On This Day in WWII (Daily Updates)

[VOP2288]

I've decided to revive an old bit I used to do way back when on another forum - an "On This Day in WWII" thread where each day I will post facts, news, events, etc for each date from 1939 till wars end in 1945. I please ask that fellow TWC members hold history buff discussions/arguments and additions/changes of their own reserved for somewhere else. If you have a grievance with a fact or date please PM me and let me know, if I'm wrong I will happily change or add something no matter how long ago the update was.

Without further ado and introduction let the flow of info commence!

[VOP2288]

August 22nd, 1940

• Britain promises to send sea and air support to Greece if it be attacked by the Axis powers
• Swordfish aircraft from the HMS Eagle sink an Italian destroyer, depot ship, and submarine in the Mediterranean on their way to attack a British fleet in Alexandria
• British raiders bomb industrial targets in Frankfurt and Cologne
• Exiled Bolshevik leader Leon Trotsky dies in Mexico City after being attacked by an assassin
• German batteries along the French coast from Boulogne to Calais open fire on a convoy of British cargo ships along the English side of the Channel - the guns then turned on Dover, shelling the town for 45-minutes until RAF bombers lit up the gun pits with flares and destroyed them

August 22nd, 1941

• German forces under Field Marshal von Leeb close in on the city of Leningrad
• In response to the murder of a German naval officer cadet in Paris on the previous day, all French prisoners are now considered to be hostages. From this point on, depending on the gravity of the crime, if such an act were to take place again French prisoners would be shot and killed.

August 22nd, 1942

• The nation of Brazil declares war upon Germany and Italy
• German paratroopers landing behind Soviet lines at Stalingrad are massacred
• The number of Jews deported to Belzec from Lwow, Poland reaches 75,000

August 22nd, 1943

• A prototype V1 rocket lands on the Danish island of Bornholm where an Allied agent manages to photograph it before its recovery

August 22nd, 1944

• A British fleet near Norway attacks the German battleship Tirpitz but it escapes due to smoke cover
• The Soviet Union captures Roumania
• The US 36th Infantry Division captures Grenoble with no opposition
• Tokyo radio reports that schoolchildren as young as 12 are proudly working in munitions factories in support of Japan's war effort

August 22nd, 1945

• The Japanese Kwantung Army surrenders to the Russians in Manchuria
• The People's Volunteer Corps of Japan is disbanded
• The death toll from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki reaches 70,000. In London, Clement Richard Attlee states that the atomic bomb means a "naked choice between world cooperation and world destruction"

[VOP2288]

August 23rd, 1939

• Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact)

August 23rd, 1940

• Worried by recent British victories, German Minister of Propaganda Josef Goebbels orders that ridicule of the English way of life must cease and the enemy's fighting spirit be stressed instead

August 23rd, 1941

• The German merchant raider Orion returns to port after a 510-day cruise in which she sank nine Allied ships

August 23rd, 1942

• The Battle of Stalingrad begins as 600 Luftwaffe bombers strike the the city
• The last cavalry charge in history takes place in Izbushensky on the River Don. The Italian Savoia Cavalry Regiment of 600 mounted troops charged at 2,000 Soviet troops

August 23rd, 1943

• Kharkov is liberated by the Soviet Red Army
• In China, the Japanese bomb Chungking for the first time since 1941
• The "Quadrant" conference held in Quebec between US President Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and the Canadian prime minister Mr. Mackenzie King comes to an end with the decision to open a second front in Europe against Germany - the invasion is to be codenamed "Overlord"

August 23rd, 1944

• King Michael of Roumania orders his armed forces to cease fire on Allied troops, dismisses the pro-Nazi government of Marshal Antonescu (who is arrested), and Roumania officially switches sides from the Axis to the Allies
• In Britain a V1 bomb kills 211 civilians in East Barnet, Hertfordshire and an American B-24 bomber crash lands into a school in Freckleton, Lancashire killing 61 people
• The British Eastern Fleet, under Adm. Sir Bruce Fraser begins an attack on Padang

August 23rd, 1945

• In Manila, MacArthur releases 5,000 Filipino prisoners held for security reasons
• A British fleet set sail from Colombo to occupy Singapore
• British Parliament ratifies the United Nations Charter

[manofarms89]

very nice. i hope you keep this going

[Lord Romanus III]

I think the idea is pretty cool. Keep it up.

[Azog 150]

Great idea. Very intereting. Hope you keep it up.

[Akrotatos]

I give you two weeks

But good job anyway! + rep

[DAVIDE]

interesting

[VOP2288]

August 24th, 1940

• London bombed for the first time when German planes on their way home accidently release their loads
• British Fighter Command’s airfields at Hornchurch, North Weald, and Manston are bombed by the Germans

August 24th, 1941

• In Vichy France anti-terrorist laws are passed to crush the Resistance members by exclaiming that all terrorists are to be executed
• Germans attack Ukraine and meet stiff resistance
• Hitler orders the termination of his own “T4” order responsible for the execution of 70,273 mentally-ill people since 1939 (one of the very few times Hitler ever succumbed to public opinion)

August 24th, 1942

• The Battle of the Eastern Solomons takes place - Japan loses the light carrier Ryujo and 90 planes while the US losses number 20 planes and a severly damaged carrier (Enterprise)

August 24th, 1943

• Unrest against Nazi rule grows in Denmark as bombings and other strikes grow more frequent
• Hitler appoints Himmler Reich Minister of the Interior

August 24th, 1944

• Soviet troops take Kishinev
• Hitler orders the building of new “west wall”, replacing political officials to do the work because he no longer trusts the army
• Josef Goebbels announces that as of September 1st all theatres, music halls, and cabarets are to be closed and all holidays to be suspended as part of total mobilization

[VOP2288]

August 25th, 1940

• Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are formally incorporated into the Soviet Union

August 25th, 1941

• Russian forces from the Soviet Union and British troops from India invade and occupy Iran – justifying the occupation by stating it is better for the Allies to have access to Middle Eastern oil rather than the Axis

August 25th, 1942

• German military service is made compulsory in Alsace-Lorraine
• The siege of Stalingrad is fully underway
• The Battle of Milne Bay begins in New Guinea between the Japanese and Australians

August 25th, 1943

• Lord Louis Mountbatten is made Supreme Allied Commander in South-East Asia
• Allies force Japanese out of New Georgia and the surrounding islands

August 25th, 1944

• The British 8th Army launches a major offensive along the Gothic Line in Italy
• Paris is liberated – German General Dietrich von Choltitz surrenders to Lt. Henri Karcher of the French 2nd Armoured Division
• The US 3rd Infantry Division enters Avignon in southern France

August 25th, 1945

• Cpt. John Birch of the US Army is shot dead in a scuffle with Chinese communist soldiers in Xi'an
• British forces in Germany are now referred to as the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR)

[VOP2288]

Update!

Alright guys, things seem to be moving along swimmingly with the updates - however we'll see how that fares when I go back to college this weekend; however, I'm determined to actually see this through until the end (aka August 21st 2010). Thank you to those of you who have posted comments of support. I'm going to be looking for ways in which to maybe make the updates less bland, possibly a new structure, but I have decided to hyper-link (to Wikipedia) some of the more important or interesting facts and events in case someone comes across something they want to know more about.Also, I'm open to ideas and comments regarding update structure, layout, etc...if there's anything I can do for the updates to make them more interesting please don't keep it to yourself.

[Franz Ferdinand]

Very nice, I have subscribed. Keep it up!

[Tiberius Tosi]

Great great stuff, keep it up!

[VOP2288]

August 26th 1940

• RAF makes first air raid on Berlin
• Portsmouth is heavily bombed
• Chad declares allegiance to Free France and General Charles de Gaulle
• The Luftwaffe attacks Wexford in neutral Ireland for seemingly no reason – 3 are killed

August 26th, 1941

• In the Ukraine – Germans capture Dneprepetrovsk

August 26th, 1942

• The Red Army launches diversionary attacks on Vyazma and Rzhev to take some pressure off of Stalingrad
• The British Communist Party newspaper, The Daily Worker, is no longer banned from print. However, it’s short lived when after one edition printers go on strike
• Duke of Kent dies in an RAF crash in Scotland – 14 others are killed with him

August 26th, 1943

• The US, Britain, and Canada give limited recognition to French Committee of National Liberation
• Two British POWs, Lance Sgt. Suggit of the 5th Dragoon Guards and Sgt. Beeson of the RAOC, escape Stalag 383 in Bavaria by using disguises and walking right out the front gate

August 26th, 1944

• In Russelsheim, Germany – villagers are urged by SS troops to beat the crew of a downed USAAF aircraft to death
• Shots fired at Charles de Gaulle and other Free French leaders at the Notre Dame kill several people and leave 300 wounded – snipers and small groups of German soldiers still remain in Paris
• Parisians, despite the instability of the city, begin on a city wide prowl for Nazi collaborators – seeking vengeance
• Bulgarians announce their intentions to pull out of the war

August 26th, 1945

• Sir Arthur Harris, C-in-C of RAF Bomber Command announces his resignation

[VOP2288]

August 27th, 1940

• The British complete their troop withdrawal from Shanghai
• RAF Coastal Command sets up air base in Iceland to protect Atlantic convoys
• Laws forbidding anti-Semitism in the press are repealed in Vichy France
• HMS Dunvegan Castle is sunk by a German U-boat off Northern Ireland

August 27th, 1941

• Japan protests to the US that aid ships sailing to Vladivostok are violating Japanese waters
• Royal Navy captures U-boat U570 with her Enigma cipher gear intact
• Former Vice-Premier of Vichy France's council of state Pierre Laval along with Marcel Deat (editor of fascist L'Deuvre) are wounded in an assassination attempt by Paul Colette who is arrested shortly after

August 27th, 1942

• Stalin appoints his duty Supreme Commander, Marshal Zhukov, to oversee defense of Stalingrad
• Hitler orders the release of 800 French POWs as a "reward" for the "exemplary conduct" of the people of Dieppe during the Allied raid

August 27th, 1943

• In the Bay of Biscay, the British sloop Egret and Canadian destroyer Athabaskan are hit by German radio controlled glider bombs (HS293s or nicknamed "Chase-me-Charlies")
• German and Croatian troops attack the Italian garrison at Ljubljana
• USSR and China give limited recognition to French Comitte of National Liberation
• The remaining 25,000 Jews of the Bialystok ghetto are rounded up by the SS and sent to camps at Treblinka and Majdanek

August 27th, 1944

• During Bomber Command's first major daylight raid on Germany since 1941, 243 RAF bombers hit the synthetic oil refinery at Meerbeck nearr Homberg
• Retreating German soldiers massacre 22 villagers in Provins, France
• Eisenhower promises to supply de Gaulle with food, uniforms, and military supplies

August 27th, 1945

• An enormous US naval force of 23 aircraft carriers, 12 battleships, 26 cruisers, 116 destroyers and escorts, and 12 submarines sail into Tokyo Bay

[VALIS]

The British Communist Party newspaper, The Daily Worker, is no longer banned from print. However, it’s short lived when after one edition printers go on strike

I found this amusing.

[VOP2288]

August 28th, 1940

• Vichy France breaks off relations with European governments in exile
• Liverpool is raided for the first time in the war

August 28th, 1941

• Ali Furughi leads a new government into office and orders a cease-fire in Iran
• Australian Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, resigns and is replaced by Arthur Fadden
• 3 French Resistance members are guillotined under the new anti-terrorist laws in Paris
• Landing party from HMS Triumph demolishes an important railway bridge near Carsonia in Sicily
• Over 2,000 Jews are driven into a ditch and shot dead in Kedainiai, Lithuania

August 28th, 1942

• A Junkers Ju 86P bomber drops a bomb on Bristol - killing 48 and wounding 26
• A Japanese sea-plane from a submarine (I-25) drops incendiaries on a forest in Oregon
• The U-boat U94 is sunk by the Canadian ship Oakville and US aircraft in the Caribbean
• Authorities complete the rounding up of 7,000 Jews for deportation to Auschwitz from Vichy France
• A 3 month long Japanese offensive in Chekiang and Kiangsi has ended with Japanese troops completing their two day withdrawal as Chinese Nationalists regain control of Chuchow

August 28th, 1943

• US Marines land on Nanomea in the Ellice Islands
• The death of King Boris is followed up with riots in Sofia and throughout Bulgaria (it was then believed that Boris' death was ordered by Hitler)

August 28th, 1944

• General Lakatos of Hungary forms a new, collaborationist government
• Patton leads troops across the Marne at Chateau-Thierry, Rheims and Soissons also fall to the US advance
• Marseilles and Toulon fall to the Allies - securing French Mediterranean coast
• The Luftwaffe begins fiercely bombing the city of Warsaw to combat the Polish Home Army - driving the Poles literally into the sewers

August 28th, 1945

• Allies set foot on Japanese soil for the first time, US paratroopers land on run way of Atsugi airport near Yokohama
• Ho Chi Minh announces his provisional government for Vietnam, all posts held by Communists
• Japanese forces in Rangoon sign a formal surrender
• Hermann Goering and Rudolf Hess top the list of Nazi war criminals

[VOP2288]

August 29th, 1940

• The South African Air Force bombs Italian bases in Somaliland

August 29th, 1941

• After a two day "special action" in Kamenets-Podolski, Ukraine - SS troops have massacred 11,000 Jewish Hungarian forced labourers

August 29th, 1942

• Russian air force raids Berlin, Danzig, Konigsberg, and Stettin - however the success of these raids is unclear due to conflicting information from each side (i.e. Russians claim to have successfully bombed their targets while Germans state that there was little to no damage).
• Swiss government says it will not turn away Jews fleeing round-ups in Vichy France, but evidence proves otherwise as many are turned back at the borders

August 29th, 1943

• Germany imposes martial law in Denmark after its government refuses to accept ultimatum to resign
• Roosevelt warns Germany that its crimes against civilians will be punished after the war

August 29th, 1944

• Hitler orders extra fortifications on the North Sea coast between Denmark and the Netherlands
• Partisans in Slovakia issue a general call to arms, and declare the formation of a free Czechoslovakia republic

August 29th, 1945

• US battleship Missouri anchors in Tokyo Bay
• Mao Tse-tung and Chiang Kai-shek meet at Chungking in hopes of avoiding civil war from breaking out
• British fleet arrives in Hong Kong to ensure the return of the colony to their control
• Japanese troops in South-east Asia surrender to Mountbatten

[VOP2288]

Whew - what a week huh?

1939 saw the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, a agreement of non-aggression between the Soviets and Nazis, but this wasn't meant to last as of June 22nd 1941 Germany blitzes over the Russian borders.

In 1940, the Battle of Britain was well under way as London and other southern English towns, cities, and airfields are consistently raided by German planes - however it's not all one sided as the British RAF strikes back against vital German targets across the Channel.

1941 saw the Nazi crackdown on French Resistance members in both German controlled Paris and in Vichy France. Meanwhile in the East, German troops close in on the city of Leningrad in the north and begin their taking of the Ukraine.

By 1942 the United States was already 8 months into the war, mainly fighting against the Japanese in the Pacific. This week saw the Battle of the Eastern Solomons as well as the Battle of Milne Bay between the Japanese and the Australians in New Guinea. Back in Russia the battle of Stalingrad begins.

1943 saw the beginnings of the end for the Axis powers as the tide turns for the Soviet Red Army - taking Kharkov earlier in the week. In the Pacific the Japanese pull out of both New Georgia and parts of China, while US Marines continue island hopping to victory. Meanwhile back in Europe, unrest starts to take its toll in Denmark and anti-Nazi Bulgarian citizens are rallied when King Boris is thought to be killed under Hitler's orders.

The end is near in 1944 as Paris is liberated, along with Marseilles and Toulon along France's Mediterranean coast. Hitler struggles to get a foothold as the US, Canadian, and British forces push from the West and the Soviets push from the East.

By 1945 the war is won - day by day Japanese troops spread out over the Pacific islands begin to surrender and the list of Nazi criminals to be arrested and tried for war crimes grows. China and Vietnam however enter transitional stages of their history as Ho Chi Minh establishes a purely Communist government in Vietnam and Mao Tse-tung of the Chinese Communists and Chiang Kai-shek of the Nationalists attempt to peacefully resolve their differences and conflicts.

Interesting Terms from This Week:

People:

• Clement Attlee
• Leon Trotsky
• Michael of Romania
• Douglas MacArthur
• Joseph Goebbels
• Heinrich Himmler
• John Birch
• Louis Mountbatten
• Sir Arthur Harris
• Prince George, Duke of Kent
• Charles de Gaulle
• Dwight D. Eisenhower
• Ho Chi Minh
• Hermann Goering
• Rudolf Hess
• General Geza Lakatos
• George S. Patton
• King Boris III
• Arthur Fadden
• Mao Tse-tung
• Chiang Kai-shek
• Franklin D. Roosevelt

Places:

• Belzec Extermination Camp, Poland
• Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Russia
• Kharkov (now Kharkiv), Ukraine
• Kishinev (now Chisinau), Moldova
• London, England
• Paris, France
• New Georgia, Solomon Islands
• Alsace-Lorraine, France
• Bialystok, Poland
• Tokyo Bay, Japan
• Bay of Biscay
• Warsaw, Poland
• Rangoon (now Yangon), Burma
• Marseille, France
• Toulon, France
• Auschwitz Concentration Camp, Poland

Nations:

• Vichy France
• Soviet Union
• Switzerland
• Kuomintang (aka Chinese Nationalists)

Battles/Engagements:

• Battle of Stalingrad
• Battle of the Eastern Solomons
• Battle of Milne Bay
• Anglo-Soviet Invasion of Iran
• Dieppe Raid *note this does not happen this week but I've referenced it in a hyperlink in a past update*
• Gothic Line

Armies/Divisions/Forces:

• Japanese Volunteer Fighting Corps
• Kwantung Army
• US 36th Infantry Div.
• British Eastern Fleet
• German Luftwaffe
• British 8th Army
• US 3rd Infantry Div.
• Soviet Red Army
• 5th Royal Dragoon Guards
• Royal Army Ordnance Corps
• German Schutzstaffel (aka SS)
• Royal Air Force (RAF)
• US Marine Corps
• South African Air Force
• Partisans
• British Army of the Rhine
• French 2nd Armoured Div.

Weapons/Ships/Vehicles:

• German Battleship Tirpitz
• US Battleship USS Missouri
• German V-1 Flying Bomb
• German Henschel Hs 293 (aka "Chase-me-Charlie")
• German U-boat
• German Junkers Ju 86

Publications/Pacts/Conferences:

• United Nations Charter
• Quebec Conference
• Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
• Action T4
• French Committee of National Liberation
• The Morning Star (aka The Daily Worker)

Other:

• Enigma Machine

[touchmaster]

There has to be more events than just two or three that went on that day..