Sarah Sundin's Blog, page 82

Today in World War II History—August 27, 1943

Royal Air Force reconnaissance photograph of V-2 rocket test sites at Peenemünde, Germany, 12 June 1943 (British government photo)

80 Years Ago—Aug. 27, 1943: US Eighth Air Force flies its first mission to “Crossbow” sites—associated with testing, production, and launching of German V-1 & V-2 weapons.

British sloop HMS Egret is sunk by a German Hs 293 radio-controlled bomb in the Bay of Biscay, the first ship sunk by a guided bomb.

Movie premiere of Watch on the Rhine, starring Paul Lukas (who will win Oscar for best actor) & Bette Davis.

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Today in World War II History—August 26, 1943

Poster for US Fourth War Loan Drive, 1/18/44-2/15/44

80 Years Ago—Aug. 26, 1943: Germans occupy Alpine passes in Italy in anticipation of Italian surrender and German occupation.

Soviets launch offensive into eastern Ukraine over the River Dnieper.

War Bond Jubilee Game is held at Manhattan’s Polo Grounds, an exhibition baseball game between all-stars and GIs, in which Babe Ruth hits his last home run in a major league park; game raises $800 million in war bond sales. (Read more “World War II War Bonds”)

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Today in World War II History—August 25, 1943

Maj. Gen. Lawton Collins and Maj. Charles Davis, New Georgia, Solomon Islands, 14 Aug 1943 (US Army photo)

80 Years Ago—Aug. 25, 1943: US secures New Georgia in the Solomons after seizing Bairoko Harbor.

Allies begin air raids on France and the Low Countries to make Germans suspect an invasion in the Pas de Calais area of France and to draw the Luftwaffe up into battle.

Germans impose a 72-hour work week in the occupied Netherlands.

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Today in World War II History—August 24, 1943

Damage from sabotage at the Forum in Copenhagen, Denmark, 24 August 1943 (The Royal Library: The National Library of Denmark and Copenhagen University Library neg. 172239)

80 Years Ago—Aug. 24, 1943: Danish resistance group Holger Danske blows up Forum Hall in Copenhagen so it can’t be occupied by German troops for barracks.

Fritz Kolbe of the German Foreign Service meets with US OSS agent Allen Dulles in Bern, Switzerland; he will bring 1600 diplomatic cables to Dulles through July 1944.

Southeast Asia Command is authorized with Adm. Lord Louis Mountbatten as Supreme Allied Commander.

Adm. Lord Louis Mountbatten, Arakan Front, Burma, February 1944 (Imperial War Museum: 4700-64 SE 14)

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Today in World War II History—August 23, 1943

Soviet-manned Churchill Mk IV Tank during the battle for Kharkiv, Ukraine, August 1943 (public domain via Wikipedia)

80 Years Ago—Aug. 23, 1943: Soviets take Kharkiv, Ukraine, the fourth and final time it changes hands during World War II, and the Germans lose the Donets Basin industrial area.

Japanese aircraft bomb Chongqing, China, for the first time since 1941, also the last major attack on Chongqing.

The post Today in World War II History—August 23, 1943 first appeared on Sarah Sundin.

Today in World War II History—August 22, 1943

Patches of the US Ninth and Twelfth Air Forces, WWII

80 Years Ago—Aug. 22, 1943: German 10th Army is activated in southern Italy under Gen. Heinrich von Vietinghoff.

In the Mediterranean, all fighter groups and medium bomb groups in the US Ninth Air Force are transferred to the Twelfth Air Force (Ninth Air Force will transfer to England).

A German V-1 flying bomb lands on the Danish island of Bornholm; the Danish resistance takes photos and sends a report to London.

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Today in World War II History—August 21, 1943

US troops give the ‘V’ sign as their troopship, Athlone Castle, berths at Liverpool, 4 or 5 April 1944 (Imperial War Museum: H 37397)

80 Years Ago—Aug. 21, 1943: First “UT” convoy sails from New York, heavily escorted convoys carrying troops to England in build-up for Operation Overlord (D-day).

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Today in World War II History—August 20, 1943

German 5 cm PaK 38 gun in action, Kharkiv, Ukraine, mid-Aug 1943 (German Federal Archive: Bild 101I-238-2030-08A)

80 Years Ago—Aug. 20, 1943: In a battle near Kharkiv, Ukraine, Germans defeat Soviets and destroy 184 tanks.

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Today in World War II History—August 19, 1943

WASP C-47 flight crew: Pilot Joanna Trebtoske (Jenks), left, and Copilot Marjorie Logan (Rolle) at Romulus Army Air Field, MI, 1943 (US Air Force photo 050407-F-1234P-015)

80 Years Ago—Aug. 19, 1943: In New Guinea, Australians take Mt. Tambu and Komiatum Ridge after a month of fighting.

First Wasps (Women’s Airforce Service Pilots) are assigned to US Troop Carrier Command.

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Today in World War II History—August 18, 1943

US Marine Corps barrage balloon, Parris Island, SC, May 1942 (US Library of Congress: fsac.1a35100))

80 Years Ago—Aug. 18, 1943: Luftwaffe chief of staff Hans Jeschonnek commits suicide after previous day’s RAF raid on Peenemünde and US Eighth Air Force raids on Schweinfurt and Regensburg.

Army Air Force barrage balloon battalions are inactivated in the US.

Betty Smith’s bestselling novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is published.

The post Today in World War II History—August 18, 1943 first appeared on Sarah Sundin.