Battle of France and Low Countries 80 years ago today

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Nearly three hundred Lancasters, Halifaxes and Mosquitos attack the port of Boulogne. Räumboote escort ships Von der Gröben, Brommy, Von der Lippe, six Räumboote, three minesweepers, two Vorpostenboote, two Artilleriefährprahm, three tugs, and five auxiliaries are sunk with several other vessels damaged.

 

• King George VI of Great Britain visits troops in Normandy.

 

• Four hundred British bombers begin a campaign against German V-1 flying bomb launching sites with successful attacks on four sites in the Pas-de-Calais, losing no aircraft. Another 321 bombers continue the bombing campaign against the German oil industry, attacking the synthetic oil plant at Oberhausen, Germany, but scatter their bombs and suffer the loss of 21 bombers shot down by German night fighters and 10 by antiaircraft guns.

 

• The Germans launch several hundred V-1 flying bombs towards London in what they call the “Day of Vengeance”. 73 people are killed. The Germans will average launching 15 to 18 per day throughout the summer.

 

- A common misconception is that the V-1 only dives when out of fuel. When the crude computer aboard tells the V-1 it is over the target it locks ailerons down and dives. This often results in G forces depriving the pulse-jet of fuel leading observers to believe it had run out.

 

• To refine targeting for the V-1s, several German agents in the UK are requested to provide information on the sites and times of V-1 impacts. Fortunately, most of these agents have been turned and the British have them send reports indicating that the V-1s are on average overshooting their targets. In fact, most of the V-1s are falling short."

 

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• French Résistants destroy a train tunnel at Lus-la-Croix-Haute, collapsing it just as a German supply train is in it.

 

• Elements of the American 9th Infantry and 82nd Airborne Divisions reach the west coast of the Cotentin peninsula, sealing off heavily fortified Cherbourg to the north.

 

British armor passing downed Spitfire in Normandy 17 June 44"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• V-1 cruise missiles hit Clapham, killing 11, and Peckham, killing 23 women working in a factory. New Zealand No 486 Squadron alone downs nine of the Fieseler Fi-103s over Hastings with their Hawker Tempests.

 

• Thousands of Allied aircraft attack the defenses of Cherbourg after Generalleutnant Karl-Wilhelm von Schlieben refuses a demand to surrender. US VII Corps begins its assault in the afternoon. Von Schlieben has 40,000 men including his own 709. bodenständige Infanterie-Division, but nearly half are naval personnel or labor units.

 

• With airstrips in operation in Normandy, troop carrier aircraft begin flying supplies in, and evacuating wounded by air.

 

• Saboteurs of the left-wing Danish resistance group BOPA burn the Riffelsyndikatet rifle manufacturing plant in Copenhagen.

 

• HMS Universal torpedoes and sinks the German freighters President Dal Piaz and Canosa off southern France.

 

• An American raid on Toulon sinks four ex-French submarines that had been scuttled in 1942 following Torch and raised, but declared unusable by the Kriegsmarine due to damage and shortage of parts."

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Troop carrier squadron ground crews have been repairing gliders in Normandy, and setting up nets for the C-47s to snag in order to bring the gliders back to England.

 

C-47 recovers a CG-4A glider from Normandy, 23 June, 1944

 

• AA cruiser HMS Scylla runs over a German acoustic mine and sustains massive shock damage to her midships section and total loss of power. She is towed to Portsmouth but never repaired.

 

• Norwegian escort destroyer Glaisdale is badly damaged by a mine off Normandy. She is towed to Hartlepool and taken out of service for the rest of the war. She will be repaired in 1946 and serve in the Norwegian Navy as HNoMS Narvik until 1961.

 

• British I Corps takes Ste Honorine, NE of Caen and E of the Orne.

 

• US VII Corps penetrates outer defenses of Cherbourg.

 

American troops on the outskirts of Cherbourg

 

• A Coastal Command Mosquito attacks U-155 as it is entering Lorient, killing two crewmen and wounding seven.

 

• Prime Minister Churchill, with misgivings, gives in to pressure from the Americans and sanctions Operation Anvil (the proposed Franco-American invasion of the south of France). Churchill calls this a "Bleak and sterile exercise".

 

• Reichsminister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbelsgoes on the radio to say that the continuous V-1 bombs landing on London is like a nagging toothache to the British. "It will continue day and night and drive them mad."

 

• Over France, with two engines out and the fuselage on fire, the crew of a No 419 Squadron Lancaster is ordered to bail out. Canadian Pilot Officer Andrew Mynarski sees that the rear gunner is trapped and tries repeatedly to free him even though his own clothing and parachute are on fire. Hopelessly stuck, the rear gunner signals to Mynarski that he should save himself. Mynarski stands to attention and salutes his comrade before jumping out.

 

- He is found by French civilians but dies of his terrible injuries. The gunner is thrown clear when the Lancaster crashes and survives, as did the other crew members who had jumped. When they return and tell their story after the war, Mynarski will be posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.

 

• Two hundred American A-20s and B-26s and more than six hundred fighters and fighter-bombers plus a similar number of Commonwealth aircraft attack V-weapon sites in France and bomb and strafe rail and road traffic and communications centers.

P-47 piloted by Capt Raymond M Walsh of the 406th Fighter Group is silhouetted against the exploding ammunition truck he just strafed in France 23 June 1944"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• The Germans release newsreels around “the end of June” showing the battle in Normandy to be going well for them. This compilation will be put together by the OSS:

 

• Paul Touvier, a devout Catholic and monarchist, heads the Milice in Lyons, working with Klaus Barbie. Today, he selects and executes seven Jewish leaders in reprisal for the assassination of Philippe Henriot by the Résistance two days earlier.

 

- Touvier had deserted from the French Army in 1940 and joined the Militia of the French State in 1943. After the liberation he will seek shelter in secret with the conservative Catholic Society of St Pius X in Nice, avoiding a life sentence in French prison.

 

- He will be arrested in 1989, and when confronted, the SSPX will say they were only granting shelter to a homeless man. Touvier will perish of colon cancer in 1996 at age 88, after which the Society of St Pius X will hold a tridentine requiem mass for his soul.

 

• Aware through ULTRA and by reconnaissance that a major German counterattack will take place in his sector, Lieutenant-General Richard O’Connor (who had been captured in North Africa and later released by the Italians) commands his VIII Corps to pull back from advanced positions to better prepared ones. General der Waffen-SS Willi Bittrich coordinates an assault with elements of the 9., 10., and 12. SS Panzer Divisions, advancing behind an intense artillery barrage on the vacated British positions.

 

- The Germans reach the positions and stop in confusion with no enemy to engage. At that point they are hit by a tremendous artillery barrage including naval gunfire support that inflicts heavy losses. One 16” shell from HMS Rodney lands right in the middle of the headquarters of I SS Panzerkorps but is a dud.

 

- At this point, two-hundred and sixty-six Lancasters conduct a daylight carpet bombing of the SS positions at 4,000 feet, immediately after which the 11th Armoured Division conducts a limited counterattack, forcing the Germans back towards Baron-sur-Odon.

 

- Bittrich calls off further attacks on VIII Corps. Generaloberst der Waffen-SS Paul Hausser, the new commander of 7. Armee, informs Rommel that the offensive has been temporarily suspended due to "tenacious enemy resistance" and intensive Allied artillery and naval gunfire.

 

Lancasters Carpet bombing German positions 30 June 44

 

Shermans of the 24th Lancers passing a knocked-out Panther near Rauray 30 June 44."

 

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Charles de Gaulle visits 83 year old John J. “Blackjack” Pershing at Walter Reed Army Medical Center where the retired General of the Armies has been living. Suffering from dementia, Pershing notices de Gaulle’s French uniform, brightens, and asks, “Ah! How is my old friend, Marshal Pétain?”

 

- De Gaulle is silent for a moment, then tactfully replies, “The last time I saw him he was doing well.”

 

• French statesman Georges Mandel is murdered at Fontainebleau by the Milice as a reprisal for the assassination of Vichy Minister of Information Philippe Henriot last week.

 

- Mandel had helped defend Alfred Dreyfus in the 1890s, was known as Clemenceau’s right hand man during the First World War, and served as Minister of the Interior afterwards. He played a role similar to that of Churchill in the 1930s, warning against the rise of Adolf Hitler. In 1939 he urged a full offensive into Germany while Poland was being conquered. In 1940, he unsuccessfully argued for the French government to continue the fight from North Africa, and was offered a place on the same plane that evacuated Charles De Gaulle. He declined to leave, saying, "You fear for me because I am a Jew. Well, it is just because I am a Jew that I will not go tomorrow; it would look as though I was afraid, as if I was running away."

 

- Instead, he urged the government in vain to continue the fight from French North Africa. He was arrested in Morocco in 1941.

 

• U-678 is sunk in the English Channel south-west of Brighton by the Canadian destroyers Ottawa and Kootenay and the British corvette Statice.

 

• Heavy airstrikes are conducted against Caen in preparation for the latest offensive there, while the American VIII Corps is temporarily stalled by German counterattacks in the hedgerows.

 

• British LST-216, which has been converted to a fighter direction ship, is sunk by German aircraft off Le Havre.

 

HMS LST-216

 

No 198 Squadron Typhoons take off to attack German vehicles on the Caen-Falaise road"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• London is fast emptying under the flying-bomb attack. More than 500,000 mothers and children have been evacuated, and more are leaving daily. Another half a million people, including the elderly and the homeless, are leaving as "aided" evacuees, with rail warrants and billeting allowances. Defences against the V-1s have improved. Fast-flying fighters are patrolling the Channel 20 miles out to sea, shooting down V-1s or tipping them over with their wingtips. Over 1,500 guns are massed along the coast, and on the Downs 1,750 balloons form a barrage. More than half of the incoming V-1s are being destroyed.

 

• British Second Army launches Operation Goodwood, the final assault on Caen:

 

 

- A secondary purpose of Goodwood is to draw off German armor from the US First Army’s breakout attack from St Lô. Canadian II Corps crosses the Orne river to open exits from Caen.

 

• US XIX Corps captures St Lô, successfully concluding the Battle of the Hedgerows.

 

• U-672 is sunk in the English Channel north of Guernsey by frigate HMS Balfour.

 

• Luftwaffe Hauptmann Werner Thierfelder, commander of the special test unit tasked with evolving tactics for the new Me-262 jet-powered fighter is killed when his plane crashes, most likely due to mechanical failure."

 

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• U-309 fires three pattern-running torpedoes into convoy FTM-47 in the English Channel, damaging the British Liberty ship Samneva which will be beached and declared a total loss. 

 

• Hunt class escort destroyer HMS Goathland is mined off Normandy. She will be towed in but declared a total loss.

 

• US Ninth Air Force bombers inflict friendly fire casualties on American units north of St Lô. A lead B-26 bombardier experiences "difficulty with the bomb release mechanism" and part of his load drops, causing eleven other bombardiers to drop, thinking they are over the target. Another group of five B-26s drop seven miles north of their target, amid the 30th Infantry Division, killing 25 Americans and wounding 131.

 

• Lieutenant General Omar Bradley delays Operation Cobra, the breakout from St Lô, citing adverse weather conditions.

 

King Tigers of Schwere Panzerabteilung 503 under cover in Normandy - July 1944

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Canadian II Corps attacks with two divisions from Caen towards Falaise against stubborn opposition in order to divert German attention from Operation Cobra.

 

Wrecks of a panzer and a Sherman along the Caen-Falaise road.

 

• US First Army launches breakout assault (COBRA) in VII Corps zone as weather conditions improve. Six hundred Allied fighter bombers attack German artillery and flak positions followed by eighteen hundred medium and heavy bombers of the Eighth and Ninth Air Forces that carpet bomb a 6,000 yard by 2,200 yard section of the front. Combined with artillery fire that section of ground is thoroughly churned and cratered, completely stunning the German defenders.

 

- Omar Bradley had requested that the bombers fly along the German lines rather than perpendicular, citing yesterday's friendly fire deaths and the effectiveness of such bombing by the RAF at Caen. The USAAF declines and the bombers fly in perpendicularly to the lines in order to minimize time exposed to German anti-aircraft fire.

 

- Seventy-seven of the bombers drop short onto American lines, killing 111 men and wounding 460. One of those killed is the US Army Ground Forces commander, Lieutenant General Lesley McNair, who was observing from the front line. McNair is the highest ranking American officer killed in the ETO. His son, Chief of Staff of the 77th Infantry Division, will be killed on Guam in two weeks.

 

- US VII Corps attacks across the Périers-St Lô road on narrow front to force passage through the Marigny-St Gilles region. Although the elements of Panzer Lehr Division in the bombed region are effectively destroyed, those to the west and the 5. Fallschirmjäger Division to the east are nearly untouched. The Americans had been told to expect minimal resistance but instead the Germans have moved into the sector and are using the cratered terrain to good effect. They are unable to form a solid line however and the Americans are able to outflank successive strong points. VII Corps gains only 2,200 yards during the day, while VIII Corps waits to exploit the breakthrough.

 

- Fortunately for the Americans, Günther von Kluge is convinced by the Canadian attack that the real breakout offensive will be from Caen.

 

American infantry watching the approaching bombers 25 July 44

 

Digging out from friendly bombing

 

Clearing bomb damage"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• On the northern flank of Heersgruppe Mitte, reconnaissance planes report "endless" motorized columns moving west out of Panevėžys behind the 3. Panzer Armee. At the same time, General der Infanterie Walter Weiss of the German 2. Armee declares that he can no longer hold Brest-Litovsk and requests permission to withdraw before he is surrounded.

 

- New OKH Chief Heinz Guderian refuses to ask Hitler for permission to withdraw until Weiss provides additional information and justification. By the time he asks tomorrow and is quickly given permission, the city is encircled.

 

• In Poland, the Fourth Tank Army crosses the San River between Jarosław and Przemyśl.

 

• Troops of Konev’s First Ukrainain Front take Lvov, and the Germans have now been completely forced out from Western Ukraine. Seeing this success, Stavka issues new orders for Konev to attack across the Vistula and to capture the city of Sandomierz in Nazi-occupied southern Poland.

 

Soviet troops entering Lvov

 

Soviet armor in Lvov

 

Destroyed Hummel of Panzer Artillerie Regiment 80 outside Lvov July 1944"

 

[cardboard_killer]

Oops, the above post should have been in the spring thread.

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• The US First Army achives its breakthrough and Omar Bradley orders the exploitation phase to begin. US VIII Corps commits 6th and 4th Armored Divisions through the infantry to spearhead pursuit, taking the Cobra objective of Coutances. This traps many Germans against the west coast of the Cotentin peninsula. XIX Corps thrusts south through Villebaudon to the vicinity of Moyen. The village of Marigny is the site of violent engagements but 2. SS Division "Das Reich" is dislodged relatively quickly, with the SS troopers falling back on the support of the 353. Infanterie division.

 

- One unit pressed into direct combat in Marigny is the 296th Engineer Battalion, in which serves 20 year old Tadeusz Konopka, who will later go by the stage name of Ted Knight.

 

- Behind the Bradley's First Army, Patton's newly arrived Third Army awaits to further exploit the breakthrough in the German defenses."

 

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• British ASW trawler Lord Wakefield is sunk by German aircraft off Omaha Beach.

 

• Coastal Command aircraft sink vorpostenboot V-621 in the Bay of Biscay.

 

• The former Belgian channel ferry Prince Leopold, converted to a British Landing Ship Infantry, is sunk by a homing torpedo from U-627 off Normandy.

 

• The breakout from St Lô is complete. The US 4th and 6th Armored Divisions followed by motorized infantry continue the pursuit of the Germans, crossing the Sienne Rivernear Pont de la Roche. German tank and vehicular columns withdrawing from Roney to St Denis-le-Gast suffer extremely heavy losses under air and artillery. 29th Infantry Division drives to positions east of Percy. 30th Infantry Division meets strong opposition as it continues south along the west bank of the Vire toward Tessy-sur-Vire. V Corps pushes quickly toward Torigny-sur-Vire.

 

Operation Cobra

 

Shermans of the 4th Armored Division in Coutances 30 July 1944"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Three more armored divisions land in Normandy: the 1st Polish, 2nd French, and 4th Canadian.

 

French armor of 2e Division Blindée rolling ashore in Normandy. Note the SOMUA plate welded to Shermans, with crews having removed them from their Somua S35s in North Africa.

 

• The US 12th Army Group becomes operational under Lieutenant General Omar Bradley. US First Army, now commanded by Lieutenant General Courtney Hodges, is taken from General Montgomery’s 21st Army Group. Hodges is one of the few US Army officers to start as a private and make general.

 

• US Third Army becomes operational under Lieutenant General Patton, under Bradley’s 12th AG. Bradley orders Patton to swing south and west out of the Cotentin to secure the Brittany Peninsula and its valuable ports.

 

• The British advance southwards is delayed over confusion over who gets to use what roads, and there is a traffic jam between US V Corps and British VIII Corps. XXX Corps will fail to advance on schedule, leaving VIII Corps flank uncovered. Montgomery will sack XXX Corps commander, Gerard Bucknall, and 7th Armoured Division commander, George Erskine, tomorrow."

 

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• British hospital ship Amsterdam is mined and sunk off Juno Beach with 106 killed.

 

• The US 6th Armored Division is advancing rapidly on Brest.

 

• With Caen liberated, this footage is taken around this time:

 

 

• The Germans launch Operation Lüttich as the final attempt to halt the Allied breakout. Von Kluge sends the 2. Panzer Division, 116. Panzer Division, the 2. SS Panzer Division and part of the 1. SS Panzer Division. The tanks are supported by four Infanterie Divisions and five Kampfgruppen, formed from the remnants of the Panzer Lehr Division.

 

- Targeting US VII Corps, the Germans achieve initial surprise despite ULTRA warnings. SS Panzer troops attack the positions of the American 30th Infantry Division east of Mortain but are unable to breach the lines.

 

- The 2. Panzer Division attacks toward Avranches. It manages to penetrate several miles into the American lines, before being stopped by the 35th Infantry Division and a combat command of the 3rd Armored Division two miles short of Avranches.

 

- When daylight burns off the morning mist, Allied artillery begins pounding the German attackers and despite assurances of Luftwaffe support, the US IX Tactical Air Force and RAF 2nd Tactical Air Force achieve air supremacy, conducting repeated strikes which American artillerymen admit are more effective than their defensive fire.

 

- Although fighting will continue for six days, the American ground forces will regain the initiative within a day of the opening of the German attack.

 

Hawker Typhoon

 

Mechanized column of 2 SS Panzer Division devastated by British aircraft near Mortain 07 Aug 1944"

 

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Großadmiral Dönitz orders all Type VII U-boats to evacuate the French Atlantic ports for Norway, carrying as much fuel and advanced torpedoes and other equipment as possible. They are also to evacuate key personnel. For now, type IX submarines will remain, conducting distant patrols and going to the Indo-Pacific. Two damaged Type VIIs will be scuttled and of the thirty that depart for Norway, thirteen will be sunk.

 

• British and Canadian Beafighters sink German minesweepers M-366, M-367, M-428, and M-438 in the Bay of Biscay off Île Noirmoutier.

 

• An ultimatum calling for surrender of Brest is ignored, and General Patton’s forces are not strong enough to assault. Secondary forces will be left to besiege the port.

 

• The German offensive at Mortain, France, Operation Lüttich, is called off after General Bradley sends two armored combat commands against the German left flank. One of these, from the US 2nd Armored, attacks the rear of the SS Panzer formations, unhinging the flank. Although fighting will continue around Mortain for several more days, there is no further prospect of a German success.

 

• The 51st (Highland) Infantry Division overruns Garcelles-Secqueville. The US 79th Infantry Division enters Le Mans, and the French 2nd Armored Division takes Sées-Carrouges.

 

- One platoon commander in 2e Division Blindée is Philippe de Gaulle, the 23 year old son of Charles de Gaulle. A naval officer, he is in the Régiment Blindé de Fusiliers-Marins, a Marine armoured regiment equipped with M10 tank destroyers.

 

• General Montgomery launches Operation Totalise with the First Canadian Army southwards from Caen. The goal is to cut off the retreat of German forces fighting the Americans further west.

 

- Prior to the assault, British and American heavy bombers carpet bomb the front. American aircraft accidentally bomb the headquarters of the Canadian 3rd Infantry Division, badly wounding its commander.

 

- The Canadians attack in six mechanized columns including flail tanks and the first combat use of the Kangaroo armoured personnel carrier.

 

Kangaroo APCs in Holland.  The first Kangaroos to see service are converted from M7 self propelled guns, and nicknamed "defrocked priests".  Subsequent ones will use chassis from Sherman, Ram, and Churchill tanks.

 

- The attack succeeds in punching significant holes in the German lines, which are manned by the 85., 89., and 272. Infanterie Divisions backed by the 12. SS Panzer Division. Canadian 2nd Infantry Division seizes Fontenay-le-Marmion and Requancourt and by noon, Allied forces have captured the entire Verrières Ridge.

 

- Canadian II Corps commander Guy Simonds orders a temporary halt in order to allow towed artillery and the exploitation forces (4th Canadian and 1st Polish Armoured Divisions) to move into position for the second phase of the operation. This gives II Corps a needed break just prior to the initial German counterattack.

 

- Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Kurt Meyer orders an attack to retake the tactically important high ground near the town of Saint-Aignan-de-Cramesnil. As a group of Tiger tanks from Schwere SS-Panzerabteilung 101, accompanied by additional tanks and mechanized infantry, are crossing open terrain towards the high ground, they are ambushed by tanks of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment, 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade. The Germans retreat in disarray and one of the tanks destroyed is that of “ace” SS-Hauptsturmführer Michael Wittman, which explodes in a fireball, blowing off the turret.

 

• U-667 attacks channel convoy EBC-66 off the Cornish coast, sinking American Liberty ship Ezra Weston. While Canadian corvette Regina is rescuing survivors, she is also torpedoed and sunk."

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• U-270 is departing Lorient for Norway with equipment and passengers aboard when she is crippled by depth charges from an Australian Sunderland, and forced to scuttle. There are no casualties.

 

• The breakout portion of the battle for Normandy is considered to be completed. Montgomery and Bradley are now concentrating on destroying the German 7. Armee in the Falaise pocket.

 

• The initial forces of Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France, begin departing Mediterranean ports. They consist of three American infantry divisions of VI Corps and the French 1^re Division Blindée plus several specialized forces for seizing outlying islands.

 

- Airborne landings will be made by an American reinforced Parachute Infantry Regimental Combat Team and a British Airborne Brigade. The second wave of the invasion will consist of the French 2ème Corps d’Armee. Naval support includes French battleship Lorraine, British battleship Ramillies, American battleships Nevada, Texas, and Arkansas, twenty Allied cruisers, and naval aircraft from seven British and two American escort carriers.

 

- The Germans are defending with the 19. Armee, composed of eleven divisions, only one of which, the 11. Panzer, is experienced and well equipped.

 

Loaded amphibs for Dragoon

 

Dragoon Invasion Forces in the Bay of Naples

 

Invasion forces steaming towards southern France seen from escort carrier USS Tulagi"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• U-667 attacks the convoy EBC-72 off the northern Cornish coast, damaging USS LST-921 and sinking HMS LCI(L)-99. The LST, missing her stern, will later be used by the US Army as a floating machine shop at Antwerp.

 

• Canadian and Polish troops launch Operation Tractable towards Falaise, France, preceded by 800 bombers. 150 Polish soldiers are killed as the second of the three waves of RAF Lancaster bombers release their bombs too early. The initial assault by the Royal Canadian Armoured Brigade suffers heavy losses from 8.8cm anti-tank guns including the loss of its commander, Brigadier Eric Leslie Booth.

 

 

Canadian units moving towards Falaise 14 August, 1944.

 

• U-618 is sunk in the Bay of Biscay west of St. Nazaire by British frigates Duckworth and Essington and a British Liberator aircraft. There are no survivors.

 

• The decommissioned hulk of French armored cruiser Gueydon (launched 1899) is sunk at Brest by RAF aircraft to prevent her use as a blockship.

 

• After rendezvousing off Corsica, Dragoon convoys head for the target area of Côte d'Azur.

 

British escort carriers Emperor, Khedive, and either Attacker or Searcher en route southern France, taken from HMS Pursuer.  More than three thousand Allied aircraft are currently in Sardinia and Corsica to support the operation, straining logistics for those islands.

 

- The first landings of Operation Dragoon are by the Canadian-American 1st Special Service Force (Devil’s Brigade) at Port Cros in the Hyères Islands just off the French mainland.  The objective is to neutralize identified shore batteries that cover the planned landing grounds, jeopardising the invasion shipping.  Resistance is minimal and it is found that the guns are dummies mocked up to fool reconnaissance."

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• One British and one American minesweeper, and two American PT boats are mined and sunk off southern France.

 

• In an experiment off southern France, Army L-4 Piper Cubs are launched from LSTs and spot gunfire for light cruiser USS Marblehead.

 

• With the American infantry divisions plus two combat commands of French 1re Division Blindée advancing inland, the first elements of 2ème Corps d’Armee begin landing.

 

This M10 took part in the Dragoon landings and the drive across France as part of the 8e Régiment de Chasseurs d’Afrique.

 

• With the 11. Panzer Division out of position, the German initial counterattack in southern France is committed with elements of two infantry divisions. 189. Infanterie division troops under Generalmajor Richard von Schwerin retake the town of Les Arcs, but are counterattacked by mobile forces of the US 45th Infantry Division. The 148. Infanterie Division meets the US 3rd Infantry Division at Saint-Raphaël and heavy fighting rages in both places throughout the day.

 

• Further inland, the US 550th Glider Infantry Battalion takes Le Muy while the 5th (Scottish) Parachute Battalion ambushes a German vehicular convoy heading for Le Muy.

 

• In Paris, thirty-five young FFI members are betrayed by an agent of the Gestapo who leads them into a trap instead of a meeting to discuss the liberation of the city. They are machine-gunned and then finished off with hand grenades.

 

• Chief of State Marshal Henri Pétain and his staff are interned by order of the Führer. The Vichy government under Premier Pierre Laval resigns. Right-wing aristocrat Fernand de Brinon will become Prime Minister but Vichy is effectively an unrecognized government in exile. After the war de Brinon, who had provided Germany with information on French deliberations during the Munich crisis, will be executed for treason, as will Laval.

 

• Members of the Milice and the right-wing Parti Populaire Français make preparations to flee Paris on a convoy of Wehrmacht trucks, temporary passports are issued for more than ten thousand wanting to go to Germany.

 

• Orléans is liberated by US XII Corps.

 

• Canadian II Corps has virtually surrounded Falaise. British I Corps begins a general advance eastward toward the Seine in coastal sector, during which Lieutenant Tasker Watkins of the Welsh Regiment earns a Victoria Cross. He will later become a Lord Justice of Appeal and deputy Lord Chief Justice, as well as President of the Welsh Rugby Union."

[Heliopause]

A number of Dutchmen from Sqn 1840 Fleet Air Arm (FAA) flew missions for operation Dragoon:
"On August 5th a telegramm arrived at the squadron asking for six Hellcat pilots for "duties overseas". Six Dutchmen voluntered. "We flew in a Dakota to Malta were we quickly boarded HMS Emperor, joining Sqn 800 FAA. On the 17th August my plane was hit whilst attacking an enemy column. I could hardly turn and my machine ended up over Marseille whilst trying to get the direction towards the carrier. At 700 meters altitude I got hit in the tail. My plane went straight into the sea. I don't remember anything untill the moment I regaint consiousness, it turned out I was floating unharmed in my Mae west. I must have been thrown out of the plane on time. After six hours I was picked up by a British destroyer and taken back to my ship".

 

Photo of Sqn 1840 FAA with Poublon seated on left. Earlier in the year he had participated in an attack on the Tirpitz in the Altenfjord, Norway.

 

Poublons Hellcat seen here taken out of the water in the 1980's at the Spanish coast

Edited August 19, 2024 by Heliopause

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• U-107 is sunk with all hands in the Bay of Biscay by a British Sunderland flying boat. The Type IXB conducted the most successful U-boat patrol of the war in 1941, sinking fourteen ships for 87,000 tons.

 

• U-129 is scuttled at Lorient.

 

• U-621 is sunk with all hands in the Bay of Biscay by Canadian destroyers Ottawa, Kootenay, and Chaudiere.

 

• Following the assassination of a collaborationist Burgomeister by the Belgian resistance, paramilitary Catholic “Rexists” retaliate by killing five civilians in Brussels, and twenty more in Courcelles. 97 of the suspected perpetrators will be tried after the war, with 27 executed in 1947. 

 

• American units are preparing to attack Chartres when a French Résistance uprising, including a Renault R35 tank, prompts the Germans to withdraw from the city. The origin of the tank is uncertain, with stories being that it was hidden in 1940 and alternately, used by the Germans recently and been captured.

 

• Canadian, Polish, and American forces have closed the opening to the “Falaise pocket” to approximately six miles by seven miles, into which are crammed tens of thousands of German troops trying to retreat. They are short of fuel and hundreds of vehicles have to be destroyed while their crews attempt to make off on foot. All the time they are being harassed by Allied fighter bombers and artillery fire. 

 

- 18,000 men of German 7. Armee are cut off from crossing the Orne River and will surrender.

 

• German troops withdraw from the Spanish border. Spanish frontier troops are on alert as FFI troops filter in and secure it from the French side. The Franco régime still recognizes the fascist French State and not the Free French Provisional Government of the French Républic.

 

• US VI Corps with the French 1st Armored Division is now advancing toward Aix-en-Provence while French II Corps is driving on Toulon and then Marseilles.

 

• The Germans tow the scuttled and partially repaired French heavy cruiser Foch and sink her as a blockship in Toulon harbor.

 

• American bombers sink the raised but abandoned French battleship Strasbourg at Toulon.

Battleship Strasbourg after the air attack with capsized light cruiser La Galissonnière alongside

 

3

American sailor examining German Panzer-II turret emplaced as a pillbox on one of the Dragoon beaches

 

German POWs southern France 18 August 1944"

 

 

[cardboard_killer]

Looks like the PzII is missing the MG? Or were they moved into the turret in later models? Doesn't seem like there would be enough room to do that.

[Heliopause]

Perhaps the German soldiers took the MG out when they started their retreat?

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "

• U-413 is sunk in the English Channel by British escort destroyer Wensleydale and British destroyers Forester and Vidette. There is one survivor.

 

• U-764 attacks convoy ETC-72 in the English Channel, sinking the British 638 ton coaster Coral with a homing torpedo. Four crew members, one gunner and one army storekeeper are lost.

 

• U-984 is sunk with all hands in the Bay of Biscay by Canadian destroyers Ottawa, Kootenay, and Chaudiere.

 

• French Résistance fighters liberate Toulouse.

 

• In Paris, insurgents erect barricades throughout the city and partisan snipers duel with German snipers.

 

• The Germans are desperate to break out of the Falaise pocket. Two battlegroups (each an armoured regiment, an infantry battalion, and an anti-tank company) of the Polish 1st Armoured Division are the furthest extended to block the Germans, and they come under attack by elements of four Panzer Divisions, one infantry, and one parachute division.

 

German attacks to break out of the Falaise Pocket

 

- Fighting rages throughout the day and night with both sides taking heavy losses and the Poles completely exhausting their ammunition. In several areas, the Poles have destroyed so many German vehicles that the roads are hopelessly blocked and the Germans have to abandon vehicles and equipment to proceed on foot. Attempts to airdrop supplies to the Poles is thwarted by bad weather."

 

 

[Heliopause]

21st Aug
Hellcats from escort carrier HMS Emperor are out to seek enemy armored vehicles as part of Operation "Dragoon". After finding these an attack is carried out. The Hellcat flown by Dutch Pilot Greve gets hit in the engine by enemy fire. To low to bail out he then spots the river Rhone and throttles back and dives for the river. Ditching succesfully he is seen to climb out and jump into the water. The other pilots notice an enemy patrol boat coming in the direction of the ditched Hellcat and quickly carry out a strafing attack. Enemy fire however erupts from the land with the remaining Hellcats then moving out of the area. Using the moment Greve makes for a floating tree trunk and by using it as cover he is able to pass the enemy ship. With the help of the résistance he is able to reach US forces and taken to Corsica. Later a British destroyer will take him to Alexandria, Egypt were he is able to rejoin the squadron (Sqn 800 FAA) on HMS Emperor.

 

Greve seen here in front of an Hellcat in 1945. He was drafted for KNIL at Bandoeng, Java on December 17th 1941. Posted to the flight school in February 1942 and evacuated to Australia he later received flight training at the Royal Netherlands Military Flying School at Jackson, Mississippi.

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• German destroyer Z-23 is sunk by RAF Lancasters at La Pallice.

 

• British corvette Orchis is mined off Juno Beach and declared a total loss.

 

• Canadian corvette Alberni is torpedoed and sunk by U-480 off the Normandy beaches. This is the first sinking by a submarine coated in rubber anechoic tiles that absorb ASDIC pulses.

 

• The Canadian 4th Armoured Brigade and part of the French 2e Division Blindée advance towards the beleaguered Polish battlegroups and close the Falaise Gap once again. Some 40,000 Germans of the 5. Panzer Armee and 7. Armee have escaped, but without most of their equipment. 10,000 Germans are killed and 60,000 surrendered.

 

- The Falaise Pocket is full of destroyed German equipment blocking the roads, and thousands of corpses of soldiers and civilians cannot be cleared before decomposition in the August heat prompts General Eisenhower to declare the area an “Unhealthy Zone” and bypass it in order to prevent infection from the rancid conditions from affecting the Allied Armies. It won’t be cleaned up until November.

 

- This ends the Battle of Normandy. More than forty German divisions have been destroyed. No exact figures are available but historians estimate that the battle cost the German forces c. 450,000 men, 300,000 of whom have been captured. The Allies achieve victory at a cost of 209,672 casualties among the ground and naval forces, and 16,714 airmen killed or captured.

 

 

Cromwells of the Polish 1st Armoured Division during the Falaise fighting

 

German column destroyed by Polish armoured troops near Mont Ormel

 

German column near Chambois wrecked by RAF Typhoons"

[Heliopause]

"An American Grumman Hellcat fighter flying off the deck of HMS Emperor after paying her a visit. One of the carrier's own Grumman Hellcats of 800 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm is seen parked forward during the invasion of southern France".

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Abdülmecid II, the last ecumenically recognized Islamic Caliph, and head of the deposed Ottoman Imperial House, dies in exile in Paris at the age of 76. 

 

• An American B-24 Liberator crashes into the village of Freckleton in Lancashire County, destroying the Holy Trinity Church of England School (6 adults and 38 children killed), three houses (2 killed), and the Sad Sack Snack Bar (7 American servicemen, 4 British servicemen, and 3 civilians killed). All 3 members of crew aboard the bomber are lost.

 

• The British 7,100 ton Fort Yale in convoy ETC-72 had been damaged by a mine in the English Channel and is under tow by two tugs to the Isle of Wight. She is spotted by U-480 and sunk with a salvo of pattern running torpedoes.

 

• U-989 fires a spread of three pattern running torpedoes at convoy EPM-42 and hits the American 7,200 ton Louis Kossuth, blowing away her rudder and prop. The Liberty ship will be towed to Cowes, repaired, and returned to service.

 

• British light cruiser Mauritius with destroyers HMCS Iroquois and HMS Ursa are patrolling the Bay of Biscay looking for shipping fleeing the French Atlantic ports. With radar, they detect a force of two flak ships and a patrol boat south of Brest, probably escorting out a U-boat. Within 19 minutes two have been sunk and the third run aground. Two hours later a German M-class minesweeper, a "Sperrbrecher" mine-destructor ship, and two flak vessels are intercepted. Upon opening fire, the British and Canadians quickly overwhelm the convoy sinking two vessels and causing two others to collide in the confusion and burst into flames as they race for shore, with surviving crew members jumping over the side as they go. One of these vessels capsizes and sinks while the other drives onto the rocks at full speed.

 

HMS Mauritius firing during the action. In the morning, HMCS Iroquois torpedoes the first grounded vessel. Eleven Germans are picked up by HMS Ursa while the French Résistance captures another hundred and fifty ashore.

 

• East of Paris, American troops liberate the Drancy Concentration Camp, which was used to hold Jewish people and other "undesirables" prior to their transportation to Germany/Poland.

 

• Fierce fighting rages in Paris. The Germans set fire to the Grand Palais, an FFI stronghold, and tanks fire at the barricades in the streets. Hitler orders von Choltitz to inflict maximum damage on the city. It is estimated that between 800 and 1,000 insurgents are killed during the battle for Paris, with another 1,500 wounded.

 

 

 

American troops following an M10 in Fontainebleau 23 Aug 44

 

• American troops from Operation Overlord make contact with French troops from Operation Dragoon east of Bordeaux, France.

 

• Troops of the 1^re Division Française Libre and 9^e Division d'Infanterie Coloniale break into Toulon and press forward to the center of the city. Elements of the 3^e Division d'Infanterie Algérienne and 1^re Division Blindée fight their way into Marseille.

 

• U-180 vanishes around this time. The Type IXD1 had departed Bordeaux to avoid being captured and is likely lost to a mine."

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• The American 551st Parachute Infantry Regiment liberates Cannes. Street fighting is occurring between French and German troops in Toulon and Marseilles.

 

• U-445 is sunk with all hands in the Bay of Biscay west of St. Nazaire by depth charges from frigate HMS Louis.

 

• Kapitan Władysław Gnyś has flown PZL P.11c fighters during the 1939 Polish campaign, Morane Saulnier MS-406s during the 1940 France campaign, and Hurricanes, Mustangs, and Spitfires for the RAF. Now commanding No. 317 Polish Fighter Squadron his Spitfire is downed by flak over Rouen and he is captured. He’ll escape from a field hospital, make contact with the Résistance, and be returned to recover. He will settle in Canada after the war.

 

• Delayed by combat and poor roads, Général de division Jacques-Philippe Leclerc, commander of the 2^e Division Blindée, disobeys his direct superior, American V Corps commander Leonard Gerow, and sends a vanguard (the colonne Dronne) to Paris with the message that the entire division will be there on the following day. Major General Gerow and General Bradley both intend for the American 4th Infantry Division to be the first into Paris, and divert American armor to speed its advance.

 

• In Paris, the Résistance with support from metropolitan police, has mostly confined the Germans to their fortified strongholds and has captured several German armored vehicles.

 

Gendarmes and Communist Résistants in Paris"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• American destroyer Ericsson captures a fishing vessel attempting to escape Toulon, and takes fifty German submariners as POWs. Motor torpedo boat PT-552 sinks four German unmanned explosive motorboats at the entrance to Toulon, harbor, but the control boat escapes.

 

• German troops in Toulon surrender to the French.

 

• Two battalions of Ukrainian Schutzmannschaft in France kill their German officers and defect to the FFI. They will be the only complete units inducted into the Foreign Legion, with members receiving a Legion d’Honneur and four Croix de Guerre. The French will refuse Soviet demands to force the men to return to the USSR, though some voluntarily go and are arrested.

 

• The never completed hull of Richelieu class battleship Clemenceau is sunk by American bombers at Brest.

 

• American and French troop advance out of Paris, taking Le Bourget airport.

 

• Generals Eisenhower and Bradley visit Paris and confer with De Gaulle.

 

• U-92 torpedoes Coast Guard LST-327 in the English Channel. She is towed in but a total loss.

 

• RAF Typhoons mistakenly attack the British 1st Minesweeping Flotilla off Le Havre, sinking HMS Hussar and HMS Britomart, and leaving HMS Salamander a total loss. 117 sailors are killed and 153 injured.

 

HMS Salamander alongside HMCS Port Arthur after the friendly fire incident"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• In reaction to a Dutch railway worker strike similar to the successful French railway strikes, the Germans place an embargo on food shipments to the Netherlands. When the Allies fail to liberate the bulk of the country, the result will be the Dutch famine of 1944. Also called the “Hongerwinter”, the famine will kill an estimated 22,000. Many Dutch children will suffer lifelong health problems associated with the famine, including a 15 year old Audrey Ruston, who will come to be known as Audrey Hepburn.

 

• Canadian forces liberate Zeebrugge.

 

• Faced with political pressure to neutralize V2 launch sites, General Eisenhower reluctantly approves Field Marshal Montgomery's proposal for an airborne attack across Holland. Operation Market-Garden is based on the assumption that only light German forces hold the area.

 

• Luxembourg is liberated by US First Army with Crown Prince Jean, son of Grand Duchess Charlotte, in the vanguard. He has been serving in the Irish Guards as “Lieutenant Luxembourg”. 30,000 Germans surrounded near Mons surrender to the Americans.

 

• Reconnaissance elements of the US 5th Armored Division become the first Allied troops to enter Germany since 1940, near Aachen.

 

American soldiers overlooking Siegfried Line fortifications mid-Sept 1944"

[Aapje]

Audrey Hepburn was British, despite having a Dutch mother and spending a decent amount of time in The Netherlands.

[cardboard_killer]

Quote

When asked about her background, Hepburn identified as half-Dutch,^[1] as her mother was a Dutch noblewoman. Furthermore, she spent a significant number of her formative years in the Netherlands and was able to speak Dutch fluently. She solely held British nationality since at the time of her birth Dutch women were not permitted to pass on their nationality to their children; the Dutch law did not change in this regard until 1985.^[2] Her ancestry is covered in the "Early life" section.

 

After returning to the Netherlands in 1939 at the outbreak of the war (believing that as in WW1 the country would retain neutrality), her family ended up in Arnhem for much of the war.

 

Quote

After the Allied landing on D-Day, living conditions grew worse, and Arnhem was subsequently heavily damaged during Operation Market Garden. During the 1944–45 Dutch famine, the Germans hindered or reduced the already limited food and fuel supplies to civilians in retaliation for Dutch railway strikes that were held to disrupt the occupation. Like others, Hepburn's family resorted to making flour out of tulip bulbs to bake cakes and biscuits,^[38][39] a source of starchy carbohydrates; Dutch doctors provided recipes for using tulip bulbs throughout the famine.^[40] Suffering from the effects of malnutrition, after the war ended Hepburn became gravely ill with jaundice, anaemia, oedema, and a respiratory infection. In October 1945, a letter from Ella asking for help was received by Micky Burn, a former lover and British Army officer with whom she had corresponded whilst he was a prisoner of war in Colditz Castle. He sent back thousands of cigarettes, which she was able to sell on the black market and thus buy the penicillin which saved Hepburn's life.^[41][42][43] The Van Heemstra family's financial situation changed significantly through the occupation, during which time many of their properties (including their principal estate in Arnhem) were damaged or destroyed.^[44]

 

[Heliopause]

[80 years ago today]

The Dutch village of Mesch in the South East of Holland is the first to be liberated. American troops of the 117th Reg.  30 Div. enter the country.

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today. Note that the originator of this material's father flew a C-47 troop carrier during the battle.] "• Canadian 3rd Infantry Division, minus one brigade, lays siege to Boulogne.

 

Market-Garden

 

• Just one squadron of dozens, the 49th Troop Carrier Squadron transports the 2nd Battalion and part of the Headquarters Battalion of the 505th PIR, 82nd Airborne Division to drop zone “N” three miles east of Grosbeek, southeast of Nijmegen, Holland. Two C-47s are shot down after the jump, with one flight crew being KIA and the other captured. Eight of the other aircraft receive flak damage (including my dad’s).

 

- In contrast to the night drops of D-Day, 89% of the 82nd Airborne troopers land within 1,000 meters of their drop zone.

 

- The US 56th Fighter Group loses sixteen out of thirty-nine P-47s on flak suppression missions in support of the airdrops.

 

 

- The 101st Airborne takes five of the six bridges assigned to it, with only the Son Bridge being blown up by the Germans. By the end of the day contact is made with the British 44th Royal Tank Regiment pushing north from Lommel.

 

- The 82nd Airborne 504th PIR takes the Grave bridge while the 505th captures one of the vitally important bridges over the Maas-Waal canal, the lock-bridge at Heumen. The 508th is tasked with taking the Nijmegen highway bridge but by the time they march to the bridge and attack, it is defended by troops of the 9. SS Aufklärungsbataillon. The attack fails, leaving the Nijmegen bridge in German hands.

 

- Only half of the British 1st Airborne Division is dropped, with the other half coming tomorrow. Half of these are tasked with defending the drop zones, leaving less than half a brigade to take the Arnhem bridge. They are stopped by elements of the 9. SS Panzer Division.

 

- At the cost of 98 aircraft and 137 gliders, more than 30,000 troops have been landed along with 1,001 vehicles and 463 guns.

 

 

{the actual glider crash shown is certainly inserted from training footage, as it has late 1942 roundels}

 

 

- Generalfeldmarschall Model had expected an assault by XXX Corps towards Nijmegen and expected paratroopers to be used, but not an assault on Arnhem itself. He has to evacuate his headquarters from Oosterbeek but quickly gains a clear picture of the situation and organizes the defence of Arnhem. During the operation, the Germans will recover a copy of the Market-Garden plan from the body of an American officer, who should not have carried it into combat.

 

- When told of the Allied airborne landing at Arnhem, Hitler collapses with a suspected mild heart attack. Even on his best days, the Führer suffers from headaches, stomach cramps and dizziness, and wavers between fits of rage and deep depression. He exists on an assortment of drugs prescribed by his physician, Theodor Morell: Vitamins A and D and glucose to stimulate his appetite; anti-gas pills and digestive aids; Vitamultin-Ca to alleviate depression; caffeine and pervitin tablets to stimulate the brain; injections of heart and liver extracts; cocaine for headaches; and sedatives for sleeping.

 

Troop carrier routing

 

 

Sherman of the Irish Guards knocked out early in Operation Garden

 

Loyd carrier of the AT platoon of 3rd Battalion of Irish Guards take a direct hit on the road to Eindhoven 17 Sept 44"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Flight Lieutenant D. A. J. Draper is flying a reconnaissance mission over Zoutkamp, Netherlands when he sights a Dornier-217 aircraft. Although in an unarmed Spitfire, he makes a dummy attack and reports that the German aircraft jettisons a V-1 flying bomb before escaping. This demonstrates for the first time that the Germans aren’t limited to He-111 aircraft for launching buzz bombs.

 

• House to house fighting is occurring in Brest between US VIII Corps units and the 43,000 strong garrison, which includes most of the 2. Fallschirmjäger Division.

M18 tank destroyer in the streets of Brest.

 

• British frigate Stayner and two MTBs sink German schnellboote S-183, S-200, and S-02 in the English Channel

 

Market-Garden

 

• American and British troops libeate Eindhoven. A Luftwaffe night raid inflicts heavy civilian and Allied military casualties.

 

• The 49th Troop Carrier squadron flies another mission to drop zone “N” near Grosbeek towing CG-4A gliders carrying the 307th Airborne Medical Company, Company “A” of the 307th Engineering Battalion, and elements of the 320th Glider Field Artillery Battalion. One C-47 is shot down and the crew killed but the glider releases and successfully lands in a small field, with the men evading capture despite German search.

 

• Heavy fighting occurs in the Arnhem area, where the Germans are counterattacking the British 1st Airborne vigorously including a failed attack by the 9. SS Aufklärungsbataillon (rushed from Nijmegen to Arnhem) across Arnhem bridge. The second echelon of the division lands with heavy casualties. Efforts to relieve the small force at the North end of Arnhem bridge fail.

 

- US 82nd Airborne Division throws back a German counterattack between Grosbeek and the Reichswald. The British Guards Armoured Division reaches the Wilhelmina Canal but has to wait while a bailey bridge is brought up to replace the destroyed Son Bridge.

 

British Drop Zone X near Arnhem 18 September 1944

 

B-24 or C-87 being downed by flak while making a supply drop near Eindhoven 18 Sept 44"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Nancy is liberated by US First Army.

 

• US Third Army’s 7th Armored Division takes Sellegny but is driven out by a German counterattack.

 

• At Brest, Generalmajor Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke surrenders his remaining 38,000 men. He is offended when it is to American Brigadier General Charles Canham rather than to a more senior officer. When he asks Canham to show his credentials. Canham, the deputy commander of the 8th Infantry Division points to his nearby troops and replies, “These are my credentials”. That phrase will be adopted as the division’s motto.

 

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

 

Market-Garden

 

• Seventy-eight German bombers attack Eindhoven overnight, hitting a XXX Corps ammunition convoy that devastates the city centre, inflicting heavy British and civilian casualties. The bombers return to base without loss.

 

• A force of German tanks attacks Son and brings the bailey bridge under fire, but it is driven back by glider landed anti-tank guns and Allied fighterbombers.

 

• British armour makes contact with 82nd Airborne troops at Grave. Another attempt by the 508th PIR on the Nijmegen bridge is repulsed by German troops, while a German attack on the Nijmegen-Grosbeek ridgeline is thrown back by the 505th. The 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment advances to Wijchen and seizes the Edithbridge from its south end, then pushes on to the traffic bridge south of Wijchen. A fierce engagement follows and this bridge is also secured.

 

Paratroops of the 504th in Holland.

 

• Bad weather cancels most Allied airborne missions, including landing of the US 325th Glider Infantry Regiment and the 1st Polish Parachute Brigade. Supplies for the British at Arnhem fall into German hands as the drop zones have been overrun and the men on the ground are unable to communicate with the aircraft.

 

- While flying one of these Dakota aircraft on a supply run near Arnhem, Flight Lieutenant David Lord makes several runs over the drop zone despite the starboard wing being hit and the engine on fire. Having dropped all supplies, he orders his crew to bail out while he makes no attempt to jump, remaining in the pilot's seat to keep the aircraft steady. The aircraft subsequently explodes in mid-air. Lord will receive a posthumous Victoria Cross.

 

• At Arnhem, more of the 1st Parachute Brigade attempt to reach the small force at the bridge but are thwarted with heavy losses. At Oosterbeek, the 4th Parachute Brigade also attacks and fails with heavy losses. Unable to help Lieutenant Colonel John Frost's 2nd Parachute Battalion at the bridge, the remaining soldiers attempt to withdraw into a defensive pocket at Oosterbeek and hold a bridgehead on the north bank of the Rhine.

 

British Paras in Osterbeek

 

Arnhem Bridge 19 September 1944"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• The Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade under Major-General Stanisław Sosabowski is dropped near Driel, taking 25% casualties as two battalions land on top of waiting German units. Sosabowski is to use the Heveadorp ferry to reinforce the British 1st Airborne Division, but he finds that the opposite bank was dominated by the enemy and that the ferry has been sunk. He will attempt to come to the aid of Major General Urquhart using rubber boats.

 

Dropping Polish Parachute Brigade

 

- Sosabowski does not have his artillery as it was dropped with the British early in the battle.

 

• With the British force at Arnhem bridge eliminated, approximately 3,600 survivors of the 1st Airborne Division are trying to hold a bridgehead near Oosterbeek until XXX Corps arrives. Throughout the day they are heavily attacked on all sides by SS forces outnumbering them 3:1.

 

• A supply attempt by RAF Stirlings is disrupted by the only successful Luftwaffe fighter interception during Market-Garden. Fw-190s intercept the Stirlings at low altitude and shoot down fifteen of them without opposition as the escorts from the US 56th Fighter Group are late arriving.

 

• The British Guards Armoured Division pushes toward Arnhem from Nijmegen, but is brought to a halt less than three miles from starting point as the Germans are conducting counterattacks all along XXX Corps route.

 

• In Belgium, Prince Charles the Count of Flanders, younger brother of King Leopold III, is sworn in as Prince-Regent while a decision is delayed about whether the king, being held in Saxony, can ever return to his functions after being accused of collaboration."

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• General der Flieger Friedrich Christiansen, a WW-I seaplane ace, is Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht in the Netherlands. After the Dutch resistance ambushes a patrol, killing a Leutnant, he orders troops to round up the population of the nearby village of Putten. Six men and one woman are shot during this. 661 men are deported to concentration camps, from which only 48 will survive.

 

- After the war he will be convicted of war crimes and sentenced to 12 years, being released after serving three. On release, his hometown of Wyk auf Föhr will reinstate the name of a street after him, causing controversy in the Netherlands."

[Heliopause]

[80 years ago today]

Bombing of the seadyke at Westkapelle by Lancasters. With Antwerp in Allied hands the enemy territory to the north is planned to be flooded in order to deny the enemy an effective defence and its ability to disrupt the necessary shipping. Sadly the resulting flooding greatly inflicts damage to the nearby village. Some 160 civilians perish.

 

Photo of the damaged dyke at Westkapalle.