scrapbook 1 (ww2)

[alxone]

page 82&83

page 82 (clipping 1)

On December 2, a German reconnaissance unit reached the Khimki – a small town only five miles from Moscow. This marked the furthest German advance. With temperatures reaching -50 degrees, and still lacking winter equipment, the Germans were forced to halt their offensives.
Battle of Moscow - The Soviet counter-offensive
On 5 December 1941, Zhukov launched a massive Soviet counter-attack against the German forces, with the biggest offensive launched against Army Group Centre. The offensive unfolded in all sectors of the Moscow area on 6 December. During the autumn, Zhukov had been transferring fresh, well-equipped and well-trained Soviet forces from Siberia and the Far East to Moscow, but held them in reserve until the set date of the counter-offensive. The plan was based on intelligence data by Richard Sorge, a German communist and spy who worked for the Soviet Union. This information ensured the High Command of the Red Army that Japan would not attack in the east. Now with the enemy too close to the heart of USSR to ignore, Zhukov threw the reinforcements against the German lines, along with freshly-built T-34 tanks and Katyusha rocket launchers. The new Soviet troops were prepared for winter warfare, and they included several ski battalions. Possessing a reserve of 58 divisions, he unleashed a counter-offensive to push the Germans back from Moscow. The beginning of the attack coincided with Adolf Hitler ordering German forces to assume a defensive stance. Unable to organize a solid defense in their advance positions, the Germans were forced from Kalinin on the 7th and the Soviets moved to envelop the 3rd Panzer Army at Klin. This failed and the Soviets advanced on Rzhev. In the south, Soviet forces relieved pressure on Tula on December 16. Two days later, Bock was sacked in favor of Field Marshal Günther von Kluge. This was largely due to Hitler's anger over German troops conducting a strategic retreat against his wishes. The exhausted and freezing Germans were routed and thrown back 100 to 250 km by 7 January 1942. The Soviet army consolidated their positions by April 1942, having definitely eliminated the German threat to Moscow. The Red army was aided in their efforts by extreme cold and poor weather which minimized the Luftwaffe's operations. As soon as the weather improved in late December and early January the Luftwaffe reseal intensive bombing in support of German ground forces This slowed the enemy advances and by January 7, the Soviet counter-offensive came to an end
.
As a result of the successful counter-attack, Tula was taken by the Soviets on December, 16. North of Moscow, Kalinin was taken back on Jaunary 7, 1942. However, Vyazma offensive operation carried out until April 20, 1942 failed eventually. The Germans continued to threaten Moscow from this direction.
The victory in the battle of Moscow provided an important boost for Soviet morale, as the German army had now lost its fame of invincible force. Having failed to defeat the Soviet Union in a quick strike, the German army had to prepare for a long and bloody struggle. The Blitzkrieg didn't succeed.




page 82 (clipping 2)

Battle of Wake Island

The battle began simultaneously with the Attack on Pearl Harbor and ended on 23 December 1941, with the surrender of the American forces to the Japanese. It was fought on and around the atoll formed by Wake Island and its islets of Peale and Wilkes Islands by the air, land and naval forces of the Empire of Japan against those of the United States of America, with Marines playing a prominent role on both sides. The island was held by the Japanese until 4 September 1945, when the remaining Japanese garrison surrendered to a detachment of United States Marines.



page 82 (clipping 3)

Gilbert Islands Campaign


13 Nov 1943 - 24 Nov 1943
The invasion fleet, Task Force 52, set sail for an invasion on the Gilbert Islands from Pearl Harbor on 10 Nov 1943. The force sailed with 35,000 troops, 120,000 tons of supplies, and six thousand vehicles. The invasion fleet was divided into two. Rear Admiral Richmond Turner headed up the northern force; the southern was led by Rear Admiral Harry Hill, Turner's deputy. The Navy and Marines portion operation was dubbed Operation Galvanic, involving General Holland Smith's marines. The Army portion was named Operation Kourbash.
page 83 (clipping 1)


page 83 (clipping 2)

page 83 (clipping 3)


Jacket, Field, M-1943, Women .
made of wind resistant, water repellent cotton fabric. The M-1943 women's field jacket was similar in its general features to the one issued to men. Just the breast pockets and fly front was omitted while a button front was included. Additionally the female version has an inside pull string at waist height for adjustable fitting.
Hood, Jacket, Field, M-1943, Women's
.
made of same material as the jacket. It was designed for wear over the head with or without the wool knitted cap or the M-1 steel helmet.
Additionally, the hood provided enough space to wear the large and bulky earphone assembly and wire attachments when needed (example can be found in "US. Army Uniforms of WWII" by Shelby Stanton, p.232).
The hood was small enough to fit in the pocket of the jacket when it was not used.

[alxone]

page 84&85

page 84 ( clipping 1 )







page 84 ( clipping 2 )


page 84 ( clipping 3 )

Churchill's speeches boosted the British empires morale during the darkest moments
page 85 (clipping 1)

page 85 (clipping 2 )


The conquest of Greece was completed in May with the capture of Crete from the air, although the Fallschirmjäger suffered such extensive casualties in this operation that the Germans abandoned large-scale airborne operations for the remainder of the war.

Rudolf Hess travelled to England in 1941 to try to broker peace with Great Britain; he offered that Germany should withdraw from most of what was then Nazi-occupied Europe in exchange for Britain's promise to support Germany in its war against the Soviet Union. Captured by a farmhand after he parachuted into Scotland, Hess was eventually taken on Winston Churchill's orders to the Tower of London, and was kept imprisoned, first in Wales and then in Cornwall, for the remainder of the war. In 1946, he was convicted by the International Military Tribunal of crimes against peace and conspiracy with other German officials to commit crimes. Unlike his former co-conspirator Goering, however, Hess was not found guilty of war crimes or crimes against humanity, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was held thereafter in Spandau Prison in West Berlin (eventually becoming its sole inmate after the release of Albert Speer and Baldur von Schirach in 1966), until his death on 17 August 1987 at the age of 93. He was buried at Wunsiedel, and the prison was demolished to prevent it from becoming a shrine for neo-Nazis.

[alxone]

page 86 & 87

page 86 clipping 1


Timeline - The London Blitz 1940 - 1941

• 3rd September 1939 - War declared
  
• The first air raid siren sounds - it was a false alarm.

• September 1939 - children are evacuated from London to the country.
• About 1,500,000 Anderson shelters given out to poorer families.

• 25th August 1940 - the first bomb drops on London, probably by mistake. It is thought that a bomber pilot was meant to drop bombs on aircraft factories in South London mistakenly dropped them on the City of London.

• 7th September 1940 - the first real air raid of the London Blitz takes place. It comprised over 300 bombers escorted by more than 600 fighter planes. They started bombing the East End before they carried on to bomb the City and Central London.
• This raid caused more than 1000 fires
• 430 people were killed and 1600 badly injured.
• Damage was caused to two major power stations, homes and factories along the Thames and three major London railway stations.

• 17th September 1940 - a bomb hit Marble Arch Underground station killing 17 people.

• 18th September 1940 - the Lambeth Walk was destroyed as was the John Lewis department store in Oxford Street.

• 15th October 1940 - 430 people were killed in the bombing, five major railway stations were badly damaged, the City of London's watermain was also damaged as was the major Fleet sewer.
• By mid October there were around 250,000 people made homeless by the Blitz.

• 14th November 1940 - this dated signalled the end of the nightly raids on London. German bombers raided Coventry instead.

• 15th November 1940 - the Luftwaffe returns to London hitting almost every borough. It uses a new bomb nicknamed Satan - it was huge - 1800 megatons of high explosive and it was a delayed action bomb.
• The main Post Office sorting depot at Mount Pleasant was hit as was the National Portrait Gallery, Westminster Abbey and Euston Station.

• November 1940 - about 3000 unexploded bombs were waiting to be defused around London by the end of the month.

• 29th December 1940 - incendiaries dropped on the City of London caused over 1400 fires including six that were classed as conflagrations, one of which covered half a square mile
• The Guildhall was damaged, only its walls stood, eight churches designed by Sir Christopher Wren were destroyed as was Paternoster Row, a major telephone exchange, the Central Telegraph Office and guild company halls.
• Also damaged that night were five mainline stations, nine hospitals, sixteen Underground stations and St Paul's was hit by incendiaries.

• 11th January 1941 - 117 people were killed in Bank Underground station when it took a direct hit.

• 19th March 1941 - a 500 bomber raid on the docks and East End of London killed 750 people and injured over a 1000 people seriously.

• 16th April 1941 - a 685 bomber raid caused more than 2000 fires and killed well over 1000 people. This raid also damaged or destroyed irreplaceable historic churches and other buildings.

• 19th April 1941 - This was the biggest bombing raid of the London Blitz so far with more high explosive and incendiaries dropped than any other night previously.

• 10th May 1941 - a 550 bomber raid dropped more than 700 tons of bombs and thousands of incendiaries. This was probably the worst raid of the Blitz.
• Nearly 1500 people were killed and around 1800 seriously injured.
• The Chamber of the House of Commons (Parliament) was destroyed.
• The House of Lords, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Hall, St James's Palace and Lambeth Palace were amongst the many buildings damaged. Almost all the major mainline railway stations were also damaged as were 14 hospitals, the British Museum and the Old Bailey.

This was the last of the major raids on London in this period. There were occasional attacks over the following three years but raids on London only began again in earnest in June 1944 when the Germans started using flying bombs.


An Air raid shelter in a London Underground station in London during The Blitz.
page 86 clipping 2


In early 1941, British forces were engaged in Operation Compass, an attempt to drive the Italians out of North Africa. On 21 January 1941, the Australian 6th Division made an assault to capture the Italian-garrisoned port of Tobruk, which offered one of the few good harbours between Alexandria and Tripoli.
The Italian Army was unable to put up an effective resistance. The Italian commander, General Petassi Manella, was taken prisoner after 12 hours of battle, and 24 hours later the Australian troops had cleaned up the remaining resistance. The Australians lost 49 dead and 306 wounded, while capturing 27,000 Italian POWs, 208 guns and 28 tanks. Many serviceable trucks and a large quantity of supplies were also captured (as the Italian Army was getting ready to advance toward Egypt). The Italians had constructed some impressive defences, including a perimeter of concrete pits.
By the end of the first week in February, Operation Compass had resulted in the Italian forces being driven from Cyrenaica and in the surrender of the Italian 10th Army.

here is a link to some awesome then/now photos
http://www.western-desert.de/Gallery.htm
page 87 clipping 1

Franklin Delano Roosevelt
(January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945)
sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill
(30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965)
page 87 clipping 2

The Battle of the Atlantic was the dominating factor all through the war. Never for one moment could we forget that everything happening elsewhere, on land, at sea or in the air depended ultimately on its outcome.
Winston Churchill

page 87 clipping 3

[alxone]

page 88 & 89

page 88 clipping 1

the first president to have a presidential aircraft.
page 88 clipping 2

F.D. Roosevelt was one of the eight presidents that died while in office.
page 89 clipping 1

Did you know that F.D. Roosevelt was the first president to speak on television?
.page 89 clipping 2

Where Did Fala Come From?

Fala was born on April 7, 1940 and given as a present to FDR by Mrs. Augustus G. Kellog of Westport, CT. After a short stay with FDR's cousin, Margaret "Daisy" Suckley, for obedience training, Fala arrived at the White House on November 10, 1940.
Fala's Name

As a puppy, Fala had been originally named "Big Boy," but FDR was soon to change that. Using the name of his own 15th century Scottish ancestor (John Murray), FDR renamed the dog "Murray the Outlaw of Falahill, which quickly became shortened to "Fala."
Constant Companions



Roosevelt doted on the little dog. Fala slept in a special bed near the President's feet and was given a bone in the morning and dinner at night by the President himself. He wore a leather collar with a silver plate that read, "Fala, the White House."

Fala traveled everywhere with Roosevelt, accompaning him in the car, on trains, in airplanes, and even on ships. Since Fala had to be walked during long train rides, Fala's presence often revealed that President Roosevelt was on board. This led the Secret Service to codename Fala as "the informer."
While in the White House and while traveling with Roosevelt, Fala met many dignitaries including British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Mexican President Manuel Camacho. Fala entertained Roosevelt and his important visitors with tricks, including being able to sit up, rolling over, jump up, and curl his lip into a smile.

Becoming Famous and a Scandal

Fala became a celebrity in his own right. He had appeared in numerous photographs with the Roosevelts, was seen at major events of the day, and even had a movie made about him in 1942. Fala had become so popular that thousands of people wrote him letters, causing Fala to need his own secretary to respond to them. Republicans even used Fala to slander President Roosevelt. A rumor was spread that President Roosevelt had accidentally left Fala in the Aleutian Islands during a trip there and had then spent millions of taxpayer dollars to send a destroyer back for him. FDR answered these allegations in his famous "Fala Speech." In his speech to the Teamsters Union in 1944, FDR said that both he and his family somewhat expected malicious statements to be made about themselves, but that he had to object when such statements were made about his dog.

FDR's Death



After being President Roosevelt's companion for five years, Fala was devastated when Roosevelt passed away on April 12, 1945. Fala rode on the President's funeral train from Warm Springs to Washington and then attended President Roosevelt's funeral. Fala spent his remaining years living with Eleanor Roosevelt at Val-Kill. Although he had lots of room to run and play with his canine grandson, Tamas McFala, Fala never quite got over the loss of his beloved master.
Fala passed away on April 5, 1952 and was buried near President Roosevelt in the rose garden at Hyde Park.

[alxone]

page 90 - end





thanks for enjoying book 1 of 2
coming soon book 2 of 2
-alxone