Sarah Sundin's Blog, page 34

Today in World War II History—November 24, 1939 & 1944

US airmen reading a bulletin announcing their Saipan-based unit’s first bombing of Tokyo, Japan on 24 Nov 1944 (US National Archives 56681 AC)

85 Years Ago—Nov. 24, 1939: Gestapo executes 120 Czech students accused of participating in an anti-Nazi conspiracy.

British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) is created by Act of Parliament.

Map of Allied 6th Army Group front, 26 Nov 1944 (US Army Center of Military History)

80 Years Ago—Nov. 24, 1944: US B-29 Superfortress bombers bomb Tokyo for the first time.

Japanese capture Nanning, completing a land corridor between occupied China and Indochina.

In controversial decision, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower orders the 6th Army Group not to cross the Rhine but to drive north and assist Patton’s Third Army.

In Terrace, BC, Canadian conscripts (many are French-Canadian) mutiny when they hear they might be sent overseas, the largest mutiny in Canadian history; put down by 11/29; news of the mutiny is censored.

France establishes Commission de Récupération Artistique (CRA) to return looted artwork, with curator Rose Valland as secretary.

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Today in World War II History—November 23, 1939 & 1944

US poster featuring Norman Rockwell’s “Freedom from Want,” 1943

85 Years Ago—Nov. 23, 1939: Britain begins rationing bacon and butter.

US celebrates Thanksgiving after President Roosevelt moved the holiday from the last to the second-to-last Thursday to extend the Christmas shopping season—although 22 states retain the original date. (Read more: “Thanksgiving in World War II.”)

Macy’s parade first features Superman balloon.

Adm. William Halsey having Thanksgiving dinner with the crew of battleship USS New Jersey, his flagship, Nov 1944 (US National Archives: 80-G-291498)

80 Years Ago—Nov. 23, 1944: French First Army takes Strasbourg, France.

Chinese-American WASP Hazel Ying Lee is injured in a P-63 landing accident at Great Falls, MT; she will die on Nov. 25, the last of 38 WASPs to die on duty.

United States celebrates Thanksgiving.

WASP Hazel Ying Lee reviews her performance after a session in a Link trainer, 1944 (US Air Force photo)

The post Today in World War II History—November 23, 1939 & 1944 first appeared on Sarah Sundin.

Today in World War II History—November 22, 1944

Men of US 5th Infantry Division in Metz, France 18 November 1944 (US Army Center of Military History)

80 Years Ago—Nov. 22, 1944: US Third Army takes crucial town of Metz, France.

Movie premiere of Meet Me in St. Louis, starring Judy Garland, in St. Louis, MO; the movie features the song “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

Premiere of British movie Henry V, starring Laurence Olivier, the first of Shakespeare’s plays to be filmed in color.

MGM poster for the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis (public domain via Wikipedia)

The post Today in World War II History—November 22, 1944 first appeared on Sarah Sundin.

Today in World War II History—November 21, 1939 & 1944

Japanese battleship Kongo, 1931 (US Naval Historical Center: NH 44617)

85 Years Ago—Nov. 21, 1939: In Firth of Forth, light cruiser HMS Belfast is seriously damaged by a mine (now a museum ship in London).

Due to the war, lighthouses & lightships in the Thames Estuary are extinguished, later extended throughout the UK.

80 Years Ago—Nov. 21, 1944: Near Formosa, submarine USS Sealion II sinks Japanese battleship Kongo, the only Axis battleship sunk by an Allied submarine during the war.

US Seventh and French First Armies enter the Alsatian plain in France.

The post Today in World War II History—November 21, 1939 & 1944 first appeared on Sarah Sundin.

Today in World War II History—November 20, 1939 & 1944

US Sixth War Loan Drive poster, Nov. 20-Dec. 16, 1944

85 Years Ago—Nov. 20, 1939: First mines are dropped in the Thames River by German aircraft.

80 Years Ago—Nov. 20, 1944: US Sixth War Loan Drive starts (Read more: “World War II War Bonds”).

US Eighth Army secures Mapia Islands in East Indies, to be used for radar stations.

Ernie Pyle’s best-selling book Brave Men is published, about his experiences following American troops in Italy and France.

The post Today in World War II History—November 20, 1939 & 1944 first appeared on Sarah Sundin.

Today in World War II History—November 19, 1939 & 1944

French tanks in Huningue, France (US Army Center of Military History)

85 Years Ago—Nov. 19, 1939: Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Chinese forces begin winter offensive against Japanese.

Baseball player Joe DiMaggio marries movie actress Dorothy Arnold in San Francisco.

80 Years Ago—Nov. 19, 1944: French 1st Armored Division reaches the Rhine at Rosenau—the first Allied troops to reach the Rhine, but on a narrow front.

French artillery shells German soil for the first time since 1940.

Albanian partisans liberate the capitol of Tirana as Germans evacuate.

British Fourteenth Army opens drive in Burma and crosses the Chindwin River at Sittaung.

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Today in World War II History—November 18, 1939 & 1944

US Third Army, 378th Infantry, on the outskirts of Metz, France, 17 Nov 1944 (US Army Center of Military History)

85 Years Ago—Nov. 18, 1939: IRA (Irish Republican Army) detonates four small bombs in Piccadilly, London, but no one is injured.

80 Years Ago—Nov. 18, 1944: US Third Army enters Metz, France.

Submarine USS Blackfin picks up captured Japanese cryptographic equipment, technical equipment, and secret documents from Filipino resistance fighters on Mindoro.

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Today in World War II History—November 17, 1939 & 1944

MGM movie poster for Another Thin Man, 1939 (public domain via Wikipedia)

85 Years Ago—Nov. 17, 1939: After uprising in Prague, Germans close Czechoslovakian universities, execute 9 students, and send 1200 to concentration camps.

Movie premiere of Another Thin Man, starring William Powell, Myrna Loy, and Asta.

Battle flag of submarine USS Spadefish (US Navy)

80 Years Ago—Nov. 17, 1944: Submarine USS Spadefish sinks Japanese escort carrier Shinyo in the Yellow Sea, only 130 of 1,160 survive.

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Today in World War II History—November 16, 1939 & 1944

US tank on Roer plain in Germany (US Army Center of Military History)

85 Years Ago—Nov. 16, 1939: In Prague, Czechoslovakia, Germans counteract anti-Nazi student protests with arrests and gunfire, and they declare martial law.

Canadian Gen. Harry Crerar, 1945 (Library and Archives Canada: 4233611)

80 Years Ago—Nov. 16, 1944: US First and Ninth Armies launch offensive to clear Roer Plain in Germany.

Harry Crerar, commander of First Canadian Army in Europe, is promoted to full general, the first Canadian to hold that rank in the field.

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Today in World War II History—November 15, 1939 & 1944

Jefferson Memorial under construction, Washington, D.C., 1940 (Library of Congress LC-DIG-hec-28499)

85 Years Ago—Nov. 15, 1939: President Franklin Roosevelt lays cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC.

US Interior Department motorship North Star departs Boston for Antarctic expedition under Adm. Richard Byrd.

Patch of the US Eighth Army, WWII

80 Years Ago—Nov. 15, 1944: US Eighth Army, in its first assault, lands on Mapia Islands in the East Indies.

Premiere of war film Thirty Seconds over Tokyo, starring Spencer Tracy, Robert Walker, and Van Johnson.

The post Today in World War II History—November 15, 1939 & 1944 first appeared on Sarah Sundin.