Subject: WWII-L Digest - 16 Aug 1994 to 17 Aug 1994

From: Automatic digest processor <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 18 Aug 1994 00:00:56 -0400

There are 18 messages totalling 937 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

  1. 50TH: A TWENTY-FOUR HOUR PASS
  2. JAPAN PONDERS THE WAR (3)
  3. INF: 50 Years Ago - 18-AUG-1944
  4. INF: Jeannette Rankin
  5. Re[2]: German squad vs....
  6. WEAP:  German Concre...
  7. MEDIA: Smithsonian Exhibit
  8. MEDIA:Operation Dragoon
  9. MEDIA:Dragoon cont'd (4)
 10. Cobras Over the Tundra (2)
 11. [INF] USAAF 18 AUG 44
 12. JAPAN PONDERS THE

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Date:    Wed, 17 Aug 1994 13:54:52 +0200
From:    JOHN AUSLAND <[email-masked]>
Subject: 50TH: A TWENTY-FOUR HOUR PASS

   Oslo, August 17, 1994

   As promised several days ago, I am posting here my letter home about
my and George De Meyers' adventures during a twenty-four hour pass.
(George was one of my forward observers.)

          GEORGE AND I GET A TWENTY-FOUR PASS

          Dear Folks, August 17, 1944, Somewhere in France

          Boy, what a twenty-four hour pass! Best I've ever had.
          Didn't know you could have so much fun in twenty-four
          hours. Let me tell you about it.

          Lt. George De Meyers and I got a day off from noon to
          noon, a command car complete with driver, a bottle of
          Scotch apiece, and permission to go anywhere in France
          we wanted. Since Paris is not yet quite in our hands, we
          went to a large city about fifty miles from where we were.
          (Footnote: the town was Rennes.)

          Now don't start worrying that I've taken to drinking.
          You'll see the need for the whisky later.

          On our way to the town we stopped in a small village at
          a sidewalk cafe for a bite to eat. There we got acquainted
          with two very pleasant ladies. One's husband is Dr.
          Colas-Pelletier of ---, the city to which we were going. I
          don't remember her friend's name. Both were very
          attractive and very interesting to talk to. The doctor's wife
          speaks English - learned it in Shanghai - but her friend
          didn't.

          We talked for several hours, interspersed with freely
          flowing wine and sandwiches. The summation of the
          conversation was that they did not like the Germans.

          When we were leaving, I asked for the check. The
          waitress said that the madame had put it on her bill.
          But, no, we wouldn't hear of it. But we did, because any
          attempt to pay was politely and firmly refused.

          Off to a good start, we continued on toward ---. Nearing
          the city, we saw a hospital. And where there is a
          hospital, there are nurses. Sooo - we went into the area.
          It was right in the middle of a racetrack and consisted of
          tents. We wandered up to a group of pyramidal tents,
          where we saw some nurses. We started talking to them,
          introduced ourselves, and explained that we were looking
          for dates to go into --- for the evening. Really, they'd just
          love to, but they went on duty at seven. Why didn't we
          wait for the day shift to come off? We would.

          One snippy nurse came out of her tent and said, "Don't
          you all know that this is off limits to you?" George gave
          her the best answer yet. "Listen, girl, all I hear is off
          limits. I helped take the ground this hospital is located
          on, and I'll go where I please." May not be good
          discipline, but it expresses our attitude toward many of
          the silly and harassing rules they have in the rear areas.

          Well, we invited ourselves to their mess for supper and
          went back to wait for the day shift to come off duty. In
          the meantime, one of the girls heard us mention our
          whisky, and we had an excellent crowd around in no
          time. Clever girls they are too. One said, "I don't want to
          drink out here. Slip it under the tent, and I'll drink it
          inside." I did. But George, being wiser than I, smelled a
          rat. He went around inside the tent. And there they were
          pouring part of our whisky into their canteen.

          Well, to make a long story short, we got two dates and
          went into the city. There we went - at the doctor's wife's
          recommendation -    to a place called Ricci's Bar. Now
          the bar wasn't much, but you should have seen Ricci.
          She was as attractive a girl as I've seen in many a day.
          I offered her a drink, but she said, "No thank you. I
          never drink." Imagine. She says it makes her ill. I danced
          several numbers with her, and she was very good. She
          said it was the first time she had danced in four years.
          The Germans wouldn't let them.

          Anne, the nurse with me, said to Ricci, in a stage
          whisper, "Ricci, where's the little girl's room?" "The what?"
          "The little girl's room." "I do not understand, this little
          girl's room." George shouted, "She means the toilet." "Oh,
          the toilet, right this way."

          So we had a big time. They drank our whisky, a
          non-existent item for them, and we drank their
          champagne - excellent. The evening was marred with but
          one incident.

          Our driver came in and said that a lieutenant colonel
          from the M.P.'s was outside and wanted to see us. I went
          outside, reported to the colonel, and asked what the
          difficulty was. "Do you know this town is off limits to
          troops?" "I do not, sir. There were no signs up." "Well, its
          is. And besides your vehicle doesn't have a dispatch."

          Well, a dispatch is something we used in garrison and
          hadn't used in combat since D-day. It sounded almost too
          ridiculous to be true. I could easily have written one out
          myself but just hadn't thought of doing so.

          The colonel turned to the driver. "How long have you
          been driving?" "Three years, sir." "Don't you know you
          have to have a dispatch?" That was too much. I
          interrupted with, "Colonel, I don't want to cause any
          trouble, but this vehicle landed on D-day and for two
          months has been a tactical vehicle. And the driver had
          no way of knowing he needed a dispatch today." Well, the
          colonel started being a bit more reasonable and suggested
          I send the vehicle out of town and let it come back and
          pick me up. This I did.

          Such things are always difficult, but it is hard to explain
          how you feel when something like this happens on your
          first time off in some time. Well, c'est la guerre.

          Nevertheless, the whole pass was a huge success, and we
          returned to our unit on time and quite ready for duty.

          Mother, I've not succeeded in locating Brown's outfit. I
          doubt that the details of his death would make a picture
          his mother would want to see; they never do. She can be
          assured that as an infantry officer he was doing the most
          dangerous and difficult job any soldier does or can do. It
          is a post that can be fulfilled by - unfortunately -only
          our best men. Like many others, he probably died in the
          Cherbourg campaign, the most difficult and vital part of
          our entire operation to date. It is regrettable our sons
          must go like this, but, they go at it willingly and with full
          recognition of the cost involved. It is not easy for them or
          the mothers.

          But if you could see what a conquering nation has done
          to France, you would realize that the term "liberation
          armies" is not misplaced. For it is impossible to describe
          the appreciation all these people express for the work we
          are doing. It is not a shallow cheering, but a sincere
          thanks for the deliverance from the oppression under
          which they have lived for so many years, where so many
          of them were about to despair.

          My love to all, John

          (Excerpt from LETTERS HOME: A WAR MEMOIR, Copyright 1993
          John C. Ausland)

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

Date:    Wed, 17 Aug 1994 07:31:02 EDT
From:    Alan Wild <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: JAPAN PONDERS THE WAR

Ben Frank was saying:
>As far as I am concerned until Japan apologizes and acknowledges its guilt for
>the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor even as its envoys were conferring with U.S.
>officials in Washington, and until the country acknowldges its guilt and
>complicity in the Bataan Death March, the inhuman treatment of POWs, its guilt
>in the Rape of Nanking, and admit its medical experiments a laMengele whatever
>it has done since that time is of little or no interest to me or to a whole
>generation of U.S. Pacific War veterans. Ben Frank

I understand the Japanese were in China in the mid 30's. What provoked that?
Does anyone know? Also, what was the sum situation prior to their shicho on
Pearl. I understood there were disputes over oil rights in indochina. Does
anybody have the "PC" of it? What were the forces sending Japan to war? Was
it the feverish pitch of expansionism that I have come understand? Was Tojo
that much of a Hitler?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alan Wild, LAN Mgr.  Father of 1.8815          Voice:          (401) 792-2611
ACC - Lippitt - URI  American Legion Post 102. FAX:            (401) 792-5479
Kingston, RI  02881  NRA Life Member           BITNET:           AWild@URIACC
                                               Internet: [email-masked]

"Duties and responsibilities were woven into the fabric of pre-D-Day living.
It was a self-disciplined, free society that those troops cherished, and they
fought a war for it.

The Woodstock celebrants won a cultural war eliminating both the standards
of, and the respect for, self-discipline.

The spoils of that victory are numerous and devastating.
                                                          -John A. Howard
                                                           Rockford Institute
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date:    Wed, 17 Aug 1994 06:26:25 -0700
From:    John Davis <[email-masked]>
Subject: INF: 50 Years Ago - 18-AUG-1944

On 18-AUG-1944, the following occurred -

World War II - The Battlefronts
-------------------------------
Northern France - Allied troops continue their westward advance towards the
Seine. Forward units of the US 3rd Army reach Versailles. Units of the
Canadian II Corps join up with advance guards of the US XV Corps between
Falaise and Argentan, closing the so-called Falaise gap, through which the
German 7th Army and units of the 5th Armoured Army have been withdrawing.
Field-Marshall von Kluge commits suicide at Metz rather than be hauled before
a People's Court. He leaves a letter for Hitler which says among other things
"I do not know whether Field-Marshal Model will be able to restore the
position. I hope so with all my heart. But if not, and if your new weapons, in
which such burning faith is placed, do not bring success, then mein Fuhrer,
take the decision to end the war. The German people have suffered such
unspeakable ills that the time has come to put an end to these horrors."

Southern France - The US VI Corps heads for Aix-en-Provence; while the French
1st Division advances westward towards Toulon and Marseilles.

Eastern Front - The German counter-attack in the area of Siauliai, in
Lithuania continues. The 1st Baltic Front is barely able to withstand the
German onslaught. Units of the 1st Ukraine Front capture Sandomierz, on the
west bank of the Vistula, in southern Poland.

Naval Dispatches
----------------
Amphibious force flagship CATOCTIN (AGC-5) damaged by bombing, Southern
France.

Japanese escort carrier ORAKA sunk by submarine RASHER (SS-26), off
northwestern Luzon, P.I.

Japanese light cruiser NATORI sunk by submarine HARDHEAD (SS-365), east of
Samar, P.I.

=============================================================================

Sources: "2194 Days of War" by Cesare Salmaggi and Alfredo Pallavisimi, "The
World Almanac Book Of WW II" by Peter Young, "United States Naval Chronology,
World War II" by Naval Historical Division - United States Navy, "Facts On
File Yearbook 1944, Person's Index Of World Events" edited by R.L. Lapica.

----------
John Davis  [email-masked]
Cary, N.C.
----------

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

Date:    Wed, 17 Aug 1994 09:17:17 -0500
From:    Michael D Wallick <[email-masked]>
Subject: INF: Jeannette Rankin

Some facts about Jeannette Rankin from COLLIER'S ENCYCLOPEDIA:

Born near Missoula, Montana, on June 11, 1880.

Educated at Montana State University and New York School of Philanthropy.

Joined suffrage movement.  Served as legislative secretary of the
National American Woman Suffrage Association.

Elected to Congress in 1916.  Concerned about national woman suffrage and
the problems of copper miners in Montana.  In foreign affairs, was strongly
isolationist.  In 1917, voted against declaring war on Germany.

Ran unsuccessfully for Senate in 1917.

Served second term in Congress from 1941 to 1943.  Cast the only vote
against the U.S. declaration of war on Japan.

Opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War during the 1960's.

Died on May 18, 1973, in California.

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

Date:    Wed, 17 Aug 1994 11:11:19 CDT
From:    Tim not Timothy Scherrer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re[2]: German squad vs....

If you are referring to my posts, my sources are my own experience at WW
II reenactments carrying kar 98(k)'s, MP-40's and once an MG-34.  I've
also fought as a GI with an M-1 and an 0-3 Springfield.

The German firepower due to having a "real" machine gun is a tremendous
advantage, although the individual riflemen in the American squad can pu
t it out fairly well too.  It really depends upon how much stake you put
in SLA Marshall's findings--if you buy them, than the German squad's
primary weapon is much better.  If you believe the individual riflemen
fired more than Marshall wrote, than the American squad has the edge.

BTW, the MG-42 is a far superior weapon over the MG-34 because of the
barrel changing method and the overall mechanism of the gun--it just
works better.  The cyclic rate makes it very heavy for the ammo bearers
but the load lights pretty quickly after the gun is fixed in position.

TAS

************************************************************************
*  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:    Wed, 17 Aug 1994 12:37:13 EDT
From:    [email-masked]
Subject: Re: WEAP:  German Concre...

I have some information on this grenade from the July 1945 issue of the
Intelligence Bulletin published by the Militarty intelligence division of the
war dept.
It says: large quanities of the grenade have been found and that it has been
accorded official recognition (not just a local improvisation).

Type 1 rectanglar in cross section wooden handle, with a 3/8 in square groove
running the length of the handle(this is for the cord that is attached to the
fuze. The forward end of the handle has two prongs with iron wire wrapped
around them.The head is made of concrete and is hollow.

Type 2 is simpler , instead of a hollow in the head of the wooden handle to
hold the stick charge, a semicircular cavity is milled into the wood, the
explosive charge is placed in this cavity and the whole assembly then is
centered in the concrete mold.

Th article includes 3 pictures of type 1 and one of type 2

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

Date:    Wed, 17 Aug 1994 13:44:25 -0400
From:    Tom Shirhall <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: JAPAN PONDERS THE WAR

Alan Wild asked:

>I understand the Japanese were in China in the mid 30's. What provoked that?
>Does anyone know?

My recollection is that relative junior army officers attacked Manchuria in
1933 for the honor of the emperor without authorization. Since they were
"wildly" successful, their superiors had to support them. And so on to war.
The Japanese had something like the Monroe Doctrine. I think that they
called in the Greater Asiatic Co-prosperity Sphere. They believed in
Japanese racial superiority, which is funny because most of the residents of
that area are all of the same racial stock.

All from memory, so I'm open to contradiction, but that's what I learned in
school back in the 40's.

Tom Shirhall
[email-masked]

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

Date:    Wed, 17 Aug 1994 14:42:34 -0400
From:    James E Irwin <[email-masked]>
Subject: MEDIA: Smithsonian Exhibit

>From the DoD Newswire 16 August 1994

:CONTEXT AND THE ENOLA GAY

    The Washington Post says THE ENOLA Gay aircraft from which atomic
bombs were dropped on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki is by its nature an evocative, emotionally
powerful object. No matter what kind of exhibition surrounds the plane
when it goes on display at the National Air and Space Museum later
this year - if it does - spectators will respond with their own strong
feelings about the end of World War II and the start of the nuclear
age. That's no reason to shy away from an Enola Gay exhibit; on the
contrary. But it's also not the real reason the museum is in so much
trouble over its plans for the exhibit so far, or why criticism
continues to intensify despite one round of revisions completed and
more promised, though this is the explanation favored by museum
spokesmen. The two sides are talking past each other, and it's the
Smithsonian that needs to do more listening.
     The museum's director, Martin Harwit, wrote recently in these
pages that the exhibitors faced a "dilemma" because of "two divergent
but widely held views" of the dropping of the bomb - one that he
describes as a patriotic postwar consensus that the act was necessary
and heroic and the other, "more analytical, critical" and, to some,
"discomfiting," taking account of the horrors of nuclear war. "We have
found no way," Mr. Harwit concluded, "to exhibit the Enola Gay and
satisfy everyone."
    But Mr. Harwit's terms betray the assumption that has rightly made
critics so unhappy, namely that the difference between his take on the
Enola Gay and his critics' take on it is not simply one of political
opinion but of intellectual sophistication. This naturally rankles
with veterans' and other groups that offered detailed and substantive
criticism of the initial plan, which they said was emotionally rigged
to create an anti-nuclear perspective and to present Japan
overwhelmingly as a victim country fighting only to preserve its
"culture." Pre-1945 narrative about Japanese aggression was omitted,
they said, and aspersions (including of racism) were cast on U.S.
government motives to a degree that went past any "analytic" recital
of the facts. The museum tacitly acknowledged some of these failings
when it promised extensive revisions, but it hasn't come through, and
the conceptual gap between museum and critics remains wide.
    What's going on? Mr. Harwit, director of a museum loved for its
enthusiastic presentations of American technical triumphs, can't be
taxed with reflexive hostility toward the Enola Gay. He was
instrumental in getting the artifact restored after years of neglect
and in arranging any anniversary display at all (political pitfalls
killed a previous plan to mount one at the still-unbuilt museum annex
near Dulles). What the tenor of the debate suggests instead is a
curatorial inability to perceive that political opinions are embedded
in the exhibit or to identify them as such - opinions - rather than as
universal, "objective" assumptions all thinking people must
necessarily share. This confusion is increasingly common in academia
and owes much to the fashionable and wrong academic notion that
objectivity is unattainable anyway and that all presentations of
complex issues must be politically tendentious. It's a notion that
must be fought - above all by institutions such as the Smithsonian.

=======

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 James E. Irwin (Jim)                  Internet address:
 Defense Personnel Support Center        [email-masked]
 2800 S. 20th Street                   215-737-3678
 Philadelphia PA  19101-8419           Autovon 444-3678

                     "Never in the field of human conflict
                     was so much owed by so many to so few."
                               Winston S. Churchill
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date:    Wed, 17 Aug 1994 14:52:04 -0400
From:    James E Irwin <[email-masked]>
Subject: MEDIA:Operation Dragoon

>From the DoD Newswire 16 August 1994

:U.S. VETS MARK OTHER D DAY

   CAVALAIRE, France  -- Four veteran U.S. paratroopers dropped
into the Mediterranean on Monday during celebrations marking the 50th
anniversary of the Allied invasion of southern France during World War
II.
   Thousands of people standing in the surf along this Riviera beach
applauded as the Americans floated down from a French army helicopter
and were picked up by French sailors in speedboats.
   While fireworks and colored smoke bombs dropped from vintage
warplanes, the veterans stepped ashore in a symbolic re-enactment of
the landings by American and French troops 10 weeks after the D-Day
invasion at Normandy.
   After changing into dry uniforms, the vets paraded down the town's
packed streets, drawing cries of "Vive les veterans!" Townspeople
lined up to touch them, shake hands and present gifts.
   "It's like 50 years ago," said Leslie Green, 71, of Selma, Calif.
"We got a warm welcome then, too."
   Green was joined by William King, 78, of Long Island, Va.; Angelo
Poliuto, 80, of Farmington Hills, Mich.; and Ken Shaker, 78, of San
Diego. A fifth veteran, Everett Hall, 75, of North Kingston, R.I.,
suffered a sudden case of dysentery and was unable to jump.
   The jump was the most dramatic event in two days of commemorations
of Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France.
   All the men except Poliuto, who was taken prisoner while fighting
the Germans at Anzio in Italy, fought in Operation Dragoon, and all
are former members of the 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment. They
dedicated Monday's jump to a plane of comrades who disappeared over
the sea during the invasion.
   Twenty young French paratroopers followed the Americans into the
water, but the hero's welcome was reserved -- as in Normandy in June
when Shaker, Hall and 39 other vets jumped near Sainte-Mere-Eglise --
for men whose age normally rules out such adventures.
   Premier Edouard Balladur, in a speech to veterans at the
commemoration, said: "France will always honor you."

======

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 James E. Irwin (Jim)                  Internet address:
 Defense Personnel Support Center        [email-masked]
 2800 S. 20th Street                   215-737-3678
 Philadelphia PA  19101-8419           Autovon 444-3678

                     "Never in the field of human conflict
                     was so much owed by so many to so few."
                               Winston S. Churchill
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date:    Wed, 17 Aug 1994 14:54:36 -0400
From:    James E Irwin <[email-masked]>
Subject: MEDIA:Dragoon cont'd

>From the DoD Newswire 16 August 1994

:ALLIED WARSHIPS CELEBRATE PROVENCE LANDING

     FREJUS, France, Aug 14 (Reuter) -  A flotilla of 33 French,
British and U.S. warships steamed nearly 100 km (60 miles) along the
French Riviera coast on Sunday to honour the allied landing in
Provence 50 years ago.
     The ships fired their guns and their crews saluted sharply as
they steamed past President Francois Mitterrand and ignitaries from 22
other countries reviewing the flotilla from the deck of the French
aircraft carrier Foch.
     Waves of French and U.S. fighter planes and combat helicopters
few low over the naval parade in tight formation.
     The ceremonial show of force commemorated the World War Two
landing of some 400,000 allied soldiers along the Provence coast
beginning in the early morning hours of August 15, 1944.
     They arrived by boat, glider and parachute and briefly
transformed the Riviera into a bloody battleground that hastened the
end of the Nazi occupation of Europe.
     "Fifty years ago, in the Provence night, as parachute jumpers and
gliders floated to the ground in the strange silence that precedes
battle, soldiers came to liberate us," said Defence Minister Francois
Leotard.
     "In the name of the French government, I hope that our tribute
will be a living sign of the respect, admiration and fidelity of all
France," he told a memorial ceremony near the village of La Motte, the
first to be liberated in Provence.
     Returning veterans, delighted by the warm French welcome,
recalled the event with a wistfulness tempered by the years.
     "I was the lead man in the lead airplane at 4:32 in the morning
on August 15," retired Lieutenant-General Richard Seitz of Junction
City, Kansas, told Reuters.
     "My battalion was the only one that landed where we were supposed
to," said Seitz, who was one of 9,700 British and Americans to land
near La Motte well before dawn and lay the groundwork for the beach
landings to begin later that morning.
     "I came down in a grape vineyard. I went by and looked at the
place this morning," he said. "It's a thrill being back."
     The Provence landing came 10 weeks after the strategically more
daring and bloodier D-Day landing on the coast of Normandy in northern
France and has lived ever since in its shadow.
     But the French view the assault on Provence with particular pride
because three quarters of the troops were free French forces, many of
them from then-French colonies in northern and western Africa.
     In recognition of their contribution, the presidents of Benin,
Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Djibouti,
Gabon, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Togo
were on the Foch to review the flotilla.
     High-ranking officials also were present from Algeria, Comores,
Congo, Ivory Coast, Morocco and Tunisia.
     The United States, which sent President Bill Clinton to the
Normandy celebrations in June, was represented by its envoy to France,
Pamela Harriman. Britain's Queen Elizabeth, who attended the D-Day
anniversary, sent her second son, the Duke of York.
     Allied commanders initially planned for the two operations --
"Hammer" in Normandy and "Anvil" in Provence -- to take place
simultaneously. At the last minute, the names were changed to
"Overlord" and "Dragoon" to confuse Nazi spies.
     While "Overlord" kicked off on June 6, "Dragoon" was delayed for
strategic and logistical reasons and almost cancelled altogether. To
the end, British leader Winston Churchill tried to scuttle it, arguing
for an allied push toward Vienna instead.
     Though there were pockets of fierce resistance, the German
defence of the south was far weaker than it had been in Normandy.
Already reeling from intense attacks on other fronts, the occupying
force lost its hold on the region in weeks.
     Nearly 3,000 Germans were taken prisoner during the operation
while about 800 allied soldiers died.
     The allied forces later swept east to Nice and north up the Rhone
valley much faster than they had expected, eventually linking up with
the forces from Normandy.

=======

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 James E. Irwin (Jim)                  Internet address:
 Defense Personnel Support Center        [email-masked]
 2800 S. 20th Street                   215-737-3678
 Philadelphia PA  19101-8419           Autovon 444-3678

                     "Never in the field of human conflict
                     was so much owed by so many to so few."
                               Winston S. Churchill
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date:    Wed, 17 Aug 1994 15:49:13 EDT
From:    Alan Wild <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: JAPAN PONDERS THE WAR

Tom Shirhall <[email-masked]> writes,...
>>I understand the Japanese were in China in the mid 30's. What provoked that?
>>Does anyone know?
>
>My recollection is that relative junior army officers attacked Manchuria in
>1933 for the honor of the emperor without authorization. Since they were
>"wildly" successful, their superiors had to support them. And so on to war.
>The Japanese had something like the Monroe Doctrine. I think that they
>called in the Greater Asiatic Co-prosperity Sphere. They believed in
>Japanese racial superiority, which is funny because most of the residents of
>that area are all of the same racial stock.

Hi Tom,... thanks for the info., and say "Hey!" to Deb Heystek for me. Tell
her we hope to see her & Clarke this Fall.

Amicably, Alan

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alan Wild, LAN Mgr.  Father of 1.8815          Voice:          (401) 792-2611
ACC - Lippitt - URI  American Legion Post 102. FAX:            (401) 792-5479
Kingston, RI  02881  NRA Life Member           BITNET:           AWild@URIACC
                                               Internet: [email-masked]

For those who understand, music is the only real art form.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date:    Wed, 17 Aug 1994 14:54:52 EST
From:    [email-masked]
Subject: Re: MEDIA:Dragoon cont'd

This discussion of Operation Dragoon has set me to wondering just how
different the war might have gone if their had been no Overlord, just
Dragoon.  I suspect the Germans would have been very reluctant to shift
the bulk of their forces southwards and our advance might have been far
less bloody, at least initially.
*************************************************
(Roger) Brad Coon            "Lions are basically
[email-masked]          scavengers of
[email-masked]    hyaena kills."
                              Hans Kruuk

Kill a lion, save a hyaena!
Boycott Disney lionist propaganda!
*************************************************

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

Date:    Wed, 17 Aug 1994 17:43:45 EDT
From:    Alan Wild <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: MEDIA:Dragoon cont'd

Wasn't German air power still a major factor in that area?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alan Wild, LAN Mgr.  Father of 1.8815          Voice:          (401) 792-2611
ACC - Lippitt - URI  American Legion Post 102. FAX:            (401) 792-5479
Kingston, RI  02881  NRA Life Member           BITNET:           AWild@URIACC
                                               Internet: [email-masked]

For those who understand, music is the only real art form.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date:    Wed, 17 Aug 1994 17:24:54 -0700
From:    Jim Curry <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: MEDIA:Dragoon cont'd

Hello,Alan!
Recently I read _Riviera to the Rhine_, the recently published US Army
official history of this campaign (and one of the last "Green Books".)
This source states that Luftwaffe strength was inconsiderable,and had
little effect on the Allied invasion.
Jim Curry

On Wed, 17 Aug 1994, Alan Wild wrote:

> Wasn't German air power still a major factor in that area?
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Alan Wild, LAN Mgr.  Father of 1.8815          Voice:          (401) 792-2611
> ACC - Lippitt - URI  American Legion Post 102. FAX:            (401) 792-5479
> Kingston, RI  02881  NRA Life Member           BITNET:           AWild@URIACC
>                                                Internet: [email-masked]
>
> For those who understand, music is the only real art form.
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>

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

Date:    Wed, 17 Aug 1994 19:54:50 -0500
From:    GEORGE BAUER <[email-masked]>
Subject: Cobras Over the Tundra

Does anybody know about a book called Cobras Over the Tundra by
Everett Long?  It is supposed to be about airplanes flown to Alaska
during WWII destination Russia.

The book is supposed to be published by Arktika Publishers in Fairbanks,
but I can find no reference to them or to the book..

Help...............

  =========================================================================
  | DR.  GEORGE R. BAUER             | INTERESTS:                         |
  |                                  | Computers in Business & Education. |
  | Recently returned from my second | Education:  Curriculum development.|
  |   extended stay in Prague.       |    International Education, TEFL.  |
  | Working on second book about     | Central Europe:  Post revolution   |
  |   Prague and new Czech Republic  |    economic, social, political     |
  |   and a book about the B-25      |    problems and opportunities.     |
  |   in WWII.                       | B-25 in WWII.                      |
  | E-Mail:                          | Free lance writing and editing.    |
  |   USA:  [email-masked]    | Stamp collecting.                  |
  =========================================================================

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

Date:    Wed, 17 Aug 1994 20:58:00 EDT
From:    mc killop <[email-masked]>
Subject: [INF] USAAF 18 AUG 44

COMBAT CHRONOLOGY OF THE US ARMY AIR FORCES
MONDAY, 14 AUGUST 1944
FTP SITES
  1. ftp.rutgers.edu in directory pub/wwii/usaf
  2. byrd.mu.wvnet.edu (129.71.32.152) in pub/history/military/airforce/
     wwii_chronology

AIRCRAFT MENTIONED IN THIS REPORT:
  A-20, Douglas Havoc
  B-17, Boeing Flying Fortress
  B-24, Consolidated Liberator
  B-25, North American Mitchell
  B-26, Martin Marauder
  Beaufighter, Bristol
  C-47, Douglas Skytrain
  Mosquito, deHavilland
  P-38, Lockheed Lightning
  P-40, Curtiss
  P-47, Republic Thunderbolt
  P-51, North American Mustang

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA (CBI) THEATER OF OPERATIONS

  BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, B-25s bomb Mohnyin and Indaw; 18
P-51s pound targets in the Myothit area; 46 other fighter-bombers hit various
N Burma targets including Naba junction, the active area near Pinbaw, a
building and targets of opportunity at Thaikwagon, a command post at Hopin,
a motor pool at Nansiaung Forest, ammunition and other supplies in the
Mohnyin area, and bridges S of Bhamo one of which is slightly damaged; and
the 2d Troop Carrier Squadron, 443d Troop Carrier Group, moves from Dinjan,
India to Shingbwiyang with C-47s.

  CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 24 B-25s blast Lungling while 16
P-40s hit a fortified pass and targets of opportunity to the S; 12 B-25s bomb
the railroad yards at Siangtan; 31 P-40s and P-51s hit the railroad yards,
river shipping, and general targets of opportunity at Hengyang; 13 P-40s
attack Tengchung; 13 others hit trucks, troops, and rivercraft at Pailochi
and Sinying and 4 bomb a bridge at Hsenwi.

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

  STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 552: 1,183 bombers and 429
fighters are dispatched to attack 9 airfields, 2 aero engine factories, 1 oil
plant, 2 bridges, 2 rail junctions and other secondary and targets of
opportunity in SW Germany, E France, and the Bordeaux, France region; 2
bombers and 1 fighter are lost (numbers in parenthesis indicate number of
bombers attacking the target):
  1. Of 376 B-24s dispatched to France, the following airfields are hit:
Lyon/Bron (108), Dijon/Longvi (83) and Dole/Evaux (70); bridges hit are at
Anizy (46) and Fismes (34); and 12 B-24s hit Liart rail junction and 1 hits a
target of opportunity; 1 B-24 is damaged beyond repair and 32 are damaged; 2
airmen are WIA. Escort is provided by 92 P-47s and P-51s without loss.
  2. 77 B-24s are dispatched to hit French rail junctions at Saintes (38) and
Angouleme (38) without loss. Escort is provided by 40 of 42 P-51s without
loss.
  3. 349 B-17s dispatched to Germany hit Ludwigshafen (144), Mannheim (110)
and Mannheim/Sandhofen Airfield (72); 4 others hit targets of opportunity; 2
B-17s are lost and 232 damaged; 8 airmen are WIA and 18 MIA. Escort is
provided by 88 of 99 P-51s without loss.
  4. 381 B-17s dispatched to Germany hit airfields at Hagenau (92), Metz/
Frascaty (72), Florennes (24) and Chievres (9); and Stuttgart/Echterdingen
(72), Kaisereslautern (46), Sindelfingen (12), Trier (10) and targets of
opportunity (16); 20 B-17s are damaged. Escort is provided by 168 of 193
P-51s; they claim 10-0-11 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot is MIA).
  Mission 553: 6 of 6 B-17s drop leaflets in France during the night; they
claim 1-0-0 Luftwaffe aircraft. 37 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions in France;
1 B-24 is lost.
  136 P-38s and P-47s fly fighter-bomber missions in the Paris area; they
claim 3-0-0 aircraft; 1 P-38 and 2 P-47s are lost, 1 P-47 is damaged beyond
repair and 2 P-47s are damaged; 2 pilots are MIA.
  The 36th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), VIII Air Force Composite Command,
moves from Harrington to Cheddington, England with B-24s; the squadron will
convert from CARPETBAGGER to ECM missions over Europe.

  TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In France, A-20s and B-26s with
fighter escort hit several highway and rail bridges, junctions and sidings
mostly beyond the battlelines to delay and complicate the German retreat;
fighters fly armed reconnaissance over the Falaise, Broglie, and Chartres
areas, and support ground forces, especially 7 armored and infantry divisions,
over wide areas of N and W France; a XIX Tactical Air Command squadron
uniquely effects the surrender of a number of German ground troops, Germans
on roads being strafed by the squadron NE of Carrouges wave white flags,
whereupon the planes buzz the road and shepherd the enemy troops into a
column which then proceeds to US lines to surrender; HQ 358th Fighter Group
and the 365th, 366th and 367th Fighter Squadrons move from Cretteville to
Pontorson with P-47s; HQ 367th Fighter Group moves from Beuzeville to
Cricqueville; and the 355th Fighter Squadron, 354th Fighter Group, moves from
Cricqueville to Gael with P-51s.

MEDITERRANEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (MTO)

  STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Fifteenth Air Force): 540 B-24s and B-17s bomb gun
positions in the Toulon, France and Genoa, Italy areas as the Operation
DRAGOON convoy heads for the French Mediterranean coast; 145 P-38s and P-51s
strafe radar installations at several coastal points.

  TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Twelfth Air Force): In France, medium bombers hit
coastal defenses while fighter-bombers pound various gun positions, tracks,
enemy HQ, and targets of opportunity in the Toulon-Nice area; fighters strafe
radar installations and targets of opportunity along the S coast as Operation
DRAGOON forces approach. In Italy during the night of 13/14 Aug, A-20s hit
targets of opportunity in the W Po Valley and a fuel dump N of the battle
area; and the 416th Night Fighter Squadron, 62d Fighter Wing, based at
Pomigliano with Beaufighters and Mosquitos, sends detachments to operate from
Alghero, Sicily and Borgo, Corsica.

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, Seventh Air Force): The Seventh Air Force is
reorganized as a "mobile tactical airforce" retaining only units that will
function in the combat area; the VII Bomber Command includes the 11th, 30th
and 494th Bombardment Groups (Heavy), and the 41st Bombardment Group
(Medium); the VII Fighter Command includes the 15th, 21st (in Hawaii) and
318th Fighter Groups and the 6th Night Fighter Squadron; the recently
activated VII Air Service Area Command is composed of 4 service groups; and
the 9th Troop Carrier and 28th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadrons assigned
directly to HQ Seventh Air Force.
  Saipan-based B-24s bomb Iwo Jima Island and B-25s hit Pagan Island and
P-47s hit Rota Island. From the Marshall Islands, B-25s hit Ponape Island and
B-24s bomb Wotje Atoll.
  HQ VII Bomber Command moves from Kwajalein Atoll to Saipan Island.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: B-25s and B-24s
attack Ternate Island, Moluccas Islands, AA positions, oil dumps, barracks,
supply areas, and other targets throughout the Halmahera Islands. In New
Guinea, B-24s pound the airfield at Babo while A-20s and fighter-bombers,
along with Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) aircraft, blasting bivouac, and
troops at Terabu, Kaiten, and Wewak Point; and the 33d Bombardment Squadron
(Heavy), 22d Bombardment Group (Heavy), moves from Nadzab to Owi, Schouten
Islands with B-24s.

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

-------------------------------------------------------------------
|  Jack McKillop         |  Those who have long enjoyed such      |
|  Bellcore              |  privileges as we enjoy forget in      |
|  Piscataway, NJ USA    |  time that men have died to win them.  |
|  [email-masked]  |                       FDR              |
-------------------------------------------------------------------

18/0100Z AUG

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

Date:    Wed, 17 Aug 1994 21:01:55 -0400
From:    Ben Frank <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: JAPAN PONDERS THE

I think that the Japanese incursion into Manchuria was more than simply a case
of hotheaded young officers going out on their own. Manchuria held/holds great
natural resources which Japan then desperately needed, which also explains the
expansion of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity into the Dutch East Indies in
search of oil and rubber. The fact that the U.S. cut off oil and scrap metal
shipments to Japan in the years immediately prior to the opening of the Pacific
War explains the economic forces moving Japan towards war. Explaining Japan's
motivations would take more time and space than is available on these e-mail
postings. There are many good texts available, such as Ron Spector's "Eagle
AgaiAgainst the Sun." Ben Frank

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

Date:    Wed, 17 Aug 1994 21:15:00 EDT
From:    mc killop <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Cobras Over the Tundra

 >Does anybody know about a book called Cobras Over the Tundra by
 >Everett Long?  It is supposed to be about airplanes flown to Alaska
 >during WWII destination Russia.
 >
 >The book is supposed to be published by Arktika Publishers in Fairbanks,
 >but I can find no reference to them or to the book..
 >
 >Help...............

George,

I'll bet it's the Bell P-39 Airacobra and the P-63 Kingcobra.  The
Soviets loved those two airplanes.

1. More than half of the entire P-39 prodiction went to the USSR;
Figures vary with sources from 4,700 to 5,700 but the most common
figure is 4,924 Airacobras as follows:
  108 P-39Ds
   40 P-39Ks
  137 P-39Ls
  157 P-39Ms
 1113 P-39Ns
 3291 P-39Qs
 ???? Airacobra Mk Is
What is known is that 4,719 aircraft eventually reached the Soviet
Union; 2,618 were ferried over the Alaska-Siberia route by pilots
of the 7th Ferrying Group.

2. Of the 3,303 P-63s built, 2,397 were delivered to the Soviet
Unit via the Alaska-Siberia route by the 3d and 7th Ferrying
Groups; 21 were lost in this operation.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
|  Jack McKillop              |  Those who have long enjoyed such |
|  Bellcore                   |  privileges as we enjoy forget in |
|  Piscataway, NJ USA         |  time that men have died to win   |
|  [email-masked]  |  them.                     FDR    |
-------------------------------------------------------------------

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

End of WWII-L Digest - 16 Aug 1994 to 17 Aug 1994
*************************************************