146 - Sevastopol Must Fall! - WW2 - June 13, 1942
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- Опубліковано 11 чер 2021
- It's a week of starts and stops. The Battle of Sevastopol kicks into high gear, and the Battle of Gazala enters its third phase. And what is going on in the Pacific just one week after Midway?
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Between 2 Wars: • Between 2 Wars
Source list: bit.ly/SourcesWW2
Written and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Creative Producer: Maria Kyhle
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Map animations: Eastory ( / eastory )
Colorizations by:
- Mikołaj Uchman
- Daniel Weiss
- Dememorabilia - / dememorabilia
- Carlos Ortega Pereira, BlauColorizations, / blaucolorizations
Sources:
- Yad Vashem 4613_360
- Bundesarchiv RM_25_Bild-61
- IWM: E 13313, E 9569
- Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe
- Rannar Sillard - Easy Target
- Jo Wandrini - Dragon King
- Flouw - A Far Cry
- Fabien Tell - Weapon of Choice
- Andreas Jamsheree - Guilty Shadows 4
- Johannes Bornlöf - The Inspector 4
- Fabien Tell - Break Free
- Farrell Wooten - Duels
- Wendel Scherer - Out the Window
- Christian Andersen - Barrel
- Johan Hynynen - Dark Beginning
- Edward Karl Hanson - Spellbound
- Fabien Tell - Last Point of Safe Return
Archive by Screenocean/Reuters www.screenocean.com.
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
Things look worse weekly for the Allies in North Africa, but as the world is starting to find out, they are a whole lot worse for a great many civilians in occupied territory. Check out our War Against Humanity subseries to learn more about one of the darker chapters in human history. The playlist is right here: ua-cam.com/play/PLsIk0qF0R1j4cwI-ZuDoBLxVEV3egWKoM.html
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9:15 one of those commanders is an imposter! I think it's briggs, he's wearing richards' face from a few moments earlier
LAYzhun AYtranzhair
and yeah, i fought there to learn to speak all those languages.
I wish u would tell us who and what ur talking about/who at the very start of each epsiode.
@@pnutz_2 xz vibz
Is that a Revell He-177 plane in the background?
Japan: We must not let our allies know we lost almost all of our aircraft carriers
Also Japan: Hey Germany, can we borrow an aircraft carrier? No particular reason...
What's even more ludicrous is the how they planned to get that carrier moved to the pacific? Go over the artic ocean, the British and Soviets aren't just gonna let her go thru there. And there is a ton of ice to cross. Around Africa, I'm sure the British and American navies would have a field day. Via south America, look at what happened to the Graf Spee. The idea screams of desperation on behalf of Japanese officials.
"We just wanted to look at it. Study it for...uh...curiosity. The Emperor has a hobby in them. What? You'd like to study Kido Butai more closely in exchange? Yes. About that. It's engaged in a naval operation in...hmm...Antarctica? We're looking to establish a secret research facility there. What? Herr Hitler wants to see it in person? That's his thing? He loves occult research bases in obscure and cold locations? *hangs up in a panic*"
"I think they're on to us."
@@BenGrem917 Fun fact: the Graf Zepplin design was at least partially based on Akagi, which makes this scenario even more odd.
"Yeah, you know how we let you look at our homework that one time? Can we borrow yours for a bit? No, of course we're not going to just submit it as ours, don't be silly"
hahaha
Also: the American press celebrated the victory, it wouldn't be hard for the news to reach German ears and eyes
Just a note - "Fort Stalin" is a german designation. In reality it wasn't even a fort, it was 365th anti air artillery battery position, protected by several pillboxes, and Soviets had no specific name for it aside from unit name. Same for other Sevastopol forts like Fort Molotov and Fort Maxim Gorky.
Thanks I didnt know that, I always assumed they were named by the Russians, especially because the Germans often simply used numbers to describe things instead of names.
They also had names like "Fort Cheka", "Fort OGPU" and "Fort Siberia"
@@matheusgu In the summer of 1942, on the way to Stalingrad, some Germans were photographed in a dugout called "Villa Russenpech" ("Russian Bad Luck Villa") because some Red Army soldiers they killed in a clash were buried nearby. Whether the Germans' own luck held out in the coming months is doubtful.
I guess when reporting their progress to Hitler, it sounded better to say that after days of heavy fighting, they managed to capture Fort Stalin. Instead of just saying they managed to capture an unnamed bunch of pillboxes.
Someone should eventually make a montage of all of Indy's intro "phone calls".
I can do It.
@Order & Chaos Well, can do it per year of the conflict.
Definitely
With Eww style ding dings😃
In the intro "phone calls" who is Indy talking to anyway?
I've got to be honest, I hadn't heard of Neil Ritchie until this series. I think I understand why...
Ritchie became a decent if not an outstanding Corps Commander in 1944-1945 at Normandy and North West Europe under Montgomery's command , in 1942 at North Africa , Western Desert Campaign , he was undermined and set up to fail by his immediate superior Claude Auchinleck who when realised he was about to be kicked back to India where he belonged , first threw all blame of Gazala mess on Ritchie's shoulders then began to raise a spectacle and went into tantrum like "an offended film star" (exact quote of British Imperial Chief of Staff Alan Brooke's description of Auk)
If you had played C64 games Ritchie is the best commander in "Victory in the Desert" I think was called.
@@merdiolu The Auk is the only reason crusader didnt turn into a total loss. The fuck are you smoking? If anybody needed to be booted it was Churchill for constantly demanding stupid offensives while shifting resources around from theatre to theatre
"Anybody see Ritchie!?"
@@kanedakrsa and also starving millions of Indians to death
The bickering between the British commanders in North Africa sound like an sketch from Monthy Python.
"Tell me... this is a tank battalion, correct?" "Yes." "I see. So... do you have any tanks in your tank outfit?" "Sorry, we're fresh out."
@@Raskolnikov70 😂😂😂.
@@tigertank06 "This tank battalion is no more! It has ceased to be! This is an ex-battalion!"
@@Raskolnikov70 Sounds like the Russian 4th Tank Army, which about this time (as the Russian joke went) is an army with 4 tanks.
so many times in history were British troops the "lions led by donkeys".
Jesus Sevastopol is good at holding up forcing for a long ass time. They held out for like 8 months during WWII and close to a year when the Crimea War happened in the mid 1850s. It definitely well earned it's name in history as a fortress city.
wait until we get to leningrad in few years :D i mean its in progress but it just barely started.
The Germans had the same issue here that they had trying to besiege Leningrad. Because of geography there was no way they could completely surround it, and they didn't have enough air or sea assets to completely cut it off from resupply. Adding in more air power eventually did the trick in Sevastopol, not something they could pull off elsewhere later in the war as the Soviet air force begain to recover and start to fight for air superiority again.
@@Raskolnikov70 Bet the Germans wished they had invested more in their navy.
@@nicholasconder4703 Turkey was blocking an access into the Black Sea.
@@Overlord734 Nah, you just use the rail network and ship them across the continent (ha, ha). Or perhaps not so funny - the British did that in Africa during WW1.
Fun fact: sevastopol receive aerial bombing far more intense bombardement than London, Warsaw and Rotterdam, coupled with axis big guns, it's amazing how the defenders still manage to defend their position and even repelled several German attack after that kind of bombardement, in the end of the siege,only 11 building of the city still left standing.
Fun fact: Soviet forces take Sevastopol for 3 weeks instead of 8 months
@@TheSunchaster the Germansnever felt the need to rebuild the fortress after they take it, the operation to take crimea in 1944 are hillariously easy for the soviet, compare to the German operation in 1941 and 1942
I wonder where the Black Sea fleet was anchored.
Would it have been more prudent to make sure the fleet is neutralized to prevent any landings
I’m sure a fortress city is well stocked with supply’s but those don’t last forever
Cutting off any resupply and more over the ability to withdraw would be prudent.
I personally have always found this battle to interesting because it took Artillery and Fortifications to the extreme.
@@markmierzejewski9534 Black Sea fleet was in Novorossiysk, Tuapse, Poti (Kuban and Georgian coasts). It made a huge job supplying Sevastopol, but didn’t try to support the fortress with its guns like it was in Leningrad
@@briantarigan7685 nonsense, get more info. And about fight for the isthmus too.
Bir Hakeim is still celebrated to this day in the military history of France, and is a name of prestigious subway station & a bridge in the center of Paris. Marie-Pierre Kœnig who commanded there would later be the one to command the free french force during dday: a certified decorated badass.
Yep Bir Hakeim gave its name to a fair number of French streets, squares, etc. In Bordeaux for instance Place Bir Hakeim sits just across the bridge from Place Stalingrad, putting both battles at the same level of symbolic significance.
And with good reason. It demonstrated not only French military prowess, but also that the Allies did have the weapons to fight the Germans if used effectively by a competent commander.
When the Frre French got back to the main british line, they were honoured by the britishin a "march past". But M.P.Koenig noticed that a group of jewish soldiers who had fought beside the french were refused participation in the parade, Koenig insisted they march beside the french WITH THE JEWISH FLAG. "Kol Ha kavod" = "All the Respects" to M.P.Koenig !!
Shame De Gaulle takes all of the glory
The French fought very well in North Africa, this notion that the French always ran away is absurd!
My grandfather fought in north africa and the invasion of italy from 1940-1945 in the lancastar tank hussars and survived the war, indy is correct, the armoured units' morale was battered at this time. But there is something that also happened, my grandads units were caught in a sandstorm followed by desert fever which nearly killed my grandad. The units were desperate to clear the dead and didn't bother checking vitals, so they threw my grandad onto a mass grave. Only when he awoke and screamed at them did they go "oh, hes alive, get him out". Sandstorms and fever was rampant, also he hated the british tanks and spoke highly of the american tanks when he took me to a tank museum when i was young.
In future episodes when I find the letters and encounters of the north african front which he mailed to his sister (which my grandad rewrote for his grandkids in 2000 when he finally had a computer) Ill type them out. However, the goverment made sure to censor alot of them.
My grandad lived the war and died in 2011 aged 91. He was a badass until the end (he became a chemistry teacher after the war as he loved explosives, and threw his medals away, as he hated medals and praise).
My respects to your grandfather. I collect every reasource about Africa and Mediterranean Theaters
Thanks for sharing your grandfather's war time story. And thanks to your grandfather for his service.
Threw his medals away? He didn’t give his medals to you guys?
@@tigertank06 He did it before they were born probably. Disillusioned by the loss of his comrades. Not everyone thought they were fighting a just war and/or that the sacrifice was worth it.
Both my father and uncle fought in the Western Desert, my father in the Desert Air Force, my uncle as a communications officer (I don't know which unit). My uncle took part in the retreat from Gazala (oops, spoiler). One story I was told is that during the retreat my uncle was in a staff car with an officer when they spotted some tanks laagered in a wadi. Not sure whose tanks they were, the officer got out, walked down to the tanks, rapped on the top of the turret and asked, "I say, anyone in there?", to which the response was, "Wie war das noch?" or something to that effect. The officer then jumped down, walked back to the staff car, and they took off at high speed. Gives you an idea how confused the situation was.
"once ze rockets go up, who cares where they come down? that's not my department" says wernher von braun
@-Umut Deniz- LOL
"The rocket worked perfectly except for landing on the wrong planet."
Gather 'round while I sing you of Wernher von Braun; A man whose allegiance is ruled by expedience.
Call him a Nazi, he won't even frown "Nazi, Schmazi!" says Wernher von Braun
ua-cam.com/video/TjDEsGZLbio/v-deo.html
ayyy Tom Lehrer gang!!
@@OnionChoppingNinja it's amazing because most people will remember him from the elements song
"British army kicked off the European continent three times"
I count four - Norway, Dunkirk, Southern France after that, and Greece.
@Pantelis Tzimas They werent "allowed" to leave. Their push towards Dunkirk was risky enough to get them outflanked. Which is why they were ordered to stop pushing
@Pantelis Tzimas They were not allowed to leave , Germans in each time underestimated British sealift capacity and overestimated their own capabilities to overwhelm British Commonwealth forces before they were evacuated
Maybe they're counting France as one combined eviction?
@Pantelis Tzimas Being afraid that the Allies could break out and null your entire progress is a valid reason. Theres a thin line in Mobile Warfare between being bold and being stupid and the Germans were rather limited in terms of ressources and manpower. Advancing further *might* have turned out to be successfull, but you cannot have hindsight over something you're currently doing. Besides, these 300.000 men escaped with barely any equipment, so they werent of much use for years to come anyway. What *really* got them fucked were the Soviet Union not only being undefeated, but re-emerging with millions of soldiers, barely contestable air superiority, artillery and so on. And thats on top of the Americans swooping in.
@Pantelis Tzimas It's easy to look back in time and see the flaw in the German caution, but in war things are never that clear, information is never certain, and a smart general has to balance what is aggressive vs what is hubris. It is very possible the current story line of Hitler pausing the attack against the will of his generals is sour grapes. Far more cautious were the French and British for leaving Poland to perish and then participating in the Phony war when they could have taken initiative... But all alternate history is, essentially fabricated. What happened is what happened.
What I like about Indy and his team is that even though they've essentially being doing these week by week episodes for 7 years now, including The Great War, they still seem to be having the time of their lives doing it. Not to say they don't treat the horrifying subjects they are discussing at times with the seriousness it deserves but you can tell they really found their passion.
I'm really enjoyign the ebb and flow of watching it week to week. It's so clear that some weeks are extremely important and exciting while many others are business as usual. I imagine this natural progression of the war allows them to focus on the important weeks and take some time out when things are simpler.
I'm enjoying this series, Indy makes learning fun and he doesn't gloss over Nazi atrocities like some other historians do.
Not sure if this may get covered in the War Against Humanity subseries, but this week on June 12 1942, German-Dutch girl of Jewish heritage *Anne Frank* receives a diary for her thirteenth birthday. Soon she will embark on her diary entries in the near future.
Important to be noted
Oh man i think this is going to be a tragic story.
Then the whole world invades her privacy right after what the Nazis did to her.
I hope someone got her a ballpoint pen to go with it.
Thank you for mentioning it
“I put myself in a pickle Winnie. I’m pickle Rich!” -Neil Richie.
Funniest shit I've ever heard
“Wubba lubba dub dub”
That WINS!!!!
nah nah our losses weren't that bad... but by the way, is your unfinished aircraft carrier for sale? I'm asking for a friend.
Man your comment made me laugh 😂 I mean, how did they even think that they could get a carrier around half the world in a time of war?
If they knew the specs of the Graft Zeppelin, I think Japan wouldn't have wanted it even if they got it for free. sm
@@mattwoodard2535 to be fair to the GZ, it was Germany's very first carrier. No country can build excellent military equipment without prior experience.
@@michaelkovacic2608 True, it was commissioned in 1936 & was still in construction by this time. 6 years & they're still building 1 Carrier
@@iDeathMaximuMII Early in the war, the GZ would probably have been quite useful, but by 1942, the window of opportunity had passed.
Sides notes here :
The Free French Forces were put into Bir Hakeim by the British as they didn't believe in their combat ability. So they wanted them in the most southern position in the line with expectations of the fighting in the north.
Well, during the battle, the British commanders asked to "delay the invasion for 24 hours" then "for 3 days" and in the end "to gain as much time as possible". No one expected them to endured more than 5-6 days, but they did it for 2 weeks !
Let's not forget a lot of 1st Free French Brigade were colonial troops from Senegal , Chad or elite Foreign Legion units etc even a company of Palestanian Jews. But yes..they prepared their positions very well and made Panzer Army Afrika to fight for every mile of it. Pierre Koenig was a great general no doubt. What is most impressive is their tenacity to hold despite contant Luftwaffe air raids (over 1.300 sorties)
@@merdiolu not only Palestinian Jews but also German Jews were part of that division. Hence their determination is rather understandable ^^
@@Cancoillotteman "Surrender, Frenchies, and you will be well treated!"
"Pretty sure you won't once you find out who I am, I'll pass."
A few fun facts
-The unit maning the AA gun were the fusilier marins who were literal sailors... ... in the middle of a desert
-When Rommel arrived he asked the french to surrender, for answer the replied with a cannon
-Rommel asked a second time for their surrender by sending a kubelwagon with a german officer to the fort. The sentinel at the door was german... After several minutes the german officer left with another no drove to his lines and... Did I mention the minefield ? The officer at to get back on foot while the legionnary insulted him for "Waking him up"
-For 3/4 of the battle the french send convoy for ammo, food Water and evac the wounded. The first day Koenig said to an english driver in of the convoy that he could stay for diner !
-Rommel realized about the convoy. One day he waited that two of them left in the dunes and Rommel send two messerschidt they were both shot down by a AA gun mounted at the back of one of the trucks.
@@clesjikoandromas2061 One ' s gotta love the balls of the Foreign Legion ^^
How much of Rommel's fame as a commander can be attributed to the incompetence of the British commanders in Northern Africa?
I would say %75 percent. Due to Rommels own self glorification and Nazi regime propaganda combined with deification of Rommel and Afrikakorps by Churchill and several British generals (Auchinleck) on field and British press to mask bad command performance , pre war neglect of British army and strategic mistakes of British Army during wartime to keep spirits up along with Churchill's strategic medlling during wartime added with post war Cold War politics to symbolise German military in an honorable way in NATO , Rommel the Supeman myth was born
All of it. Same goes for his success in France in 1940. Don't forget he was going against the BEF then.
"Ironically, one of the reasons for his towering reputation was due to his opponents. While most enemy generals had only ever received short shrift from British leaders, the British built up a myth around this man as a 'genius'. Churchill even went so far as to name him in the House of Commons."
BBC Rommel in the Desert text
well, I would say partly, but to win victories against a numerically superior enemy, you have to be at least a half-decent general it's not like he was winning victory after victory through luck, he simply saw and understood the British weak points and took advantage of them.
@@theredhunter4997 One of the big reasons is because he was reading US Army Colonel Bonnar Fellers wireless reports sent from Cairo to Washington due to Italian decryption of US State Department Black Code cryption system and second lax radio security of Eighth Army during combat that was decoded by Signal Intercept Company 621
Look up Susan Travers. Bir Hakehim. The first woman to be inducted into the French Foreign Legion and highly decorated. She also served with the legion for 8 years. An absolute heroine.
Hans: What is that thing!?
Karl: *Slaps the barrel of the Gustav Gun* This bad boy we call the Super großes Bügeleisen
Fo all the effort to bring them and operate them, those big ass Guns are pretty much useless in the siege itself, they never play decisive action, the best thing they did during the siege is a single 60 cm calibre mortar shell from the Karl Gerat self-propelled mortar no. III, nicknamed Thor, knocked out Maxim Gorky's second turret, damaging the weapon. This was the only success of the German super-heavy guns, which did not have an impact commensurate with their expense.
@@mangonel Karl: Oh you have no idea
Shouldn't that have read "climbs 3-story tall ladder, THEN slaps the barrel"?
@@Raskolnikov70 Karl: *pulls out megaphone* I said we call this the Super Big Iron!
@Pantelis Tzimas For a single successful use that tied up a full regiment of troops? Not really. The RAF Tall Boys and Grand Slams were way more effective.
Another piece of equipment Manstein had available to him that I'm disappointed didn't make it into the video was the last surviving 420cm German siege artillery piece from the start of World War I. The gun had been disassembled and hidden from 1918 and hidden in Krupp's facilities at Essen until 1942, when it was taken east to Sevastopol.
It is incredible what you can find in tool sheds sometimes
Rommel knew Ritchie better than Ritchie knew himself
Mostly due to lax British Eighth Army wireless security and decryption and interception of US Colonal Bonnar Fellers reports about British situation sent by US "Black Code" decoded regularly by Grman Wireless Intercept Company 621 in Afrikakorps HQ
If you read the WW 1 book of Rommel you realize this guy was an excellent tactician thinking out of the box , always in front with his men , present where the situation was more critical ( and bullets flew in abundance ) . This kind of leadership inspired a loyalty and sacrifice of those under his command like no other.
That also made him to miss big picture and staff duties and logistical operations , I mean seems glamorised and romantic leading the front but it is not always indiction of sucessful generalship
@@merdiolu I agree , but he usually had very capable assistants back in HQ to manage those things in WW 1 and WW 2. Given the inability of Italians to secure basic supplies and even worse fighting capabilities I think Rommel did quite well in Africa against all odds.
Considering Rommel's past in WW1 He was maybe the worse option as a commander to work with the Italians though :/
Moustache Man: Sevastapol must fall!
Lyudmila Pavlichenko: Oh, I don't think so.
"Hey bros! We just HAPPEN to be in the market for a new carrier... or five... You've got a really nice one just sitting there! How much you want for it???"
That was actually something new for me, who has a degree in history. I didn't know the Japanese had approached the Germans about buying the carrier. I couldn't even imagine the logistics of trying to get that thing into the Pacific past the Royal and American Navies. LOL
Japanese-modified Graf Zeppelin when?
@@timothyhouse1622 The only somewhat possible way I could think of to get that ship to japan would be hoisting the japanese flag an trying to skirt along the north coast of russia. But I am pretty sure there was too much ice at the time.
@@timothyhouse1622 News to me, too. I really wonder what the response was? And, yes! It would be an epic effort to make delivery had the deal been done.
Did Germany simply say, 'Nein!'? Why would they have? The ship was pretty much useless to them. A fat pile of cash, or barrels of oil, would have been of immediate, desperate, use. Or did the realization that getting the ship to Japan would be nearly impossible, torpedo the idea?
@@gildor8866 Yeah, good luck towing a hulk through the Atlantic and Indian Ocean without getting intercepted.
Yommomotos failure to change the codes will get himself killed.
I wonder how the Japanese were going to get the Graf zeppelin from Germany to Japan in one piece seems like a suicide mission if the deal had went ahead in the end.
Just send it via Amazon?
Specially since it would have to be towed.
Easily done! You slap a Portuguese flag on it and make believe! If you get stopped, do a comedy routine! If they're laughing, they're not shooting!
what about forming a carrier strike group, with escort and everything ?
@@JuanPerez-vv5lk Japan or Germany?
Fun fact: My grandfather who was on the southest part of Peloponnese at the age of 15-16 noticed quite some landings of british SAS commandos. This part of Peloponnese did not had any german garrison, (mostly because it was not a strategic target for the allies) but one time a British transport ship (with an Italian flag) would come into the port and would take people all the way to Egypt.
My grandfather met 3 SAS comandos that came with a small boat, 1 of them was pretty sick but luckily enough my grandfather gave him some goat milk and a bit of food. Also one of them had a radio so i guess it was either an intel mission or they were just patrolling the area for German garrison until the boats had left.
I am really glad that my grandfather told me this story, he died a year ago at the age of 91.
Quite plausible. The Axis never had the troops to keep everything under complete control and watch every mile of coastline. In addition to much of the occupied USSR not really being under their control. The issuing of the "Commando Order" was an expression of frustration as much as anything else. They couldn't stop raids so they killed those they could catch.
What an exciting life.
Every phones he answers is like
"WHAT!!!?"🙀
Well, there is a war going on ... !
Meanwhile the person on the other end of the line is like "Sir, this is a Wendy's. Did you mean to place an order for takeout?"
The USS North Carolina BB55 was a welcomed sight by all at Pearl Harbor! This ship was the biggest and baddest the US Navy had at the time. She can still be visited in Wilmington, North Carolina where she is preserved as a museum ship. It’s very impressive to see!
Bir Hakeim is the greatest saving grace of the Free French army during the war. Koenig and his troops has deserved much from the Republic.
I can't be the only person thinking "wait a sec... the French can fight?" I'm not even trying to be sarcastic or snarky, we just haven't seen it up until now, even in France. It's like they're finally catching up to military tactics post-1918 and figuring out how to counteract the Germans' combined arms assaults.
There's Monte Cassino too
@@samarkand1585 Yep, general June brilliantly managed to break the stalemate on the italian front
@@motmot8879 Juin
@@samarkand1585 I know, i was using the English name for all the english speakers
i love how much these thumbnails have improved recently!
It's interesting to see battles like Sevastapol, which more or less are somewhat defined by a kind of retro fighting, akin to WWI all over again. Using massive amounts of artillery to reduce enemy fortifications. Albeit, at a lesser scale. Some thing happened with Odessa too, and will happen in the Seelow Heights in the future.
At Odessa it was even worse as Indie noted back when it happened. The Romanian tactics had not benefited from experience and talented generals like the Germans had and as such were using *actual* WW1 tactics to fight the battle and took staggering losses as a result.
Trench warfare is really just siege warfare on huge scale. It's surprising how similar even ancient accounts of sieges are to WW1.
Strip away all the fancy new petroleum-powered machines and warfare goes back to what it's always been - men picking up weapons, overcoming their fear and charging at another group of men with weapons and hoping their enemy's ability to overcome their fear is slightly less than theirs.
@@BaronBlackMusic Romanians didn't had many heavy artillery guns there and also fewer tanks than Soviets, also even the airforce was more weaker than German force at Sevastopol but one principal problem was the Soviet capacity to supply and even support from the sea. At Sevastopol there were more better fortification, the Soviets had there casemates and bunkers in the caves, someones here when wrote about tactics have no idea about what they comment, what tactics could use against a fortified mountain?
09:05 - the master plan was to say "It's over Rommel, I have the high ground!"
Even assuming that Germany had allowed the sale of their aircraft carrier in construction, how was it even remotely realistic to bring her to Japan ? How ?
This sounds like the kind of genius idea that Conrad von Hötzendorf could have
Big Cadorna move as well
Hitler would invent a wunderwaffe teleport machine
Well , at least they were thinking creatively..well too extremely creatively for their own good but still
@@merdiolu then let's think creatively...
The carrier was being built at Kiel, in the Baltic Sea. Meaning that it had to get through either of 2 chokepoints to reach the open sea : either the Kiel canal, assuming the canal's dimensions allow that, or the straits of Denmark. Who says chokepoints means an easy target for air attack.
Then, in the North Sea. There's like half the Royal Navy to evade, plus the support of the RAF once spotted. Very high risks of getting sunk, since I don't think Germany would send a large escort for a sold ship. Assuming the Graf Zeppelin makes it to the Atlantic, there is still a lot of hostile ships to avoid.
Fuel (already a critical situation for Germany) would also be a major problem since the Graf Zeppelin would litteraly be half the world away from the nearest friendly port. The ship had a theorical range of 14 000 km which might be enough to reach either the southern tip of Africa or South America (Suez and Panama would be closed for obvious reasons) but not enough to reach japanese waters, with still a high risk of being torpedoed on the way. Assuming everything goes well, Japan would then need to send a long range resupply mission through an entire ocean so that the carrier can make it back, through waters they do not control.
Or I guess they could try their luck through the frozen Arctic ocean, it almost seems easier all things considered...
This kind of crazy ideas just goes ludicrously well for the Germans. Remember the Sichelschnitt plan or the channel dash?
Great acts of heroism made by regular soldiers wasted just because their commanders were incompetent. This is the summary of the Gazala line battle.
This Is exactly how being italian feel for the whole lenght of the war, except for Gazala and El Alamein.
"Lions led by donkeys."
Meanwhile, the French : "First time ?"
@@pierre-mariecaulliez6285 Ah, France's generals...they could've ended the war in Europe if only they'd believed their own intelligence.
Norrie: OY!!! Where's your commanding general!?
Soldier: Hidin' in a well, sir.
Norrie: Well bugger me, someone go toss a coin in there or get me Lungston!
LOL, Norrie was probably thankful for it. "Finally, one less d---ed general to deal with...."
@@Raskolnikov70 😂😂
Great episode and great work on the battle showcase! I really appreciate that you took your time and didn't cut away too quickly! It really makes it a lot easier to follow, visualise and remember. Thanks, appreciate ya
Whoa that Gustav Cannon thumbnail looks so cool
Gotta love it when a single weapon requires laying kilometers of track and requires an entire regiment to use it.
@@nicholasconder4703 yeah but it’s strengths!!! Shit could level and the bride city
@@MikeJones-qn1gz Only if you have complete air superiority. Otherwise, TARGET!
Must it fall, Sevastopol has been so good
Good in what way? Doing a good job defending Itself?
Before watching this video, I thought that the Japanese interest in the Graf Zeppelin after the Battle of Midway was just joke on the internet.
Considering the US had already published their Two-Ocean Navy plan, the Japanese had a pretty good idea what was coming their way. They knew they needed all the carriers they could get (and they only have one large carrier, Taiho, currently on the stocks).
@@nicholasconder4703 Their situation certainly was dire, but getting an unfinished German carrier to Japanese waters during war time, is just madness. But I guess the Axis powers are no strangers to madness.
@@rebbeccadickson6099 Well, they could have tried building aircraft carriers out of ice (Project Habakkuk). Actually, I'm surprised the Russians didn't try that one.
@@nicholasconder4703 Actually it was REINFORCED ICE. Not sure what material was used, but definitely more than 'just ice'.
@@gedeon2696 It was pykrete, ice reinforced with sawdust or, in the case of the Mythbusters, newspaper.
My stepdad served in this war and he passed away on December 27 1986.When i was a young kid growing up in Northeast
Baltimore my stepdad would always tell me stories about his tour duty in World War 2.He was a United States Marine and he
was so proud and it was also a great honor as he spoke to me to have served for his country.He told me stories about when
his life was on the line and the horror and sadness he felt when he witnessed fellow comrades get killed and the horror of them screaming and hollering in pain.He always told me as a kid that War is bad and death is sad and that he did not like killing,but he had no choice and it was you kill or be killed.I asked him was he scared and he told me yes he was and that
he also had courage.I learned from my stepdad as a young man growing up in Baltimore,MD how to be a man and I remember one time when I was 11 years old and I was coming home from school one day and I got jumped on by 2 older
boys and they beat me down bad and I ran home in pain and scared.When I finally got to to the house with blood running down my face and arm and shoulder hurting and my stepdad was sitting on the porch and he ask me what happen and I told
him.When I tried to go in the house he stopped me and I remember he took a large handkerchief out his back pocket and he
wet it down with water from the water hose and wipe the blood off my face and he ask me was my arm OK and I said yes and
he looked me in my eyes and when I looked into his eyes, I saw courage and bravery and looked mean and serious.Then he
told me to go back and fight like a man and stand your ground and I said dad they are to big and strong and he said go back
and fight with courage and bravery and win or lose you stood your ground like a man and he told me when I got back home
his father told him the same thing when he went to war.
Just wanted to pop by and thank you all for the excellent work you do in each and every episode. As a student of history I am constantly learning new things and your channels have been a grand source. I always had a greater interest in the era of the world wars as I feel they were the deciding factor in what our world became today. A great many of the evils spawned during those times still clings to humanity like a foul stench we've been unable (or worst unwilling) to cleans ourselves of. I ramble but the thought is the same. All of the effort you put into these series shows your love of history and I thank you for sharing that love.
In 2017, British military author James Holland wrote :
"As Rommel said to a captured British officer, 'What difference does it make if you have two tanks to my one, when you spread them out and let me smash them in detail?' That one sentence really did encapsulate the nub of the matter and the failure of the Auk's (Claude Auchinleck's) approach. Frankly, he and his senior commanders should have known better by now"
Not to mention Auchinleck and his generals were at Middle East Command for almost a year since July 1941 with ample time at their hands to train his forces and get them oriented to desert warfare and unlike his predecessor Wavell (who had five fronts to deal with from Balkans , East Africa to Western Desert Libya to Iraq and Syria) Auchinleck had only one front to fight : Western Desert and Libya and cream of British Empire resources were priortised in his Middle East Command including new US made medium M3 Grant tanks and British 6 pounder anti tank guns , he had ULTRA access and Eighth Army was numerically superior than Panzer Army AND had defensive defensive ground/minefield advantage to make enemy come to their kill zone. To lose a successive of battles so badly under these conditions requires a special kind of incompatence from Auchinleck and his army commanders (Cunningham , Ritchie , both he himself handpicked despite objections of his own staff) and corps commanders (Norrie , Gott) and their staffs (Eric-Dortman Smith , Corbett). Any Red Army general lost their battles and let Tobruk and Mersa Matruh fall with all their supply depots falling to enemy hands under these conditions would be executed instantly or at least fired in disgrace in Eastern Front. When Montgomery and Alexander arrived to assume command of Middle East and Eighth Army , they were right to sack most of general officers. Bloody useless lot they were.
Thank God for Monty
Japan: "Don't worry Germany, it wasn't that bad. This is unrelated but how much you want for that aircraft carrier?"
Just give us a couple of quid and we'll call it quits!
Indy I can’t thank you enough for this channel you’ve changed my view on history and the world, that being said I can’t wait for your take on operation torch.
Thank you once again for the greatest WWII series ever produced anywhere. More kudos to all!
The two sieges of Sebastapol (Crimean War and WW2) would be a great topic for a Sabaton song.
RAF Bomber Command Weekly Report - June 7th to 12th
Night of June 8th/9th:
-Essen is targeted for the 4th time this month. The importance of the massive Krupp steel works and other industrial facilities make Essen one of Arthur Harris’ primary targets.
-170 aircraft are dispatched, flare marking aircraft were to release blindly on Gee (radio navigation device) fixes. Ground haze once again made visual identification of Essen impossible, the flares were scattered and so was the bombing. 31 bombing photographs from the night cameras show ground detail; only 9 can be plotted and none are within 5 miles of the aiming point.
-19 bombers are lost (11.1%). Night fighters are credited with 11 kills, while flak is credited with 6 kills. 35 Squadron suffers heavily, losing four of ten Halifax bombers dispatched. Two complete crews survive fortunately; one crew is picked up from the English channel by RAF search and rescue, the other crew is made prisoner of war.
Minelaying on the night of the 7th/8th, 9th/10th, 11th/12th
-188 sorties, 4 aircraft lost (2.1%)
Copies of the RAF bombing reports for this week can be found here, pages 32 to 35:
lancasterbombersinfo.ipage.com/Data/NRR/1942/June-42/mobile/index.html
Sources:
The Bomber Command War Diaries by Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt
Nachtjagd Combat Archives: 30 May - 31 December 1942 by Theor Boiten
Let me guess one of your sources....The Bomber Command War Diaries: An Operational Reference Book, 1939-1945 by Chris Everitt and Martin Middlebrook
@@jpjpjp453 Oh, yeah forgot to put the sources at the bottom. Same ones as last time.
@@kellyshistory306 Do you happen to know the impact of firebombing of city centers on industrial production? From what I have read, industrial production mostly recovered within a few weeks, so did these attacks only cause civilian suffering for no practical gain or was there a sizeable impact? I believe Bomber Command spent over 40 percent of its entire tonnage dropped on burning city centers (please correct me if I'm wrong)
Just watched your video on Operation Millenium, excellent work! Subscribed!
@@michaelkovacic2608 Its really difficult to know exactly how effective the area bombing campaign was; the British Government only funded an inadequate examination of it (Churchill seemed to want to avoid the topic after the bad PR Dresden created), and the Americans (United States Strategic Bombing Survey) only briefly looked at it because they were more interested in their own precision campaign. I've also seen an argument made that Solly Zuckerman, a British official on both the British and US bombing surveys and a proponent of precision bombing during the war, used his influence to downplay the impact of area bombing in the British and US reports on Allied bombing. I don't know if that is actually true though.
There were area's that the firebombing campaign impacted, the US bombing survey noted German steel production plunged in 1943 from planned levels, and that it was solely due to the RAF's bombing of the German cities in the Ruhr where steel production was centered. Also, a number of British area raids managed to plaster German tank factories, gutting production. Notably raids on Berlin in November 1943 hit the plants making StuG assault guns, gutting the factories and basically preventing the production of about 1000 tanks (compared to planned production). On the other hand, the German economy was largely able to absorb the blows and production of all kinds increased as Albert Speer rationalized the mess that was the early war German economy.
On the whole, whatever effect area bombing did have, it was much less than hoped for by those planning and running the campaign. There were effects, but much more was expected, so I think it must rated as a disappointment. My own personal view is the main benefit of the Area Bombing campaign is that it built RAF Bomber Command into a truly formidable force that was able to return to precision bombing in 1944 and 1945, where it played an outsized role in destroying the German oil industry, transportation industry, and supported effective the ground armies as they pushed into Germany.
@@michaelkovacic2608 Also glad you liked the animation. Thanks for the subscription!
Indy as a WW2 enthusiast I have to say back when I was watching your WW1 series and now your narrative makes is seem like it’s real time and you bring anticipation as to what will happen next! Keep up the good work.
Thanks!
Soviets: “whatcha got there”
Germans: *Big Dora*
“A smoothie”
3:39 Pretty sure, that Turkey was very upset that the US violated their airspace. I wonder if the turkish government send an apology to Germany and Romania, stating that the crossing of their airspace by the US was without their permission
Actually they found the wreck of another plane returning from Second Ploesti Raid shot down in 1943 , it is displayed in Istanbul Modern Sciences museum today. Their crews were rescued and treated very well by Turks before repadiated back to Allies via Syria and Iraq
Yeah, since the airports used were in Egypt I wondered immediately if Turkey airspace was used. In '43 when they flew from Libya they didn't cross Turkey though.
Turkey allowed Axis warships through the Bosphorus, a major reason for the decline in Soviet-Turkish relations during the war. At this point the Turks were more afraid of Germany and allowed the warships through to keep the Axis off their case, but the USSR government was angered by it.
Was there a notion of national airspace back then in the same wa we have it today? I mean most world's countries didn't have RADAR and half of the world had only a couple squadrons of WW1 or mid-war era planes. They wouldn't even know someone was flying overhead if they flew high enough.
@@SuperLusername of course there was. Switzerland had many incursions of Allied bombers flying raids into Germany, and several times had downed Allied warplanes. Also it got bombed (by accident supposedly) by Allies, although it may well have been fake accidents in order to "tell2 the swiss to not fuss bout the bombers flying over...
The command confusion gives me flasbacks of the Battle of France. Apparently the British command doesn't learn.
British army is vastly overrated in my opinion. RN and RAF performed really well and did their job, while the army gets smacked again and again and again.
@@michaelkovacic2608 I'm not sure British army is overrated since I've never heard anyone say "British army is good".
The British Army held firm at Narvik and would have destroyed the German forces there if the wider circumstances (ie. RN and/or RAF support) had allowed.
The British Army line was also not broken in France or Belgium. They retreated in good order to Dunkirk as their allies collapsed and surrendered around them. The RAF and RN stayed home from that one too...
@Cal not sure it was Haig’s doing, but the peninsular war and ww1 were the only times I’ll say the british army was top notch
@@timcahill4676 I dont know much about peninsular war, but I dont think there was anything sepcial about British army in WW1. By "top notch" I guess you mean among the best - maybe I missunderstood that.
I dont think in WW1 British army was better than German, French, Austrian or any of the Balkan armies - remember they had just fought two major modern wars and had experienced soldiers, NCOs and officers. Technically that places it among the top several armies in the world - but the standard was so bloody low in the rest of the world.
I look forward to seeing this every week.
those rockets were just a marvel, they had a total mechanically designed gyroscope and would be studied immensely after the war to become the new age space rockets. loved the episode.
Today if Barbarossa failed, seems pretty obvious the war is doomed.
But looking at the time at these events the war seemed still very unclear.
Precisely. Nobody at that time could predict the future. The Axis seem to be on top in North Africa and the USSR. The Japanese advances have been stooped but no one knows if they will be defeated or how long it will take.
I think all of the leaders of the warring countries knew which way the war would go by this time. Even if they hadn't figured it out back in 1941 when the Wehrmacht got shredded and failed to reach Moscow, they definitely would have known after Midway. Both Germany and Japan had very limited time and resources, they had to win fast or the war would turn into a grinding stalemate which the allies knew they'd lose once they had to battle against American industrial capacity. Once they both failed to win their quick victories, it was over for them.
The only people who knew how desperate the German supply situation was getting where the Germans. And they weren't going to tell their enemies.
Apart from a few blips, mainly defeat in front of Moscow, the Germans still looked pretty unbeatable at this point.
A German poster, issued sometime around September 1942, showed a map of Europe with most of it under German control, right up to Stalingrad, and had the heading "The New Europe Is Invincible!" It was a sort of depiction of the high-water mark of the Third Reich. In reality, final victory had eluded its grasp nearly a year earlier.
This tie makes my vision go blurry and I damn it, I love it. 4.5/5
Today in "Out of the Closets"
@@yourstruly4817 You can make fun of my fondness for ties all you want, I could not care less. But the Timeghost army is an inclusive one, so take your homophobic bullshit somewhere else
@@gianniverschueren870 Keep doing your thing Gianni.
I think most people get a kick out of your tie reviews.
@@gianniverschueren870 This channel does a series called
"Out of the Foxholes." There is a chance he was playing off that.
ua-cam.com/video/LSQUkgK2XP8/v-deo.html
@@lycaonpictus9662 The day Indy, Astrid or Spartacus ask me to stop, I'll stop immediately.
Truly exiting to watch and listen to You in this episode sir, well done. :D
The miniature in this episode is just amazing
Rommel: I'm so good, I'm bad!
Von Manstein: Dude, I'm tryin' alright.
The Tommies have smashed our washing line again.😂
Well to be fair to Manstein, he if going against a better organized enemy in a fortified defense line.
Rommel is just sealclubbing
@@SuperLusername
Rommel: *Beating the shit out of the British in North Africa*
Manstein: *Beating his head over & over again until Sevastopol falls*
What an amazing channel
Great episode as always, i was surprised you didn't cover Operation Squabble from June 12th 1942 when a lone British beaufighter attacked Paris including the Kriegmarine headquarters there, you will probably cover in in your excellent day by day coverage of the war. Thanks
Keep up the good work guys absolutely wonderful , All Support to you guys are time ghost history
Thank you for your support!
Usually, I feel a sense of sadness when people die in this war. Most of them were fighting for things they don’t understand.
With Heydrich though, I felt relief, maybe even satisfaction, that such a violent and awful man met such a violent and painful end. I expect that this will only become more common as more of the Nazi high command die.
Many believe Himmler ordered the doctors not to treat Heyrich's wounds, he saw Heydrich as a threat to his power base and wanted him out of the way. If the surgeons had treated Heydrich they'd've been frogmarched off to the firing squad.
Each shell is the size of a volkswagen...
Yes but we call it “ volksschale “
It would be Volksgranate in this case
love these vids! thanks partner
Thank you for your support! Glad you enjoy our content.
'I just make it go up and I don't care where it comes down' Werner Von Braun
An easy way to discalim responsibility for the death and damage a weapon causes.
What Rommel and the Afrikacorps did Here with overwhelming British force and armoured vehicles is truly a great military feat
yep, that's why Rommel become so legendary, as the best general in WW2. Next von Mannstein, Guderian and Kesselring.
@@michaelschmid9567 Rommel is vastly overrated. He faced the W-Allies and was a glory hound, so we know him.
@@PalleRasmussen I disagree. No other general showed such an impressive individual military instinct, as Rommel did. Show me an other UK or US general, who had such skills and instinct.
@@michaelschmid9567 I think Von manstein is the best and then Rommel and guderian and then Gothard Heinrici and Walther Model they are truly Underrated masters of defense
@@michaelschmid9567 Rommel's fame was vastly inflated with wartime and post war propaganda especially in English speaking nations due to varierty of reasons. After June 1942 , he did not win a single battle (except Battle of Kasserine Pass where German effort strategically failed anyhow after routing the opposition operationally) and only displayed as romantic doomed honorable indefatigable foe because he and Kesselring were only generals Western Allies faced till 1944 summer.
I have to say, these intro sequences are gold.
Edit: what were the Japanese smoking? Just how exactly did they envision that the Graf Zeppelin would be transferred to the pacific?
As someone said above, have a neutral nation fly their flag on it.
The recent episodes are incredible. The middle of the war (‘40-‘43) had some of my favorite and most interesting events. The death of the anthropoid is interesting. The story about how they rooted out those conspirators is worth telling.
So far the best pronunciation of "Lidice" and "Ležáky" in an English-speaking documentary. Thumbs up! And many thanks for the series btw!
Well, I did live in Prague for a couple years in the early 1990's...
The British command really makes me wonder how it is the Italians and the French who got branded as inept...
To be fair Italians failed in every campaign they waged and French were utterly defeated and theirt goverment surrendered. British Army was being led by mostly idiots but they are still in field and wrapped a few campaigns like East Africa , Syria etc and both Royal Navy and RAF are performing well so far.
@@merdiolu wtf
@Cal Polish were the first to crack into 'enigma'. It was their work that gave the british a good start in dealing with enigma. As for "the british were excellant planners" = Dieppe Raid !! It was Britain's "Colonials" that did the hard/dirty work !!
You should do a special on the Chicago Tribune and how its editors hate for Roosevelt frequently led them to endanger US operations.
I think the phone calls are my favourite part of this series. A compilation could be fun.
The mid June convoys are pretty interesting, can't wait until next week
I feel so bad for the 8th Army.
Don't be. Until Alexander / Montgomery duo come in and sack whole donkey brigade (Auchinleck , Corbett , Eric Dorman Smith , Schaeffer , Norrie , Messervy , Lumsden ) leading them , entire Middle East Command and Eighth Army were under command of utter morons , and morons is the exact description I choose about them without apology (at least Gott fell in action with honor and Ritchie was picked as a scapegoat by Auchinleck to be fired after Tobruk fell to mask the fact that Auchinleck appointed Ritchie and kept him in that position he was not accustomed to despite objections of his own staff , intending "to hold Ritchie's hand" as if he was a toddler , undermine his field commanders authority and command the army all the way from Cairo. The cheatau generalship of worst kind)
@@merdiolu and even then, 8th army relied heavily on superior numbers. I have a lot of respect for the RN and RAF, but aside from operations like Compass, the British army on the whole was pretty much a joke. The other services contributed much more to victory in WW2 than the army did, despite being a heavy burden on the very limited British manpower.
@@michaelkovacic2608 British Army actually had some good coups despite its small size and convential and stupid commanders , like SAS (on 7-8 June 192 SAS British and Free French teams destroyed 50+ German aircraft on night raids in Crete for example) but the command of it in general is learning and reforming very slow and painfully , eliminating incompatents too slowly , suffering wasterful , excessive casaulties
@@merdiolu to be fair Ritchie actually went on to be a competent Corp commander in France in 44-45. Monty gave him a chance at redemption because being sacked by the Auk wasn't a black mark in Montys eyes
I'd like to see the faces of the Japanese requesting to buy the German aircraft carrier under construction! Great episode Indy, one of the best!
Great video as always! I got a bit destracted by what was written on the back of that chair.
Another excellent episode. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a Battle of Midway poster to hang up. It looks awesome!
Thank you for your support!
AFRIKA CORPS were able to recover and repair many of their damaged tanks and vehicles and put them back into service. The British were unable to do that as they did not control the battlefield. That is how Rommel was able to maintain his attacks. ;-)
True. When Panzer Army Afrika repair services and shops were destroyed during Second Battle of Alamein in October November 1942 the tables turned other way around when Eighth Army recovery and repair services recovered and repaired 350 of 500 knocked out tanks within one week
I am going crazy, or does it sound like someone coughed at around 8:42? lol
Yeah I heard that too, didn't notice it the first time round. Sharp hearing there!
You have such sharp hearing that your ancestors must've been prison guards at Stalag Luft.
I am a simple man. I hear Aris Velouchiotis I press like.
I am an enthusiast, amateur researcher of the Greek resistance. If you need any help e.g. on pronounciations, let me know, I can help
Do have any info on Greek SAS?
@@nickdanger3802
Well not that much.
I know that there was a greek regiment in North Africa and they may participate in a battle that may happen in El Alamein. But apart from that I know that they were saved from action because they were destined to "suppress" The "communist danger" Back home
"The Sacred Band or Sacred Squadron (Greek: Ιερός Λόχος) was a Greek special forces unit formed in 1942 in the Middle East, composed entirely of Greek officers and officer cadets under the command of Col. Christodoulos Tsigantes. It fought alongside the SAS in the Western Desert and the Aegean, as well as with General Leclerc's Free French Forces in Tunisia."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Band_(World_War_II)
I do hope you guys make a physical copy of all of this. It would be amazing to own. The Great War, Between two wars , World War Two and everything else!
I'm reminded a little of May 1940 when everything went into the realm of farce
I love Indies acting. It makes me smile when he acts confused on the phone as if he was having an actual conversation:)
regarding the killing of Heydrich (as Lee Marvin's character said in The Big Red One: you don't murder animals, you kill them): GOOD RIDDANCE TO BAD RUBBISH!!!
French Foreign Legionaire : "we, literally, bought you as much time as we could ! Are you ready ?"
...
...
**facepalm**
Hi Indy
Another interesting week.
138 tanks lost..
Do British really working to win?
Looks like Rommel might win..
And big artillery,never hear of..
Thanks to you i able to get valuable information..
Thanks team..🙏👍
Musso waves from the sidelines
I liked the phone calls Indy does at the start of each video. They're amusing.
"Why yes, Hans! We are doing wonderfully in the Pacific theatre!
Oh by the way, can we borrow your carrier when it's finished?
We....'lost' ours...."
So the assassination attemt turned into an assassination?
French resistance at Bir Hakeim... Would this deserve a Fee French flag displayed with the other allied flags in the background ? :D
Its Getting a bit of a dodgy wicket out in the Desert for 30 corps and the Garrison at Tobruk!!
Manstein had been battling in the Crimea since the previous autumn in a grinding attrition against Budyonny. Bring on the New Guinea campaign and the hell of Kokkoda. The Ploeisti attack was a disaster as most of the Mitchells were shot down.
B24's
The Graf Zeppelin would have became ""Rirīpaddo no ushigaeru"" Bullfrog on a Lilypad ? or just Riripaddo ? It is good it never happened ,though one of the "what IF''s I would await as it goes against the US Navy !
Another week, another triple figure tank loss
August 30 Battle of Alam Halfa begins. Rommel's last attempt to break through the Allied lines in Egypt. The air superiority of the Desert Air Force played a significant role.
superb RGO
6 June 1942
Atlantic Ocean : German submarine U-68 torpedoed and sank Panamanian tanker C. O. Stillman 60 miles southwest of Puerto Rico at 0307 hours; 3 were killed, 55 survived.
Near the Equator in the Central Atlantic, German armed merchant cruiser Stier intrcepted and sank Panamanian tanker Stanvac Calcutta with gunfire (12 were killed, 36 survived and were captured); Stier suffered two hits when Stanvac Calcutta returned fire with her 4-inch gun.
US Liberty type cargo ship George Clyton was torpedoed and severely damaged by German fast motor torpedoboat Essau launched by German merchant raider cruiser Michel in South Atlantic.
Bay of Biscay , France : A RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) Sunderland flying boat from Coastal Command detected German submarine U-74 on the surface , leaving her base at La Pallice with airborne radar and attacked with machine gunfire and bombs , severely damaging German submarine to force her returning back to her base at La Pallice.
Gazala , Libya : Gazala , Libya : German troops from 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions routed three Indian infantry battalions and four artillery regiments that failed to flee as the Operation Aberdeen offensive was called off on the previous day in Cauldron , Gazala Libya. With victory secured at this battle, Erwin Rommel moved the entire German 90th Light Division to reinforce the siege on Free French-held fort of Bir Hakeim. By 6 June, the Axis divisions which Rommel had despatched to Bir Hacheim four days earlier had surrounded Bir Hakeim fortress.
In Gazala , Libya, Desert Air Force P-40 Kittybombers repeatedly attacked Axis armor formations near the Knightsbridge box during the Battle of Gazala.
Bir-Hackeim , Gazala , Libya : From 5 to 6 June, the Desert Air Force flew fewer sorties at Bir Hakeim, concentrating on the Knightsbridge Box and around 11:00 a.m. on 6 June, German 90th Light Division attacked with the support of pioneers to try to clear a passage through the French minefields. The pioneers got within 800 m (900 yd) of the fort, having breached the outer minefield and during the night they managed to clear several passages into the inner perimeter. German infantry gained a foothold but the French troops in foxholes, dug outs and blockhouses, maintained a great volume of small-arms fire, which forced the Germans under cover. Operation Aberdeen, an attempt to destroy Axis forces in the Cauldron, which had begun on the night of 4/5 June, was a disastrous failure. Eighth Army commander General Ritchie considered withdrawing the French from the fort to release the 7th Motor Brigade but decided to keep possession of it. Ritchie was well aware of the importance of Bir Hacheim; that - in Auchinleck’s words - its loss would require him to ‘form a new and extended front facing southwards behind which we might be hemmed in and deprived of our power of manoeuvre. The threat to our rear would be increased.’ Meanwhile Luftwaffe Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers continued to hit Bir-Hakeim with successive air attacks. On ground though neither German 90th Light nor Italian Arierte armored division could advance beyond minefields yet.
“Our ground attacks repeatedly bogged down in the excellent French fortifications. During the first ten days of out attack against the French the British had remained amazingly calm. The “Ariete” Division alone was attacked by them on 2 June but it defended itself stubbornly. After a counter-attack by the 21st Panzer Division the situation there again became quiet.”
- General major Alfred Toppe
Libya , North Africa : In North Africa the RAF Desert Air Force deployed its “secret” Hurricane IID Tank Buster Squadron which had been training to deliver low-level attacks on enemy tank formations using Hurricane fighters fitted with dual 40mm cannon. Within ten days the squadron would make 37 sorties, damaging 31 enemy tanks (although very few were completely destroyed).
Egypt , North Africa : General Lewis Brereton, commander of the US 10th Air Force in the China-Burma-India theater, was transferred to Egypt.
Malta : Luftwaffe bombers made a heavy air raid on Malta though RAF and British anti aircraft defences shot down 13 German bombers.
Sevastapol , Russia : German troops continued the bombardment of Sevastopol, Russia from ground with large caliber weapons and heavy successive Luftwaffe air raids. The artillery bombardment targeted bunkers with 105 mm fire, which usually received 10-25 rounds. German Flak 36 37 mm guns also did an effective job of eliminating machinegun nests. The German forces were also quick to bring up 88 mm artillery guns to fire directly into bunker apertures. Between 2 and 6 June, the German 11th Army expended nine percent of its munitions (42,595 rounds, amounting to 2,449 tons of munitions) on pre-advance shelling. The railway guns also fired a few rounds at the main fortifications and rail lines, but most missed by some distance. The closest shell landed 80 meters away from its target. Soviet ammunition dumps were also targeted by these weapons, with no effect. The main fortifications, Soviet forts Stalin, Molotov, and Maxim Gorky (which lay in the path of LIV Corps) remained active. It was not until the afternoon of 6 June when a single 60 cm calibre mortar shell from the Karl-Gerät self-propelled mortar no. III, nicknamed Thor, knocked out Maxim Gorky’s second turret, damaging the weapon. This was the only success of the German super-heavy guns, which did not have an impact commensurate with their expense. The Luftwaffe had a greater impact, using its Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers to knock out the communications systems of the fort.
Bryansk , Russia : In German occupied Russian territory , on June 5, a further five thousand German troops launched Operation Birdsong, against 2,500 partisans between Roslavl and Bryansk. In a four week sweep, 1,193 partisans were killed, for a loss of 58 German dead. But a German military report expressed dissatisfaction at the results. ‘The partisans’, one senior officer complained, ‘continued their old tactic of evading, withdrawing into the forests, or moving in larger groups into the areas south and south-west of the Roslavl-Bryansk highway and into the Kletnya area.’ Although no further partisan attacks were reported in the ‘pacified’ area, the officer wrote, nevertheless ‘mines continued to be planted’ and several German vehicles had been damaged. Within two months, Soviet partisans had returned to the ‘Birdsong’ area in force.
6 June 1942
Emden , Germany : 233 British bombers (124 Wellington, 40 Stirling, 27 Halifax, 20 Lancaster, 15 Hampden, 7 Manchester) from RAF Bomber attacked Emden, Germany during night, destroying 300 houses, killing 17 civilians, and wounding 49; nine bombers were lost on this mission
London , UK : Twenty people killed and 59 wounded when an unexploded German bomb detonated in Elephant and Castle.
Koblenz , Germany : SS Colonel Adolf Eichmann ordered the deportation of 450 Jews from the Koblenz region; the inmates of a mental home in a nearby village were, he said, to be included. To maintain secrecy, and deception, Eichmann’s office insisted that the words ‘deportation to the East’ should not be used in describing these moves, but instead ‘people who emigrated elsewhere’.
Indian Ocean : Japanese submarine I-16 sank Yugoslavian freighter Susak with her deck gun just off the coast of Portuguese Overseas Province of Mozambique.
Pacific Ocean : During morning recon aircraft from Midway island and Task Force 16 discovered two Japanese heavy destroyers (one with a crushed bow) and two escorting destroyers straggling well behind retreating Japanese fleet , all in air attack range of US carriers of Task Force 16 (USS Enterprise and USS Hornet) north east of Midway island. These were Japanese heavy cruisers Mikuma and Mogami , that crashed each other accidently due to submarine attack approach of USS Tambor. During noon Admiral Spruance commanding Task Force 16 launched three air attack waves from both of his carriers to finish them off. During afternoon SBD Dauntless dive bombers from USS Enterprise and USS Hornet attacked, damaging destroyer Arashio (37 were killed), destroyer Asashio (22 were killed) with near misss, and hit Japanese heavy cruiser Mogami with four bombs (81 killed) , causing heavy damage although she survived and eventually reached Japanese naval base at Truk and remained out of survice due repair work for more than one year.
Other SBD Dauntless dive bombers hit Japanese heavy cruiser Mikuma with five 250 kg bombs , causing fatal damage to cruiser Mikuma, which would sink later in the day (650 killed, 240 survived). As US Navy Task Force 16 sailed eastward to refuel due to reluctance of Admiral Spruance to engage enemy surface forces beyond air cover of Midway island (in hindsight a wise cautious attitude) , thus breaking contact with the Japanese fleet, the Battle of Midway drew to a close.
Note : Historian Samuel E. Morison noted in 1949 that Spruance was subjected to much criticism for not pursuing the retreating Japanese, thus allowing their surface fleet to escape. Clay Blair argued in 1975 that had Spruance pressed on, he would have been unable to launch his aircraft after nightfall, and his cruisers would have been overwhelmed by Yamamoto’s powerful surface units, including Yamato. Furthermore, the American air groups had suffered considerable losses, including most of their torpedo bombers. This made it unlikely that they would be effective in an airstrike against the Japanese battleships, even if they had managed to catch them during the daytime. Also, by this time Spruance’s destroyers were critically low on fuel
Last shots of Battle of Midway were fired by Japanese though. Meanwhile, salvage efforts on crippled American aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (which was hit by three bombs and two air launched torpedoes on 4th June) were encouraging, and she was taken in tow by USS Vireo and one of her escort desroyers USS Hammann evacuated remaining crew and keeping contact with hull of Yorktown which is listing. In the late afternoon of 6 June, the Japanese submarine I-168, which had intercepted abandoned carrier in tow and her escorts , managed to slip through the cordon of destroyers (possibly because of the large amount of debris in the water), fired a salvo of torpedoes, two of which struck already heavily USS Yorktown. There were few casualties aboard since most of the crew had already been evacuated, but a third torpedo from this salvo struck the destroyer USS Hammann, which had been providing auxiliary power to USS Yorktown. USS Hammann broke in two and sank with the loss of 80 lives, mostly because her own depth charges exploded. With further salvage efforts deemed hopeless, the remaining repair crews were evacuated from USS Yorktown. Throughout the night of 6 June and into the morning of 7 June, USS Yorktown remained afloat; but by 05:30 on 7 June, observers noted that her list was rapidly increasing to port. Shortly afterward, the ship turned onto her port side, and lay that way, revealing the torpedo hole in her starboard bilge-the result of the submarine attack. Captain Buckmaster’s American flag was still flying. All ships half-masted their colors in salute; all hands who were topside stood with heads uncovered and came to attention, with tears in their eyes. Two patrolling PBYs appeared overhead and dipped their wings in a final salute. At 07:01, the ship rolled upside-down, and slowly sank, stern first, with her battle flags flying.
With sinking of USS Yorktown , Battle of Midway drew to a close. It was an astonishing US naval victory that not only checked or at least slowed down Japanese advance in Pacific and South East Asia , sinking of four Japanese fleet carriers from First Carier Strike Force and loss of entire Japanese first line of pilots and aircrews (322 Japanese aircraft destroyed) meant that Japanese naval aviation was dealt a blow which they could never recover from. In addition Japanese Imperial Navy lost one heavy cruiser and and another Japanese cruiser heavily damaged. The Americans rejoiced at their victory, which had been made all the more pleasurable by the fact that three of the Japanese aircraft carriers sunk had been among the five which had taken part in the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Battle of Midway has often been called “the turning point of the Pacific”. It was the Allies’ first major naval victory against the Japanese. Had Japan won the battle as thoroughly as the U.S. did, it might have been able to conquer Midway Island. Saratoga would have been the only American carrier in the Pacific, with no new ones being completed before the end of 1942. While the U.S. would probably not have sought peace with Japan as Yamamoto hoped, his country might have revived Operation FS to invade and occupy Fiji and Samoa; attacked Australia, Alaska, and Ceylon; or even attempted to conquer Hawaii.
Although the Japanese continued to try to secure more territory, and the U.S. did not move from a state of naval parity to one of supremacy until after several more months of hard combat, Midway allowed the Allies to switch to the strategic initiative, paving the way for the landings on Guadalcanal and the prolonged attrition of the Solomon Islands campaign. Midway allowed this to occur before the first of the new Essex-class fleet carriers became available at the end of 1942. The Guadalcanal Campaign is also regarded by some as a turning point in the Pacific War.
6 June 1942
Some authors have stated that heavy losses in carriers and veteran aircrews at Midway permanently weakened the Imperial Japanese Navy. The loss of four large fleet carriers and over 40% of the carriers’ highly trained aircraft mechanics and technicians, plus the essential flight-deck crews and armorers, and the loss of organizational knowledge embodied in such highly trained crews, were still heavy blows to the Japanese carrier fleet. A few months after Midway, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service sustained similar casualty rates in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons and Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, and it was these battles, combined with the constant attrition of veterans during the Solomons campaign, which were the catalyst for the sharp downward spiral in operational capability.
After the battle, Shōkaku and Zuikaku were the only large carriers of the original Pearl Harbor strike force still afloat. Of Japan’s other carriers, Taihō, which was not commissioned until early 1944, would be the only fleet carrier worth teaming with Shōkaku and Zuikaku; Ryūjō and Zuihō were light carriers, while Jun’yō and Hiyō, although technically classified as fleet carriers, were second-rate ships of comparatively limited effectiveness. In the time it took Japan to build three carriers, the U.S. Navy commissioned more than two dozen fleet and light fleet carriers, and numerous escort carriers. By 1942 the United States was already three years into a shipbuilding program mandated by the Second Vinson Act of 1938.
Both the United States and Japan accelerated the training of aircrew, but the United States had a more effective pilot rotation system, which meant that more veterans survived and went on to training or command billets, where they were able to pass on lessons they had learned in combat to trainees, instead of remaining in combat, where errors were more likely to be fatal.
By the time the battle ended, 3,057 Japanese naval personnel had died. Casualties aboard the four sunk Japanese carriers were: Akagi: 267; Kaga: 811; Hiryū: 392 (including Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi who chose to go down with his ship); Soryū: 711 (including Captain Yanagimoto, who chose to remain on board); a total of 2,181. The heavy cruisers Mikuma (which was also sunk; 700 casualties) and Mogami (badly damaged; 92) accounted for another 792 deaths.
In addition, the destroyers Arashio (bombed; 35) and Asashio (strafed by aircraft; 21) were both damaged during the air attacks which sank Mikuma and caused further damage to Mogami. Floatplanes were lost from the cruisers Chikuma (3) and Tone (2). Dead aboard the destroyers Tanikaze (11), Arashi (1), Kazagumo (1) and the fleet oiler Akebono Maru (10) made up the remaining 23 casualties.
At the end of the battle, the U.S. lost the carrier USS Yorktown and a destroyer, USS Hammann. Total of 149 aircraft from US Navy and US Marine Corps were lost. Total 307 American naval personnel had been killed, including Major General Clarence L. Tinker, Commander, 7th Air Force, who personally led a bomber strike from Hawaii against the retreating Japanese forces on 7 June. He was killed when his aircraft crashed near Midway Island.
Attu Island , US Alaskan Territory , Aleutian Islands : Japanese troops from Northern Strike Force began to land Attu island.
7 June 1942
Atlantic Ocean : German submarine U-107 torpedoed and sank Honduran cargo ship Castilla 75 miles south of the western tip of Cuba at 0408 hours; 24 were killed, 35 survived. 50 miles north of the western tip of Cuba, German submarine U-158 torpedoed and sank Panamanian cargo ship Hermis; 1 was killed, 46 survived. At 2224 hours, German submarine U-159 torpedoed and sank US cargo ship Edith 200 miles southeast of Jamaica; 2 were killed, 29 survived.
German submarine U-653 torpedoed and sank destroyer USS Gannet 240 miles north of Bermuda at 0742 hours; 14 were killed, 62 survived. US liberty ship George Clymer, damaged on the previous day by fast motor torpedoboat Esau launched by German armed merchant cruiser Michel, was scuttled by British armed merchant cruiser HMS Alcantara in the South Atlantic; Michel approached to attack HMS Alcantara during the rescue operation, but would arrive far too late.
700 miles southwest of Freetown, British West Africa, Italian submarine Da Vinci torpedoed and sank Danish cargo ship Chile; 5 were killed, 39 survived.
Liverpool , UK : Royal Navy Western Approach Command Submarine Tracking Room commander Rogere Winn published a very bleak report for Allied struggle in Battle of Atlantic. On June 1, Winn estimated that the Germans had built 355 U-boats to then, of which only seventy-five were positively known to have been sunk. That left a net force of about 280 to 285 commissioned U-boats on June 1. Furthermore, Winn estimated the Germans were building new U-boats at the rate of “15-25 per month.” If the forecast proved accurate, it meant the net force was to grow to at least 400 U-boats by January 1, 1943.
Many responsible American officials believed that disturbing forecast to be greatly understated, among them Admiral Adolphus Andrews, commander of the US Navy Eastern Sea Frontier. Analyzing the Winn paper, his diarist wrote in June that the number of surviving U-boats might be not 280 or 285 but as many as 325, of which not 125 but as many as 140 were assigned to the Atlantic force. Doubtless reflecting the views of Andrews, the diarist went on to predict on June 7 :
“At the present rate of building the Germans will have over 500 submarines by January 1, 1943. It is probable that most of the new construction will ultimately be used against us in the Atlantic. When it is remembered that in the first six months of the war [i.e., war with the United States] an average of 100 submarines available to operate in the Atlantic have caused very large losses, doubling or tripling of this number presents a problem of great seriousness, particularly when it is also remembered that sinkings of U-boats [by the Allies] have been so small as to be almost negligible during the same period. U-boat crews which were green in March are now hardened veterans [and] will form the working nucleus of the larger fleet to be at sea six months from now.”
Bir-Hakeim , Gazala , Libya : German engineers penetrated defensive minefield outside of Bir Hakeim, Libya, but the following German and Italian attack was repulsed by Free French garrison with RAF Desert Air Force air support. During the day four Desert Air Force raids were made against the German forces grouping in the minefields or behind them. That night, a last British supply convoy approached the fort and, in thick fog Free French scouts to guide the convoy in. The Germans used the fog to prepare a final assault; tanks, 88 mm guns and Colonel Hecker’s pioneers formed up in front of the fort.
Gazala , Libya : A series of weak probes were sent but no serious attacks launched by Eighth Army after mauling of Operation Abardeen the day before. General Gott , commander of 30th Corps , tried to persuade General Dan Pienaar commanding 2nd South African Division holding northern half of Gazala Line to attack to his south but Pienaar flatly refused on the basis that he was not going to hazard his division against a superior force. Pienaar was appeased and was invited to make a raid at brigade group strength but the South African responded by saying that he had insufficient time to organise it. Graciously, he did agree to lay on a few company-sized forays around 7 June. These achieved nothing but caused the loss of 280 men. Patently, Pienaar was in the wrong job and in the wrong army. He and his division were becoming a liability.
Meanwhile Eighth Army commander General Ritchie’s optimism and charm were no substitute for ‘grip’ and this he completely lacked. He remarked to Air Commodore Tommy Elmhirst, ‘I have sent my orders for tomorrow, but I know my corps commanders will hold a tea party on them and whether they will comply with my exact intentions is questionable.’ This sad and revealing remark reflects badly on Eighth Army commanders General Norrie and General Gott, who by now seemed to have forgotten the precepts of discipline fundamental to any army. The reluctance to accept an order as an order had spread further down the command chain. 1st and 7th Armored Division commanders General Lumsden and General Messervy made life difficult for Norrie, and General Dan Pienaar , commander of 1st South African Division , challenged every order from Gott as a matter of routine. This breakdown in discipline was symptomatic of the malaise now infecting the 8th Army. The organisation of the Army started to break down and this was manifest in the bizarre command structure that was agreed for an assault on the German bridgehead; this was designated ‘Operation Aberdeen’ the day before. Meanwhile on Axis side , Rommel now had a firm base that had been left unmolested for four days, during which time it had consolidated resupplied and rested.
The 7th Motor Brigade and 29th Indian Infantry Brigade continued to harass the Axis lines of communications.
Mediterranean Sea : A RAF Coastal Command PBY Catalina flying boat located Italian submarine Venierio on surface and sank her with depth charges off Majorca , Spain.
7 June 1942
Crete , East Mediterranean : Operation Albumen , British/Free French/Free Greek Special Forces raids to destroy Luftwaffe aircraft in Crete airfields was launched. During the late spring of 1942, the airfields of Crete gained increased strategic importance by becoming the main transit base for Luftwaffe to supply logistic support to Rommel’s Afrika Korps in their advance on the Nile Delta. Luftwaffe aircraft based on Crete operated photo-reconnaissance, bombing and convoy attack missions covering the south-east Mediterranean region. Aiming to disrupt these operations, British generals in Cairo sent three groups from the Special Boat Squadron (SBS) and one from Captain David Stirling’s Special Air Service (SAS) to Crete to sabotage the airfields of Heraklion, Kastelli, Tympaki and Maleme.
Aircraft types operating from Crete at the time included the Ju 52 and Me 323 for transport, the Ju 88 and Ju 86 for bombing and photo-reconnaissance and the Bf 109 as a fighter.
Heraklion airfield was allocated to the SAS group and the SBS groups were assigned to the other three airfields. The SBS groups were met by Tom Dunbabin, the British liaison officer with the Cretan resistance, who provided them with local guides. The date for all sabotage attacks was scheduled for the night of 7/8 June 1942.
The squad detailed to attack Kastelli airbase consisted of Captain G.I.A. Duncan of the Black Watch, two NCOs of the SBS and the Greek gendarme Vassilis Dramoundanis. The operation unfolded according to plan and on 7 June the saboteurs, assisted by the locals Giorgos Psarakis, Kimonas Zografakis (nicknamed Blackman) and Kostas Mavrantonakis, managed to destroy 5 aircraft, damage 29 other and set fire to several vehicles and considerable quantities of supplies (including about 200 tons of aviation fuel) using delayed-action bombs.
Malame and Tympaki airfields were abandoned by Luftwaffe so assault teams assigned to these locations came back empty handed.
The Heraklion airbase operation was commanded by George Jellicoe and included four members of the SAS Free French members under Georges Bergé (the other three being Jacques Mouhot, Pierre Léostic, and Jack Sibard), and Lieutenant Kostis Petrakis of the Hellenic Army. The group was transferred to Crete on board the Greek submarine Triton, and rowed ashore in three inflatable boats. They had intended to land at Karteros beach, but came ashore in the Gulf of Malia on the dawn of 10 June and behind schedule. Owing to landing at the wrong location, the men had to march overland to reach Heraklion airfield. They hid by day, and marched throughout the nights, finally arriving during the night of 12/13 June. Due to increased traffic caused by a succession of night sorties that was in progress, the team had to postpone their attack until the next evening. The group entered the airfield while it was being bombed by the RAF, and destroyed about 20 Ju 88s using Lewes bombs. All six saboteurs escaped from the airfield, but their retreat was betrayed, resulting in 17-year-old Pierre Léostic being killed and the other three Frenchmen being arrested. Jellicoe and Petrakis escaped to Egypt.
Operation Albumen was a highly sucessful commando raid operation in cooperation of British , French and Greek forces combined working together. Up to 55 German planes destroyed , 29 more planes damaged , 200 tons of aviation fuel destroyed and 12 German soldiers killed. In reprisal for the sabotage in Heraklion, German occupation forces executed 50 inhabitants of the greater Heraklion area in reprisal the next day. Prior to the attacks, on 3 June, the Germans had executed another 12 Heraklion citizens.
On 23 June, Jellicoe, Petrakis and the participants of the Kastelli , Malame and Tympaki operations were evacuated to Mersa Matruh, Egypt on a caique from Trypiti beach near the village of Krotos in south Crete. They reached Mersa Matruh shortly before it fell to Rommel’s advancing forces. Jellicoe was later awarded the Distinguished Service Order.
Sevastapol , Crimea : German 11th Army attack on Sevastapol begins. German LIV Corps was to strike the main blow. Situated on the northeast edge of the city, they struck along the lines of least resistance, across the Belbek river while the German XXX and Romanian Mountain Corps conducted holding attacks in the south and center, respectively. Both the latter corps did not start major operations until 8 June.
On the morning of 7 June 1942, the German infantry began advancing cautiously. XXX Corps attacked the southern positions held by the Soviet 7th Naval Brigade and 388th Rifle Division. The German infantry advanced behind air and artillery support. The infantry seemed afraid of their fire support and did not advance close enough behind it. The bombardment also failed to have enough of an effect. The Soviet forces held their fire until the German forces were well within range before opening fire, and little progress was made. Luftflotte IV commander General Von Richthofen was angered by the fear of the infantry and called the day “a real disappointment”. The next few days were not much better, despite the Luftwaffe flying 1,200 sorties. The pace of operations exhausted the machines and men. Often crews did not get out of their aircraft and made three or four sorties without rest.
LIV Corps began its assault in the north on the seam of the Soviet defence sectors III and IV. The ‘Schwerer Gustav’ weapon continued to fire against ammunition dumps, which produced no effect. Nevertheless, the 132nd German Infantry Division was able to work its way up to the river. The 600 mm guns concentrated on the coastal batteries and Maxim Gorky fortress. Meanwhile, the German 22nd Infantry Division attacked further to the east. Some 200 Soviet reinforcements of the 79th Naval Infantry Brigade, protecting this sector, were lost in the bombardment, but the main defences held out. The brigade held most of its forces in reserve, while committing only a single company to cover the hilly terrain on the Belbek river front. German assault groups breached the first and reserve lines by 08:15. The German forces had to negotiate heavily mined areas, slowing them down and allowing the Soviet forces to make a partial recovery. Supporting operations by the 50th and 24th German Infantry Divisions failed, which cost the Wehrmacht 12 StuG assault guns. The remote-control demolition units were not effective as the terrain was unsuitable.
By 17:15 the town of Belbek was secured. The 22nd German Infantry Division made considerable progress in breaking through the defenses of the Soviet 25th Rifle Division. The 50th German Infantry Division supported the 22nd’s left flank. Now facing the Germans was the Haccius Ridge, on which the fortress Maxim Gorky was located. It was flanked by several smaller forts to the east.
Now the 132nd German Infantry Division was ordered to conduct a converging pincer movement on the Maxim Gorky fortress in conjunction with the 22nd and 50th Infantry Divisions, to trap its defenders against the coast. The 132nd pushed into the 95th Rifle Division’s positions north of the fort, while the other two divisions attacked in a flanking move. While the Germans did make progress, nearing the main railway station just southeast of Maxim Gorky, they were stopped from achieving a full-scale breakthrough by the 172nd Rifle Division. The 22nd and 50th Infantry Divisions had been heavily shelled by mortar fire from the 25th Rifle Division facing them east of the Haccius Ridge, which caused heavy casualties. By 18:00 hours, the German attack was spent.
LIV Corps’ losses on 7 June amounted to 2,357 casualties in four divisions, including 340 killed. It had also expended 3,939 tons of ammunition. The 132nd Division had exhausted all of its basic munitions load by midday. On the other side, the formidable Soviet defence lines east and southeast of Belbek had been overrun, and the Germans succeeded in advancing 2 km through dense Soviet defences. The Soviet casualties had also been severe. It is estimated that three battalions were effectively destroyed.
Even after five days’ bombardment, German 11th Army reported that the advancing infantry found the enemy ‘tougher than expected’.
France : All Jews over the age of six were forced to wear the Star of David in occupied France.
Indian Ocean : Norwegian cargo ship Wilford was shelled and sunk by Japanese submarine I-18 , nine out of 44 crewmen of Wilford were killed in this action
Pacific Ocean : American carrier USS Saratoga transferred aircraft to USS Enterprise and USS Hornet so that they could sail north to reinforce the Aleutian Islands.
After sinking USS Yorktown , Japanese submarine I-168 evaded US escort ships hunting her and left the area to return back to Japan
Japanese submarine I-26 torpedoed and sank US freighter Coast Trader 35 miles west of Washington, United States; 1 was killed, 55 survived.
Aleutian Islans , US Territory of Alaska , Pacific Ocean : Japanese troops occupied Kiska, Aleutian Islands, US Territory of Alaska.
8 June 1942
Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico : German submarine U-107 torpedoed and sank US cargo ship Suwied 100 miles east of Cozumel, Mexico at 0119 hours; 6 were killed, 27 survived. At 0500 hours, German submarine U-172 torpedoed and sank US cargo ship Sicilien 10 miles south of Cape Beata, Dominican Republic; 44 were killed, 31 survived. At 0700 hours, U-504 torpedoed and sank Huondran cargo ship Tela with two torpedoes 100 miles southeast of Cozumel; 11 were killed, 43 survived. At 1800 hours, U-504 struck again, torpedoed sinking British cargo ship Rosenborg with her deck gun; 4 were killed, 23 survived.
German submarine U-135 torpedoed and sank Norwegian cargo ship Pleasantville 225 miles northwest of Bermuda at 0316 hours; 2 were killed, 45 survived. German submarine U-128 torpedoed and sank Norwegian tanker South Africa 400 miles east of Trinidad at 1419 hours; 6 were killed, 36 survived.
North Atlantic : By using B-Dienst (German Navy intelligence wireless decryption) intelligence , German U-Boat pack HECHT began to position to attack Convoy ON 100 (Outbound Nıorth) escorted by the well-trained and experienced Canadian group C-1, which, however, had sailed minus one destroyer and one corvette (both in refit), leaving only five ships: the veteran Canadian destroyer HMCS Assiniboine and four corvettes, two British and two Free French. All five escorts were equipped with radar (four with Type 271) and the convoy rescue ship, Gothland, was fitted with Huff Duff. Additional protection was provided by the fighter-catapult ship, Empire Ocean, carrying a Hurricane fighter.en route from Canada to UK.
By the afternoon German submarine U-162 contacted the convoy and began to shadow it , then calling other submarines inthe pack towards the convoy
Bay of Biscay , France : On her return trip from her Caribbbean patrol to France , German submarine U-162 cruising on the surface , was detected by a RAF Coastal Command Wellington bomber on patrol over Bay of Biscay via airborne radar that directed her attack with two depth charges. U-162 crash dived and depth charges missed.
Bir-Hakeim , Gazala , Libya : On the morning of 8 June, after the defeat of Operation Aberdeen released part of the 15th Panzer Division , entire Italian Trieste motorised infantry division and Group Hecker for the siege of Bir Hakeim. Artillery and battlegroups from 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions began to deploy for start of what would be the final assault on Bir Hakeim fort; this final assault would be personally led by Erwin Rommel.
In the late morning Rommel commanded an attack from the north, approaching as close as possible in thick fog, with artillery firing directly against the fortifications. The Luftwaffe made constant attacks, including a raid by forty-five Ju 87 Stukas, three Junkers Ju 88 bombers and ten Messerschmitt Me 110 twin-engined fighters escorted by fifty-four fighters. Just before 10:00 a.m. the attack began, aiming at a low rise which would overlook the French defences. The Chadian and Congolese defenders held on despite many casualties and in the afternoon, another sixty Stukas bombed the perimeter and an attack was made all round the northern defences. A French ammunition dump was blown up and the French defensive perimeter forced back but held on. Under heavy Axis artillery support , German 90th Light Infantry Division spearheads also advanced from lanes opened up across minefields and reached just a few hundred meters of inner defensive perimeter but again a determined Free French resistance drove the attackers back.
Despite the continued Luftwaffe aerial bombardment and Ais artillery fire, the Free French refused to yield, resisting with such valour that German general von Mellenthin was moved to record that ‘in the whole course of the desert war we never encountered a more heroic or well-sustained defence’. From London, General de Gaulle broadcast: ‘General Koenig, know and tell your troops that the whole of France is looking at you and you are her pride.’ Koenig responded ‘We are surrounded. Our thoughts are always with you. Long live Free France.’
General Kœnig also reported to Eighth Army that the garrison was exhausted, had suffered many casualties and was down to its reserve supplies; he asked for more air support and a relief operation. Desert Air Force made another maximum effort, flew a record 478 sorties and during the night, Hawker Hurricane fighters and Douglas Boston bombers dropped supplies to the garrison. The Desert Air Force lost eight fighters (three to Italian Macchi C.202 fighters) and two bombers; the Luftwaffe lost two aircraft and the Regia Aeronautica one.
In the evening, French General Pierre Kœnig decided the fort would be abandoned on 11 Jun 1942.
Mediterranean Sea : German submarine U-83 sank Egyptian cargo ship Said with her deck gun 15 miles southwest of Jaffa, British Palestine at 0511 hours; 5 were killed, 9 survived. At 2330 hours, U-83 struck again, sinking Palestinian sail boat Esther with her deck gun 10 miles off Sidon, Syria-Lebanon.
In a friendly fire incident , Italian submarine Alagi torpedoed and sank Italian destroyer Antoniotto Usodimare with a torpedo 100 miles north of Cape Bon, Tunisia in a case of mis-identification.
Sevastapol : General Manstein commander of German 11th Army besieging Sevastapol recognised the seriousness of the failure on 8 June. He was worried that the 132nd Infantry Division, locked in combat with the 79th Naval Brigade and 95th and 172nd Rifle Divisions north of the city on the Belbek river front, was “approaching the end of its strength”. Once again, the army turned to the Luftwaffe for support. The commander of Luftflotte IV General Von Richthofen responded by ordering attacks against Soviet supply lines. The same day, German bombers, including KG 100, began attacks on Soviet shipping.
Vilna , Baltics : Three Jews, among them a young woman, Vitka Kempner, left the Vilna ghetto on their first ever sabotage mission. Their target was a German military train, and they succeeded. ‘It’s been blown up!’-the words spread throughout the ghetto, bringing a sense of achievement, if not of hope. But the reprisals were swift. Thirty-two families were seized by the Gestapo, taken to Ponar, and shot.
Essen , Germany : 170 British bombers (92 Wellington, 42 Halifax, 14 Stirling, 13 Lancaster, 9 Hampden)from RAF Bomber Command attacked Essen, Germany, killing 13 and wounding 42; 19 bombers were lost on this mission either shot down by Luftwaffe night fighters or anti aircraft guns.
Berlin , Germany : Hitler personally lays a laurel of wreath while Berlin Philhormonic Orchestra plays Gotterdammurg from Wagner during Heydrich’s funeral
Indian Ocean : Japanese submarine I-10 torpedoed and sank British cargo ship King Lud in the Mozambique Channel at 0953 hours with torpedoes, killing all aboard. In the same area, Japanese submarine I-16 sank Greek ship Aghios Georgios IV with her deck gun and I-18 sank Norwegian ship Wilford with her deck gun. In the middle of the Indian Ocean, I-20 torpedoed and sank Greek cargo ship Christos Markettos.
Australia : Japanese submarine I-24 fired 10 shells at the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Sydney, Australia shortly after 0000 hours, scoring no hits on the bridge but destroyed one house nearby. At 0215 hours, another Japanese submarine I-21 surfaced near Newcastle, Australia and fired 34 shells, damaging a house near the BHP steelworks; as the coastal guns at Fort Scratchley fired at I-21 (which caused no damage), this became the only time where Australian land-based guns would fire at a Japanese ship in the war.
Britain had the largest Empire the world had ever seen but WW1 ensured she would never have the man power to defend it from multiple attacks, spread far too thin that is being shown to the world.