. When U-572 did not respond to repeated queries, Control presumed correctly that she was lost. Owing to the crash of the Mariner, a minor mystery remained and the details of U-572’$ last hours will never be known. Cox was awarded DFC posthumously.

[@samuelgordino]

Nothing to do with today episode but I have the feeling that 2 years from now, the episode will be bombastic.

[@Raskolnikov70]

Almost fiery, you could say.....

[@janiceduke1205]

​​​​🅰💣​💥​​​🍄​☁​

[@laurenceingram7314]

Hi Timeghost, mentioning the Instagram day by day posts reminded me that I hadn't seen it in a while. I just looked and it shows as the last post being on July 2nd, nothing since....

[@bradolsen8629]

Indy thanks for what you do much appreciated you do a good job at this

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks for watching, Brad

[@linlenny1392]

Wow, I never knew that amazing story about how Kennedy survived that ramming.

[@Zgreasewood]

He was swimming with a broken back which occurred from the ram.

[@jliller]

A back injury that would, not surprisingly, bother him for the rest of his life.

[@yes_head]

It was darn near required reading as a young boy growing up in the 60s and 70s.

[@filmarchive54]

@@jliller That back injury may have had fatal repercussions 20 years on. There is a theory that the back brace that JFK was supposedly wearing while in the Presidential limo in Dallas prevented him from slumping out of sight after being struck by the first bullet there. The brace may have kept him upright, and thus made him more vulnerable, with the tragic results known to history. Whether he could have survived that first bullet wound is up for debate, but it is thought provoking. Poor guy, to survive something like the PT-109 event, only to fall victim to violence during peacetime.

[@chrismccarthy6857]

Excellent video as usual.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you Chris

[@Grace17893]

Great work man; God bless you

[@nicholasconder4703]

Having read accounts of Operation Tidal Wave, it seems to be an example of how Murphy can mess things up. Or as Robbie Burns said, "The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, gang aft agley. An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, for promis'd joy! "

[@perihelion7798]

Ploesti - some top turret gunners on the B-24's were actually shooting UP at the defending flak towers! Outcome: a screwed up mess, and a waste of man and machines. Learning by failure is still learning... Great maps again, and I do like the photos of the leading generals, as it reminds us that they were human beings, and the proper pronunciation of people's names and places is excellent. Another great episode!

[@Raskolnikov70]

At least they were bombing something useful there instead of going after German officeworkers' houses. As expensive as those raids were, they did shorten the war.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you Perihelion! I look forward to your comments every week

[@AstroGremlinAmerican]

You'd have to be crazy to go on a raid like that, but if you claimed you were insane, that would prove you were sane. Kind of a Catch 22.

[@Raskolnikov70]

That's some catch, that Catch-22.

[@willynthepoorboys2]

Thank you for the video.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you for watching, Sands

[@merdiolu]

Capture of Catania , Sicily (3-5 August 1943) In the Plain of Catania, the front was finally about to move once more after over a fortnight of stasis on either side of battle lines redolent of the First World War. General Dempsey, 13th British Corps commander, had begun to realize from the patrol reports he was receiving that the Germans were starting to thin out their line in preparation for a withdrawal. With this in mind, he decided to attack with both 5th and 50th British Divisions, going in on the night of Tuesday, 3 August. Earlier that day, Lieutenant David Fenner and his men in 13 Platoon, 6th Durhams, had had a brief exchange with some Germans in the Fosso Bottaceto just north of the Primosole Bridge. They’d lobbed over some mortars as Fenner had been dozing quietly at the bottom of their ditch. In reply, Fenner and several of his men decided to throw some mortars back and to give the line a spray with the Bren. Honour salvaged, they’d returned to their ditch. Then word had reached him that he was to mount a patrol to see whether the Fosso up ahead was empty of enemy troops, as intelligence seemed to think they’d gone. Fenner explained what had happened earlier and this was fed back to battalion HQ. ‘It made no difference,’ recalled Fenner, ‘we were told to get on with it.’ He felt as though he’d been handed a death sentence, and was amazed when two of his men volunteered to go with him. His plan was simple. They’d each take a Tommy gun. Sergeant Connell would shoot up the Fosso with the Bren, and they’d run like hell, climb up over, have a look and hope for the best. They were just about to go when the patrol was cancelled because the company commander had been shot in the leg - which was bad news for him, but rather proved Fenner’s point. That night, Bill Cheall and the men of the 6th Green Howards were among those in 50th Division moving forward at last, advancing at around 8 p.m., then digging in for the night before jumping off the following morning. Cheall was in his slit-trench at 5.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 4 August, when the artillery opened up behind them with a thunderous barrage. The screaming of shells passing overhead was music to his ears; then he heard the distinct rumble and clanking of tanks also coming from behind; and then they were being ordered to get up out of their positions and advance. Men were falling, but the attackers were making ground. Also attacking that morning were David Fenner and the men of the 6th DLI, who were following the 8th Durhams out across the Plain. Nebelwerfers, mortars and an 88 were all firing, and one mortar shell landed directly on one of the 3-tonners carrying the brigade support company’s 4.2-inch mortar section, causing the ammunition to explode along with the truck and everyone on it. C Company were caught by the Nebelwerfers, with a number of the new boys in 13 Platoon catching the worst of it. Then they passed the bodies of their anti-tank gunners who had been killed back on 16 July and, much to their disgust, had not been buried by the Germans. Fenner couldn’t understand it; they’d been most careful to bury all the dead in their area, no matter what their nationality. By afternoon they had advanced some 4 miles, the enemy fire lessening as the rearguards pulled out, and by dusk Fenner and his men were on the outskirts of Catania. ‘The locals were busy looting the stores and shops,’ he wrote, ‘and didn’t pay much attention to us.’ Overnight, in accordance with General Hube’s orders, Col. Schmalz ordered his men from Battlgroup Schmalz to pull back. By morning, Catania - and Misterbianco - had been emptied of German troops. At first light on Thursday, 5 August, the 9th Durhams reached the seafront and port of Catania without firing a shot; and on the same day British troops entered Misterbianco. One of Montgomery’s first objectives had finally been taken. Sicily 1944 - James Holland

[@brokenbridge6316]

I once saw a movie made about Kennedy's rescue in WWII. It was made at around the same time that he was President. It was interesting. And I mostly watched it because I was curious. Nicely done video.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you!

[@stevekaczynski3793]

The toll in Romania would have been considered high even by RAF Bomber Command whose night raids sometimes had as much as 12 per cent losses.

[@Raskolnikov70]

Already pointed this out in other comments, but at least the raids on the oilfields and refineries were effective at defeating the Axis and shortening the war. Losing those men and aircraft could be considered 'worth it' versus the essentially useless city bombing raids that the Allies were resorting to by mid-1943.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

@@Raskolnikov70 Well, Albert Speer was recorded as saying after the war that several more bombing raids on the scale of Hamburg would have ended the war. However, the Allies did not have that capacity. (I hardly see Speer as an impeccable source, but he did say Hamburg was a major shock.)

[@Raskolnikov70]

@@stevekaczynski3793 Speer is a good source but I don't agree with what he said about the effectiveness of the raids. The Allies did continue their firebombing raids for the next two years and what did it accomplish? By this point in '43 most of the German war production had been hardened and was untouchable by these raids, civilian workers were dying but production wasn't reduced to a point where it made Germany incapable of continuing to fight, and most importantly civilian moral was never broken - they fought to the end even though they knew they were doomed. At best the allied strategic bombing campaign weakened Germany and made the inevitable ground invasion easier, but still necessary. If the resources that went into it had gone into more concentrated raids on "rich" targets like the oilfields and expansion of close air support assets (instead of building and staffing bomber fleets) they could have accomplished far more with far fewer civilian deaths to show for it.

[@toddmoss1689]

As the Solomon Offensive moves forward, I’m wondering when PBY Catalina Black Cat operations will be covered. USN maritime patrol (VP) squadrons flying as Black Cats have been making the night hell for Japanese shipping since September 1942 and my old squadron (VP-11) was a Black Cat squadron.

[@nikitamysakov846]

Such a good person, that Kennedy guy. I hope he will live long and happily ever after. I mean who would dare to not respect such charming war hero.

[@daveroberts7295]

Yes, he even refused to be sidelined and used his family connections to get a front row seat in the war after being declined for health reasons.

[@merdiolu]

Plan to Breach Etna Line , Sicily (31 July - 7 August 1943) (part 2) Campaign Planning For Future On the 27th Monty had written to British Chief of Staff General Alan Brooke, telling him of his plans to attack the Etna Line at Adrano; this, he correctly surmised, was the hinge to the German defences, as it stood on the Etna foothills at the curve where the line turned east to Catania and north towards San Fratello on the coast. If both armies put in a big, full-blooded effort, then, Monty reckoned, the end should be in sight - although it was not going to be easy, because the enemy was in ideal defensive country with good-quality German troops. ‘We have not done so badly,’ he added; ‘in two weeks we have got the whole island and pinned the Germans in the NE corner.’ This was nothing less than the truth; and, with eventual victory in Sicily assured, Allied thoughts had already begun turning to what might follow the campaign there. At the TRIDENT conference between American and British chiefs of staff back in May, Churchill had urged an invasion of southern Italy, and while such a suggestion had not been dismissed, it had not been enthusiastically endorsed either. Instead, various tentative follow-up operations were to be looked into, from the invasion of Sardinia and Corsica to an operation in the toe of Italy; depending on how HUSKY went, a decision was to be taken at a later stage. The biggest concern of General Marshall and the US chiefs was the potential diversion of attention and effort from the planned cross-Channel invasion of northern France, now inked in to take place on or around 1 May 1944. However, Marshall did see the benefit of continuing operations in the Mediterranean, so long as they were not open-ended. An assault on Italy would inevitably impose a massive commitment on Germany, which was all to the good. He also recognized that the swift capture of the southern half of Italy would open up the airfield complex at Foggia, where heavy bombers could then be stationed to continue the strategic air campaign against Germany; and Foggia was also a step closer to the Ploesti oilfields in Romania, Germany’s only source of natural oil. A continuous tightening of the noose around Germany’s neck was part of the agreed Allied strategy. What’s more, decrypts of German Enigma-coded signals traffic had already revealed the Nazis’ plans to abandon Italy south of the River Po, which runs across the northern plains south of the Alps. This suggested that Rome - and, more importantly as far as Marshall was concerned, Foggia - could be captured relatively easily in a limited campaign that made the best use of the enormous assets now gathered in the Mediterranean theatre.Eisenhower was rather of the same mind. ‘I recommend carrying the war to the mainland of Italy immediately Sicily has been captured,’ Ike had cabled the Combined Chiefs on 18 July, ‘and request very early approval in order that no time may be lost in making preparations. As it happened, two days earlier, Marshall had suggested a new plan to the Combined Chiefs: that Eisenhower should mount an amphibious operation to capture Naples and then drive on as quickly as possible to Rome. The Combined Chiefs swiftly approved Marshall’s plan, and Eisenhower was now directed to start making preparations for Operation AVALANCHE alongside other plans for following up completion of the Sicilian campaign. On 27th , he wrote to Combined Chiefs of Staff : ‘The military significance of recent political changes in Italy ought to be revealed during the next few days,’ he wrote to the Combined Chiefs that same day, ‘and it will then be possible to decide which of the two plans to put into effect.9 My one concern is speed of action and all our efforts are bent on launching the next operation as soon after the completion of HUSKY as is humanly possible to do so.’ The Allies now urgently needed to smash open the Etna Line, burst through and finish the job in Sicily. Sicily 1943 - James Holland

[@Jarlerus]

Last post on the Instagram account was on July 2nd. Is this pause intentional?

[@MAAAAAAAAAA123]

No mention of the 1st Fallschirmjager Division on the map or on the video? They played a major part in the Sicily fighting

[@kmkessler]

Does this mean that you are going to start Day-By-Day back up? There hasn't been a post in over a month.

[@the82spartans62]

When I hear the word 'Ploesti' I'm always reminded of the narration provided by Lloyd Bridges.

[@morewi]

My grandpa was a crewmen on a B-24 bomber. And most of his missions were attacks on eastern oilfields so I wonder if he participated in this one.

[@kemarisite]

My great uncle was a B-24 crewman who was lost in the Mediterranean.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you for sharing a bit about him

[@polarvortex6496]

Worth mentioning, while we're talking about range: those Liberator planes used in the bombing of Ploesti? First bombers with transatlantic range (unloaded, i imagine, but still). And if the Ford facilities at Willow Run have anything to say about it, there will be a lot more coming down the pipe.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks, great piece of information for those planes

[@Lematth88]

This week in French politics. The 31st, it is the administrative end of the FFL records, all French troops are now unified. While Giraud is still away, the CFLN decides that Giraud as co-president and commander-in-chief will only execute directives of the CFLN. A National Defense Committee is created under the presidency of De Gaulle to discuss military matters. Giraud is again undermined. After a month in the US, where he thinks he gained prestige and influence, Giraud returns in North Africa the 3rd. In reality, he stills doesn’t have the popular opinion with him in the US, and his political situation is in fact worse than before in all French liberated regions. In the CFLN, he has lost the upper hand in all matter except military one but must cooperate with the Defense Committee. The 4th, by decree, there is now in the CFLN a “specialized presidency” while it was an alternate one before. De Gaulle oversees the government action while Giraud is the military commander. When Giraud will take effective command of the troops, he will not be president anymore. De Gaulle, and the CFLN, is now free to take democratic measures and purge some of the ex-Vichy officials to put an end to administrative standstill.

[@samdumaquis2033]

Another great vid

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you Sam

[@randomlyentertaining8287]

It is only recently that the defects with the Mark 14 (submarine launched), of which the Mark 15 (ship launched) is a direct derivative, are finally finishing being fixed, namely the badly flawed Mark 6 exploder, which had a habit of not exploding. This is a long and involved topic better explained by the channel Drachinifel in his video "The Mark 14 Torpedo - Failure is Like Onions". Thus, it might actually be a good thing US destroyers didn't start to rely on their torpedoes until now. Atleast they wouldn't have to suffer the frustration of firing a dozen torpedoes, only to have them all run deep, fail to explode, or even most frighteningly, pull a full turn and come back to the ship like an angry, explosive boomerang.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks for the recommendation

[@sevenonthelineproductionsl7524]

Love the chapter name that deals with the Ploesti raid and... some others in the works by the 8th Air Force for this month in Donald Miller's Masters of the Air. The Bells of Hell.

[@Dustz92]

Isn't the 8th air force the one based in Britain? Or it's just everything in Europe

[@sevenonthelineproductionsl7524]

@@Dustz92 Based in Britain but some men from the 8th flew on the Ploesti mission with the 9th and then went to squadrons in Britain.

[@andytothesky]

8th Air Force will also fly a disastrous raid this month. Schweinfurt-Regensburg

[@mhmt1453]

My favorite channel!

[@WorldWarTwo]

Tommy You honor us!! Please tell your friends to join the TimeGhost Army! www.patreon.com/join/timeghosthistory

[@jeremysmith7176]

It has been over a month since any update on the day by day.

[@derrickthewhite1]

ok, we need a special on the coastwatchers

[@WorldWarTwo]

Don't make me give you the copypasta! Ok I'm doing it!! Every episode is a great investment of research, time, and money. We do our best to cover the action of this war every single week and to bring you special episodes regularly, but we can't do it without your support! Join the TimeGhost Army today and help us make more of those specials! www.patreon.com/join/timeghosthistory

[@oasis1282]

I love these minor axis nations playing a key role

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks for watching, Oasis

[@eleanorkett1129]

Good to hear some mention of Romania. I would appreciate more on the Allies’ contribution to the Russian war effort by way of lend lease.

[@belbrighton6479]

There is a special episode on Lend Lease in the special episodes section of the KZbin channel. Enjoy.

[@eleanorkett1129]

@@belbrighton6479 Thanks for the pointer.

[@luisfelipegoncalves4977]

This Kennedy guy he may have a great future ahead of him if he just set his sights right.

[@bergmanf]

No, he'll be court martialed for losing his command, unless his dad is an important Senator or something.

[@coryhall7074]

He also may get that career ended in a flash by someone else setting their sights right

[@ToddSauve]

@@bergmanf On a night so dark you could hardly see your hand in front of your fact due to a total eclipse of the moon ...

[@stevekaczynski3793]

@@ToddSauve If there really was a total eclipse at the time his boat was hit, Kennedy must have had really bad luck because they only last a few minutes.

[@ToddSauve]

@@stevekaczynski3793 I have read from another commenter that the moon was facing the other side of the earth at that time.

[@Willindor]

It was just John Kennedy back then, the F was added after his death since we use the F to pay respects

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

Most informative Introducing Video Thanks

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you for watching as always my friend. Stay tuned

[@dogofthedesert6642]

My dad was a bombardier on a B-24 that didn’t make it back from Ploesti. The crew was able to bail out but he landed inside a German military reservation and was captured right away. He wound up in POW camp but as the Allies approached, the Germans marched the POWs around and that allowed him to escape and walk out to the advancing U.S. lines. Will we see the likes of his generation again?

[@asusmctablet9180]

Nope, that was the last great generation.

[@aussiviking604]

Oh course we will, people will step up. Don't believe the hype.

[@gregakomplet3389]

I think there is one like that now in Ukraine

[@lycaonpictus9662]

He got very lucky. Late in the war as Allied armies were closing in all Germany from all directions many of the PoWs were forced marched deeper into Germany to prevent their liberation, in appalling conditions and often with accompanying acts of brutality by the guards. They were in effect death marches that left a few thousand American, British, and Commonwealth PoWs dead. It's one of the forgotten horrors of the war. Still a long way off but hopefully when the timeline gets there it gets some coverage in the War Against Humanity series.

[@Genessyss]

@@lycaonpictus9662 isn't his case a counter example to what you said? stop making the devil more evil than he was.

[@osea5000]

1:38 Tidal Wave

[@Panzer4F2]

This would be a good time to revisit Joseph Heller's "Catch 22".

[@Raskolnikov70]

That's some catch, that Catch-22.

[@jasonmussett2129]

As always the best and quickest twenty mins in my week😀👍

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you Jason

[@skot8692]

Hry guys, what happened to the day by day coverage on Instagram? The last post is the 28th of June...

[@PropensityVisualized]

The 178 th aircraft was lost over the desert after trying to return to base. The crew survived the crash, minus one, but died in the desert. The aircraft wasn't found for decades

[@johngetty3839]

Are you referring to the "Lady Be Good"? That aircraft wasn't lost during the Aug 1st raid, but earlier in the year on a return from Naples.

[@jonspeck4736]

Have you been posting to Instagram? I haven't seen anything since July 1

[@redrb26dett]

Indy was the infamous slap just perfect for marshal as he only wanted commander’s who could work well as a team know matter how successful they were and it gave him the ammunition to sack him

[@davidr1037]

Loved this episode

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you David

[@davidr1037]

@@WorldWarTwo right back at ya