Sarah Sundin's Blog, page 96

Today in World War II History—April 20, 1943

Lt. Louis Zamperini, bombardier of B-24D Liberator ‘Superman’ inspects hole from a 20mm shell over Nauru, Apr 20 1943; photo taken at Funafuti, Gilbert Islands (US National Archives: 342-FH-3A42819-23927AC)

80 Years Ago—Apr. 20, 1943: Britain establishes Women’s Home Guard Auxiliaries, but women do not receive weapons training.

British Eighth Army takes Enfidaville, Tunisia, and its airfield.

B-24 bombers of the US Seventh Air Force based in Funafuti destroy a Japanese phosphate plant at Nauru; Lt. Louis Zamperini (Unbroken) serves as a bombardier on this raid.

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Today in World War II History—April 19, 1943

Gdański railway station and burning buildings in the Warsaw Ghetto, late Apr 1943 (public domain via Wikipedia)

80 Years Ago—Apr. 19, 1943: Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins: the Jews launch armed resistance to deportations, and the Germans initially retreat.

Belgian resistance rescues 17 Jews from a transport bound for Auschwitz, 206 others escape—118 escapees will survive; this is the only rescue from a train in the war.

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Today in World War II History—April 18, 1943

Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, saluting Japanese naval pilots at Rabaul, hours before his death, Apr. 18 1943 (public domain via Wikipedia)

80 Years Ago—Apr. 18, 1943: “Palm Sunday Massacre”—US Ninth Air Force and RAF fighters destroy 59 German Ju 52 & Ju 53 transport planes bound for North Africa.

Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of Japanese Combined Fleet, is killed when his plane is shot down by US Thirteenth Air Force P-38s over Bougainville.

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Today in World War II History—April 17, 1943

Crew of US Coast Guard Cutter Spencer watch as their depth charge explodes near German U-boat U-175, 17 April 1943 (US National Archives: 26-G-1517)

80 Years Ago—Apr. 17, 1943: US Eighth Air Force sends 107 B-17s to bomb the Focke-Wulf aircraft plant in Bremen, Germany; sixteen B-17s are lost, including ten in the 306th Bomb Group, the heaviest US loss so far.

In convoy HX-233 off Ireland, US Coast Guard cutter Spencer sinks German U-boat U-175; Spencer’s crewmen become the first US servicemen to board an enemy warship underway since the War of 1812.

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Today in World War II History—April 16, 1943

Molecular structure of lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD (public domain via Wikipedia)

80 Years Ago—Apr. 16, 1943: Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman accidentally ingests LSD and learns of hallucinogenic properties.

President Roosevelt signs the Sparkman-Johnson Bill, which allows women physicians in the Army and Navy Medical Corps and Public Health Service (stateside only, treating women); 57 women will serve in the Navy Medical Corps.

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Today in World War II History—April 15, 1943

Maj. Gen. Omar Bradley (right), commander US II Corps, and Lt. Gen. Kenneth Anderson, commander of the British First Army, April 1943 (US Army Center of Military History)

80 Years Ago—Apr. 15, 1943: Maj. Gen. Omar Bradley takes command of US II Corps in Tunisia; George Patton is relieved to prepare for the invasion of Sicily.

US 17th Airborne Division is activated at Camp Mackall, NC, under Maj. Gen. William Miley.

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Today in World War II History—April 14, 1943

Cocoanut Grove nightclub after the fire, Boston, MA, 30 November 1942 (US Army Signal Corps photo)

80 Years Ago—Apr. 14, 1943: Stalin’s son, Yakov Dzhugashvili, dies at Sachsenhausen as a prisoner of war of the Germans.

The owner of the Cocoanut Grove night club in Boston, Barnett Welansky, is sentenced to 12-15 years for manslaughter for the deadly November 1942 fire (he is pardoned & released in 1946 due to terminal cancer).

Ens. Joseph C. Jenkins is commissioned as the first Black officer in the US Coast Guard.

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Today in World War II History—April 13, 1943

WAVES personnel at the Jefferson Memorial, Washington, D.C., 1943-1945 (US National Archives: 80-G-K-13755)

80 Years Ago—Apr. 13, 1943: President Franklin Roosevelt dedicates the Jefferson Memorial on the 200th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson’s birth—the original statue is made of plaster and painted bronze due to wartime restrictions on metal. Roosevelt proclaims, “Today in the midst of a great war for freedom, we dedicate a shrine to freedom.”

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Today in World War II History—April 12, 1943

Poster from US Second War Loan Drive featuring Norman Rockwell’s “Four Freedoms” paintings, 1943 (US Office of War Information Poster No.47)

80 Years Ago—Apr. 12, 1943: US Second War Loan Drive begins, centered around Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms posters (Read more: “World War II War Bonds”).

Hitler appoints influential Martin Bormann as Secretary to the Führer.

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Today in World War II History—April 11, 1943

Crew of a Vickers Wellington Mark X of No.150 Squadron RAF at Kairouan Airfield, Tunisia, being briefed before a bombing raid to Sicily, 9 July 1943 (Imperial War Museum: CNA 1271)

80 Years Ago—Apr. 11, 1943: German Gen. Rudolf Schmidt is relieved of command of 2nd Panzer Army when his brother Hans-Thilo is arrested by the Gestapo for selling Enigma secrets to the French.

US II Corps takes Kairouan, Tunisia, and its airfield.

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