World War II Daily: DDay to VEDay

Tidewater · Sep 16, 2014

Re: Normandy daily - 1944

crimsonaudio said:
Montgomery addressing men of the British 15th (Scottish) Division during an investiture ceremony.

How do you know they're Scots?

jabcmb · Sep 16, 2014

Re: Normandy daily - 1944

bamachile said:
In the Pacific theatre on this date, the Peleliu landings took place. Remembered bitterly by many involved, it was a costly victory. Worse, it was considered by many as unnecessary. Eugene Sledge wrote critically of it in his opus "With the Old Breed", as did Robert Leckie in "Helmet for my Pillow".

No links provided as I am on my cellphone, but I recommend both works to any WWII buff.

Sledge's book is a must read, as is his follow up "China Marine." He was a professor at the University of Montevallo (Alabama) before he died about 12-13 years ago. He kept notes in the margins of his bible during the war, and amazingly, was never wounded.

crimsonaudio · Sep 17, 2014

Re: Normandy daily - 1944

September 17, 1944: It’s Sunday, Operation Market Garden begins. The Allied intention is to secure key bridges over a series of rivers and canals in Holland to achieve a rapid advance onto the north German plain. In a massive display of air supremacy, Allied forces launch a huge airborne attack in an attempt to secure a bridgehead over the Rhine River and Arhnem. Over 1500 planes and 500 gliders drop elements of three airborne divisions into Holland in an attempt to capture a corridor leading from Eindhoven to Arnhem that crosses five water bodies including two major river bridges. The initial landings are a great success - on the first day, the US 101st Airborne Division secures bridges at Veghel and Zon. The US 82nd Airborne Division secures the bridge at Grave but not the one at Nijmegen. The British 1st Airborne Division, dropped near Arnhem, fails to secure the bridge there because of unexpected German resistance. Unknown to Allied planners, the 9th SS Hohenstaufen and 10th SS Frundsberg Panzer Divisions are located in Arnhem for rest and refit from combat on the Eastern Front. Meanwhile, the British 30th Corps (part of British 2nd Army) attacks northward toward Eindhoven to relieve the paratroopers. To the west, Canadian forces, also part of British 21st Army Group, launch an attack on Boulogne after a preparatory bombing by the RAF.

The Market Garden airborne assault is in conjunction with an armored drive by the elite British XXX Corps spearheaded by the Guards Armored Division. They run into very determined and unexpected resistance, advancing only 7 miles on the first day. US 56th Fighter Group loses sixteen out of thirty-nine P-47D Thunderbolt aircraft on flak suppression duties in support of the operation.

In France, the siege of Boulogne, Pas-de-Calais, begins. With 1 Corps grounded from lack of transport, the only available formation is the 3rd Canadian Division (less one brigade but reinforced with some armor and medium regiments of artillery). Despite being smaller than Le Havre, Boulogne proves to be very difficult, with deep underground fortifications as well as surrounding forts, minefields and anti-tank ditches. Heavy bombing on the opening day fails to destroy the numerous German gun batteries, making the siege more difficult than expected.

In Italy, the battle at the German ‘Gothic Line’ continues as the US 85th Division captures Monte Altuzzo, while other US units capture Monte Pratone. To the east, Indian 4th Division attacks German 278th Infantry Division in San Marino.

Pictured: A Loyd carrier of the anti-tank platoon of 3rd Battalion, Irish Guards explodes during British XXX Corps' advance toward Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands; Reconnaissance photograph showing Dakota aircraft dropping paratroopers of 1st Airborne Brigade on to Dropping Zone 'X', at Renkum, west of Arnhem, Operation Market I; An American C-47 aircraft, hit by flak returning from the Market-Garden drop, burning after crash-landing into a knocked-out German Jagdpanther near Gheel, Belgium

Tidewater · Sep 17, 2014

Re: Normandy daily - 1944

crimsonaudio said:
September 17, 1944: It’s Sunday, Operation Market Garden begins. The Allied intention is to secure key bridges over a series of rivers and canals in Holland to achieve a rapid advance onto the north German plain. In a massive display of air supremacy, Allied forces launch a huge airborne attack in an attempt to secure a bridgehead over the Rhine River and Arhnem. Over 1500 planes and 500 gliders drop elements of three airborne divisions into Holland in an attempt to capture a corridor leading from Eindhoven to Arnhem that crosses five water bodies including two major river bridges. The initial landings are a great success - on the first day, the US 101st Airborne Division secures bridges at Veghel and Zon. The US 82nd Airborne Division secures the bridge at Grave but not the one at Nijmegen. The British 1st Airborne Division, dropped near Arnhem, fails to secure the bridge there because of unexpected German resistance. Unknown to Allied planners, the 9th SS Hohenstaufen

9th SS was something like 45% strength on men and less than that on armor (tanks in depot maintenance). But still, it was an SS Panzer Division going up against paratroopers without any heavy weapons.

and 10th SS Frundsberg Panzer Divisions are located in Arnhem for rest and refit from combat on the Eastern Front. Meanwhile, the British 30th Corps (part of British 2nd Army) attacks northward toward Eindhoven to relieve the paratroopers.

I believe Brereton's decision to only make one turn with the aircraft on D-day was a really bad call.
Ike's decision to give strategic priority to Monty, using a concept that called for Monty to make speedy decisions and a rapid advance, was also a serious strategic error. I think it was just not in Monty's make-up. He was successful (to a point) in a deliberate, set-piece, plodding battles. Speed was not his forte.

crimsonaudio · Sep 18, 2014

Re: Normandy daily - 1944

September 18, 1944: Operation Market Garden continues. The British XXX Corps is able to advance 20 miles, relieving the troops of the US 101st Airborne Division at Veghel and captured Eindhoven, and the 101st Airborne is forced to stop to repair the bridge at Zon. To the north, the US 82nd and British 1st Airborne Divisions continue to resist. German forces launch strong attacks against the British positions at Arhnem - attempts to reinforce the battalion in the town at the bridge prove fruitless as heavy fog prevents airdrops until late in the afternoon. Elements of 82nd Airborne engage in heavy street fighting in Njmegan as they move on the bridge there.

After six weeks of some of the fiercest battles fought on the Western Front during all of the war, the US 9th Army captures the port city of Brest, France. Though heavily fortified and defended, Brest is an absolute necessity in order to ensure the timely delivery of the enormous amount of supplies required by the invading Allied forces - it is estimated that the 37 Allied divisions on the continent by September need 26,000 tons of supplies each day.

In occupied Poland, American B-17 bombers drop 1284 containers of supplies in an attempt to replenish the embattled Polish Home Army (AK) in Warsaw, but only 228 fall on territory still controlled by the Poles. This is the only major supply drop by the western Allies allowed by the Soviets. The US planes land on Soviet territory after completing their mission.

Pictured: B-24J Liberator of the 854th Bomb Squadron guided to the ground after being hit by light-flak during low-level supply drop for the 82nd and 101st Airborne near Eindhoven, Holland; Sherman tanks advancing through cheering crowds in Valkenswaard, the Netherlands; A forty-foot hole in the roof of a U-boat pen in Brest, France that received a direct hit during the Allied bombardment

Tidewater · Sep 18, 2014

Re: Normandy daily - 1944

crimsonaudio said:
September 18, 1944: Operation Market Garden continues. The British XXX Corps is able to advance 20 miles, relieving the troops of the US 101st Airborne Division at Veghel and captured Eindhoven, and the 101st Airborne is forced to stop to repair the bridge at Zon. To the north, the US 82nd and British 1st Airborne Divisions continue to resist. German forces launch strong attacks against the British positions at Arhnem - attempts to reinforce the battalion in the town at the bridge prove fruitless as heavy fog prevents airdrops until late in the afternoon.

Sounds like maybe the 1st Allied Airborne Army should have done two turns with the aircraft on the 17th when the weather was good.

crimsonaudio · Sep 18, 2014

Re: Normandy daily - 1944

Tidewater said:
Sounds like maybe the 1st Allied Airborne Army should have done two turns with the aircraft on the 17th when the weather was good.

But they might have been tired!

Tidewater · Sep 18, 2014

Re: Normandy daily - 1944

crimsonaudio said:
But they might have been tired!

True.
I do not know, but I would bet the Germans were busy on the 17th and 18th moving more flak units to the vicinity of the drop zones/landing zone, since you know more planes (defenseless transport planes at that) will be coming to drop reinforcements and/or supplies. Another reason to bring in as many/as much as possible on D-Day when the strategic surprise is greatest.

TIDE-HSV · Sep 18, 2014

Re: Normandy daily - 1944

Tidewater said:
True.
I do not know, but I would bet the Germans were busy on the 17th and 18th moving more flak units to the vicinity of the drop zones/landing zone, since you know more planes (defenseless transport planes at that) will be coming to drop reinforcements and/or supplies. Another reason to bring in as many/as much as possible on D-Day when the strategic surprise is greatest.

I know my brother hated, hated, hated flak. Like most of the interior crew on the B-17s, he begged, borrowed and stole enough flak jackets to line his compartment. Of course, it wouldn't have helped with a direct hit...

bamachile · Sep 18, 2014

Re: Normandy daily - 1944

TIDE-HSV said:
I know my brother hated, hated, hated flak. Like most of the interior crew on the B-17s, he begged, borrowed and stole enough flak jackets to line his compartment. Of course, it wouldn't have helped with a direct hit...

The uncle I referenced earlier in this thread was a flight engineer, so his duties included manning the roof turret. I remember him saying that the first time he was on a combat mission, he felt like a bald headed man standing underneath a hornet's nest.

Ironically, the tight formations employed to maximize group protection via gunners meant flying somewhat stable altitudes and vectors, making the aircraft more vulnerable to flak. Truly a case of picking your poison.

Tidewater · Sep 18, 2014

Re: Normandy daily - 1944

TIDE-HSV said:
I know my brother hated, hated, hated flak. Like most of the interior crew on the B-17s, he begged, borrowed and stole enough flak jackets to line his compartment. Of course, it wouldn't have helped with a direct hit...

Yeah, I guess the randomness of it hard. A ground soldier can dive for cover when he hear a machinegun or sees the tracers
Flak, just seems random, you can't dive for cover, even when you see a flak area, you still have to flu through it and, the way you know your plane has been hit is it starts flying apart all around you.
If I was Model, I would have moved all the flak I could around the identified drop zones. You know the cargo planes will be coming back. C-47s had no defenses and did not even have self-sealing fuel tanks.

crimsonaudio · Sep 19, 2014

Re: Normandy daily - 1944

September 19, 1944: As Operation Market Garden continues, resupply and reinforcement airdrops also continue to be hindered by bad weather. The bridge at Zon is completed during the night and tanks from Guard Armored Division start moving a dawn. The armor, along with the British XXX Corps, advances 20 miles, making contact with the 82nd Airborne at Grave, just outside Nijmegen, where German resistance is fierce and the bridge is not yet secured. At Arnhem, British paratroopers from the 1st Airborne Division are forced to abandon attempts to break into the city. Serious resistance and heavy losses forces them to withdraw to Oosterbeek.

Overnight, 78 German bombers take off and attack Eindhoven - the city center is destroyed, killing over 200 people in addition to hitting an ammunition convoy. Elements of the 101st, based in and around the city, escape loss. The 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment rushes into the burning city and rescues civilians throughout the night.

The Belgian Parliament meets for the first time since May 1940.

On the Eastern Front, the Soviet offensive in the Baltic continues. Forces of the 3rd Baltic Front capture Valga in Estonia.

Pictured: The people of Eindhoven lined the streets of the town on September 19, 1944 to celebrate armored vehicles of British XXX Corps passing through - no one knew that the Germans would destroy much of the city later that evening; Eindhoven on September 20, 1944 - the morning after the German bombing; Four men of the 1st Paratroop Battalion, British 1st Airborne Division, take cover in a shell hole outside Arnhem

Tide1986 · Sep 19, 2014

Re: Normandy daily - 1944

bamachile said:
Truly a case of picking your poison.

Kind of like forming an infantry square or an infantry line with cannon and cavalry all about.

crimsonaudio · Sep 20, 2014

Re: Normandy daily - 1944

September 20, 1944: Day four of Operation Market Garden - fighting in Nijmegen is very heavy as British tankers and US paratroops from the 82nd fight house to house toward the bridge. A forced river crossing is launched and this finally secures the Waal River bridge. Attacks against the British battalion in Arnhem become heavy as the SS commits their armor to the battle. Casualties on both sides are heavy and ammunition for the paratroops is running low. While it was estimated that the 1st Airborne Division, 10,000 strong, would only need to hold the Arnhem bridge for two days, a mere 740 held it for twice as long against far heavier opposition than anticipated.

German forces counterattack the in the Son area hitting the 101st Airborne with a tank heavy force, but intervention by the British tankers stops the German progression.

Geldrop, Someren, and Terneuzen are captured by Allied troops, while elsewhere on the western front see the Canadian 1st Army fighting on the Scheldt River while the US 3rd Army captures Chatel and Luneville.

In Italy, the British V Corps enters the Republic of San Marino, while the British 8th Army makes a strong attempt to break the Gothic Line. The attack fails.

Pictured: The vital bridge at Arnhem, the Netherlands after the British paratroops had been driven back; A convoy of British trucks under German artillery and mortar fire on the road between Son and Eindhoven; Captured British paratroopers being marched away by German troops

BamaFlum · Sep 20, 2014

Re: Normandy daily - 1944

Band of Brothers describes this battle. Those Airborne guys were hard core!

Tidewater · Sep 20, 2014

Re: Normandy daily - 1944

It was around this time, as the 101st Airborne was handing over the British XXX Corps to the 82nd Airborne Division sector.

General Maxwell Taylor said:
"They're a great bunch of guys, the 82nd. Just remember to keep your hand on your wallet."

Apocryphal.
Not sure if Taylor actually said this, but the sentiment is probably correct.

crimsonaudio · Sep 21, 2014

Re: Normandy daily - 1944

September 21, 1944: It’s day five of Operation Market Garden and the British XXX Corps attacks northward from Nijmegen, making limited progress due to German counterattacks and the exposed terrain. In Arnhem forces of the British 1st Airborne Division, out of ammunition, are forced out of the town but remain north of the Rhine. The rest of the 1st British Division - pinned down in a small bridgehead at Oosterbeek - are hit by continuous attacks. A Polish Parachute Brigade is dropped two miles south of the British position (on the opposite side of the river) in a vain attempt to reinforce the British paratroops, incurring heavy losses on landing. Despite the push but he Germans, Schijndel is captured by the Allies.

In Italy, troops of Greek 3rd Mountain Brigade capture Rimini, which had been evacuated by the Germans overnight, and raise a Greek flag on the balcony of the municipal building; the mayor officially surrenders the city at 07:45 in the morning. US 85th Division captured Firenzuola, Italy. Indian 4th Division withdrew from San Marino.

Heavy fighting forces the Polish 1st Army to abandon its bridgeheads in Warsaw.

German Armeegruppe E evacuated the Peloponnese Peninsula in Greece.

US 83rd Infantry Division officially becomes part of the Third Army of US 12th Army Group.

Pictured: 17-pdr anti-tank gun of the 21st Anti-Tank Regiment, British Guards Armoured Division, guarding the approaches to Nijmegen Bridge; British engineers removing German demolition charges from the bridge at Nijmegen; British 44th Royal Tank Regiment retains control of Hell's Highway in support of the American 101st Airborne Division in the village of Veghel

Tidewater · Sep 21, 2014

Re: Normandy daily - 1944

crimsonaudio said:
The rest of the 1st British Division - pinned down in a small bridgehead at Oosterbeek - are hit by continuous attacks.

The British 1st Airborne lost 8,000 men killed wounded and captured in Holland. That's tough all the way around.

crimsonaudio · Sep 22, 2014

Re: Normandy daily - 1944

September 22, 1944: Day six of Operation Market Garden - “Black Friday”. Polish paratroopers, later joined by British 43rd Division (part of British XXX Corps), attempt reach the Rhine in order to join with the British 1st Airborne Division trapped on the north bank. Bad weather prevents resupply drops to the British paratroops as their ammunition supply dwindles. As leading elements of the 43rd Division attempt to advance to Driel, the fog lifts exposing them to German fire, despite which they reach Driel during the evening. Lacking assault craft, an unsuccessful attempt is made that night to get elements of the Polish brigade across the river. British and Polish engineers on both sides of the Rhine had worked through the day to improvise a crossing using small boats linked by signals cable but the cable kept breaking forcing the Polish troops to slowly row across against the strong current. The attempt is made but the Germans are aware and launch flares, illuminating the river - only 52 soldiers of the 8th Polish Parachute Company survive the crossing before a halt was called at dawn.

German forces launch strong attacks on the airborne corridor at Uden and Veghel that stops traffic on the road and forces British tankers to reinforce the 82nd Airborne. Elements of the British XXX Corps are able to advance to within six miles of Arnhem, but no further, as they meet heavy resistance by German forces. Elst (five miles north of Nijmegen) is liberated. Meanwhile, the German garrison in Boulogne, France surrenders to the Canadian 3rd Division (an element of 1st Canadian Army).

Patton's Third Army is once again halted as supply lines are stretched to the breaking point.

The leading Divisions of Marshal Fedor Tolbukhin's 3rd Ukrainian Front commenced a crossing of the River Danube near Turnu Severin, Romania, meeting strong opposition from German Army alpine and German Waffen-SS troops under Field Marshal Maximilian Freiherr von Weich's command. Elements of the Soviet Leningrad Front (Govorov) capture Tallin, capital of Estonia, in the Baltics, while in Romania, Soviet forces reach Arad.

British scientists, returning from studying a German rocket research site at Blizna, Poland, found that the crates of rocket parts collected had been switched to ordinary aircraft parts, presumably by the Soviets who wished to retain the rocket parts for their own weapons research.

Pictured: Major General Robert E. Urquhart of UK 1st Airborne Division planting the airborne flag outside his headquarters near Arnhem, the Netherlands; German prisoners marching through Boulogne shortly after its capture; Situation map from September 22, 1944

Tidewater · Sep 22, 2014

Re: Normandy daily - 1944

Tragic day.
My high school history teacher, Frank J. Stone, was a platoon leader in the C Company, 1st Battalion, 506 PIR. Around this timeframe, the Germans of the II SS Panzer Corps were on one side of the Wilhemina Canal, but could not get across the canal because all the bridges had been blown. The paratrooper, lacking antitank guns could not drive away the German tanks, so German tanks were cruising up and down the canal looking for a clean shot at the American paratroopers with their main guns. 1LT Stone's company commander called a meeting of the company leadership, at the Command Post of 1LT Stone's platoon (center platoon of the company at the time). After discussing the situation and issuing orders, the CO and the other platoon leaders were walking back to their respective CPs, when a German tank saw the group and put an HE round into the tree behind which Stone was sitting. Stone was in the "shadow" of the blast. He caught shrapnel from the round and the tree fell on him (spent the next eleven months in the hospital). The blast/shrapnel of the explosion killed the others, so, with one round, the company had lost its CO and all its platoon leaders.

World War II Daily: DDay to VEDay

Hall of Fame

All-American

Administrator

Hall of Fame

Administrator

Hall of Fame

Administrator

Hall of Fame

Senior Administrator

Hall of Fame

Hall of Fame

Administrator

Suspended

Administrator

Hall of Fame

Hall of Fame

Administrator

Hall of Fame

Administrator

Hall of Fame

TideFans.shop - NEW Stuff!