Sarah Sundin's Blog, page 5

Today in World War II History—August 24, 1940 & 1945

German Heinkel He 111 bombers over the English Channel, 1940 (German Federal Archive, Bild 141-0678)

85 Years Ago—Aug. 24, 1940: Third phase of Battle of Britain begins: Luftwaffe begins intense bombing of RAF fields, supplies, and plants. Luftwaffe mistakenly drops bombs over London.

Edward R. Murrow and eight other CBS, BBC & CBC reporters broadcast “London after Dark” live from multiple locations throughout the city as air raid begins.

USS Constitution is named the symbolic flagship of the US Fleet at Boston, MA. (For pictures of USS Constitution from my research trip to Boston, please see “Through Waters Deep Tour of Boston.”)

Medical journal Lancet publishes the first study by Howard Florey and Ernest Chain about penicillin.

Button from the 1925 drive to raise funds to restore the USS Constitution (Photo: Sarah Sundin)

80 Years Ago—Aug. 24, 1945: British Prime Minister Clement Attlee complains about end of US Lend-Lease program.

Australia disbands the Volunteer Defence Corps (home defense).

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Today in World War II History—August 23, 1940 & 1945

British poster, WWII

85 Years Ago—Aug. 23, 1940: RAF cuts pilot training period from 1 month to 2 weeks.

80 Years Ago—Aug. 23, 1945: Britain ratifies United Nations Charter.

US, British & French troops arrive in Vienna, Austria, to take up occupation zones.

Marcario Garcia of Texas becomes first Mexican national to receive the US Medal of Honor, for actions with US Army in France in November 1944.

Soviet troops land on and secure Paramushiro in the Kurile Islands.

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Today in World War II History—August 22, 1940 & 1945

British 9.2-inch coastal artillery gun crew in exercise, Culver Point Battery, Isle of Wight, England, 24 Aug 1940 (Imperial War Museum: H 3233)

85 Years Ago—Aug. 22, 1940: First cross-Channel artillery duel—Germans bombard Dover and British reply.

Surrender negotiations at Mille Atoll, Marshall Islands, aboard USS Levy, 19 Aug 1945 (US National Archives: 80-G-490371)

80 Years Ago—Aug. 22, 1945: In Manchuria, Japanese surrender to Soviets, and the Soviets seize Port Arthur.

Japanese forces at Mille Atoll in the Marshall Islands surrender aboard destroyer escort USS Levy, the first voluntary Japanese handover of an island.

Yugoslavia orders all farmland over 75 acres to be confiscated and given to partisan fighters.

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Today in World War II History—August 21, 1940 & 1945

Leon Trotsky and American admirers in Mexico, 5 April 1940 (US National Archives: 283642)

85 Years Ago—Aug. 21, 1940: In Mexico City, Leon Trotsky, former Soviet leader and a critic of Stalin, dies from an assassination attack by Soviet NKVD agent Ramón Mercader the day before.

80 Years Ago—Aug. 21, 1945: President Truman ends Lend-Lease program.

Last naval surface action of WWII: Japanese junk attacks 2 Chinese junks with US & Chinese crews; 45 Japanese & 4 Chinese are killed.

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Today in World War II History—August 20, 1940 & 1945

British poster, WWII (Imperial War Museum)

85 Years Ago—Aug. 20, 1940: Churchill praises the RAF to the House of Commons—“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

Germans withdraw Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers from combat over Britain after heavy losses.

80 Years Ago—Aug. 20, 1945: Norwegian Nazi collaborator Vidkun Quisling is placed on trial for treason in Oslo; he will be executed.

US War Production Board lifts production controls on 210 consumer items.

Tommy Brown of the Brooklyn Dodgers becomes the youngest major league player to hit a home run, at age 17.

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Today in World War II History—August 19, 1940 & 1945

Assembling North American B-25 Mitchell bombers, Kansas City, KS, 1942 (Library of Congress: fsac.1a35291)

85 Years Ago—Aug. 19, 1940: Italians occupy Berbera, capital of British Somaliland, and Mussolini annexes British Somaliland to Italian Empire, the only Italian victory achieved in WWII without German assistance.

US Civil Aeronautics Administration issues the first pilot’s license, an honorary one to Orville Wright, born on this date in 1871.

Maiden flight of production North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber.

Japanese POWs at Guam listen to Emperor Hirohito’s surrender announcement, 15 Aug 1945 (US National Archives: 80-G-490320)

80 Years Ago—Aug. 19, 1945: Japanese soldiers are told that surrendering under cease-fire doesn’t break the Bushido code.

Chiang Kai-shek forbids Japanese to surrender to Communist Chinese; they must surrender to the Nationalists.

US troops enter Shanghai to prevent a communist takeover.

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Today in World War II History—August 18, 1940 & 1945

Allied POWS in Nagoya, Japan leave messages of thanks on the roofs of their huts for supplies dropped to them from aircraft from the USS Wasp, 28 Aug 1945 (US National Museum of Naval Aviation)

85 Years Ago—Aug. 18, 1940: “The Hardest Day” in the Battle of Britain as both sides suffer their highest casualties.

Walter P. Chrysler, founder of Chrysler Corporation, dies at age 65.

Duke of Windsor (former King Edward VIII) is sworn in as Governor of the Bahamas.

German-American Bund (Nazi) and Ku Klux Klan hold an anti-war rally for 1,000 at Camp Nordland, New Jersey, while 1,000 protest against the Bund and Klan outside.

80 Years Ago—Aug. 18, 1945: In last air conflict of war, US B-32 Dominator reconnaissance planes are attacked by flak and fighters over Tokyo, 1 killed (photographer Sgt. Anthony Marchione), the last American killed in WWII; 2 Japanese fighters are shot down.

US begins parachuting medical teams into Japanese POW camps.

Gasoline and fuel oil rationing ends in the US. (Read more: “Make It Do—Gasoline Rationing in World War II”)

New songs in the US Top Ten: “Till the End of Time” and “On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe.”

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Today in World War II History—August 17, 1940 & 1945

First edition of George Orwell’s Animal Farm (public domain via Wikipedia)

85 Years Ago—Aug. 17, 1940: Germany announces total air and sea blockade of Great Britain.

First US pilot volunteering with the RAF dies (crash-landed 8/16)—former Olympic bobsled gold medalist P/O William Fiske, who pretended to be Canadian, the only American killed in the Battle of Britain.

Republican presidential nominee Wendell Willkie makes speech in favor of establishing a military draft (which President Roosevelt favors), removing pressure on GOP congressmembers to oppose the draft.

80 Years Ago—Aug. 17, 1945: Gen. Charles de Gaulle commutes the death sentence of former Head of the French State (Vichy France) Marshal Philippe Pétain to life in exile on Ile d’Yeu due to his age; he dies there in 1951.

Ho Chi Minh calls on Vietnamese people to begin communist revolution.

Allies divide Korea on the 38th parallel, with US occupying the south, USSR the north.

Dutch East Indies proclaims independence from the Netherlands, calling itself the Republic of Indonesia.

Animal Farm by George Orwell is published in London.

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Today in World War II History—August 16, 1940 & 1945

A summary of the life of Charles Drew by artist Charles Alston, 1943 (US National Archives 535693)

Coat of arms of US 29th Infantry Regiment

85 Years Ago—Aug. 16, 1940: Test platoon of 48 volunteers from 29th Infantry Regiment makes first US Army parachute jump from an aircraft at Fort Benning, GA.

Movie premiere of Hitchcock’s Foreign Correspondent, starring Joel McCrea & Laraine Day.

American Red Cross begins collection of blood plasma in “Plasma for Britain” program under Dr. Charles Drew, an African-American.

80 Years Ago—Aug. 16, 1945: Japanese parliament resigns.

Churchill first uses term “iron curtain” in speech to House of Commons: “The iron curtain which at the moment divides Europe in twain.”

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Happy V-J Day! 80th Anniversary of Victory in WWII

Eighty years ago, on August 14, 1945, World War II came to an end when Emperor Hirohito of Japan signed his acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration demanding unconditional surrender to the Allies. The surrender was announced in the United States at 7 pm Eastern War Savings Time.

The following day, August 15, was officially proclaimed V-J Day (Victory in Japan) in the US, a day of celebration and thanksgiving.

Almost six years had passed since Germany had invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, beginning the most costly war the world had ever seen. Europe and Asia lay in ruins. Tens of millions of people had lost their lives in combat, bombings, and concentration camps. Very few families were unaffected by the war, even in the US, where only a few bombs and shells landed from a handful of Japanese submarines.

It’s hard for us to imagine the extreme jubilation that erupted eighty years ago today.

Take a moment today and imagine. Imagine the jubilation, the sense of relief that the horror was over, that you would survive, that those around you would survive, that you could go on with your life and pursue your dreams.

Take a moment today and give thanks. Thank the servicemen, servicewomen, and home front workers who made that victory possible. Thank the members of our armed forces today who continue to keep us safe. And thank the Lord for strengthening us and watching over us.

Take a moment today and celebrate!

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