May 1993 - World War II History Round Table



February 1994

Vol. 2 Number 5

Published by the WW II Roundtable

Edited by Joe Grant and Jim Gerber

Welcome to the February meeting of the WW II Roundtable. It’s hard to believe that we are half-way through our meetings. The speakers that we have had this year have made it worthwhile to come out on cold winter nights.

As reported last month MPR Radio contacted us for an interview. Don Patton and Charles Millen were able to be interviewed on the “Mid-morning Program”. This was great publicity and we had some new members come to last month’s meeting after hearing about it on the radio. Please spread the word about our meetings to your friends.

WW II Sequel:

Cleveland: May Keep Her Nazi

Former Sobibor concentration camp guard John Demyayuk, stripped of U.S. citizenship for having lied about his Nazi activities, has returned to Ohio.

Philadelphia; Throws Her Nazi Out

Johann Breyer, a native of Slovakia, was a guard at two Nazi death camps, Auschwitz and Buchenwald. He prefers to live here, but a United States District Court found his activities “were brutal and included such acts upon camp inmates as experimentation, torture and murder.” He was found ineligible for the U.S. visa he had wrongfully received, and his citizenship was revoked.

Amsterdam: “Never Happened”

People of the Jewish faith are known to some as “the people of the Book.” Those who would destroy them sometimes burn or destroy their books. Another book has now been freshly targeted for destruction. “The Diary of Anne Frank” is the daily written record of the life and death of a family which hid from the Nazis occupying Holland. Two deniers of the Holocaust deny that it ever happened, in an inflammatory broadside they call a “critical approach.” A Dutch court is challenging its distribution.

The U.S. In The Axis?

The United States was asked to join the Tripartite Pact alliance with Japan, Germany and Italy “in the spirit of the new order...in which...the natural geographic divisions of the earth established in complementary fashion” would be the goal. Japan extended the invitation on October 13, 1940.

Big Ship, Short Duty

The largest aircraft carrier of any navy became part of the Japanese fleet on November 11, 1944, when the Shinano (with a thirty centimeter thick deck over concrete) went on line. However, this ship recorded the briefest period of sea duty of any major ship in the war. The U.S. submarine Archerfish torpedoed her and she sank on November 29 in the Kumano Sea. The sinking of the 59,000-ton leviathan was the largest submarine kill of the war.

February 1944

Europe, Air Operations

RAF Bomber Command drops 11,700 tons of bombs with the main efforts being against Berlin particularly, and Leipzig, Stuttgart and Schweinfurt. The U.S. Eighth Air Force drops 18,000 tons and the Fifteenth Air Force from Italy drops 5900 tons both aiming at a range of targets connected with the German aircraft industry including Gotha, Leipzig and Oschersleben. U.S. medium bombers and aircraft of the RAF’s 2nd TAF drop 4800 tons, mostly on V-weapon sites in France and Belgium.

In response to these attacks the Germans revive their attacks on London but on a much less significant scale. These attacks are known as the “Little Blitz” and are most intense between 18 - 25 February.

February 1, 1944

Marshalls- The U.S. carrier operations continue. Admiral Turner’s TF 52 with the usual complement of battleships and carriers lands troops from General Corlett’s 7th Infantry Division on Kwajalein itself. The Japanese resistance is stubborn but the U.S. forces are exceptionally well organized and by night fall have overrun a third of the island. After their experiences on Tarawa, the U.S. amphibious forces have devoted much effort and material to improving their landing tactics.

February 2, 1944

Marshalls- The American occupation of Roi and Namur is complete. The Japanese have lost virtually every man of the 3700 defenders. The American casualties number 740 killed and wounded. The battle for Kwajalein continues.

February 4, 1944

Marshalls- All organized Japanese resistance in the Kwajalein Atoll is over. Almost all of Admiral Akiyama’s 8700-strong garrison are dead, only 265 have been captured, many of them Korean laborers or wounded. Altogether the Americans have landed 41,000 men, of whom 370 have been killed and 1500 wounded.

February 7, 1944

Italy- At Anzio, the German attacks against the British 1st Division are renewed. The objective is now Aprilia village and ‘The Factory’ nearby. The battle continues on February 8th. The British 56th Division and the U.S. 45th Division have now arrived at Anzio.

February 11, 1944

Italy- The fighting at Anzio continues. ‘The Factory’ finally falls to the Germans after changing hands three times in the last two days. Around Cassino the U.S. 34th Division makes a final, unsuccessful attempt to move forward the last few hundred yards to the Cassino Monastery from the north.

February 15, 1944

Italy- The monastery on the crest of Monte Cassino is heavily bombed at the request of the New Zealand Corps. The historic buildings are completely wrecked. Despite reports by U.S. troops formerly in the sector that no fire has come from the monastery, more recent reconnaissance has suggested a German presence. In fact the Germans have been scrupulous not to enter the monastery and have taken the trouble to transport some of its treasures to the Vatican. Once the abbey has been bombed, however, the Germans move in and find that the ruins and the cellars provide excellent positions - better than the undamaged buildings would have been. The bombers go in on the 15th to take advantage of good weather and so the follow-up attacks by the New Zealand Corps, designed to follow the bombardment, are badly coordinated. They achieve little.

February 20, 1944

Norway, Resistance- A ferry carrying a stock of heavy water on the first stage of the journey from the Ryukan hydroelectric plant to laboratories in Germany is sunk and the cargo lost in an attack by resistance fighters acting on instructions from the British and Norwegian governments. Heavy water is used in atomic research.

February 20-27, 1944

Europe, Air Operations- During this period the U.S. Strategic Air Forces launch a series of massive attacks against the German aircraft industry. In the operations on the 20th, 940 bombers and 700 fighters are sent on attacks and 21 bombers are lost. Operations on the 25th are less successful, with 65 of a force of 800 bombers being lost. The series of attacks becomes known as ‘Big Week’. The losses on the 25th are not typical of the present U.S. operations and the continuing high German losses are beginning to tell in the strength and quality of their forces. In effect, the Luftwaffe is being shot out of the skies.

Stay Warm! See You At The Next Meeting.

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