Sarah Sundin's Blog, page 45

Today in World War II History—August 9, 1944

Smokey Bear’s first appearance on a Forest Fire Prevention campaign poster, released on August 9, 1944 (US Department of Agriculture Forest Service)

80 Years Ago—August 9, 1944: At Mare Island Navy Yard in Vallejo, CA, 258 Black sailors who survived the Port Chicago Explosion refuse to load munitions and are imprisoned [see Port Chicago: The Work Stoppage].

US Fifteenth Air Force Aircrew Rescue Unit in Italy flies its first mission, evacuating 268 airmen & refugees from Yugoslavia in C-47 cargo planes.

Smokey Bear is introduced by the US Forest Service as a spokesman for fire prevention.

Damage at US Naval Magazine, Port Chicago, CA from explosion 17 July 1944 (US Naval History and Heritage Command: NH 96823)

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Today in World War II History—August 8, 1944

Adolf Hitler showing Benito Mussolini the wreckage after the unsuccessful assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler, Wolfsschanze, Rastenburg, Germany, late July 1944 (German Federal Archive: Bild 146-1969-071A-03)

80 Years Ago—August 8, 1944: Eight German officers, including Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben, are hanged in Berlin for their role in the July 20 Hitler assassination plot; by February 3, 1945, 4980 will be executed.

Japanese take Hengyang in their drive south across China, taking the US Fourteenth Air Force air base at Hengyang.

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Today in World War II History—August 7, 1944

US troops in Mortain, France (US Army Center of Military History)

80 Years Ago—August 7, 1944: In Normandy, Canadian forces launch drive toward Falaise, and Germans open counteroffensive in US First Army area, retaking Mortain but falling short of goal of reaching Avranches.

Cherbourg Harbor opens for Allied traffic in France.

At Harvard University, IBM reveals the Harvard Mark I, the first program-controlled computer (has 50 ft panel, adds in 1/3 second).

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Today in World War II History—August 6, 1944

B-26B Marauder of the 441st Bomb Squadron (US Twelfth Air Force) over Île du Levant, France south of St. Tropez on raid to bomb gun installations, 4 Aug 1944 (US National Archives: 61988 AC)

80 Years Ago—August 6, 1944: US Twelfth and Fifteenth Air Forces in Italy begin pre-invasion bombing of southern France, attacking bridges and railroads in the Rhȏne Valley.

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Today in World War II History—August 5, 1944

Japanese prisoners of war practicing baseball at No.12 Prisoner of War compound near Cowra, NSW, Australia, 1 Jul 1944 (Australian War Memorial: 067168)

80 Years Ago—August 5, 1944: Japanese POWs in Australia attempt mass escape from Cowra camp; 334 escape; 231 Japanese and 4 guards are killed in the escape and roundup; all are recaptured within nine days.

In Warsaw, Polish insurgents liberate a forced labor camp, and 348 Jews join the rebellion.

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Today in World War II History—August 4, 1944

Aerial view of Florence, Italy, 1944 (US Army Center of Military History)

80 Years Ago—August 4, 1944: Anne Frank, her family, and their companions are discovered in hiding in Amsterdam and are arrested.

In Italy, British Eighth Army occupies southern Florence below the Arno River; Germans have destroyed all bridges except the historic Ponte Vecchio.

French resistance leaders parachute into Brittany to organize the uprising against the Germans.

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Today in World War II History—August 3, 1944

US 75-mm howitzer crew firing at Japanese positions in Myitkyina, Burma, June 1944 (US Army Center of Military History)

80 Years Ago—August 3, 1944: US and Chinese forces take crucial town of Myitkyina, Burma.

King George VI approves Butler Education Act to expand British secondary schools and raise school-leaving age from 14 to 15.

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Today in World War II History—August 2, 1944

Map showing bridges and German airfields in northern France targeted by Allied Expeditionary Air Forces, May-August 1944 (US Army Air Forces map)

80 Years Ago—August 2, 1944: Neutral Turkey breaks diplomatic relations with Germany.

US Ninth Air Force stops bombing bridges over the Loire and Seine Rivers in France in order to speed the Allied advance.

Germans liquidate Roma (Gypsy) family camp at Auschwitz, killing 4,200.

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Today in World War II History—August 1, 1944

Polish insurgent fighter Lt. Stanislaw Jankowski and his men right before the start of the Warsaw Uprising, Warsaw, Poland, 1 Aug 1944 (public domain via Wikipedia)

80 Years Ago—August 1, 1944: US Third Army under Gen. George Patton enters action in France, breaking out of Normandy and entering Brittany.

Warsaw uprising begins: Polish Home Army rises up against the Germans as the Soviets approach.

US secures Tinian in the Mariana Islands.

Manuel Quezon, the first president of the Philippines (since 1935) and the president of the government-in-exile, dies of tuberculosis in New York; replaced by his vice president, Sergio Osmeña.

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Today in World War II History—July 31, 1944

French writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Toulouse, France, 1933 (public domain via Agence France-Presse)

80 Years Ago—July 31, 1944: Soviet Army reaches East Prussian border.

Germans destroy all bridges in Florence, Italy, except historic Ponte Vecchio, which could only handle foot traffic anyway.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, famed aviator and the author of The Little Prince, is killed when his P-38 Lightning (flying for the Free French) crashes into the Mediterranean off Marseille.

Aerial view of Florence, Italy, 1944 (US Army Center of Military History)

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