On this day.....

Discussions on WW2 in Western Europe & the Atlantic.
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wright61
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#31

Post by wright61 » 04 Jun 2006, 14:36

4th June 1944

First US units enter Rome

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#32

Post by Max Williams » 04 Jun 2006, 18:22

4 June 1942.
Heydrich dies from his wounds in the Bulovka Hospital in Prague.


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Benoit Douville
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#33

Post by Benoit Douville » 05 Jun 2006, 01:51

-June 4th 1940: German troops enter Dunkirk, taking 40 000 French prisoners and huge quantities of abandoned British equipment: 84 000 vehicles, 2 500 guns and 650 000 tons of supplies and ammunition. French bombers carry out night raids on Munich and Frankfurt, with negligible results.

-June 4th 1941: Luftwaffe bombers carry out a night raid on the port of Alexandria in Egypt.

-June 4th 1942: Hitler flies to Finland to meet with the Finnish head of state, Marshal Mannerheim.

-June 4th 1943: In the East, Luftwaffe bombers attack the great tank-producing plants at Gorki.

-June 4th 1944: The US Fifth Army (Clark) enters Rome. U-505, patroling off Cape Blanco on the West African coast is forced to the surface by depth-charges from the US destroyer escort Chatelain, captured intact and towed to Bermuda by the escort carrier Guadalcanal.

Source: Feldgrau

Regards

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#34

Post by Jon G. » 05 Jun 2006, 08:48

June 5th 1945

While heavy fighting rages between US and Japanese troops on the Oroku peninsula a tropical typhoon damages 4 battleships, 8 carriers, 7 cruisers, 14 destroyers, two tankers and an ammunition ship. Japanese Kamikaze damage the battleship USS Missouri and the cruiser USS Louisville.

The Allied control commission meets for the first time. Germany is divided into four zones of occupation, outwardly delineated by Germany's 1937 borders. The four zones are divided into British, French, American and Soviet zones of occupation. The division into zones is mirrored in Berlin.

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#35

Post by Max Williams » 06 Jun 2006, 09:10

6 June 1944.

Overlord begins with parachute drops and landings in Normandy.

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wright61
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#36

Post by wright61 » 06 Jun 2006, 09:18

6th June 1942
The Japanese land troops on the Aleutian islands

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#37

Post by Jon G. » 06 Jun 2006, 09:49

June 6th 1945

The US 6th Marines which landed on the Oroku peninsula two days ago seize Naha airfield. Meanwhile, the 96th US Division presses back the main Japanese defensive line across southern Okinawa to Mount Yaeju where they are stopped by strong Japanese defensive fire.

Brazil declares war on Japan.

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Benoit Douville
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#38

Post by Benoit Douville » 07 Jun 2006, 02:26

-June 6th 1940: In the West, 7. Panzerdivision (Rommel). advancing W of Amiens, penetratees 20 miles into French territory. U-46 (Kptlt. Sohler) sinks the British armed merchant cruiser Carinthia off the west coast of Ireland.

-June 6th 1941: Hitler issues a directive for the implementation of the Kommissarbefehl (Commissar Order) which calls for the summary execution of all Soviet political commissars attached to the Red Army; this order is tacitly disobeyed by most German army and corps commanders who deem it contrary to German military custom and tradition.

-June 6th 1944: D-DAY. - In the early morning hours, the Allied Expeditionary Force of American, British, Canadian, Polish, and Free French troops begins Operation Overlord, the long-awaited invasion of 'Fortress Europe', as the Germans call it. After an intensive naval and aerial bombardment, the first wave of 5 divisions (156,115 men) are landed at designated beaches in Normandy named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword, preceded by some 12,000 paratroopers of the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions behind the German lines on the Cotentin peninsula and the British 6th Airborne Division near Caen. These forces are supported by 1,213 warships, including 7 battleships and 23 cruisers, 1,600 auliary ships, and 4,126 landing craft, as well as several Allied air forces flying 14,674 sorties. Opposing them in their bunkers on the beaches are 5 lowgrade German infantry divisions with about 50,000 men and 100 tanks and assault guns. Despite some heavy casualties, especially at Omaha Beach, the German defenders, stunned and surprised by the massive onslaught, are progressively overwhelmed, and most of the Allied objectives are reached and secured by nightfall. There is little opposition from the Luftwaffe or Kriegsmarine.

Regards
Last edited by Benoit Douville on 08 Jun 2006, 01:22, edited 1 time in total.

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wright61
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#39

Post by wright61 » 07 Jun 2006, 09:12

7th June 1942
At Midway the American carrier Yorktown is sunk.
All of Yorktown's fighters were vectored out to intercept the oncoming Japanese aircraft, and did so some 15 to 20 miles out. The Wildcats attacked vigorously, breaking up what appeared to be an organized attack by some 18 Vals and 18 Zeroes. "Planes were flying in every direction," wrote Capt. Buckmaster after the action, "and many were falling in flames."

Yorktownand her escorts went to full speed and, as the Japanese raiders attacked, began maneuvering radically. Intense antiaircraft fire greeted the Vals and Kates as they approached their release points.

Bomb damage to Yorktown's flight deck
Despite the barrage, though, three Vals scored hits. Two of them were shot down soon after releasing their bomb loads; the third went out of control just as his bomb left the rack. It tumbled in flight and hit just abaft number two elevator on the starboard side, exploding on contact and blasting a hole about 10 feet square in the flight deck. Splinters from the exploding bomb decimated the crews of the two 1.1-inch gun mounts aft of the island and on the flight deck below. Fragments piercing the flight deck hit three planes on the hangar deck, starting fires. One of the aircraft, a Yorktown Dauntless, was fully fueled and carrying a 1,000-pound bomb. Prompt action by Lt. A. C. Emerson, the hangar deck officer, prevented a serious conflagration by releasing the sprinkler system and quickly extinguishing the fire.

The second bomb to hit the ship came from the port side, pierced the flight deck, and exploded in the lower part of the funnel. It ruptured the uptakes for three boilers, disabled two boilers themselves, and extinguished the fires in five boilers. Smoke and gases began filling the firerooms of six boilers. The men at number one boiler, however, remained at their post despite their danger and discomfort and kept its fire going, maintaining enough steam pressure to allow the auxiliary steam systems to function.

A third bomb hit the carrier from the starboard side pierced the side of number one elevator and explode on the fourth deck, starting a persistent fire in the rag storage space, adjacent to the forward gasoline stowage and the magazines. The prior precaution of smothering the gasoline system with CO2, undoubtedly prevented the gasoline's igniting.

While the ship recovered from the damage inflicted by the dive-bombing attack, her speed dropped to six knots; and then, at 1440, about 20 minutes after the bomb hit that had shut down most of the boilers, Yorktown slowed to a stop, dead in the water.

At about 1540, Yorktown prepared to get underway again; and, at 1550, the engine room force reported that they were ready to make 20 knots or better. The ship was not yet out of the fight.

Simultaneously, with the fires controlled sufficiently to warrant the resumption of fueling operations, Yorktown began fueling the gasoline tanks of the fighters then on deck. Fueling had just commenced when the ship's radar picked up an incoming air group at a distance of 33 miles away. While the ship prepared for battle — again smothering gasoline systems and stopping the fueling of the planes on her flight deck — she vectored four of the six fighters of the CAP in the air to intercept the incoming raiders. Of the 10 fighters on board, eight had as much as 23 gallons of fuel in their tanks. They accordingly were launched as the remaining pair of fighters of the CAP headed out to intercept the Japanese planes.

At 1600, Yorktown churned forward, making 20 knots. The fighters she had launched and vectored out to intercept had meanwhile made contact, Yorktown received reports that the planes were Kates. The Wildcats downed at least three of the attacking torpedo planes, but the rest began their approach in the teeth of a heavy antiaircraft barrage from the carrier and her escorts.

Yorktown maneuvered radically, avoiding at least two torpedoes before two "fish" tore into her port side within minutes of each other. The first hit at 1620. The carrier had been mortally wounded; she lost power and went dead in the water with a jammed rudder and an increasing list to port.

As the list progressed, Cmdr. C. E. Aldrich, the damage control officer, reported from central station that, without power, controlling the flooding looked impossible. The engineering officer, Lt. Cmdr. J. F. Delaney, soon reported that all fires were out; all power was lost; and. worse yet, it was impossible to correct the list. Faced with that situation, Capt. Buckmaster ordered Aldrich, Delaney, and their men to secure and lay up on deck to put on life jackets.

The list, meanwhile, continued to increase. When it reached 26 degrees, Buckmaster and Aldrich agreed that the ship's capsizing was only a matter of minutes. "In order to save as many of the ship's company as possible," the captain wrote later, he "ordered the ship to be abandoned."

Over the minutes that ensued, the crew left ship, lowering the wounded to life rafts and striking out for the nearby destroyers and cruisers to be picked up by boats from those ships. After the evacuation of all wounded, the executive officer, Cmdr. I. D. Wiltsie, left the ship down a line on the starboard side. Capt. Buckmaster, meanwhile, toured the ship for one last time, inspecting her to see if any men remained. After finding no "live personnel," Buckmaster lowered himself into the water by means of a line over the stern. By that point, water was lapping the port side of the hangar deck

Picked up by the destroyer USS Hammann (DD-412), Buckmaster was transferred to USS Astoria (CA-34) soon thereafter and reported to Rear Admiral Fletcher, who had shifted his flag to the heavy cruiser after the first dive-bombing attack. The two men agreed that a salvage party should attempt to save the ship since she had stubbornly remained afloat despite the heavy list and imminent danger of capsizing.

Interestingly enough, while the efforts to save Yorktownhad been proceeding apace, her planes were still in action, joining those from Enterprise in striking the last Japanese carrier — Hiryu — late that afternoon. Taking four direct hits, the Japanese flattop was soon helpless. She was abandoned by her crew and left to drift out of control and manned only by her dead. Yorktown had been avenged.

Yorktown, as it turned out, floated through the night; two men were still alive on board her — one attracted attention by firing a machine gun that was heard by the sole attending destroyer, USS Hughes. The escort picked up the men, one of whom later died.

Meanwhile, Capt. Buckmaster had selected 29 officers and 141 men to return to the ship in an attempt to save her. Five destroyers formed an antisubmarine screen while the salvage party boarded the listing carrier, the fire in the rag storage still smoldering on the morning of June 6, 1942. USS Vireo (AT-144), summoned from Pearl and Hermes Reef, soon commenced towing the ship. Progress, though, was painfully slow.

Yorktown 's repair party went on board with a carefully predetermined plan of action to be carried out by men from each department-damage control, gunnery air engineering, navigation, communication, supply and medical. To assist in the work, Lt. Cmdr. Arnold E. True brought his ship, USS Hammann, alongside to starboard, aft, furnishing pumps and electric power.

Yorktown listing
By mid-afternoon, it looked as if the gamble to save the ship was paying off. The process of reducing topside weight was proceeding well — one 5-inch gun had been dropped over the side, and a second was ready to be cast loose; planes had been pushed over the side; the submersible pumps (powered by electricity provided by Hammann) had pumped out considerable quantities of water from the engineering spaces. The efforts of the salvage crew had reduced the list about two degrees.

Unbeknownst to Yorktown and the six nearby destroyers the Japanese submarine I-158 had achieved a favorable firing position. Remarkably — but perhaps understandable in light of the debris and wreckage in the water in the vicinity — none of the destroyers picked up the approaching I-boat. Suddenly, at 1536, lookouts spotted a salvo of four torpedoes churning toward the ship from the starboard beam.

Hammann went to general quarters, a 20-millimeter gun going into action in an attempt to explode the "fish" in the water. One torpedo hit Hammann — her screws churning the water beneath her fantail as she tried to get underway — directly amidships and broke her back. The destroyer jackknifed and went down rapidly.

Two torpedoes struck Yorktown just below the turn of the bilge at the after end of the island structure. The fourth torpedo passed just astern of the carrier.

Approximately a minute after Hammann's stern disappeared beneath the waves, an explosion rumbled up from the depths — possibly caused by the destroyer's depth charges going off. The blast killed many of Hammann's and a few of Yorktown's men who had been thrown into the water. The concussion battered the already-damaged carrier's hull and caused tremendous shocks that carried away Yorktown's auxiliary generator, sent numerous fixtures from the hangar deck overhead crashing to the deck below; sheared rivets in the starboard leg of the foremast; and threw men in every direction, causing broken bones and several minor injuries.

Prospects for immediate resumption of salvage work looked grim, since all destroyers immediately commenced searches for the enemy submarine (which escaped) and commenced rescuing men from Hammann and Yorktown. Capt. Buckmaster decided to postpone further attempts at salvage until the following day.

Vireo cut the towline and doubled back to Yorktown to pick up survivors, taking on board many men of the salvage crew while picking up men from the water. The little ship endured a terrific pounding from the larger ship but nevertheless stayed alongside to carry out her rescue mission. Later, while on board the tug, Capt. Buckmaster conducted a burial service, two officers and an enlisted man from Hammann were committed to the deep.

The second attempt at salvage, however, would never be made. Throughout the night of June 6, 1942, and into the morning of the 7th, Yorktown remained stubbornly afloat. By 0530 on the 7th, however, the men in the ships nearby noted that the carrier's list was rapidly increasing to port. Then, at 0701, on June 7, 1942, according to Capt. Buckmaster's official report, Yorktown "turned over on her port side and sank in 3,000 fathoms of water, her battle flags flying."

Yorktown (CV-5) earned three battle stars for her World War II service; two of them being for the significant part she had played in stopping Japanese expansion and turning the tide of the war at Coral Sea and at Midway.

But Yorktown's story does not end there. On May 19, 1998, noted underwater explorer Dr. Robert Ballard and his search and survey team on the National Geographic Battle of Midway expedition found Yorktown more than three miles deep in the Pacific. The expedition used the U.S. Navy's deep submergence support ship, Laney Chouest, and two underwater vehicles to locate and photograph the aircraft carrier on the ocean floor. One of the submerged vehicles was a Navy bottom-surveying robot called ATV (advanced tethered vehicle) which can see about 100 feet with video and still cameras. The carrier was found to be quite well preserved.

-USN-


Source http://www.navy.mil/

Regards Robert

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wright61
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#40

Post by wright61 » 07 Jun 2006, 09:24

7th June 1944

American forces on Biak capture Mokmar airfield

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#41

Post by Zebedee » 07 Jun 2006, 09:28

7th June 1941

RAF launches the first of five heavy night raids on Brest in an attempt to sink Prinz Eugen.

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#42

Post by Jon G. » 07 Jun 2006, 09:30

June 7th 1945

On Okinawa the Japanese hold the 6th Marine Division attacking from Oroku, but the 1st Marine Division attacking from the north presses the Japanese defensive line further back.

World famous Japanese Zen philosopher Nishida Kitaro dies in Tokyo, aged 74.

King Haakon returns to Norway after his five year exile in Britain.

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#43

Post by Max Williams » 07 Jun 2006, 23:30

7 June 1942, Prague.
The first funeral ceremony is held for Reinhard Heydrich at the Hradschin. Kurt Daluege gives the eulogy before the casket is escorted through the city to the railway station where it is placed aboard a special funeral train bound for Berlin. Heydrich's pregnant widow does not attend the ceremony, but she is represented by her two sons and her father.

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#44

Post by Benoit Douville » 08 Jun 2006, 01:24

-June 7th 1942: In the East, 11. Armee (von Manstein) begins the final assault on the Soviet fortress of Sevastopol in the Crimea.

-June 7th 1944: In the West, US forces landed in Normandy link up with elements of the British 6th Airborne Division South of Caen.

Regards

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#45

Post by Luftman129 » 08 Jun 2006, 01:48

June 7th 1940

Heinkel bomber that machine-gunned East Suffolk crashed in said town.

The Swedish steamer 'Erik Frisell' sunk.

Thanks,
Chris

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