The Second World War.

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by palo5

I visited there once. The area seemed small, compared with other places

People said that birds don't sing there, but it's not true - they do

I think Richard Dimbleby said this in his dreadful and historic BBC report from Bergen-Belsen in April 1945, only a few days after the British got there. It was small compared with Auschwitz but no smaller than Sobibor. At the time of the liberation, there were over 40,000 inmates and thousands of unburied and rotting dead people strewn all over the site. His report is calm, professional, yet burns with the rage and hate Dimbleby was controlling; it is posted on youtube for anyone who wants to hear it, but I can't post it here because the factual details are so extreme. The details were so bad that the BBC management in London suppressed the report, convinced Dimbleby must be mad or drunk; he wired them to say he stood by the truth of every word and would resign unless they broadcast it.

There were German SS guards still at the camp because there was a local truce, observed by both sides in case fighting led to the release of a widespread typhus epidemic. But when the British learned that the German SS still thought they could murder a prisoner just for a laugh, and that nothing bad would happen, the British commander paraded them at gunpoint, truce be damned. He executed three of them at random and stated "One of them means three of you."

No SS man murdered a prisoner at Belsen after that.

I wonder how many years had to go by before a bird sang at Belsen. It was one of the cruellest places in the whole world. Of the 40,000 prisoners Dimbleby described in his report, barely 10,000 survived, in spite of everything the British Army tried to do to save them. But let it not be entirely forgotten that German nurses came from the surrounding area and saved many lives there, even though they were for a long while rejected and hated, feared and detested by their prisoner-patients for obvious reasons, refused typhus innoculations and quite ostracised by their British colleagues, who only relented toward them a little when they began to see the results of their work and that they were risking death by typhus just to be there. Their British colleagues did care for them when many of them got sick, because they felt some respect by then. Perhaps this errand they undertook was a penance, to mitigate their guilt, their small part in the great crime; but if so IMHO that's alright, it would prove they were not quite lost to humanity after all. It is worth remembering that.

There were dissenting voices in Germany opposed to the wickedness of the Hitler regime. I am suspicious of martyrs as a general rule, but I make an exception for Sophie Magdalena Scholl, who sacrificed her life at the age of 20 to try to save the soul of her poor unlucky country:

How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause? Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if through us thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?

~the last words of Sophie Scholl: may she rest in peace.

[palo5]

Originally Posted by scoundrel

...I wonder how many years had to go by before a bird sang at Belsen...

Trees are/were around about 60% of it, so probably not many. But I understand the point you're making

I always thought the better question would be: "How long until people sing with joy there again". Birds have nothing to do with it

[otiscleotus]

Originally Posted by scoundrel

There were dissenting voices in Germany opposed to the wickedness of the Hitler regime. I am suspicious of martyrs as a general rule, but I make an exception for Sophie Magdalena Scholl, who sacrificed her life at the age of 20 to try to save the soul of her poor unlucky country:
~the last words of Sophie Scholl: may she rest in peace.

There's a fairly good movie about Sophie Scholl from 2005, Sophie Scholl: The Final Days - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0426578/

It was during reading a book about the first Nuremberg trials (there were 12 or 13 rounds of them) that numbers were compiled on the level of murder that the nazis committed (and the number of them that knew what was going on given their love of bureaucracy and record keeping) in a way that I could grasp as to their true horror. Ever since then I've thought that the idea the allies played around with of pastorializing Germany when it was defeated wasn't that far fetched.

[Ennath]

September 10, 1938
United States, Politics Roosevelt announces American neutrality over the Czech issue.

September 10, 1939
Poland German forces broadcast a false news bulletin announcing the fall of the capital on the same wavelength as Radio Warsaw. Modlin is isolated.
Diplomatic Relations Canada declares war on Germany. The delay has been used to purchase $20 million in military equipment from the still neutral United States that would be banned to belligerents. Oman and Bahrain also declare war.
Western Front The first major units of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) begin to land in France. Field Marshal Lord Gort is in command. Small advance parties have been arriving since September 4. In the first month, 160,000 men, 24,000 vehicles, and 140,000 tons of supplies are sent to France.
In response to insistent demands from the Poles, the Chief of the French General Staff, General Maurice Gamelin, replies that more than half his active divisions are in contact with the enemy and that he can do no more.

September 10, 1940
Battle of Britain Hitler decides that the Luftwaffe has not yet won clear air supremacy and puts off his decision on Sealion until the 14th. It is a quiet day in the air.

September 10-20, 1940
Albania The Italians increase their forces in Albania by 40,000 men in preparation for their proposed attack on Greece.

September 10, 1941
Eastern Front Guderian’s southward attack east of Kiev reaches Konotop. Kleist’s 1st Panzer Group begins to break out of its bridgehead around Kremenchug.

September 10, 1942
Madagascar There are renewed operations on the west coast. The British now intend to occupy the whole island and, therefore, make landings at Majunga.
New Guinea Allied aircraft sink a Japanese destroyer near Normanby Island. On the Kokoda Trail, the Japanese are now only 50 miles from Port Moresby.
Eastern Front Attacks in the Leningrad area are broken off. Small gains have been made, but no break-though. The siege continues.
India British reinforcements arrive to help quell the disturbances.
American Forces The Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron is formed, flying new aircraft to bases in non-combat areas.

September 10-14, 1942
Battle of the Atlantic The increasing skill of U-Boat commanders is shown in operations against Convoy ON-127. Every U-Boat from a group of 13 manages to make at least one attack. Only one is damaged and 12 freighters and a destroyer are sunk.

September 10, 1943
Mediterranean The Italian fleet arrives and surrenders. Many smaller craft reach other Allied ports and some are scuttled in their home ports. The minelayer Abdiel is mined off Taranto with 400 troops aboard; losses are heavy.
Italy The American sector at Salerno is fairly quiet, with the front being pushed inland. In the British sector, Montecorvino is occupied in the morning, but the Germans concentrate most of their local reserves here including a number of tanks from 16th Panzer Division, and retake the position by nightfall.
The German forces south of the beachhead, including those delaying Montgomery, withdraw north to reinforce the German cordon. They rely on small parties, demolitions, and Montgomery’s own natural caution to hold up 8th Army’s advance.
Sardinia The Germans begin to evacuate their garrison from the island, moving some troops to Corsica and some to the mainland.
Aegean Castelrosso in the Dodecanese is occupied by the British. Two British officers are dropped on Rhodes to contact the Italian commander there, General Campione. However, on the 11th he surrenders to the German forces on the island.
Denmark The Freedom Council is established to organize and coordinate resistance.
Albania The Germans drop paratroops into Tirana, forestalling the partisans. They gain much Albanian good will in the coming months by their actions against the Serbs in Kossovo.
Eastern Front The Soviets mount a seaborne attack in the Sea of Azov and capture Mariupol. They also land troops in Novorossisk and a major battle begins there. Inland, in the Donets sector, they take Barvenkovo, Volnovakha, and Chaplino.
New Guinea Australian 7th Division is now in position at Nadzab and begins to advance on Lae. Forward elements reach Heath’s Plantation.
Solomons The Americans are having to fight unexpectedly hard for Arundel Island and therefore send more reinforcements.
Japan, Home Front An earthquake in Tottori kills over 1000 people.

September 10, 1944
Western Front US troops enter Luxembourg. On the Channel coast, Le Havre is shelled in preparation for an assault. Farther north, the Canadians are attacking near Zeebrugge. In the south, French troops enter Dijon. Eisenhower accepts Montgomery’s proposal for an airborne operation to seize a series of bridges over rivers and canals in Holland. The operation will be known as Market Garden and is designed to allow a rapid advance into Germany. It is based on the assumption that the Germans have only light forces in the relevant areas and will not be able to prevent the advance of ground forces to link up with the paratroops. The operation will begin on the 17th.
Italy US forces attack toward the Futa and Giogo Passes north of Florence.
Europe, Air Operations The main Panther plant at MAN, Nuremberg, is hit; four months’ production is lost, some 650 tanks. Parts for existing vehicles are reduced and replacement tanks are often cannibalized for spares.
Finland The armistice between Russia and Finland is signed. It provides for the restoration of the 1940 frontiers and Finnish reparations. Finland also cedes the Petsamo district on the Arctic Ocean. The Soviets do not reclaim Hanko and the country is spared occupation. The Allies will have the right to use the country’s airfields. The Germans begin to pull out of Finland by land and sea. The bulk of these forces go to Norway, but about 7000 are taken off through the Baltic ports.
Czechoslovakia The Slovak rebels have gained control of much of central and eastern Slovakia. The Soviets begin flying in supplies.
American Technology Two Harvard scientists produce synthetic quinine.

[tygrkhat40]

Originally Posted by otiscleotus

Ever since then I've thought that the idea the allies played around with of pastorializing Germany when it was defeated wasn't that far fetched.

Turning Germany into a pastoral state after the war was known as the Morganthau Plan, after Henry Morganthau, the US Treasury Secretary. Due to it's impracticality, the Morganthau Plan was more or less rejected out of hand. However, the existance of the plan did get back to the Nazis, who used it as propaganda to try to keep everyone fighting on in the face of overwhelming defeat. It also didn't help that Morganthau was Jewish.

[otiscleotus]

Originally Posted by tygrkhat40

Turning Germany into a pastoral state after the war was known as the Morganthau Plan, after Henry Morganthau, the US Treasury Secretary. Due to it's impracticality, the Morganthau Plan was more or less rejected out of hand. However, the existance of the plan did get back to the Nazis, who used it as propaganda to try to keep everyone fighting on in the face of overwhelming defeat. It also didn't help that Morganthau was Jewish.

And Morganthau had a niece that wrote the great Guns Of August about the preliminaries and first month of WWI.

[scoundrel]

Herbert Hoover commented on the Morganthau plan in 1947:

There is the illusion that the New Germany left after the annexations can be reduced to a ‘pastoral state’. It cannot be done unless we exterminate or move 25,000,000 people out of it.

Hoover's open discussion of this scheme, publicising it and drawing attention to the folly and the wickedness of it, was the one great praiseworthy act of public service I ever heard of in Herbert Hoover's long and lamentable career.

[Ennath]

September 11, 1939
Poland German forces cross the River San north and south of Przemysl. The battle on the Bzura continues; the leaders of Army Group South, Rundstedt and his chief of staff, Manstein, are beginning to assemble reinforcements for 8th Army. The garrison at Radom surrenders with 60,000 men. The industrial area of Upper Silesia is now completely in German hands. Attacks on the fortress of Przemysl begin. In the north, Polish forces begin abandoning Gdynia and pulling back to Puck Bay. The Polish command orders that Warsaw is to be defended at all costs.
Allied Planning The first meeting of the Anglo-French Supreme War Council takes place.
Battle of the Atlantic Germany declares a counter-blockade of Britain. Cipher experts in Germany crack British merchant shipping codes, identifying convoy meeting points.
India British plans for federation are postponed for the duration of the war.
Diplomatic Relations Iraq and Saudi Arabia break relations with Germany.

September 11, 1940
Battle of Britain The air fighting goes well for the Germans. They send a raid to London which gets through to the target and they also do significant damage to a Spitfire factory at Southampton. In the fighting the RAF comes off worse, losing 25 aircraft to the Germans’ 29. Buckingham Palace is hit by a bomb but none of the Royal Family is hurt. In fact, this is of benefit to national morale since it gives the impression that punishment is being shared fairly. The Queen’s comment, “At last we can look the East End in the face” is widely reported. Anti-aircraft guns are brought into London.
Diplomatic Relations Japanese negotiators complain to Tokyo that the French are stalling over Indochina.

September 11, 1941
Battle of the Atlantic Owing to the Greer incident on September 4, Roosevelt is able to order US warships to “shoot on sight” in waters “the protection of which is necessary for American defense.” In fact this is more or less what is happening already.
Eastern Front The situation in Leningrad is serious. The already small bread ration is further reduced. The bread is made out of anything – rye, chaff, flax, soya, malt. People conceal their dead so they can use their ration cards. There is no lighting, no heating. People are beginning to die of cold and starvation.
Voroshilov goes into the front line in the hope of finding a hero’s death. Then Zhukov arrives and in three days completely reorganizes the defenses.
The Germans are convinced they can starve the city into submission and spare their troops a bitter street fight, but Hitler does not want it to surrender; he does not want to be burdened with the task of maintaining this enormous mass of Slavs. German troops are ordered to shoot down all who flee the city towards their lines, but not to prevent anyone from escaping towards the east, where they will add to the prevailing chaos. Meanwhile, Leningrad is fortified street by street.
In East Karelia the Soviets attack to try to open the roads to Petrozavodsk, but fail and break off attacks on the 13th. The Litsa offensive continues to inch forward, but the Germans are running out of time here.
United States, Politics Charles Lindbergh makes a speech to an isolationist rally in Des Moines. He identifies the forces pulling America into war as the Roosevelt administration, the British, and the Jews. “Instead of agitating for war the Jewish groups in this country should be opposing it in every possible way, for they will be among the first to feel its consequences. Tolerance is a virtue that depends upon peace and strength. History shows that it cannot survive war and devastation. A few farsighted Jewish people realize this and stand opposed to intervention. But the majority still do not. Their greatest danger to this country lies in their large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our press, our radio, and our government.” There is a storm of controversy over this speech. Lindbergh will claim that he was misinterpreted and that he is not an anti-Semite but the image sticks to him and, by extension, the America Firsters. The movement goes into a decline and disbands after Pearl Harbor.

September 11, 1942
Aleutians Now that an airstrip has been completed at Adak, the Americans begin a series of raids on Japanese-held Kiska Island, 250 miles away.
Madagascar The British advance from Majunga. French resistance is relatively light, but the terrain and poor roads slow the advance.

September 11, 1943
Italy The pattern of the previous day is repeated at Salerno. Early on both Allied corps advance with some success but are later pushed back. The German reinforcements are beginning to come up and in the beachhead morale is poor due to the lack of progress.
There are major German air attacks on the landings throughout the day despite the efforts of the Allied air forces. The cruiser Savannah is badly damaged by a glider bomb.
Troops of British 1st Airborne Division take Brindisi without opposition. These units and those in Taranto have been sent simply to seize the ports and have virtually no transport to enable them to push north. The only opposition in that direction is the understrength German 1st Parachute Division.
The main forces of 8th Army move into Catanzaro and advance toward Crotone.
New Guinea As the Japanese garrison of Salamaua pulls back, the Australians take the airfield and enter the town.
Solomons On Arundel, a US regiment lands on the Bomboe peninsula.
Aleutians US 11th Air Force, based in the Aleutians, has begun an air offensive against the Kuriles, but Japanese fighters and AA guns have been causing heavy losses.

September11, 1944
Western Front The attack on Le Havre by British I Corps goes in after a heavy RAF raid; good progress in made. Elements of US 1st Army reach German soil north of Trier but they have little strength here. Malmedy is also taken in this sector. British 2nd Army enters Holland near Bourg Leopold and takes an important bridgehead over the Meuse-Escaut Canal. The forces moving up from southern France take Dijon and link up with Patton’s 3rd Army near Sombernon.
Italy Pistoia falls to the South Africans.
Bulgaria The Bulgarians begin withdrawing their occupation forces from Greece and Yugoslavia.

September 11-16, 1944
Allied Planning Roosevelt and Churchill and their staffs meet in Quebec for the “Octagon” Conference. There is little change made to the overall strategy. It is agreed to continue with the campaigns in northwest Europe and Italy along the established lines. Unusually there is no opposition even from the US Navy to a vigorous policy in Italy. A program of attacks for Burma is agreed. The US Navy concedes that British forces should join their own for the final campaign against Japan. Due to America’s increasing preponderance in military strength, Churchill is forced to accede to the American strategic concepts of concentrating all available strength directly against Germany, without “sideshows” in southern Europe or concern as to Soviet actions. Questions of postwar territorial settlements are postponed. The US Navy abandons its push for a Formosa landing instead of a Philippine operation upon learning that logistical support for a Formosa operation would not be complete before March 1945.

September 11, 1945
Japan Tojo fails in a suicide attempt.

September 11 – October 2, 1945
Diplomatic Relations The Council of Foreign Ministers meets in London. The foreign ministers of the Big 5 nations fail to achieve any real agreement on post-war settlements as the looming Cold War comes closer.

[Ennath]

September 12, 1932
Diplomatic Relations Germany walks out of the Geneva Disarmament Conference. On November 10, Britain recognizes German equality; France and Italy follow suit.
September 12, 1934
Diplomatic Relations Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia create a Baltic Entente, but the nations involved are too weak for it to prove of much use.

September 12, 1938
Czechoslovakia The situation escalates following an inflammatory speech by Hitler on September 12. By September 15, the Czechs have control of the situation and Henlein flees to Germany.
Germany, Home Front Jews are barred from attending public cultural events.

September 12, 1939
Poland Some of List’s troops are fighting in Lvov while others are moving north from their bridgeheads over the San.
Western Front French forces have now advanced about 5 miles into Germany on a 15-mile front. The French claim that the action has forced the Germans to withdraw 6 divisions from Poland, although British observers express doubts. The advance places the front within half a mile of the Siegfried Line and a frontal assault on the defensive system is considered out of the question. Gamelin calls an end to the Saar offensive.
Diplomatic Relations Ribbentrop demands that the Rumanians not provide asylum to Polish officials crossing the border and threatens military action in the case of noncompliance.
United States, Home Front The US Navy begins neutrality patrols along the East Coast and Caribbean.

September 12, 1940
France, Home Front Five schoolboys in the Unoccupied Zone discover the Lascaux Caves.
Poland The Warsaw Ghetto is to be walled off.
Canada, Home Front An Order in Council gives authorities the power to imprison disobedient foreign seamen in Canadian ports.

September 12, 1941
Eastern Front Guderian’s and Kleist’s forces link up near the small town of Lokhvitsa, cutting off the huge Soviet forces in the pocket between there and Kiev., 100 miles to the west. At least 600,000 men are encircled. North of Kiev, Chernigov is evacuated in the face of German attacks.
The first snowfall on the Eastern Front is reported.
Balkans Approval is given by the German High Command for the creation of a Russian Guard Corps of anti-Communist Russian émigrés. It is intended for use in Yugoslavia.
Norway The Quisling government bans the Boy Scouts and other youth organizations. Boys are to be obliged to join youth sections of the Nasjonal Samling Party.
Greenland The Greenland Sledge Patrol reports a landing to the US Coast Guard. Three Germans and their codebook are captured.

September 12-22, 1941
North Africa There is another series of relief operations out of Tobruk. Fast transports take out the last 6000 Australian troops and bring in 6300 men of British 70th Division and a large quantity of supplies.

September 12, 1942
War at Sea U-156, en route to the Cape of Good Hope, sinks the liner Laconia just south of the equator. Laconia is carrying servicemen’s wives and children and Italian prisoners of war. The German commander surfaces and helps the survivors and sends radio messages in plain language. U-156 is, however, attacked by an American plane. Dönitz, therefore, gives orders that there are to be no more similar rescue attempts by U-Boats. He also arranges for Vichy ships from Dakar to be sent to finish the rescue work. This “Laconia Order” will form one of the counts against Dönitz at Nuremberg after the war.
Brazil places its navy under the operational control of the US Navy.
Eastern Front The Soviet perimeter around Stalingrad is now only about 30 miles long. In this desperate situation, General Chuikov is appointed to command 62nd Army, soon to be besieged in Stalingrad. Chuikov performs superbly throughout the battle. His orders are responsible for the Russian close quarter style of fighting which so effectively disrupts the normally fluid all-arms cooperation of the German forces. His firm and abrasive character is also essential to the defense. His political officer is Nikita Khrushchev.
The first winter snows are reported in the Caucasus. This time the Germans will be prepared for winter weather.
Guadalcanal The Japanese on Guadalcanal begin major attacks around Bloody Ridge in the southern part of the perimeter. The Americans receive valuable reinforcements of aircraft flown in from the Wasp.

September 12, 1943
Italy 8th Army takes Crotone and continues its advance.
At Salerno the first major German counterattacks begin late in the day. The British are driven out of Battipaglia and in Molina Pass they are under heavy pressure from part of the Hermann Göring Panzer Division.
Mussolini is rescued from the Gran Sasso by a glider-borne German commando unit led by Otto Skorzeny and taken to Germany. The operation has been very difficult and is executed with great daring.
Eastern Front The Soviet attacks continue in all sectors, but with renewed vigor near Bryansk. On the Donets front Stary Kermenchik is taken.
The Germans begin to evacuate 17th Army from the Kuban. Altogether 255,000 German and Rumanian troops, 27,000 civilians, and army supplies are withdrawn back to the Crimea by October 9.
New Guinea Australian troops secure Salamaua. Farther north, the Japanese at Lae are beginning to be hemmed in.

September 12, 1944
Western Front The 12,000-strong German garrison of Le Havre surrenders to British I Corps. More US units reach the German border between Aachen and Trier. The first penetrations across the German border occur here.
Eastern Front Rumanian and Bulgarian troops go into action against the Germans. In Warsaw, the Germans begin attacking the Czerniakow district.
Aegean The Germans evacuate Mytilene, completing the operation on the 15th. The Greek exile government moves from Cairo to Caserta, Italy to be nearer to home when the time comes to return.
Allied Intelligence SOE agent Noor Inayat Khan is executed at Dachau. The glamorous agent is a direct descendent of Tipu Sultan, the last Sultan of Mysore. Although a romantic legend has persisted about her, she was not a very successful spy.

September 12-14, 1944
The Philippines The American carriers attack bases in the Visayas in the central Philippines. More than 200 Japanese aircraft are destroyed. The first kamikaze attack occurs, by two planes, but achieves no hits.
Japanese Policy Many desperate men in Japan are concluding that new methods are needed to overcome enemy might. The conventional air forces are already devastated, due to a desperate shortage of both planes and pilots. Only suicide attacks, it is believed, can make a serious impression. This is probably true.

September 12, 1945
Malaya The surrender of Japanese forces is concluded at Singapore. The Japanese garrisons remaining in the East Indies and the various Pacific islands will surrender over the next few days.
Indochina British and Indian troops arrive in southern Vietnam south of the 16th Parallel, while Chinese troops move to occupy the north. Mountbatten’s political advisor notes prophetically “The division of French Indochina…is going to cause a lot of trouble.”

September 12, 1948
China The Communists launch a major offensive in Manchuria. By the end of the year, they hold the entire province and the Nationalists have lost some 300,000 of their best troops.

[Ennath]

September 13, 1931
Austria The Heimwehr attempts a coup in Styria province but fails to gain military or police support.

September 13, 1939
Poland A small German force begins to cross the Vistula just south of Warsaw. The Bzura battles are now going badly for the Polish forces. The heaviest fighting will be over by the 15th, but some engagements will continue until the 19th. Although the Germans will take their largest single haul of 150,000 prisoners in this battle, by September 19, units of 2 Polish brigades and elements of others will manage to escape to Warsaw. The Germans announce that civilian targets in Poland are being bombed because civilians are involving themselves in the fighting. Deliberate attacks on civilians are confirmed by the US Ambassador.
France, Home Front Prime Minister Daladier forms a War Cabinet, in which he is responsible for foreign affairs as well as his normal duties. Ministries of Armaments and the Blockade are created.
Morocco The French cruiser La Tour d’Auvergne sinks from an accidental explosion at Casablanca.

September 13 – October 8, 1939
China The Japanese make their first attempt to take Changsha. The first Japanese attacks toward Henan become overstretched and Chinese counterattacks on their flanks force a retreat. On September 19-23, the Japanese force the Sinchiang River, almost certainly using poison gas and advance southward along the Milo River. Japanese spearheads reach Changsha on the 29th. However, at this point Chinese attacks on Japanese supply lines force the Japanese to retreat back to near their start line. Changsha becomes the first major city attacked by the Japanese that does not fall.

September 13, 1940
North Africa Italian forces begin a cautious offensive from Libya into Egypt. They have five divisions in the attack with another eight in Libya. Marshal Graziani is in command. The British Western Desert Force of two divisions is led by General O’Connor. On the first day the Italians occupy Sollum as the British pull back. Egyptian troops do not engage and withdraw.
During the months since the Italian declaration of war, there have been no actions of any size, but the Italian numerical superiority has been morally undermined by much offensive patrolling by the British forces. These harassing tactics are now employed to good effect against the Italian offensive.
Battle of Britain The British bring heavy units of the Royal Navy nearer to the likely invasion area
East Africa Italian troops from Ethiopia penetrate up to 20 miles into Kenya in a tentative advance.

September 13, 1941
Eastern Front Budenny is sacked. Only his long friendship with Stalin saves him from the firing squad. (He will later be named to the honorary post of Army Cavalry commander.) No successor is named, leaving the individual corps and division commanders to themselves. The Finnish coastal battleship Ilmarinen strikes a mine and sinks.
War Crimes OKW determines that Soviet POW’s will receive fewer rations than those of other nationalities.

September 13, 1942
North Africa Units of the Long Range Desert Group and Special Air Service attack airfields at Benghazi and Barce, with mixed success. There is also an amphibious raid at Tobruk, which is beaten off with the loss of 746 of 1000 men and three ships. A Free French raid near Jalo has some success.
Eastern Front The Germans penetrate into the interior of Stalingrad. The fighting that is developing will be perhaps the fiercest of the war, with fighting taking place house to house and room to room, as well as in the sewers beneath the streets. Whole formations will be shredded, especially on the Russian side where new, green units are fed into the battle. The Germans are becoming obsessed with the capture of the city and pour in men and material. The Soviets are committing just enough to keep the Germans from breaking through, while building up reserves for a counterblow.
German Planning In order to avoid the sufferings of the previous winter, Hitler appoints a commission to look after winter requirements and supplies.
Guadalcanal The Japanese attacks on Bloody Ridge are very fierce, as the nickname of the location would suggest. They are only held off with difficulty and because of effective American artillery support.

September 13-18, 1942
Arctic Convoy PQ-18 passes to the USSR with none of the disasters of its predecessor. It is provided with a large escort including an escort carrier. Thirteen ships are lost but the Germans lose two U-Boats and 20 planes.

September 13, 1943
Italy There are signs that a wedge can be driven between the British and American beachheads at Salerno, so the Germans now attack the US sector as well. The Americans are driven out of Persano and the line is penetrated at several places. In one area, the Germans reach within a mile of the beach. Naval gunfire is important in preventing the attacks from achieving a decisive success. The cruiser Uganda is damaged by glider bombs. Unloading from ships in the southern sector is stopped and hurried plans are made for evacuation. Alexander and Eisenhower are extremely annoyed at this and make arrangement for more rapid reinforcement. Therefore part of Ridgway’s 82nd Airborne Division is dropped on the beaches in the evening. The remainder arrive the next day.
Farther south, Montgomery’s forces continue to push forward, taking Cosenza.
Corsica Reinforcements brought from Sardinia enable the Germans to crush the two Italian divisions defending Bastia.
Solomons The Americans land a small force on Sagekarasa.

September 13-22, 1943
Greece The Italian Acqui Division resists the Germans, largely SS units, in Cephalonia and only surrenders when 1500 have been killed and ammunition is almost exhausted. The embarrassed Germans take their revenge and execute 5000 prisoners before shipping the rest to concentration camps.

September 13-28, 1943
Yugoslavia Chetnik forces occupy Split and hold it against repeated German attacks with heavy air support.

September 13, 1944
Western Front US 3rd Army takes Neufchateau. US troops, now reinforced, begin their final assault on Brest. Fighting is still heavy. American troops attack the West Wall near Aachen without success.
Italy 8th Army has succeeded in clearing the Germans almost entirely from the Gemmano positions.
Rumania The armistice between the Allies and Rumania is signed. The terms have been dictated by the Soviets and include reparations and the permanent cession of Bessarabaia to the USSR.
Eastern Front 2nd Belorussian Front takes Lomza on the Narew. The Soviets (finally) respond to Western pressure and begin limited supply drops to the AK in Warsaw. Elements of 1st Polish Army cross the Vistula and attempt to fight their way into Warsaw but are forced back over the river ten days later.
Europe, Air Operations 96 American B-24’s bomb the factory areas of Auschwitz, but do not touch the extermination facilities.

September 13-14, 1944
Palau Islands The US forces begin their preliminary bombardments of Peleliu and Angaur. Admiral Oldendorf leads 5 battleships and 9 cruisers, along with many destroyers. Minesweeping operations also begin to clear the approaches.