May 1993



May 1994

Vol. 2 Number 8

Published by the WW II Roundtable

Edited by Joe Grant and Jim Gerber

Welcome to the May meeting of the WW II Roundtable. The 1993-94 season has been great but all good things must come to an end. Fortunately we have a great line-up for the 1994-95 season. Our program this evening is on landing craft. We will learn about landing craft and tactics, many of which were used at the landings on Normandy 50 years ago. Two of the speakers have personal knowledge of amphibious landings and while their landings were made in the Pacific, their experiences certainly were similar to those during the landings on Fortress Europe.

As you are probably well-aware, next month marks the 50th anniversary of D-Day, the landings at Normandy on the northern coast of France. There will be numerous commemorations and programs on TV remembering this moment in history. Many new books have been published or will be published concerning this topic. Some are available now and some will be released on June 6th, 1994. The following are some of the better books available:

D-Day and the Invasion of Normandy

by Anthony Kemp (Abram’s Discovery Series)

America at D-Day: A Book of Remembrance

by Richard Goldstein (Delta Paperback)

Cross Channel Attack

by Gordon Harrison (PDD Special Editions)

D-Day June 6,1944: The Climactic Battle of WW II

by Stephen E. Ambrose (Simon and Schuster)

Overlord, D-Day and the Battle for Normandy

by Max Hastings (Simon and Schuster)

The D-Day Encyclopedia

edited by David G. Chandler and James Lawton Collins, Jr. (Simon and Schuster)

Also don’t overlook the classic by Cornelius Ryan, The Longest Day.

One other book explores the “what ifs” of the Normandy invasion. In “Disaster at D-Day” Peter Tsouras weaves a fictional account in which the invaders lose the battle. It looks like a great book.

Let’s test some of your knowledge about the Normandy Invasion:

Q. Who prepared the following message: “Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops.... If there is any blame or fault attached to the attempt, it is mine alone”?

A. General Dwight D. Eisenhower. It was Ike’s “other” message “that was never sent” in the event the Normandy invasion failed.

Q. Who said; “If I was commander of the Allied forces right now, I could finish off the war in fourteen days”?

A. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel on D-Day as he raced back to his Army Group B from his home in Germany.

Q. What were the two messages that came over the transport ships’ loudspeakers that most D-Day veterans still remember?

A. The command “Away all boats,” and the Lord’s Prayer.

Q. Who said, “Never have so few been commanded by so many”?

A. Major General Maxwell Taylor, who with his staff of the 101st Airborne landed amid a small group of enlisted paratroopers during the Normandy airborne drop.

Q. How many Allied troops participated in the Normandy invasion?

A. There were nearly 3 million combat and support personnel from the Allied powers involved in the operation. About 1.7 million were from the United States.

Q. What kind of children’s toy did American paratroopers use to exchange identification signals after the D-Day drops into Fortress Europe?

A. Tin snapper cricket toys. A single snap required two in response. The 82nd Airborne, however, added a password just to be sure.

Q. Who were the first three U.S. generals to land during the Normandy Invasion?

A. The first three were Matthew B. Ridgway, 82nd Airborne; Maxwell D. Taylor, 101st Airborne; and James M. Gavin, 82nd Airborne.

May 1944

Europe, Air Operations - The principal efforts of the Allied air forces based in Britain are directed to preparations for the Normandy landings. The American heavy bombers drop 63,000 tons on three types of objectives: rail centers, oil production areas and the more usual manufacturing towns. There is increased activity in the Channel and off Norway to prevent U-boats being on station in early June.

May 4, 1944 - Home Front - All meats are taken off of the ration with the exception of steaks and certain choice cuts of beef for roasting.

May 9-13, 1944 New Guinea - There is constant skirmishing with occasional fierce engagements around the U.S. beachheads at Hollandia, but the Japanese forces are ill supplied and weak and achieve little.

May 17, 1944 Burma - Merrill’s Mauraders help the Chinese forces to capture Myitkyina airfield.

New Guinea - U.S. forces are landed on Insumarai Island and on the Mainland at Arare nearby. Artillery is quickly sent ashore to provide fire support for the next landings on 18 May.

May 18, 1944 German Command - Berlin announces that Field Marshal von Rundstedt is to be Commander in Chief West with Field Marshals Rommel and Blaskowitz his subordinates at Army Groups B and G in the north and south respectively. This arrangement is by no means ideal as Rommel and von Rundstedt quickly develop diverging views on the necessary strategy and both put them to Hitler, who establishes a poor compromise.

Italy - The Monte Cassino abbey is finally occupied by Allied forces as the Germans withdraw.

May 21, 1944 New Guinea - The beachhead at Arare is reinforced and offshore at Wadke the airfield is repaired and reopened by U.S. engineers.

May 28, 1944 New Guinea - On Biak Americans begin to extend their perimeter but one battalion is surprised by a fierce Japanese attack near Mokmer village and takes heavy losses. The US forces in that sector pull back. Similarly Japanese attacks cause retreat near Arare. General MacArthur is confident enough, however, to announce that strategically the campaign in New Guinea is over although some hard fighting is still to be done.

May 31, 1944 Italy - The Canadians take Frosinone and X Corps takes Sora. In the Anzio sector Velletri and Monte Artemiso nearby fall to the US 36th Division while other units of VI Corps are attacking around Albano. By the capture of Velletri a gap is torn in the Caesar Line.

New Guinea - The Americans narrow down their holdings near Arare. At all beachheads on the north coast there is considerable skirmishing. To the east Australian troops take Bunabum.

Have a safe and enjoyable summer. We hope to see you next October when the topic will be:

Operation Market-Garden

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