World War II Daily: DDay to VEDay

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Tidewater

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Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

I had a German soldier tell me this week that the Germans lost as many men in 1944 and 1945 as they had lost from 1939 through 1943. That was pretty startling. Those 18 months were quite bad for the Jerries if true.
 

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When my wife and I went to Germany in 1980, we rented a house in a village for a few months until ** housing came available. The 'landlady' was a middle-aged woman that was managing the rental for her 90-something year old mother. The landlady and I vaguely communicated via her little English and my Berlitz dictionary. The landlady's husband didn't seem to speak English at all, and pretty much stayed out of all of that, but when he saw my dictionary, he got excited and rushed out of the room, and then came back and handed me a small black book, about the size of a prayer book. I opened the cover and the first page said "CENSORED"...it was an English/German dictionary...he was a German soldier in WWII, captured and sent to a prisoner of war camp in Texas. I didn't know whether to jump, crap, or go blind...I thought about all of the horror stories we heard about Allied prisoners of war experiences, and realized I never thought much about how we treated POWs...I asked him how he was treated, and it turns out he was treated very well, and the people in that Texas town sent them baked goods via the Red Cross at Christmas, Easter, etc. He then offered me a beer, which I was just sure would be rude to turn down...
 

crimsonaudio

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Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

I had a German soldier tell me this week that the Germans lost as many men in 1944 and 1945 as they had lost from 1939 through 1943. That was pretty startling. Those 18 months were quite bad for the Jerries if true.
I've never broken down the numbers by year, but it's totally believable - not only was 1944 an awful year to be in the German military, but once the Volkssturm was sent to the front lines in early 1945, the military losses sky-rocketed. And the Soviets just pummeled the Germans in the east, whether KIA or as POWs. The Russians were brutal - lots of pent-up aggression after Operation Barbarossa...
 

crimsonaudio

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Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

realized I never thought much about how we treated POWs.
The US did the Right Thing - no slave labor, no cramped quarters, good food, etc., adhering to the Geneva Conventions.

The Geneva Convention's mandate of equal treatment for prisoners also meant they were paid American military wages. They could work on farms or elsewhere only if they were also paid for their labor, and officers could not be compelled to work. As the United States sent millions of soldiers overseas, the resulting shortage of labor eventually meant that German POWs worked toward the Allied war effort by helping out in canneries, mills, farms and other places deemed a minimal security risk.

Prisoners could not be used in work directly related to the military work, or in dangerous conditions. The minimum pay for enlisted soldiers was $0.80 a day, roughly equivalent to the pay of an American private. In 1943 the government estimated that prisoner labor cost 50 to 75% of normal free labor. While language differences and risk of escape or unreliable work were disadvantages, prisoner workers were available immediately on demand and in the exact numbers needed. While prisoners on average worked more slowly and produced less than civilians, their work was also more reliable and of higher quality. Part of their wages helped pay for the POW program, and the workers could use the rest as pocket money for the camp canteen. (They were paid in scrip. All hard currency was confiscated with other personal possessions during initial processing for return after the war as mandated by the Convention, as money could be used during escape attempts). The government received $22 million in 1944 from prisoner wages, and that year it estimated that it had saved $80 million by using prisoners in military installations.
 

Tidewater

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The US did the Right Thing - no slave labor, no cramped quarters, good food, etc., adhering to the Geneva Conventions.
It's funny you should say that. While I agree that POWs who made it to the US were very well treated on the whole. I recall reading about a German POW in the US who worked in the farm fields for a couple of year 1943-1945, at the end of which he was given a new wool suit of clothes to travel home in and a wad of money. He asked what that was for, and he was told it was the wages he had earned on the farm over the last two years. Needless to say, his attitude was one of amazement and gratitude. Those surrendering in Germany at the very end of the war were not so lucky.
My German colleague also told me of something I have never heard of: the Rheinwiesenlager. As the Nazi regime was coming apart, hundreds of thousands of German soldiers came into Western Allied hands. Treatment in the Rheinwiesenlager was not up to the standards of state-side POW camps.
The Allies did a couple of slick things. First, they decided early (March 1943, apparently), that surrendering German soldiers at the very end of the war would not be designated as Prisoners of War, because it would trip the trigger on a bunch of Geneva Convention rights. So they decided to call them, "Disarmed Enemy Forces." (The Germans had done the same thing with Italian soldiers when Italy had surrendered). They did not want to just let them go after disarming them, due to fear (largely unfounded, as it turns out) of Nazi "werewolf" activity (Germans who would start a guerrilla war against the Allies using ambushes, assassinations, etc.). The Disarmed Enemy Forces included civilian women, as you can see by the photos in the links. The camps were run by Wehrmachtordnungstruppe (German Military Police), so they were technically German camps (with American oversight). Also slick, was, by declaring these internees to not be POWs, the Allies could (and did for a while) deny the Red Cross the right to visit, and inspect conditions to make sure they were Geneva Convention compliant. "These aren't POWs, they are German soldiers under German control, therefore, these aren't POW camps, therefore you have no jurisdiction to inspect conditions."
Unfortunately, the camps grew well beyond their holding capacity. Generally no housing (nor even adequate sanitary facilities) was constructed at all, so men slept out on the ground in the cold and damp. Food was often very poor in quality and quantity. This resulted in Germans soldiers getting sick, and in many cases dying from sickness that, if they had been at home, would probably not have killed them. The numbers vary widely. US figures put deaths in the camps at 3,000. German official figures put them at 4,500. Some historians place the number at 6,000 up to one million (the latter figure includes German military deaths while working in France post-war). The camps were generally closed by the end of September 1945, although some were kept open until 1948 for returning German POWs who had been in French hands (laboring in France; more of this anon).
My German colleague's father was held in one of the camps until released. On the way home (to southern Bavaria), the young leutnant was detained by the US military police in Stuttgart because his papers were not in order. Held overnight, he was sent on his way the next day. That night, the French had come into his home village and rounded up all the young men capable of physical labor and sent to France as basically slave labor (the Brits and Americans had told de Gaulle that he could grab 1.75 million Germans as slave laborers as a form of war reparations). My colleague’s father missed the round-up because he was in a US MP station in Stuttgart overnight.
Here is a mostly German web site on the Rheinweisenlager. There are some accounts by US soldiers in English.
Overall, an unfortunate episode in World War II history, one I had never even heard of before.
 
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crimsonaudio

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Overall, an unfortunate episode in World War II history, one I had never even heard of before.
I had heard a bit about it, but never enough to fully understand the entire design of the system, and not knowing the name had never been able to read up on it before. Thanks!

That said, I suspect the German DEF's were still better off than those that ended up as Soviet POW's...
 

Tidewater

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I had heard a bit about it, but never enough to fully understand the entire design of the system, and not knowing the name had never been able to read up on it before. Thanks!

That said, I suspect the German DEF's were still better off than those that ended up as Soviet POW's...
No doubt. The Soviet POWs took years to get home, if they got home at all.
Even the guys in the Rheinwiesenlager were on their way home by September 1945 (unless they had been unlucky enough to end up with a trip to France to work as slave labor for a couple of years after the war).
If I was a German soldier in 1945, I probably would have just taken off the uniform and walked home.

In fact, this is exactly what one of my Confederate ancestors did. He was present for a roll call at Appomattox the evening before the last assault. He was not on the final roster of Confederate soldiers paroled at Appomattox two days later. Since he was from two counties away, I gather he just got tired of waiting for a printed parole and just walked home.
 
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TIDE-HSV

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Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

No doubt. The Soviet POWs took years to get home, if they got home at all.
Even the guys in the Rheinwiesenlager were on their way home by September 1945 (unless they had been unlucky enough to end up with a trip to France to work as slave labor for a couple of years after the war).
If I was a German soldier in 1945, I probably would have just taken off the uniform and walked home.

In fact, this is exactly what one of my Confederate ancestors did. He was present for a roll call at Appomattox the evening before the last assault. He was not on the final roster of Confederate soldiers paroled at Appomattox. Since he was from two counties away, I gather he just got tired of waiting for a printed parole and just walked home.
I'm like Brad. I had heard of them, but I had no idea of the extent of them. What your ancestor did was common. Also, there was a lot of desertion, more among southern soldiers than Union, who were better fed, clothed and paid. The whole book "Cold Mountain," (actually Mt. Pisgah in NC), according to the author is written around one such deserter. (Oddly, there is a "Cold Mountain" very near Mt. Pisgah; I guess he just liked that name better...)
 

Tidewater

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I'm like Brad. I had heard of them, but I had no idea of the extent of them. What your ancestor did was common. Also, there was a lot of desertion, more among southern soldiers than Union, who were better fed, clothed and paid. The whole book "Cold Mountain," (actually Mt. Pisgah in NC), according to the author is written around one such deserter. (Oddly, there is a "Cold Mountain" very near Mt. Pisgah; I guess he just liked that name better...)
As for the Rhine Meadows Camps, I did not know that the Allies had interned civilian women as well as soldiers.
The German link I provided relates an American soldiers story in which he describes getting threatened with prosecution if he fed "the prisoners" and an officer who was shooting at German women and when asked what he was doing, getting the response, "target practice." It is not uncommon for rear-echelon soldiers (who never smelled gunpowder or heard a shot fired in anger) to be the more vindictive than combat arms soldiers.
I do not fault the Allies for having POW camps, I just fault them for not being better prepared for the scale and for not realizing the scale of the problem and moving quickly to get these guys out of there and back to work getting the German economy back on its feet. It's not like there wasn't much work to be done in Germany in 1945.
 

Tidewater

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Here is an aerial photo of one.
The saving grace is that almost all were closed by September, when it started to get cold.
 
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TIDE-HSV

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Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

As for the Rhine Meadows Camps, I did not know that the Allies had interned civilian women as well as soldiers.
The German link I provided relates an American soldiers story in which he describes getting threatened with prosecution if he fed "the prisoners" and an officer who was shooting at German women and when asked what he was doing, getting the response, "target practice." It is not uncommon for rear-echelon soldiers (who never smelled gunpowder or heard a shot fired in anger) to be the more vindictive than combat arms soldiers.
I do not fault the Allies for having POW camps, I just fault them for not being better prepared for the scale and for not realizing the scale of the problem and moving quickly to get these guys out of there and back to work getting the German economy back on its feet. It's not like there wasn't much work to be done in Germany in 1945.
I would argue that Germany would never made it back on its feet, except for the balls of Ludwig Erhard in defying the Allied authorities in 1949...
 

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January 31, 1945: Units of US 18th Corps from US 1st Army enter Germany east of St. VIth as they continue their advance from the Ardennes. Other elements of 1st Army attack around Monschau Forest, Rocherath, and Neuhof and advance well into Buchholz Forest, where the German border is crossed. US 9th Army captures Kesternich and Imgenbroich and makes contact with US 1st Army at Widdau. Patton’s US 3rd Army captures Andler, Schonberg, Amelscheid, Heuem, Alzerath, Laudesfeld, Elcherath, Weppler, Auel, and Heckhalenfeld and US 7th Army opens attacks around Oberhoffen and Drusenheim. To the south, in Alsace, the French 1st Army attacks around Horbourg, Durrentzen, Beltenzenheim, and the outskirts of Colmar.

Forces of the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front reach the Oder River at Zehden and along a wide front to the south of Frankfurt am Oder - these Soviet positions are less than 50 miles from Berlin. Continuing the reduction of German pocket in East Prussia, Soviet forces clear Heilsberg and Friedland. The Red Army drives a spearhead to Jestrow in Pomerania, and in Brandenburg takes Landsberg Meseritz, Schwiebus, and Zuellichau. 2nd Belorussian Front continues battering the German 4th Army. The German garrison of Budapest continues to hold out in the west part of city as 2nd Ukrainian Front continues to press.

With Soviet forces drawing nearer, von Braun and the remaining research and development staff at Peenemunde are ordered to begin evacuating to central Germany.

During the Second World War 2,864 US soldiers were tried by General Courts Martial, 49 being sentenced to death. They were all reprieved, their sentences being commuted to varying terms of imprisonment, but it was obviously felt that an example had to be made. Therefore, on January 31, 1945 Private Eddie Slovik became the first American soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion. The general consensus of opinion was that in a war situation - especially one as savage as the one they were currently engaged in - deserters exposed their comrades to even greater risks, so little sympathy was generally felt towards the condemned man. He was buried in the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery alongside the graves of 95 other disgraced American soldiers who had been hanged for violent crimes in the European Theatre of Operations during the war. But after many appeals, the efforts of an ex-army veteran, Bernard Calka, proved successful, and on July, 11 1987 the body of Edward Slovik was brought home and laid to rest beside that of his loving wife Antoinette, in Woodmere Cemetery, Detroit.

Pictured: Sergeant Adolf Yost, of Stiles, Pennsylvania, searches a German soldier (the 25,000th captured by the 90th Infantry Division in World War II) Binsfield, Luxembourg, January 31, 1945



US soldiers of 3rd Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, move towards Murrigen after continuously fighting for 47 days during the Battle of the Bulge; Belgium, January 31, 1945



M4A3 (76) Sherman tanks of the 29th Infantry Division's 747th Tank Battalion in the German town of Schleiden. Spare tracks and sandbags were installed on the tanks for extra protection, all covered with canvas. January 31, 1945



Pvt. Eddie Slovik

 

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February 1, 1945: On the western front, US 9th Army prepares for the Operation Grenade, a large-scale offensive across the Roer River. US 1st Army attacks around the dams on Roer River and Urft River, Monschau forest, and Buchholz forest while probing West Wall defenses, and capture Remscheid in Germany, east of Düsseldorf. Patton’s US 3rd Army is attacking around Schnee Eifel, Manderfeld, Auw, Urb, Muetzenich, Ihlren, Schweiler, Winterscheid, Gros Langenfeld, Heckuscheid, and Campholz woods. US Seventh Army reaches the Moder River and the Siegfried Line/Westwall.

Further south, French 1st Army continues operations against Colmar Pocket

Over Germany, US 8th Air Force attacks Krefeld, Ludwigshafen, Mannheim, Wesel, and targets of opportunity with 600 bombers, of which two lost. US 15th Air Force attacks Moosbierbaum, Graz, Furstenfeld, and Klagenfurt with more than 300 bombers supported by more than 270 fighters. RAF Bomber Command sends 160 aircraft to attack Monchengladbach during the day, 396 aircraft to attack Ludwigshafen overnight, 340 aircraft to attack Mainz overnight, 282 aircraft to attack Siegen overnight, and 122 aircraft to attack Berlin overnight.

To the best, Red Army continues reduction of enemy within East Prussia. Küstrin, Germany, surrounded by Soviet troops, is declared a Fortress City. Torun falls to attacks from forces for of the 2nd Belorussian Front after a six day siege. Troops of the 1st Belorussian Front, which have reached the Oder opposite Berlin, halt there to regroup while the many pockets of German resistance in their rear are being eliminated and while the units on their flanks broaden the advance by attacking into Pomerania in the north and crossing the Oder and moving toward the Neisse in the south. Soviet 2nd Ukranian Front is heavily engaged in Buda.

All quiet on the Italian front as British and US forces regroup and train awaiting April 1st to renew the attack. US 12th Air Force mostly grounded by poor weather conditions.

Pictured: Gunners of “B” Troop, 5th Battery, 5th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery, firing a 25-pounder (11.4 kg) gun. Malden, Netherlands, February 1, 1945



Gunners of the 2nd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery, pushing a 3.7-inch (9.84 cm) anti-aircraft gun through mud. Dunkerque, France, February 1, 1945



Torun falls to attacks from forces for of the 2nd Belorussian Front, after a six day siege



Men of D Company, 1st Battalion, British London Irish Rifles regiment preparing to fire a PIAT launcher during a training exercise, Forlì, Italy, February 1, 1945

 

Tidewater

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Torun falls to attacks from forces for of the 2nd Belorussian Front, after a six day siege

IS-2 tank. Big sucker. 122mm main gun.
When you consider that the most-produced German armored vehicle of the war was the

Stug-III, you get the idea that the Jerries tangled with the wrong folks: world's biggest army, world's biggest navy, world's biggest economy, all at the same time.
 
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February 2, 1945: Advance units of the US 1st Army emerge from Monschau Forest and head toward Dreiborn and Schleiden, while other elements attack near Remscheid and take Schoneseiffen and Harperscheid. Breaching the West Wall, troops from 82nd Airborne capture Udenbreth and Neuhof. Patton’s US 3rd Army captures Losheim, Krewinkel, Bleialf, Hosdorf, and clears the rest of Campholz woods. US 7th Army attacks around Oberhoffen and Rohrweiler, capturing the town and bridges to southeast. British forces mount attacks over the Maas, north of Breda and near Nijmegen to put pressure on the Germans.

Further south, French 1st Army takes Andolsheim and pushes into Colmar, capturing the city but mopping up pockets of resistance.

Sergeant Emile Deleau, Jr. served in the US Army in Company A, 142d Infantry, 36th Infantry Division. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for action on February 1-2, 1945 at Oberhoffen, France. Here is his Medal of Honor citation:
“He led a squad in the night attack on Oberhoffen, France, where fierce house-to-house fighting took place. After clearing 1 building of opposition, he moved his men toward a second house from which heavy machine-gun fire came. He courageously exposed himself to hostile bullets and, firing his submachinegun as he went, advanced steadily toward the enemy position until close enough to hurl grenades through a window, killing 3 Germans and wrecking their gun. His progress was stopped by heavy rifle and machinegun fire from another house. Sgt. Deleau dashed through the door with his gun blazing. Within, he captured 10 Germans. The squad then took up a position for the night and awaited daylight to resume the attack. At dawn of 2 February Sgt. Deleau pressed forward with his unit, killing 2 snipers as he advanced to a point where machinegun fire from a house barred the way. Despite vicious small-arms fire, Sgt. Deleau ran across an open area to reach the rear of the building, where he destroyed 1 machinegun and killed its 2 operators with a grenade. He worked to the front of the structure and located a second machinegun. Finding it impossible to toss a grenade into the house from his protected position, he fearlessly moved away from the building and was about to hurl his explosive when he was instantly killed by a burst from the gun he sought to knock out. With magnificent courage and daring aggressiveness, Sgt. Deleau cleared 4 well-defended houses of Germans, inflicted severe losses on the enemy and at the sacrifice of his own life aided his battalion to reach its objective with a minimum of casualties.”

Above German territory, RAF Bomber Command sends 507 aircraft to attack Wiesbaden overnight, 323 aircraft to attack Wanne-Eickel overnight, 261 aircraft to attack Karlsruhe overnight, 43 aircraft to attack Magdeburg overnight, and 20 aircraft to attack Mannheim overnight.

The Soviet 26th Army (Gagen), part of 3rd Ukrainian Front, continues attacking northwards, restores contact with 4th Guards Army to the west of Budapest, near Adony. The German 4th SS Panzer Corps is forced to pull back as a result.The 8th Guards Army of Soviet 1st Belorussian Front attack across the frozen Oder River near Frankfurt, Germany and the 1st Guards Tank Army of Soviet 1st Belorussian Front attacking Kustrin. The Soviet Stavka in Moscow, Russia declares the Vistula-Oder Offensive complete.

Isai Babich authorizes the arrest of Soviet Captain Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn for his private criticism of Joseph Stalin.

Pictured: German prisoners (in the foreground) watch passing US infantrymen of the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment. Earlier this place was a Nazi concentration camp for American prisoners of war. Monschau, Germany, February 2, 1945



French tanks and infantry work their way into Colmar under sniper fire on February 2, 1945



Grave marker of Medal of Honor recipient Emile Deleau, Jr



German troops on retreat in the Upper Silesia region, Germany (now Poland), 2 Feb 1945; note SdKfz. 10 half-track vehicles towing 7.5 cm PaK 40 guns

 
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crimsonaudio

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you get the idea that the Jerries tangled with the wrong folks: world's biggest army, world's biggest navy, world's biggest economy, all at the same time.
I know it's easy to say "Hitler was crazy" - I mean, he was. Literally. But he was an incredibly good tactician and war-planner, for much of WW2. I'll never understand invading the USSR in 1941 - had he just waited, he may have been able to compete. The US's presence alone couldn't have stopped Germany, I don't believe - but with the Russians attacking from the east while we pressed from the west, it was a done deal.
 

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I know it's easy to say "Hitler was crazy" - I mean, he was. Literally. But he was an incredibly good tactician and war-planner, for much of WW2. I'll never understand invading the USSR in 1941 - had he just waited, he may have been able to compete. The US's presence alone couldn't have stopped Germany, I don't believe - but with the Russians attacking from the east while we pressed from the west, it was a done deal.
While the Germans in January 1945, were still producing StuG-III's, the Russians were producing IJ-2's.
 

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February 3, 1945: In northwestern Europe, US 1st Army captures Dedenborn, Dreiborn, Herhahn, Einruhr, Berescheid, Ettelscheid, Bronsfeld, and Ramscheid while Patton’s US 3rd Army attacks around Pruem, Roth, Halenfeld, Buchet, and Bleialf. US 7th Army continues fighting around Oberhoffen, Drusenheim woods, and Herrlisheim.

Further south, French and American units complete the capture of Colmar. All formations of French 1st Army are now making good progress in this sector.

Later that evening, near Biesheim, France, Technician Fifth Grade Forrest E. Peden from Battery C, 10th Field Artillery Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division, along with about 45 other troops, was ambushed by German forces. After giving medical aid to two wounded soldiers, Peden ran for help despite intense enemy fire. He found a friendly tank and guided it to the ambush site, but was killed when the tank was hit by hostile fire. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. here is his Medal of Honor citation:
“He was a forward artillery observer when the group of about 45 infantrymen with whom he was advancing was ambushed in the uncertain light of a waning moon. Enemy forces outnumbering the Americans by 4 to 1 poured withering artillery, mortar, machinegun, and small-arms fire into the stricken unit from the flanks, forcing our men to seek the cover of a ditch which they found already occupied by enemy foot troops. As the opposing infantrymen struggled in hand-to-hand combat, Technician Peden courageously went to the assistance of 2 wounded soldiers and rendered first aid under heavy fire. With radio communications inoperative, he realized that the unit would be wiped out unless help could be secured from the rear. On his own initiative, he ran 800 yards to the battalion command post through a hail of bullets which pierced his jacket and there secured 2 light tanks to go to the relief of his hard-pressed comrades. Knowing the terrible risk involved, he climbed upon the hull of the lead tank and guided it into battle. Through a murderous concentration of fire the tank lumbered onward, bullets and shell fragments ricocheting from its steel armor within inches of the completely exposed rider, until it reached the ditch. As it was about to go into action it was turned into a flaming pyre by a direct hit which killed Technician Peden. However, his intrepidity and gallant sacrifice was not in vain. Attracted by the light from the burning tank, reinforcements found the beleaguered Americans and drove off the enemy.”

Allied Operation Thunderclap begins as US aircraft drop nearly 3,000 tons of explosives on the Zentrum (Berlin's city center). Nazi jurist Roland Freisler is killed running for shelter during a session of the 'Peoples Court' and Gestapo headquarters is damaged so badly that the prisoners have to be moved to quarters that still actually boast walls. The Reich Chancellery suffers a number of direct hits. Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry is wrecked. Not one of Goering's Luftwaffe fighters is observed defending the city. Goering is roundly denounced by almost everyone in the bunker, and Speer will later recall that 'For a long time he (Goering) had been made the scapegoat for all the failures of the Luftwaffe. In addition to attacking Berlin with 443 bombers (of which 23 lost), US 8th Air Force attacks Magdeburg with 362 bombers, and various targets of opportunity with 69 bombers. RAF Bomber Command sends 210 aircraft to attack Bottrop overnight, 149 aircraft to attack Dortmund overnight, 42 aircraft to attack Wiesbaden overnight, and 20 aircraft to attack Osnabruck overnight.

On the eastern front, the Soviet attacks continue to confine and divide the German forces in East Prussia. Landsberg and Bertenstein are taken. The Soviet 2nd Baltic Front begins making new attacks against German Army Group Courland while 3rd Belorussian Front attacks along Baltic coast with 2nd Belorussian Front attacking toward Baltic coast. The Red Army’s 1st Belorussian Front continues attacking Kustrin. Thawing ice on the Oder brings Soviet attacks across the river to a halt.

The Soviet State Defense Committee (GKO) ordered all German males between the ages of 17 and 50 in Soviet-occupied territories to be deported to the Soviet Union as forced laborers.

Pictured: Operations of the 3rd Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division, attack on Herrlisheim, North of Strasbourg, Alsace, France; February 3, 1945



Medal of Honor recipient Forrest E. Peden



Reconnaissance photo of 8th Air Force bomb damage to Berlin, Germany; taken February 3, 1945



German Volkssturm troops with a MG 34 machine gun facing near-certain annihilation from Soviet forces, Silesia, Germany (now Poland), February 3, 1945

 

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February 4, 1945: The Allies announce that all German forces have been expelled from Belgium.

As the Allied forces begin the push into Germany, the forces along the western front are organized into three army groups:
- To the north, from the North Sea to a point about 10 miles north of Cologne, is the 21st Army Group commanded by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. Within 21st Army Group the Canadian First Army under Harry Crerar held the left flank of the Allied line, with the British Second Army (Miles Dempsey) in the center and the U.S. 9th Army (William Hood Simpson) to the south.
- Holding the middle of the Allied line from the 9th Army's right flank to a point about 15 mi (24 km) south of Mainz was the 12th U.S. Army Group under the command of Lieutenant General Omar N. Bradley. Bradley had two American armies, the U.S. 1st Army (Courtney Hodges) on the left (north) and the U.S. 3rd Army (George S. Patton) on the right (south).
- To the south, completing the Allied line to the Swiss border was the 6th U.S. Army Group commanded by Lt. Gen. Jacob L. Devers, with the U.S. 7th Army (Alexander Patch) in the north and the French 1st Army (Jean de Lattre de Tassigny) on the Allied right, and southernmost, flank.

Preparations begin for 12th Army Group to participate with 21st Army Group in a large-scale offensive to the east, scheduled to begin on February 10th.

US 1st Army captured the first of seven Ruhr dams in Germany, along with taking Harscheid , Ruhrberg, Wollseifen, Morsbach, and Hollerath. Patton’s US 3rd Army is largely regrouping for new attacks, but continues attack pillboxes and other Nazi fortifications along the West Wall. 3rd Army also captures Olzheim and Ober Mehlen. Further south, the French 1st Army continues reducing Colmar pocket, driving the Nazis back into Germany. The small enemy bridgehead west of the Rhine now only contains four villages - Rumersheim, Bantzenheim, Chalampé, and Ottmarsheim.

Over Germany, RAF Bomber Command sends 238 aircraft to attack Bonn overnight, 123 aircraft to attack Osterfeld overnight, 120 aircraft to attack Gelsenkirchen overnight, 50 aircraft to attack Hannover overnight, and 12 aircraft to attack Dortmund overnight.

As the Vistula–Oder Offensive has come to and end, much of the Red Army is regrouping and probing the German defenses.The 1st Belorussian Front continues attacking Kustrin and along the Oder River.

The Yalta Conference begins. Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin and their senior military and political advisors meet to discuss postwar Europe and the war with Japan. Yalta is a recently liberated Crimean resort.

In Italy, US 5th Army begins limited attacks in the coastal sector. Advance is slowed by opposition and numerous mines, but Allied forces cross the Cinquale Canal and turn inland.

Pictured: American GIs slog it out over a snow-choked road in near-white-out conditions near Brachelen, Germany, February 4, 1945



View of Mohrenstrasse, Berlin, Germany on February 4, 1945 after the previous night’s Allied bombing



A German DFS-230 glider crashed into a building while trying to land in Budapest on February 4, 1945. Gliders were used to give ammunition to the soldiers fighting there. The pilot died in the crash.



Yalta Conference (February 4-11 1945) with Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin (from left to right).

 

Tidewater

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Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

A German DFS-230 glider crashed into a building while trying to land in Budapest on February 4, 1945. Gliders were used to give ammunition to the soldiers fighting there. The pilot died in the crash.

Courageous, but futile. German gliders were a good bit smaller than American and Brit ones. A small glider's worth of ammo would have made no difference in stemming the Soviet tidal wave.
It would have been as effectual going to the edge of a forest fire and trying to blow it out.
 
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