Subject: WWII-L Digest - 11 Apr 1993 to 12 Apr 1993

From: Automatic digest processor <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1993 00:00:31 -0400

There are 11 messages totalling 481 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

  1. USAAF 11 APR 43
  2. USAAF 12 APR 43
  3. What is this thing????????????? (4)
  4. Waffen SS and the Foreign Legion
  5. INFO: Italian Aces
  6. Handling Heavy List Traffic
  7. REF: U.S. Army in WWII
  8. Military Booksellers (cont.)

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Date:    Mon, 12 Apr 1993 07:12:48 -0400
From:    [email-masked]
Subject: USAAF 11 APR 43

COMBAT CHRONOLOGY OF THE US ARMY AIR FORCES
SUNDAY, 11 APRIL 1943
FTP SITES
  1. ftp.rutgers.ed in directory pub/wwii/usaf
  2. byrd.mu.wvnet.edu (129.71.32.152) in pub/history/military/wwii/usaaf

AIRCRAFT MENTIONED IN THIS REPORT:
  B-17, Boeing Flying Fortress
  B-24, Consolidated Liberator
  B-25, North American Mitchell
  B-26, Martin Marauder
  P-38, Lockheed Lightning
  P-40, Curtiss
  Wellington, Vickers (RAF)

AMERICAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (Eleventh Air Force)
  In the Aleutians, 4 B-25's, 22 P-40's, and 8 P-38's hit Kiska 5 times.
The last mission aborts due to weather. The  other 4 missions bomb various
targets starting large fires. Some fighters strafe Little Kiska.

MEDITERRANEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS

  EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN (Ninth Air Force)
    In Italy, B-24's attack Naples harbor. AA is intense and fighters
attack B-24's from all sides, knocking 1 down. The B-24's claim destruction
of 3 fighters.
    In Tunisia, B-25's attack motor transport and concentrations N of Sfax
as Allied ground troops push toward Sousse.
    HQ 340th Bombardment Group (Medium) and it's 486th and 487th Bombardment
Squadrons (Medium) with B-25C's transfer from El Kabrit, Egypt to Medenine,
Tunisia.

  WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN (Northwest African Air Force)
    In Sardinia during the night of 10/11 Apr, Wellingtons bomb airfields
at Decimomannu and Monserrato.
    In Sicily, B-17's strike the harbors of Marsala and Trapani.
    In Tunisia, P-38's carry out fighter sweeps and reconnaissance flights,
claiming numerous aircraft shot down, including 21 transports destroyed
between Cap Bon and Marsala. B-26's bomb Oudna Airfield, B-25's hit
Sainte-Marie du Zit Airfield, and B-17's strike the harbor of Tunis.
Fighter-bombers and light bombers blast trucks S of the Enfidaville road,
trucks E of Kairouan, the Sousse docks, and numerous other targets in the
NE quarter of Tunisia.

SOUTH PACIFIC THEATER OF OPERATIONS (Thirteenth Air Force)
  In the Solomons, P-38's and Navy fighters strafe gun positions in the
Rekata Bay area. B-17's bomb airfields at Kahili and on Ballale Island.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC THEATER OF OPERATIONS (Fifth Air Force)
  In New Guinea, B-17's bomb Lae and Finschhafen. Single B-24's bomb
Finschhafen 3 times and hit Madang once. Enemy airplanes attack Oro Bay and
destroy 2 merchant vessels.
  In Timor, B-25's hit Vila Salazar and another village.

SOURCES:
AIR FORCE COMBAT UNITS OF WORLD WAR II, Office of Air Force History,
  Headquarters USAF, 1961, ISBN 0-912799-02-1
COMBAT SQUADRONS OF THE AIR FORCE, WORLD WAR II, Office of Air Force
  History, Headquarters USAF 1982
THE ARMY AIR FORCES IN WORLD WAR II: COMBAT CHRONOLOGY, 1941-1945 by the
  Office of Air Force History, Headquarters USAF, 1973
THE MIGHTY EIGHTH WAR DIARY by Roger A. Freeman, ISBN 1-85409-071-2

Jack McKillop
USAF (Airways and Air Communications Service)
1955-59

------------------------------

Date:    Mon, 12 Apr 1993 07:17:09 -0400
From:    [email-masked]
Subject: USAAF 12 APR 43

COMBAT CHRONOLOGY OF THE US ARMY AIR FORCES
MONDAY, 12 APRIL 1943
FTP SITES
  1. ftp.rutgers.edu in directory pub/wwii/usaf
  2. byrd.mu.wvnet.edu (129.71.32.152) in pub/history/military/wwii/usaaf

AIRCRAFT MENTIONED IN THIS REPORT:
  A-20, Douglas Havoc
  B-17, Boeing Flying Fortress
  B-24, Consolidated Liberator
  B-25, North American Mitchell
  Liberator, Consolidated (RAF)
  P-38, Lockheed Lightning
  P-39, Bell Airacobra
  P-40, Curtiss
  P-51, North American Mustang
  Spitfire, Vickers Supermarine

AMERICAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS

   ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force)
     In the Aleutians, 3 B-25's, 24 P-40's, and 13 P-38's fly 7 missions to
Kiska. The fighters also strafe Little Kiska. AA fire damages 1 P-40 and 1
P-38. The P-38 force-lands safely.

   AAF ANTISUBMARINE COMMAND
     The 6th Antisubmarine Squadron (Heavy), 25th Antisubmarine Wing
arrives at Gander Lake, Newfoundland, Canada from the U.S. with B-24's.

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA THEATER OF OPERATIONS

  BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force)
    In Burma, 9 B-25's hit the airfield at Magwe. P-40's bomb and strafe
the ammunition and supply dump at Walawbum.

  CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force)
    In Burma, P-40's strafe more than 20 vehicles 25 mi (40 km) E of
Loiwing.

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force)
  In England, a Board of 5 officers of the Eighth Air Force and 1 of the
Royal Air Force complete formulation of a plan for the Combined Bomber
Offensive (CBO) from the United Kingdom in accordance with the mission
prescribed by the Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS) in the Casablanca
Directive.

MEDITERRANEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS

  EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN (Ninth Air Force)
    In Italy, B-24's of the 376th Bombardment Group (Heavy) sent to attack
Naples harbor, are prevented by bad weather from bombing the primary
target. About half return without bombing while the others hit Cosenza and
Crotone. Other heavy bombers of the same group, in a subsequent mission,
bomb Naples and the secondary target of Pizzo.
    In Sicily, RAF Liberators, under operational control of the IX Bomber
Command, are dispatched against Palermo. The primary target is attacked, in
spite of total cloud cover, but most of bomb tonnage is dropped in Messina,
Italy harbor.
    In ground action in Tunisia, the British 10 Corps captures Sousse and
heads north.

  WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN (Northwest African Air Force)
    In Sicily, B-17's bomb the harbor at Trapani and hit shipping in the
Straits of Sicily.
    In Tunisia, B-17's bomb the harbor at Bizerte. B-25's and A-20's bomb
airfields at Oudna and Sainte-Made du Zit. Aircraft of tactical units hit
enemy movements and fly sweep and reconnaissance throughout NE Tunisia
following the attack during the night of 11/12 Apr by British aircraft,
mainly in the Enfidaville, Zaghouan, and Bou Ficha areas.
    HQ 31st Fighter Group and it's 307th, 308th and 309th Fighter Squadrons
with Spitfires transfer from Djilma, Tunisia to Le Sers, Tunisia.
    HQ 33d Fighter Group and it's 59th and 60th Fighter Squadrons with P-
40's transfer from Berteaux, Algeria to Ebba Ksour, Tunisia. The 59th has
been operating from Thelepte, Tunisia since 20 Mar.
    The 2d, 4th and 5th Fighter Squadrons, 52d Fighter Group with Spitfires
transfer from Youks-les-Bains, Algeria to Le Sers, Tunisia.
    The 154th Observation Squadron, 68th Observation Group with P-39's and
P-51's transfers from Sbeitla, Tunisia to Le Sers, Tunisia.

SOUTH PACIFIC THEATER OF OPERATIONS (Thirteenth Air Force)
  In the Solomons, single B-24's continue snooper strikes, hitting Kahili
Airfield twice during the evening.
  The 68th Fighter Squadron, 347th Fighter Group with P-40's (and some P-
39's) transfers from Guadalcanal to Fiji but continues to operate from
Guadalcanal until Dec 43.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC THEATER OF OPERATIONS (Fifth Air Force)
  In the Bismarck Archipelago, B-24's and B-17's pound the airfields at
Rabaul and Gasmata, shipping in the Saint George Channel, and targets of
opportunity in the Ubili and Talasea areas.
  In New Guinea, B-24's and B-17s hit shipping in Hansa Bay, the airfields
at Lae and Nubia and Bogia harbor. B-24's, operating individually, attack
several targets, scoring hits on the Madang dock area and at Toeal.
Japanese planes attack Port Moresby.

SOURCES:
AIR FORCE COMBAT UNITS OF WORLD WAR II, Office of Air Force History,
  Headquarters USAF, 1961, ISBN 0-912799-02-1
COMBAT SQUADRONS OF THE AIR FORCE, WORLD WAR II, Office of Air Force
  History, Headquarters USAF 1982
THE ARMY AIR FORCES IN WORLD WAR II: COMBAT CHRONOLOGY, 1941-1945 by the
  Office of Air Force History, Headquarters USAF, 1973
THE MIGHTY EIGHTH WAR DIARY by Roger A. Freeman, ISBN 1-85409-071-2

Jack McKillop
USAF (Airways and Air Communications Service)
1955-59

------------------------------

Date:    Mon, 12 Apr 1993 07:48:08 CST
From:    "[email-masked]. --Scherrer,
         Tim A." <[email-masked]>
Subject: What is this thing?????????????

Let me add some more details I found from digging last night.  It looks
just like a M-1943 Officer's Long Field Coat, except there is no obvious
way to button completely up, the extra row of buttons, and the material
is not a field grade--it is a high quality wool blend that would get
ripped to shreds in the field.  It looks a lot like the ones in the
pictures in Shelby Stanton's US Army Uniforms of WWII book.  The mystery
continues.

Also, I am looking for a Chocolate Brown Four pocket US Army ground
forces dress blouse, size 42L, to 44L.  If anyone knows of any for sale,
please contact me direct--thanks.  I tried on 8 at Overlord Military
Collectables, and none fit.

************************************************************************
*  Tim A. Scherrer          "You'll be fighting WWII for the rest of   *
*  Facilities Supervisor     your life", Ron Scherrer, 1971            *
*  WP:816-785-5253                                                     *
*  HP:816-665-6704                                                     *
*  ID# [email-masked]                             *
************************************************************************

------------------------------

Date:    Mon, 12 Apr 1993 23:44:40 +1000
From:    Ray Fairall <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: What is this thing?????????????

 I have no idea what your coat is, but Pitt Street is the second "major"
street in the Sydney CBD. Can you repost the tailors name, it is highly
unlikely that it still exists, but I can check the telephone directory.

On a general note Australian Industry played a significant role in supplying
war materials for the U.S. effort during the war in the S.W. Pacific. This
applied to things like aircraft engines, maintainence of aircraft and ships,
and the supply of food. I would be very surprised if clothing was not also
included. We are still one of the world's largest suppliers of wool!
Australia ended the war with it's lend lease "account" in the black because
of this contrubution. Regards Ray.

------------------------------

Date:    Mon, 12 Apr 1993 12:05:11 EDT
From:    "William B. Thacker" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Waffen SS and the Foreign Legion

M.A. Ramsay writes:

>    To give you a hint of what his answer will be, I asked him about this myth
> at a symposium at Royal Military College, and he stated that the presence of
> ex-German troops in Legion forces in Indo-China has been greatly exaggerated
>
>    Perhaps this is another instance of the "Lost Cause" myth being attached to
> the Germans by subsequent romantic views of their "noble" fight against the
> Soviet Union, perhaps the left wanted to tar the French expeditionary forces
> with the brush of racism and genocide.

Either could be true, but it seems to me that a less conspiracy-oriented
reason is evident.

I've read accounts of Wehrmacht officers and soldiers who claim to have
been "vigorously" lobbied to join the Foreign Legion.  With the Legion's
reputation as a place to escape the past, it's just a matter of putting two
and two together... if *I* were a war criminal (or simply a German soldier
who wanted to get away from the stigma of defeat) and the FFL asked me to
join, I'd be likely to accept.

Perhaps it wasn't particularly widespread, but it's so obvious as to become
a self-perpetuating legend.  It's especially enticing because of the
mystery surrounding the death of Hitler and the escape of many high-ranking
Nazi officials (and Israel's ongoing search for them).  If "Ivan the
Terrible" was supposedly found living in Cleveland, it takes no great leap
of imagination to suppose many other criminals may have escaped to the
Foreign Legion.

Compare, for instance, this legend with the common legend that so many
Nazis escaped to South America that there are now villages there where
German is the primary language.  I don't see this as an attempt to glorify
Germany or attack South America; it's just juicy gossip.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Bill Thacker             AT&T Network Systems       attmail!att!cbemf!wbt
Quality Engineer            Columbus, Ohio              [email-masked]

------------------------------

Date:    Mon, 12 Apr 1993 11:57:38 -0400
From:    "M. Joseph Barone" <[email-masked]>
Subject: INFO: Italian Aces

> The following are usually listed as the top five fighter aces
> of the Italian Air Force in WWII:
>
> Major Adriano Visconti
> Sg. Maj Teresio Martinoli
> Lt. Leonardo Ferulli
> Cpt. Franco Bardoni-Bisleri
> Sgt. Luigi Corrini
>
> I would like any biographical information on any or all of the
> above.  I am looking for unit affiliations, the fronts on which
> they fought, types of aircraft flown, current location or date
> of death, personal achievements, etc.

        Some of the most successful Italian fighter aces of the war served
with 4th Stormo C.T.  Several were killed during the defense of Sicily,
but one who survived and went on to the end of the war as one of the two
top-scorers was Capitano Adriano Visconti.  He flew MC.202s, MC.205s, and
Bf 109Gs.

        He is credited with 19 victories with the Regia Aeronautica.
Immediately after the Armistice, he led a flight of MC.205Vs to Guidonia
airport near Rome, to escape the German encirclement of Italian airfields
on Sardinia.  His three MC.205V fighters carried eight groundcrewmen in
addition to the three pilots.  He later commanded the 1st Gruppo Caccia
for the Aeronautica Nazionale Republicana (ANR) of the Republica Sociale
Italiana in Northern Italy.  He added seven more kills during 1944.  Because
of a high attrition rate and battle fatigue, 1st Gruppo Caccia experienced
a severe decay in morale, which led to Capitano Visconti being relieved of
command late June 1944.  His successor, Capitano Arrabito, was killed in
July and command of the 1st was returned to Capitano Visconti.  In November
1944, the 1st was sent to Germany to train with Bf 109Gs and returned to
Italy in January 1945 equipped with 54 Bf 109G-10s.  It was during this
period that Visconti was promoted to Maggiore.

        He was killed by left wing Italian partisans in Milan on April 29,
1945.

        4th Stormo C.T. of the Regia Aeronautica consisted of 9th and 10th
Gruppi and saw action over Malta, Libya, and defending Sicily.  The 4th was
considered the elite and received the best equipment Italy had to offer.
The Stormo's first action was over Malta with MC.202 fighters which proved
to be more than a match for the Hurricanes defending the island.  All
Italian formations in Africa suffered greatly from fuel shortages and
lack of spare parts and consequently saw much less action than their
German counterparts and much of their equipment was destroyed on the
ground.  During the invasion of Sicily, 4th Stormo, now equipped with
MC.205s, and 21st Stormo, equipped with MC.202s, were down to an effective
strength of 20 aircraft (again, most of the attrition was caused on the
ground).

        I could not find any mention of the other aces in the few
references at my disposal.
--
Joe Barone
[email-masked]
Look, when we was in the bocage country, we was assaulted by them Tigers!
You know what I mean by assaulted, hunh?!  Well, I mean assaulted!!

------------------------------

Date:    Mon, 12 Apr 1993 16:12:41 EST
From:    Larry Jewell <[email-masked]>
Subject: Handling Heavy List Traffic

When the traffic on the list gets to heavy, you can reduce it to one
mailing a day by sending the following command:

set wwii-l digest

Send this to

[email-masked]

You can also use this address to unsubscribe to the list if you're going
off the net for the summer.  If you are going off temporarily, you can
prevent conspitated mailboxes by sending:

set wwii-l nomail

And you can send

set wwii-l mail

to restart the mail.

I get an error message from each bad address for each message sent to the list.
This has been as high as 275 per day at the end of one semester of school.
This type of situation makes for a very cranky listowner.

Larry J

#L.W. Jewell Moderator at the Veterans Information Site ([email-masked])#
#& WWII-L Listowner: "Sunday's horoscope is note worthy because of its strange,#
#sudden and wholly unpredictable and inexplicable occurrences, affecting all   #
#phases of life." "Your Horoscope" L.A. Evening Herald Express, Sat, 12/06/41  #

------------------------------

Date:    Mon, 12 Apr 1993 18:46:50 EDT
From:    Michael Cotter <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: What is this thing?????????????

Tim, You're on to a trail that is similar to a student of ours last semester,
who hoped to write his term paper on the history of the uniform that he bought
in a local thrift shop.  When I last saw him, he had found out the person's
rank and date of retirement and was looking in the WWII history of the
Quartermaster Corps to learn about procurement policies and manufacturing
practices for Army uniforms.  We also found information in Congressional
hearings about military procurement.  Wonder what he finally came up with....

Michael Cotter
Documents Librarian
Joyner Library
East Carolina University
Greenville NC 27858
919/757-6533

------------------------------

Date:    Mon, 12 Apr 1993 20:10:13 EDT
From:    Michael Cotter <[email-masked]>
Subject: REF: U.S. Army in WWII

Just received in the U. S. government depository section in our library:

United States Army in World War II: Reader's Guide.  Compiled and edited by
Richard D. Adamcyzk and Morris J. MacGregor.  Washington, DC: United States
Army Center of Military History, 1992.  Purchase information from Government
Printing Office, Stock No. 008-029-00251-5, $10.00 USA; $12.50 foreign;
ISBN 0-16-037817-6.  173 pp., paper.   SuDocs class no.: D 114.7/2:992

This is a thorough description of the contents of each of the volumes in the
_United States Army in World War II_ series, with a page or two describing
each volume, its contents, and the subjects covered therein.  The annotations
are also written to put each volume (and the subject it covers) in perspective
to the war effort.

Note: I'm listing this now, even though it may appear later in Larry's file of
publications from the U. S. government; I think that it's worthwhile enough
to deserve a separate listing.

USE YOUR DEPOSITORY LIBRARY!  YOUR TAXES AT WORK!!

Michael Cotter
Documents Librarian
Joyner Library
East Carolina University
Greenville NC 27858
919/757-6533

------------------------------

Date:    Mon, 12 Apr 1993 19:26:11 CST
From:    "[email-masked]. --Scherrer,
         Tim A." <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: What is this thing?????????????

The labels in the jacket say "RITEX Military Apparel, Criterion Mercery,
200 Pitt Street, Sydney"---Thanks in advance--Tim

************************************************************************
*  Tim A. Scherrer          "You'll be fighting WWII for the rest of   *
*  Facilities Supervisor     your life", Ron Scherrer, 1971            *
*  WP:816-785-5253                                                     *
*  HP:816-665-6704                                                     *
*  ID# [email-masked]                             *
************************************************************************

------------------------------

Date:    Mon, 12 Apr 1993 20:25:40 EDT
From:    Michael Cotter <[email-masked]>
Subject: Military Booksellers (cont.)

On March 25, 1993, Larry Jewell posted a list of Military Booksellers.  Here
are two booksellers or publishers who have issued lists in the past year:

Stanley Kramer Books, "Military History," Winter 1992. (Mail Order Book Service
11910-U Parklawn Drive, Rockville MD 20852)  800/423-BOOK

Books from various publishers.  Annotations written by Kramer's staff.

Garland Publishing Co., "New and Recent Books in Military Studies," 1991/92.
(Garland Publishing, 1000A Sherman Avenue, Hamden CT 06514)  800/627-6273

Books published by Garland.  Includes documentary collections, such as American
Concentration Camps; Tokyo War Crimes Trial; Covert Warfare; America's Plans
for War Against the Soviet Union, 1945-1950; the Holocaust.  Also includes
some PhD dissertations (not necessarily recent).

Michael Cotter
Documents Librarian
Joyner Library
East Carolina University
Greenville NC 27858
919/757-6533

------------------------------

End of WWII-L Digest - 11 Apr 1993 to 12 Apr 1993
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