Springtime for, well, you know the song

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "The Luftwaffe is increasingly active from bases on the Crimea, and they are operating out to sea as well as over the two battles (at Sevastopol and the Parpach Narrows) that are more or less in progress. They sink Soviet submarine Shch-210 of the Black Sea Fleet off Shabler Cape sometime during March. There is no record of any survivors. [Most sites claim -210 was lost due to a minefield; I don't know which is accurate.]

 

[Sistership Shch-209, next to AC Komintern]

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "Luftwaffe aircraft bomb and damage/sink 6854-ton British freighter Empire Starlight at its dock in Murmansk (the date of its "sinking" is disputed). The Empire Starlight was part of Convoy PQ 13. The Soviets later raise the Empire Starlight in 1945 and rename it Murmansk.

 

The Luftwaffe also bombs and sinks British freighter New Westminster City from Convoy PQ-13 at Murmansk. This vessel also is later raised. In the same attack, the Luftwaffe severely damages Polish freighter Tobruk. It is later repaired and returned to service in September 1942.

 

Tobruk after the war

[Vig]

Deutschland is happy and gay....

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "Operation Eisstoß (Ice Assault) begins. This is a Luftwaffe operation by Generaloberst Alfred Keller's Luftlotte I against the Soviet fleet at Kronstadt, a fortified island near St. Petersburg. This is one of a series of such attacks against Vitse Admiral Vladimir F. Tributs’s Baltic Fleet. Like the others, this operation accomplishes little. The Luftwaffe sends 62 Stuka dive bombers and 70 medium bombers (33 Junkers Ju 88s and 37 Heinkel He 111s), escorted by 59 Bf 109 fighters of Oberstleutnant Hannes Trautloft’s Jagdgeschwader 54. The plan is for the Heinkels to bomb the anti-aircraft defenses while the Stukas and Junkers attack the ships. 

After dark, a smaller force of 31 He 111s return. In the two attacks, the Germans score hits on 13 warships but do not sink any. Battleship Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya (formerly Gangut) takes four hits, the cruiser Maksim Gorky is hit seven times, the cruisers Kirov and Petropavlovsk and destroyer Silnyi each suffers one serious hit each, and the destroyer Grozyashchiy, minelayer Marti and training ship Svir each takes less serious hits. Assorted smaller vessels also are hit.

This operation and the subsequent "Götz von Berlichingen" and "Froschlaich" continue throughout April without meaningful results. Overall, the Luftwaffe flies 590 sorties at the loss of 29 aircraft, a fairly high loss rate. Hitler is worried that the Soviet fleet will steam out when the ice melts and "make a fool of me," but it has no plans to leave port."

 

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] " Adolf Hitler issues one of his most famous orders, Fuhrer Directive No. 41. This forms the basis for Case Blue, an offensive in southern Russia to occupy the Caucasus oil fields (the operational name "Case Blue" comes later)."

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "Anton Schmid (January 9, 1900 – April 13, 1942),  a German sergeant (Feldwebel), is executed in Vilnius, Lithuania. Arrested in late January and condemned to death on 25 February 1942, Schmid is shot by his superiors for helping about 250 Jewish men, women, and children escape from extermination by the Nazi SS during the European Jewish Holocaust. Yad Vashem will recognize Schmid as Righteous Among the Nations."

 

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "In Crimea, the Germans under General Erich von Manstein solidify their growing advantage over the Red Army in the Kerch peninsula. The 22nd Panzer Division reaches the coast of Azov in the north, effectively encircling the 51st Army along with the 50th Infantry Division and 28th Light Division. The 30th Corps, meanwhile, continues east toward Kerch with two divisions and the Grodeck Brigade. All of the Wehrmacht forces make further dramatic progress during the day, with the Germans practically eliminating the 51st Army pocket, 22nd Panzer turning east toward Kerch, and 132nd and 170th Infantry Divisions approaching the remaining Soviet line (the "Sultanovka" line).

 

A Soviet soldier surrendering during Operation Trappenjagd, May 1942

 

The Luftwaffe bombs and sinks 422-ton Soviet barge Anakriya off Kerch. The ship is evacuating wounded from Crimea ...

 

The Luftwaffe also bombs and sinks the 840-ton Soviet gunboat Rion, which also is evacuating wounded soldiers from Kerch.

 

Colonel General Erich von Manstein and Luftwaffe Colonel General Wolfram von Richthofen confer on the Crimea Battlefield during Operation Trappenjagd, May 1942

 

[Holocaust atrocities below]

Spoiler

SS-Untersturmführer Dr. Rascher reports to Reichsführer-SS Heinrich  Himmler on the results of high-altitude medical experiments being conducted on prisoners at concentration camps. He writes in part:

 

The question of the formation of embolism was investigated in 10 cases. Some of the experimental subjects died during a continued high-altitude experiment; for instance, after one-half hour at the height of 12 Km.

 

Rascher also comments that "some experimental subjects were kept underwater until they died."

"

 

 

Edited May 11, 2022 by cardboard_killer

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today. After a promising start, the Soviet spring offensive (Second Battle of Kharkov) became a looming disaster.] " Hitler immediately turned to the Luftwaffe to help blunt the offensive. At this point, its close support corps was deployed in the Crimea, taking part in the siege of Sevastopol. Under the command of Wolfram von Richthofen, the 8th Air Corps was initially ordered to deploy to Kharkov from the Crimea, but this order was rescinded. In an unusual move, Hitler kept it in the Crimea, but did not put the corps under the command of Luftflotte 4 (Air Fleet 4), which already contained 4th Air Corps, under the command of General Kurt Pflugbeil, and Fliegerführer Süd (Flying Command South), a small anti-shipping command based in the Crimea. Instead, he allowed Richthofen to take charge of all operations over Sevastopol. The siege in the Crimea was not over, and the Battle of the Kerch Peninsula had not yet been won. Hitler was pleased with the progress there and content to keep Richthofen where he was, but he withdrew close support assets from Fliegerkorps VIII in order to prevent a Soviet breakthrough at Kharkov.

 

[Panzer IV knocked out at Kharkov]

 

Despite von Richthofen's opposition, powerful air support was on its way to bolster the 6th Army and this news boosted German morale. Army commanders, such as Paulus and Bock, placed so much confidence in the Luftwaffe that they ordered their forces not to risk an attack without air support. In the meantime, Fliegerkorps IV, was forced to use every available aircraft. Although meeting more numerous Soviet air forces, the Luftwaffe achieved air superiority and limited the German ground forces' losses to Soviet aviation, but with some crews flying more than 10 missions per day.[12] By 15 May, Pflugbeil was reinforced and received Kampfgeschwader 27 (Bomber Wing 27, or KG 27), Kampfgeschwader 51 (KG 51), Kampfgeschwader 55 (KG 55) and Kampfgeschwader 76 (KG 76) equipped with Junkers Ju 88 and Heinkel He 111 bombers. Sturzkampfgeschwader 77 (Dive Bomber Wing 77, or StG 77) also arrived to add direct ground support.[37] Pflugbeil now had 10 bomber, six fighter and four Junkers Ju 87 Stuka Gruppen (Groups). Logistical difficulties meant that only 54.5 per cent were operational at any given time.[38]

 

On 18 May, the situation worsened and Stavka suggested once more stopping the offensive and ordered the 9th Army to break out of the salient. Timoshenko and Khrushchev claimed that the danger coming from the Wehrmacht's Kramatorsk group was exaggerated, and Stalin refused the withdrawal again. The consequences of losing the air battle were also apparent. On 18 May the Fliegerkorps IV destroyed 130 tanks and 500 motor vehicles, while adding another 29 tanks destroyed on 19 May.

 

[Memorial service for aircrewman near Kharkov. I assume this was an empty coffin burning.]

"A German film crew spends several weeks filming in Warsaw for the propaganda film “Das Ghetto”. It is intended to show that most Jewish people there are living well, and selfishly do nothing to help the poor Jews among them.  The cost of extra food deliveries will be charged to the Jewish Council.  Production will be discontinued and the film never released until the footage is discovered by East Germans after the war."

 

"Footage shows atrocities committed by Germans during the 2nd World War in Warsaw Ghetto against Jews. The film contains drastic scenes. You will see the typical life in Warsaw ghetto: corpses, market, people, funeral procession in street, soldiers checking papers, man dressed in rags, meat store, crossing bridge, Jewish policeman, tram, boy sitting in street, children begging for food, family loading belongings on cart, emaciated people on sidewalk."

 

 

On May 18 a Jewish-Communist resistance group called "Baum-Group" organized an arson attack, which caused only a small amount of damage. At least Herbert Baum and Marianne Baum and over 30 other people were arrested and executed.

 

• The New York Times publishes an article claiming that Germans have killed 100,000 Jews in the Baltic states, 100,000 in Poland, and 200,000 in the USSR.