Join the TimeGhost Army: bit.ly/WW2_206_PI Last week, we asked you how important Italy was to this war, and to what extent they bolstered Germany's war effort. With Romania getting bombed this week, we ask you the same for Romania.

The Australian coast watcher actually saw the explosion when Kennedy's PT boat was cut in two and he reported it to the Americans. They told him they'd lost a PT boat in the area and asked him to send some natives to investigate which he did. They found Kennedy and his surviving crew because two at the rear of the craft had been lost when it was cut in two. Kennedy gave the natives the coconut message and the coast watcher organized their retrieval. Kennedy I believe also tried to contact the crew of the Japanese destroyer which survived the war.

Two interesting things about JFK: 1. He was initially rejected by the Army and Navy as medically unfit. Through his father's connections, he was able to join the Naval Reserve. Usually, you hear about family connections to get out of serving. JFK wanted to get in and fight. 2. He invited the captain of the destroyer that rammed his boat, Kohei Hanami, to his inauguration.

My late friend, Gene Spencer, was a waist gunner on the Ploesti raid. Their plane was so shot up that they violated orders and crash-landed in Turkey. I believe their pilot or co-pilot was killed and the rest of the crew was interned until the OSS arranged their "escape" with the aid of Turkish officials. I have a copy of their escape orders, complete with per diem expenditure authorizations for each man. Gene's last name was misspelled on the the orders, but this did not prevent his successful return to Allied lines. Here's an excerpt from an email I had from him in 2006 regarding how he much later acquired a souvenir part from his old B-24. I've added clarifying information in brackets. "About the B-24 part. Our plane was the only one that actually came close to crashing in Turkey. We landed in a big plowed field and we rolled about a mile because we had no brakes or flaps and ended up nosed up in a big ditch. Some [USAF] Light Colonel that was stationed near there [after the war] met someone that was just a boy when the plane "crashed" and over the years he and others cannibalized it for parts and this Colonel secured some from this man. I think that he contacted my bombardier [now] M/General Triantafallu and he gave the Colonel the addresses of all the known crew members and the Colonel sent each of us a souvenir. i got a piece of tubing (Hydraulic). Pat has it at home now. I flew over that crash site in 1955 and it [his B-24] was still there with a fence around it. It might still be there for all I know. The other 9 aircraft that made it to Turkey landed on airport without damage. I think that the Turkish Gvt. put them into service eventually as cargo planes except for one that the crew talked the Turks into letting them warm up the engines and they absconded with the goods back to Malta or somewhere safe nice trick it was. I'm really proud of them."

The number of divisions involved in fighting on the Russian front boggles the imagination. I can't express too strongly how superb the animated maps are, and the crucial role they play in making these engagements understandable. Excellent work.

Sometimes I wonder how history may have changed had the two Solomon Islands coast watchers, Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana, not found John F. Kennedy and his PT-109 crew. The amount of alternate history that could have happened from this point would have been quite a lot to imagine about.

Five Medals of Honor were awarded to airmen for actions at Ploesti, 3 posthumously. The most awarded for any single air raid in the war.

Saw the island of Vella Lavella was mentioned. I had an uncle that landed on the island as a scout. He was injured on coral and taken in and hidden by locals from the Japanese occupiers. He said he remembers seeing the enemies feet walking by the hut that he was hiding under.Years later my cousin went back to the island while writing a book about her dads experiences. There she found the chief of the local tribe, who was named by his father,(the chief during ww2), David. My uncles name.

If anyone's interested, here's a little more data on the Ploesti mission. Of the 53 aircraft lost, 41 were shot down--35 over Romania, two by Bulgarian fighters and four by German fighters over the Ionian Sea. Eight were interned in Turkey, two collided on the return flight and two were lost because of mechanical failure, one of which crashed shortly after takeoff and another which crashed into the sea on the outward flight. This was probably the only major American raid in which the KIA outnumbered the PoW, due to the low altitude at which the raid was flown. The most severely hit bomb group was the 98th, which lost 20 B-24s. At the other end of the scale was the 376th, which lost only three.

For my college history senior thesis project in 2014, I interviewed 4 WWII from Rye, NY and created a short documentary for the local historical society in collaboration with my friend Casey, a film student. One of them named Chet Williams served in the same PT Squadron as Kennedy. His boat was PT 106. It was really cool hearing the story of PT-109 from someone who was an actual eye witness to the events.

7:50 Captain Hara, commander of the destroyer Shigure, said in his book "Japanese Destroyer Captain" that the only reason he survived is because an American torpedo passed through the rudder of his ship without exploding. Had the torpedo detonated, the Battle of Vella Gulf would have been a clean sweep for the US Navy. He only discovered how lucky he had been some 4 months later when Shigure was in drydock for repairs. Hara was also captaining the Shigure during the action in which Amagiri rammed PT-109.

The anecdotes in the comments sections are really wonderful. Thanks to the Team for bringing us all together in the appreciation and remembrance of history.

Considering how desaster the last few months were for the Axis, the failure of operation Tidel wave was a win the Axis desperately needed. I really wonder how the military leaders and the people of Romenia viewed this win.

Last week the new US Ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, and General Mark Milley, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with two Australian veteran Coastwatchers and their family members at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

Growing up in the US, I've mostly been fed the America-centric history of WWII (IE, Germany was an unstoppable juggernaut that was going to take over the whole world until D-day happened and our boys were just that much tougher). It's been great to see the real, unbiased history of WW2 to see how many players were involved and how the German collapse began far earlier...D-day is still a year away! Thanks for all your hard work Time Ghost team!

Italy: We are NOT negotiating with the Allies Also Italy: So we start negotiating with the Allies

The Tidal Wave attack took out the Steaua Română refinery for the rest of the war. As for PT-109, Evans was on Kolumbangara when he saw the explosion. I was part of the search for PT-109 and identified the wreck for Bob Ballard. I did meet one of the native scouts that first located Kennedy and his men, as well as visiting Plum Pudding Island, along with Kolumbangara where I walked the Vila airstrip and New Georgia with the Munda airstrip. The PT boat was not cut in half, but had the starboard side shaved off, resulting in the death of one of the machine gunners and a torpedoman.

There was. a total solar eclipse on Aug 1, 1943 so the moon was on the other side of the earth and it was a dark night out in the Blackett Straight when the destroyers encountered the PT boats.

I served in the successor unit of one of the bomber groups that participated in the Ploësti Raid. One of the stories I heard was that they sent sixteen photographers in the B-24s to document the raid. Only one returned.

Also August 2nd, an uprising broke out in Treblinka. Can't wait to hear Sparty talk about it in WAH. Great stuff like always Indy!

11:45 To be fair to Churchill, he remembered the slugging match that occurred in France in 1914-1918, and that the Central Powers were defeated in 1918 primarily because of the collapse of the Macedonian Front (which was well documented in TimeGhost's "The Great War" series). Unfortunately, he was more or less trying to fight the war in a similar manner to WW1, but was obviously ignoring the major differences (militarily and geopolitically) between the two conflicts.

Who wants to tell him the day by day coverage hasn't been happening on the community tab or Facebook for weeks now?

Oooooh I like this tie. Not sure I've ever seen all these colours used in a single one. Combined with an old-school, midcentury print and you've got yourself a beauty. 4.5/5

I would be fascinated by a special episode on the reactions in axis powers to the war turning, among the controlled press, among the civilian population and in the halls of power.

My father's cousin lost his life over the Romanian oil fields. His body didn't come home for years.

My grandmother survived Tidal Wave after a bomb landed on her home.

The just appointed American ambassador is Caroline Kennedy, daughter of JFK. She was very keen to point out the very strong love and personal connection to Australia her family has. And she is just off to Solomons Island for WW2 related matters… and no doubt also add political weight to current issues in the region. She also invited people to approach her and say hello if we see her about. If I do I’ll ask for photo of the coconut 🥥!

I read somewhere that three Liberators were downed by the Bulgarian air force, but this was considered disappointing and the Bulgarian fighters proved severely undergunned in the role of attacking four-engine bombers. An upgrade involving use of German-made Me 109s was ordered.

Just flew home from Bucharest last night. Serendipitous to see this now..

This week the Canadians continue their eastward advance along the Salso River valley toward Regalbuto and Adrano. Attached to the Canadian forces under Major-General Guy Simmonds is the British 231st (aka Malta) Brigade. It is the Malta Brigade that kicks off the assault on Regalbuto on the 31st this week, taking and holding the heights west of town from the Hermann Goering Engineers. The RCRs of 1st Brigade attempt to enter the town but their advance is checked by heavy fire while crossing a steep ravine. By the 3rd of August the 231st and 1st brigades take Regalbuto, after a well planned flanking maneuver by the Hasty P's finally wrestled the town from 2 battalions of German paratroopers. (The town is left in ruins after having been pummeled by air strikes.) At the same time to the north, 2nd Brigade Edmontons clear hill 736 and the surrounding area after encountering stiff resistance from a reconstituted 382nd Panzer Grenadier Regiment made up of veterans from the Russian front and Africa Corps. On August 5th, a force led by Lt-Colonel Booth consisting of the 4th Reconnaissance Regiment (PLDG), tanks of the Three Rivers Regiment and a company of Seaforths cross the Troina River on route to the village of Carcaci. Waiting in ambush are troops of the German 3rd Parachute Regiment. They are determined, but are unprepared for engaging tanks supported by infantry and are wiped out, fighting to the 'last man', only 12 are taken prisoner. With the route to Carcaci now cleared, the Canadians turn their attention to Mount Revisotto and Mount Seggio directly to the north. On the 6th, three companies of Edmontons make their assault on Revisotto taking the heights under heavy enemy fire, losing one officer and two platoon sergeants killed (among many casualties). Another officer, Lt. Dougan is hit 4 times in both arms and hands but leads his men to capture the objective. Later the same day the PPCLI climb Mount Seggio expecting it to be held in force, but find it abandoned. The road to Adrano is now open and the Vandoos (22nd Regmt) of 3rd Brigade reach the outskirts of town early on the 7th, but are ordered to stand down as the British 78th Division is to be given unrestricted entry. This weeks fighting in the Salso valley costs the Canadians over 150 casualties.

Being on board one those bombers was a very dangerous place to be. The Axis' fighter pilots were lethal guys until the very end of the war. Of course, I want to say: Congratulations, Indy! Being married is a wonderful adventure! God bless you and your special lady.

"Ice cream supplies have run dangerously low, back to the Hagen line!!!!"

Details About Operation Tidal Wave 01:39 - 03:28 , a few US B-24 bombers returning after bombing , landed / crashed into Turkish territory and though Turks initially interned their crews , they released and send them back to Allied territory via British / Free French held Syria and Cyprus after a short duration since Turkish goverment clearly recognised from which way the wind of war was blowing now. One of crashed B-24 Liberator bomber wrecks was found off Marmaris , Aegean Sea two decades ago and is in display in a museum at Istanbul now. 11:34 , Churchill's trip in Queen Mary to Canada for Second Quebec Conferance has an interesting side note , in her belowdecks the ship had also been carrying several thousand German POWs captured in North Africa recently to prisoner of war camps in Canada

7:21 Aaaand the WW2 timeline has finally intersected my childhood memories of watching "Baa Baa Black Sheep". (Vella Lavella was fictionalised to Vella La Cava in the series).

I'm sorry, I must have misunderstood you at 18:15 where you said I could learn more on the Instagram day-by-day coverage or the KZfaq Community tab. But it was really cool you had a screen-shot of the last ever post from 5 weeks earlier.

18:05 A notable event that happened this week on August 3 1943 is that one of General George S. Patton's slapping incidents happen when he was visiting the 15th Evacuation Hospital in the town of Nicosia in Sicily. He would slap Private Charles H. Kuhl of the U.S. 26th Infantry Regiment when he told Patton that he was in hospital (due to malaria, dysentery and shellshock or PTSD) because "I guess I just can't take it", which made Patton lose his temper. There would be another slapping incident on August 10 and eventually both incidents would become public knowledge, leading to calls for Patton to be relived of duty and sent back home to the United States.

*Whew* That was an action packed week. Great job, Indy and crew! I forgot this was the week of the famous PT-109 incident. I'm wondering if you guys considered making that a special episode unto itself.

By George, it sounds like we're actually starting to win this war. The fact that American ships used torpedoes as their primary weapon in a battle is interesting. Does this mean that the technical problems with the torpedoes have finally been solved? My understanding is that, for many months after Pearl Harbor, only about 10% of our torpedoes would actually explode, and whichever office in the Navy Department was responsible for them refused to even investigate, just blaming the crews for not aiming them properly.

I’m not trying to be rude by any means. Why has the Instagram coverage day by day stopped since July 1st and not been updated?

14:04 - It's over Anatoly, I have the high ground - You underestimate my cheap tanks - Don't try it (This one doesn't end well for Heinrich-Wan tho)

Breaching Etna Line (31 July - 7 August 1943) (part 3) Canadian and Scot Advance First on the list of HARDGATE’s objectives was the town of Regalbuto, now held by a strong battlegroup of HG Division combat engineers, a company of Heilmann’s 3. Fallschirmjäger, battery of HG artillery, and a handful of tanks and assault guns. However poor the HG Division might have been at Gela, they were learning fast, especially in terms of defensive operations. Perhaps more importantly, they were no longer fleeing when the chips were down but staying and fighting it out with the kind of Teutonic discipline that had won the Germans so much respect as soldiers. At Regalbuto, an order had been issued to each man making it clear the town was to be held at all costs. It was the job of the 1st Canadian and Malta Brigades to take Regalbuto. The main road from Agira ran along an east-west ridge, and the town itself was surrounded by a number of high hills, all of which would have to be taken in order to unlock the German defence. It was the Dorsets and Hampshires of the Malta Brigade who led the attack on the night of 30 July, the sky soon lit up with flares and a heavy response from machine guns, mortars, artillery and the dreaded Nebelwerfers. Although the Dorsets got a toehold on Monte Serione just to the north of the town, by daybreak the attack had stalled. Brigadier Roy Urquhart, the brigade commander, then sent in the Devons the following night, straight on to the ridge overlooking the road from Agira as it ran into the town. The Devons had had a bloody time at Agira, losing some 200 men; this time, with support from a massive 144 guns, by 2.35 a.m. on 1 August they were able to fire the success signal. The enemy then counter-attacked, pushing them back. Urquhart now arrived on the scene and, bringing forward his reserve company, urged all available men to give it one more effort to clear the ridge a second time. James Donaldson, who had been firing mortars all night, was now out of rounds. ‘We were sitting with our backs to a little slope so we’d be out of danger,’ said Donaldson. Urquhart then appeared and told them to pick up a rifle, fix bayonets and advance. ‘It was the first bayonet charge I’d been in,’ Donaldson added, ‘and the first time I’d been with a rifle company in action.’ They’d not charged so much as walked, picking their way through the prickly-pear cactus plants that seemed to cover the ridge. Canadian artillery was firing shot over their heads as Donaldson picked his way past dead Germans and dead Tommies. ‘We had to keep moving all the time,’ he said - but they did secure the ridge, and this time for good. In doing so, the Devons lost a further twenty-seven killed and eighty-two wounded. It was turning into another attritional battle, with the British and Canadian attack chipping away at the enemy defences with a mass of artillery shelling, Kittyhawk fighter-bombers diving in on enemy positions during the day, and then the infantry pushing forward and clearing another hill by night. The Canadian infantry went in on the night of the 31st-1st along the Dorsets’ route to the north of Regalbuto, but during the day were pinned down on the shale-littered slopes before the town. That night, the Hasty Ps were also thrown into the fray once again - their fourth battle in a fortnight. With all the casualties they had suffered, it was now a very different-looking unit; Farley Mowat had been made intelligence officer, while Bill Kennedy, despite being wounded at Agira, had insisted on remaining with the battalion and had become the third CO in a week. As it happened, General Conrath, most of whose combat engineers lay slaughtered within the battered town, had decided to pull out that night, so that when the Hasty Ps went in, they were able to make swift progress: first they took Monte Tiglio, a mile to the south, with ease, then crossed the road out of town and took another high point, Monte San Giorgio, to the south-east, and then swung north-west and took hold of what had been named Tower Hill behind Regalbuto. By dawn, the battle was over and Regalbuto was in Allied hands. As the Hasty Ps lounged on the slopes overlooking the town early that morning, Allied medium bombers came over. Clearly, word of the town’s capture had not reached them: as Mowat wrote, ‘In leisurely style, they proceeded to churn the already battered streets and houses into heaps of smoking rubble.’ Certainly, there wasn’t much left of Regalbuto after this latest battle - another Sicilian town blasted into ruins. Yet Sicilians were still living in these places. Vincenza La Bruna and her family had suffered quite enough already in the war; but then one day they’d heard artillery shelling, distant at first and getting ever closer. After Agira, their own town had been next - not that Vincenza had known what was coming their way. ‘Suddenly it was hell,’ she said. ‘Planes arrived, flying over the town, strafing everywhere.’ During the bombing on the morning of the 2nd, a neighbour, seeing Vincenza’s sister Pridda, offered her refuge in her house. ‘But I discouraged,’ said Vincenza. ‘If we were to die, it was better to die embraced together, in our house.’When the bombing was over, Vincenza and her family were relieved their house had been spared, although it had suffered blast damage and the front door was in pieces. ‘Outside it was a disaster,’ said Vincenza. ‘Everywhere rubble, debris, fire dust - and corpses.’ Among them was the neighbour who had offered shelter to Pridda. They decided to leave and head to Sparacollo, a farmstead to the north-east of the town, picking their way through the debris and past frightened and distressed townspeople, many of whom were looking for dead or missing relatives. It was desperate. As part of the realigning and reorganization of Eighth Army prior to the launch of the new offensive, 13th Infantry Brigade were ordered up to Sferro and temporarily attached to the 51st Highland Division. The Scots were due to launch an assault across the Dittaino towards the town of Adrano in the Etna foothills, and General Leese wanted a brigade kept at Sferro to form a firm base. First to be sent from the 2nd Inniskillings were B Company and Advance HQ which included David Cole, newly promoted captain after the fighting at Lemon Bridge; advancement could come quickly during a vicious campaign like this one. Just getting clear of the Catania Plain had involved dodging a few shells but, after safely reaching the rear, Cole and the rest of Advance HQ had embussed and trundled over the network of dusty grit roads until, clearing a ridge and heading down the long, straight route to Sferro, they approached the town just as night descended. Cole had heard nothing but bad things about Sferro, and first impressions didn’t change his mind. Up ahead, flames leaped from a burning oil wagon on the railway line. As they drew closer, he saw an entire trainload of wagons shattered, burning and wrecked alongside equally smashed buildings. Cole thought it looked more like a Hollywood film set until they reached this godforsaken spot and he saw real chunks of masonry falling from the signal box as it was hit by a shell. Flames danced angrily and billowing oily smoke rolled into the sky. ‘Everywhere the acrid fumes of explosives mingled with the odour of death,’ he wrote. ‘All this and the rattle of machine guns, with their tracers streaking into the sky, strengthened my feeling that this change of residence was not for the better.’ They had arrived as the Highland Division’s artillery was battering the HG Division’s positions to the north and the Germans were replying with a heavy barrage of their own right on to the shattered wreck of Sferro. Clambering swiftly out of their trucks, Cole and his men ran over the tracks to find the battalion HQ of the Highland Division unit they were replacing the following day. The signals officer was in a row of dugouts against a wall beyond a shattered goods shed, the makeshift refuge covered with sleepers and sandbags. There he found two signallers, huddled down and dimly lit by a torch bulb. Soon after, B Company men from his own battalion scuttled past carrying machine guns and ammo boxes. A hundred yards further on one of them opened up with a Tommy gun, which was answered by a burst from a German MP40 submachine gun. Cole survived the night, despite having to undertake some urgent wire repair work and despite the dawn bringing a fresh deluge of mortars down upon them, and when the barrage lifted he was able to look around his blighted surroundings. Sferro stood at the western end of the Catania Plain, with hills to the south rising up to the rear of the British positions, behind which were their own artillery; beyond the narrowing plain to the north was yet another ridgeline from where the enemy were firing, and behind this was the Simeto valley and then the town of Paterno. Sferro stood on the forward Hauptkampflinie, as did Catenanuova, 10 miles to the north-west. In fact, the HG Division were on the point of pulling out from this section of the line and now, on the morning of 31 July, all that remained were rearguards. Every house in Sferro was damaged or totally destroyed. Sicily 1943 - James Holland

Great work man; God bless you

As always thank you so very much for the video.

There have been no new posts on Instagram or Community page Day by Day for over a month. I don't see the General Patton post you mentioned.

Another great video. Good job Indy & team.

Who does your cartographic post production? I love it!

Thank you for the video.

Excellent video as usual.

You mentioned Sweden ... !!! My father guarded those German soldiers travelling thru Sweden back in those days. I never asked him much about it but he said they (the Germans) were gentle and polite. I am so surprised how the Axis can put up such a resistance after the loss at Stalingrad and Kursk. How much resources do they still have left?

The Forty-Five Days, July to September 1943 (1) THE international consequences of Mussolini’s dismissal by the king on 25 July 1943 were significant but contained. The Italian ramifications of Mussolini’s fall were less immediately significant, but ultimately uncontainable. There has been so much controversy over the responsibility for and significance of the events from Mussolini’s removal in July 1943 to the signing and declaration of the armistice between Italy and the Allies in September 1943, that it becomes extremely difficult for the historian to clear a path through the retrospective mutual recriminations and mud-slinging of the protagonists. The only place to start is with the announcement to the nation by the 72-year-old Marshal Pietro Badoglio, called out of military retirement by the king to head the new government after the dismissal and arrest of Mussolini on 25 July 1943. Badoglio was a deeply compromised figure, though he probably did not appear so to those who appointed him. A very political military man, Badoglio had successfully ducked and weaved with the Fascist dictatorship for two decades, garnering position, honours, and riches from the regime. Approached by the king before 25 July to be Mussolini’s successor, he had two and a half years of apparently clean hands to recommend him as a credible replacement of the dictator. What Badoglio announced to the nation was that the war would continue, which, once the declaration had sunk in, dampened the popular celebrations which followed the news of Mussolini’s dismissal. The days after 25 July saw the defacing, dismantling, and toppling of some of the public marks and signs of the Fascist regime, the now-familiar symbolical cleansing which usually characterizes the transition from one political regime to another. As elsewhere, such popular anger directed against the outward manifestations of a discredited regime was also a sign of the people’s sense of impotence. People could only take symbolic revenge on a regime which had already fallen; it was activism and opposition after the event. The impact of Italy’s disastrous war on popular morale had destroyed the credibility of Mussolini and the Fascist regime. Quite understandably and predictably, the Italian people expected the end of Mussolini to mean the end of the war, too. It meant the same for the king and the military, also. But they had decided not to take Grandi’s advice and achieve it in the risky and compressed timescale of an immediate and simultaneous changing of sides and declaration of war on Nazi Germany. The war continued because the king and his new government did not want to provoke or provide a pretext for a German-inspired Fascist counter-coup and the German military occupation of Italy. It was the constant fear of German reaction which underpinned and, one has to say, undermined the Badoglio government’s action (and inaction) during the so-called Forty-Five Days between July and September 1943. Some of the government’s irresponsible behaviour only becomes remotely intelligible if you bear in mind that the concern throughout was to withdraw from the war at minimum cost. It wanted to leave the war with the monarchy and state institutions intact, without fighting the Germans-preferably without having to fight anybody-and in a way which would avoid mainland Italy becoming occupied territory and a war zone. One could say that such aims were desirable, even high-minded and in the national interest. But one could not say in the circumstances that they were in any way realistic. It was this lack of realism, and a consequent overestimation of the country’s capacity to function as an international free agent, which ultimately makes the charge of irresponsibility stick. A sign of the government’s lack of perspective was its refusal, or inability, to assess realistically the intentions and actions of Nazi Germany. From the start, Hitler regarded the removal of Mussolini as a betrayal of the Axis alliance, and expected and planned for the eventual Italian exit from the alliance. The Germans substantially increased their military presence in Italy between July and September. Rather than exclusively concentrating its forces in the south for the defence of its ally, Germany also stationed its troops alongside Italian forces in the centre and north, to facilitate their disarmament when the Italian changing of sides occurred. The Germans, in other words, always intended to occupy Italy and always intended to defend their own frontiers not on the Alps, but in Italy itself. The Alps were not the preferred defensive line for the Germans. Occupying Italy would allow them to set up a Fascist government behind their lines, continue to exploit the economic resources of northern Italy, hold on to the Balkans, and keep some of Germany itself out of the range of Allied bombing. There was never any danger of Italy provoking Nazi Germany into action; it was taking action, anyway. The Italian government’s dilatory approach to armistice talks with the Allies was presumably meant as a ruse to reassure the Germans of its continuing loyalty to the Axis alliance. The attempt at deception served to bring about the conditions which made a painless exit from the war even more unlikely than it was at the start. Fall of Mussolini , Italy , Italians , Second World War - Philip Morgan

Great work man God bless you

You'd have to be crazy to go on a raid like that, but if you claimed you were insane, that would prove you were sane. Kind of a Catch 22.

Thanks!

Indy thanks for what you do much appreciated you do a good job at this

Last post on the Instagram account was on July 2nd. Is this pause intentional?

It was just John Kennedy back then, the F was added after his death since we use the F to pay respects

Hi Timeghost, mentioning the Instagram day by day posts reminded me that I hadn't seen it in a while. I just looked and it shows as the last post being on July 2nd, nothing since....

Another great vid

Most informative Introducing Video Thanks

Happy to hear about Bulgaria’s involvement in air defense in the Balkans. The bravery of their pilots are often unheard off

ok, we need a special on the coastwatchers

My favorite channel!

Monte Markham, the actor, and documentary filmmaker made a very good documentary on the Polisti Raid for the History Channel back in 1993 or 94. Well worth the effort to watch if you can find it.

PERFECT HISTORY TEACHER 👍😎🍻

Edward 'Ted' Timberlake. I am proud to have the same name sake as General Edward 'Ted' Timberlake the first commander of the 93rd Bomb Group, known as Ted's Flying Circus. It was he who was the co-planner of the Ploesti raid. As I understand it, information concerning the area of the oil fields was sparse, and the final approaches were flown using Michelin Road Maps. Once the bombing started and fire and smoke blinded the low flying B24's this added to the huge difficulties experienced and contributed to the high losses. Ted's later career took him to the top of the USA Army Air Force in his later years.

As always the best and quickest twenty mins in my week😀👍

Loved this episode

_We gotta help Vic! (Kelly) He's dead already! There's nothing we can do... (Hakins)_ 4:54 This week on August 5 1943, the eighth mission of the 2005 video game *Call of Duty 2: Big Red One* , the *Farewell to Friends level* under *Corporal Roland Roger* begins at Troina in Italy. In this mission, you must take out the enemy Flak 88s before securing the town of Troina. However in the process, Private Denley is killed by enemy MP40 fire and the squad speaks of him being the toughest soldier they had.

My grandfather earned his distinguished flying cross medal for one of his raids over Ploiesti. His group leader was shot down in the approach and he became the lead navigator. After a successful run, he took his group on a alternate return course and returned with no further losses. Many other groups weren't so lucky. He saved many of his fellow airmen lives that day by making a command decision that straid from the initial plan. We still have his award citation proudly framed in our house alongside his medals.

This Kennedy guy he may have a great future ahead of him if he just set his sights right.

U-Boat Hunt in Central Atlantic and Bay of Biscay (31 July - 6th August 1943) (2) U-Boat Hunt in Bay of Biscay Type VII German submarine U-383, commanded by Horst Kremser, age twenty-five, which sailed from Brest on July 29. On August 1, a Sunderland flying boat of RAF Coastal Command Squadron 228, piloted by Stanley White, found and attacked U-383. On the first run German gunners riddled the Sunderland, inflicting heavy damage on the starboard wing. On a second run White dropped seven depth charges that destroyed the U-boat. He reported that he saw Germans jumping into the water, but owing to his own damage, could not stay. Kremser had time to radio an SOS to Control stating he was “unable to dive” and “out of control.” In response, German aircraft, three torpedo boats, and three U-boats looked for survivors of U-383 the next day, but found none. The U-454 and U-706 sailed in company from La Pallice to patrol in Mediterranean on July 29. It was the fourth start in July for the U-706, commanded by Alexander von Zitzewitz, who had been bedeviled by a series of mechanical failures. On July 30, von Zitzewitz in U-706 and the U-454, commanded by Burkhard Hackländer, joined two boats from Brest for the Biscay crossing. The next afternoon, August 1, a Sunderland flying boat of RAF Coastal Command Australian Squadron 10, piloted by Kenneth G. Fry on Musketry patrol, spotted the four U-boats on the surface. Fry gave the alarm and attacked Hackländer’s veteran U-454. Flying into heavy flak, he dropped six depth charges. These missiles destroyed U-454 but the flak so badly damaged the Sunderland that it crashed in flames. Fry and five other Australian aircrew died; six survived and were rescued by the sloop Wren of Captain Johnny Walker’s Support Group 2. Another sloop of that group, Kite, rescued Hackländer, his second watch officer Gerhard Braun, and twelve enlisted men. On the morning of August 2, a Hampden bomber of RAF Coastal Command Canadian Squadron 415, piloted by Charles G. Ruttan, found Zitzewitz in U-706 by radar and attacked with six depth charges in the face of heavy flak, results that were never undetermined. Responding to the alarm, a B-24 of Army Air Forces ASW Squadron 4, piloted by Joseph L. Hamilton, boldly flew into flak and dropped twelve depth charges in a close straddle from an altitude of fifty feet. These destroyed U-706, which sank in mere seconds. Hamilton reported “at least fifteen men” in the water. He dropped them a dinghy, but only the second watch officer, Henner Lappe, and three enlisted men survived. A Catalina flying boat of RAF Coastal Command Squadron 210 guided the frigate HMS Waveney of the Royal Navy 40th Support Group to the scene and she rescued the four Germans. The loss of all three U-boats assigned to reinforce the Mediterranean force left that command at thirteen boats, most of them based at Toulon, France. The veteran Type IXB U-106, commanded by a new skipper, Wolf-Dietrich Damerow, age twenty-four, who had served on the boat as a watch officer for almost two years. He sailed from Lorient in company with a sister ship, U-107, which, as related, planted a minefield in American waters. On the fifth day out, August 1, Damerow reported that he had repelled an aircraft, but that it or another was shadowing the boat, doubtless calling in other planes. The shadower was a Wellington bomber of the new RAF Coastal Command Canadian Squadron 407, piloted by a British officer, J. C. Archer, who had dropped six depth charges and had indeed given the alarm. Two Sunderland flying boats responded on August 2: one from RAF Coastal Command Squadron 228, piloted by Reader D. Hanbury, and one from Coastal Command Australian Squadron 461, piloted by Irwin A. F. Clarke. Both aircraft strafed and dropped six depth charges that wrecked and sank U-106. In reaction to Damerow’s SOS, U-boat Control sent four JU-88s and three torpedo boats. The aircraft arrived too late, but the torpedo boats rescued Damerow, his log book, and thirty-five other Germans. Damerow, however, did not survive the war. The new Type XIV tanker U-489, commanded by Adalbert Schmandt, age thirty- three, which sailed from Kiel on July 22 in company with a new Type VII, U-647, commanded by Willi Hertin, age twenty-nine. Off Norway on July 29, Control notified Schmandt and Hertin to search for a German aircrew that had ditched after a losing match with a Beaufighter of RCAF Canadian Squadron 404. Schmandt found the three Germans, took them on board, and proceeded to the Atlantic, still in company with the U-647. A few days later, on August 3, a Hudson bomber of RAF Coastal Command Squadron 269, flown by E.L J. Brame, found the tanker U-489 in a position south of Iceland and mounted two attacks with 100-pound ASW bombs in the face of the U-boat’s quad 20mm and other flak guns. The first bomb missed, but the second fell close. When two other aircraft appeared (a B-17 bomber and a Catalina flying boat), Schmandt dived deep (656 feet) and escaped. But the single bomb caused a leak of seawater into the after battery, posing the possibility of chlorine gas. Schmandt surfaced to radio U-boat Control of the mishap and to request orders, drawing in “several destroyers” that drove the boat under again. Schmandt’s men fixed the leak, but the warships mounted a dogged hunt, dropping depth charges. None fell close; however, the destroyers held U-489 down until her batteries were exhausted, and she was forced to surface the next morning. When U-489 came up on August 4, a Sunderland flying boat of RCAF Canadian Squadron 423, piloted by A. A. Bishop, son of a World War I ace, spotted her almost immediately and notified the destroyers and others. Bishop then attacked U-489 from the stern, flying straight into the flak from the quad 20mm, which set the aircraft on fire. Bishop dropped six accurate shallow-set depth charges that wrecked U-489, then crash-landed into the sea. Six of the plane’s eleven-man crew survived, including Bishop. When three Royal Navy destroyers, including HMS Castleton and HMS Orwell appeared, Schmandt ordered his crew to abandon ship and scuttle the wrecked submarine. After sea cocks were opened up and as U-489 went down, there was an unexplained but “terrific” explosion in the aft section that mortally wounded the chief engineer. About twenty minutes later, HMS Castleton picked up Schmandt and the other fifty-three members of the crew, including the chief engineer, who later died. Hitler's U-Boat War - Clay Blair Jr

Eye good video.

Wow, I never knew that amazing story about how Kennedy survived that ramming.

It has been over a month since any update on the day by day.

This week in French politics. The 31st, it is the administrative end of the FFL records, all French troops are now unified. While Giraud is still away, the CFLN decides that Giraud as co-president and commander-in-chief will only execute directives of the CFLN. A National Defense Committee is created under the presidency of De Gaulle to discuss military matters. Giraud is again undermined. After a month in the US, where he thinks he gained prestige and influence, Giraud returns in North Africa the 3rd. In reality, he stills doesn’t have the popular opinion with him in the US, and his political situation is in fact worse than before in all French liberated regions. In the CFLN, he has lost the upper hand in all matter except military one but must cooperate with the Defense Committee. The 4th, by decree, there is now in the CFLN a “specialized presidency” while it was an alternate one before. De Gaulle oversees the government action while Giraud is the military commander. When Giraud will take effective command of the troops, he will not be president anymore. De Gaulle, and the CFLN, is now free to take democratic measures and purge some of the ex-Vichy officials to put an end to administrative standstill.

I once saw a movie made about Kennedy's rescue in WWII. It was made at around the same time that he was President. It was interesting. And I mostly watched it because I was curious. Nicely done video.

Lovely episode, Indy and team! Though 1 minor nitpick on something I finally actually have a small clue about as I live there or better said here, in Ploiesti. There is no accent on the "i" at the end of Ploiesti, the way Indy pronounced it it actually sounds more like "Ploiestii" in romanian rather than "Ploiesti" unless I am missing some major pronounciation changes in the last 80 years and you somehow found an older pronounciation form :) Great pronouciation on the first part of the word from Indy though!

Nothing to do with today episode but I have the feeling that 2 years from now, the episode will be bombastic.

The toll in Romania would have been considered high even by RAF Bomber Command whose night raids sometimes had as much as 12 per cent losses.

Does this mean that you are going to start Day-By-Day back up? There hasn't been a post in over a month.

Ploesti - some top turret gunners on the B-24's were actually shooting UP at the defending flak towers! Outcome: a screwed up mess, and a waste of man and machines. Learning by failure is still learning... Great maps again, and I do like the photos of the leading generals, as it reminds us that they were human beings, and the proper pronunciation of people's names and places is excellent. Another great episode!

Having read accounts of Operation Tidal Wave, it seems to be an example of how Murphy can mess things up. Or as Robbie Burns said, "The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, gang aft agley. An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, for promis'd joy! "

Focus checks, WW2 team. Great work as always though.

Those day by day entries, stopped on 28th June, both on yt and timeghost tv? Was surprised when Indy mentioned them like they're still being published. Anyone can see them?

U-Boat Hunt in South Atlantic and Caribbean Sea (31 July - 6th August 1943) (1) In mid June , the three U-boats assigned to patrol Brazilian waters, all commanded by Ritterkreuz holders, were Carl Emmermann in the Type IXC U-172; Friedrich Guggenberger, new skipper of Type IXC U-513; and the new Type IXD2 U-cruiser U-199, commanded by Hans-Werner Kraus, age twenty-seven. These boats had troublesome and arduous patrols. Guggenberger in U-513 and Emmermann in U-172 refueled en route, Guggenberger from Ebe Schnoor’s XIV U-tanker U-460* Owing to the loss of U-118, and to the loss of the Type XIV tanker U-463 outbound in Biscay, U-boat Control was compelled to utilize several newly sailing IXC40s as provisional U-tankers. One of these, Kurt Lange in U-530, furious at his diversion to be a supply boat, refueled Emmermann’s U-172 on June 19. For these reasons Emmermann Emmermann was to reach Brazilian waters well behind the other boats. En route to Brazil, Guggenberger, a tough and demanding skipper, conducted so many drills that the crew felt they were back in Baltic workup. On the last day of May, Guggenberger got his first opportunity to lead the crew in the real thing. He found a large (10,000- to 12,000-ton) freighter sailing alone at about 16 knots. He chased her on the surface for several hours, but could not overtake her or get close enough for an effective attack. Finally, in desperation, he shot three torpedoes from very long range. All missed, leaving him with eighteen torpedoes, twelve below (one defective) and, in keeping with the new policy, only six air torpedoes in topside canisters. A new U.S. Navy Fleet Air Wing (Fairwing), 16, commanded by Rossmore D. Lyon, meanwhile , was in the process of deploying to Brazil. It established its headquarters at Recife, adjacent to that of Admiral Jonas H. Ingram, Commander in Chief, Fourth Fleet, the U.S. naval presence in the southwest Atlantic. Entering Brazilian waters first, Guggenberger promptly found targets. On June 21, he sank a 1,700-ton Swedish neutral, deemed to be carrying contraband. Four days later, on June 25, he shot three torpedoes at the 6,000-ton American tanker Eagle. One hit, but she got away and limped into Rio de Janeiro. In due course she was repaired and returned to service. Guggenberger downloaded four air torpedoes and stored the defective electric topside. This rearrangement gave him twelve torpedoes below and two good air torpedoes topside. Kraus in the U-cruiser U-199 was next to arrive in Brazilian waters. If he found these waters to be fallow, Kraus had authority to leave the area, cross the South Atlantic, and patrol off Cape Town. On June 27, he attacked the American Liberty ship Charles Willson Peale with three torpedoes. One or more hit, but she survived and her Armed Guard gun crew counterattacked U-199. Kraus returned fire with a new 37mm flak gun and his 4.1” forward deck gun to little effect. With enemy shells falling close, Kraus dived his big, clumsy boat and withdrew. The damaged Peale ran into Rio. Eventually she, too, was returned to service. Emmermann in U-172 reached Brazilian waters in the last week of June. With customary skill, he and his crew promptly found and sank the 4,700-ton British freighter Vernon City. Upon receiving the report of this sinking, Dönitz awarded Emmermann Oak Leaves to his Ritterkreuz, Later, as was the custom, Hitler personally presented the award to Emmermann. A war correspondent, Helmut Brendt, sailing with Emmermann on this trip, joined in the improvised shipboard celebration. Guggenberger was next to score. On the night of June 30, he found and chased a big freighter that escaped into a rain squall. Relentlessly pursuing on the estimated course of the enemy, Guggenberger came upon a ship, but it was not the same ship. Rather, it was a 1,100-ton Brazilian coaster, Tutola, with a load of coffee. Guggenberger sank her with a single torpedo. Two days later, on July 3, he met a convoy of six ships, escorted by a single aircraft. With a risky, battery-draining burst of underwater speed into merely one hundred feet of water, Guggenberger got close enough to shoot submerged. He fired five torpedoes into the formation at several targets but hit only one, the 7,200-ton American Liberty ship Elihu B. Washburne, which sank. Having received Oak Leaves, Emmermann in U-172 might well have rested on his laurels but that would not have been in character. He continued to hunt aggressively, sinking three more ships: the 6,500-ton American freighter African Star on July 12, the 4,600-ton British freighter Harmonic on July 15, and the 7,200-ton British Liberty ship Fort Chilcotin on July 24. With a bag of four ships for about 23,000 tons, Emmermann soon commenced the voyage home. As will be seen, he, too, had a rough time reaching France. Contemptuous of Allied ASW measures in Brazilian waters, Guggenberger in U-513 continued to hunt boldly on the surface. On July 16, he torpedoed and sank his third ship, the 7,200-ton American Liberty ship Richard Caswell sailing alone about four hundred miles south of Rio de Janeiro. The American Navy’s small (1,800-ton) seaplane tender USS Barnegat, supporting the Mariner flying boats of Squadron VP 74 based at Florianopolis, rescued the survivors. This sinking persuaded the Mariners to patrol that area with greater diligence. Three days later, a Mariner of that squadron, piloted by Roy S. Whitcomb, found Guggenberger’s U-513 on the surface not far from the scene of the Caswell sinking. Guggenberger saw the plane, but dismissed it as probably an “old crate” flown by Brazilians and manned his single 37mm and 20mm guns. After a few rounds, the 20mm jammed, but Guggenberger remained calmly confident as Whitcomb bore in boldly and dropped four depth charges. Two charges hit very close, utterly destroying U-513, which sank instantly. The blasts threw a number of Germans, including Guggenberger, into the sea. Seeing them, Whitcomb made a low pass and dropped two rafts and life jackets. He then notified the tender Barnegat, which, after an unavoidable delay, got under way. When she reached the scene about dusk, she could find only one raft containing Guggenberger and six enlisted men. Forty-six other Germans perished. After extensive interrogation by US Navy authorities, Guggenberger was incarcerated at a POW camp, Papago Park, on an Indian reservation in Arizona. Patrolling farther to the north, near Rio de Janeiro, Kraus in U-199 attacked his first noteworthy ship on July 24, the 4,200-ton British freighter Henzada. The first three torpedoes missed, but one of two stern shots hit and the ship broke in half and sank in twenty minutes. A week later, sixty miles off Rio, Kraus chased a lone ship until dawn on July 31. Responding to the alarm, a Mariner flying boat of Squadron VP 74, piloted by William F. Smith, found U-199 on the surface. Boldly flying into the 20mm and 37mm flak, Smith attacked, dropping six depth charges in his first run and two more in a second run. These explosions badly damaged U-199, but Kraus kept up the flak and ran west toward shallow water, where he intended to bottom and make repairs. Holding firmly to his target, Smith raked U-199 with machine guns and radioed for help. Two Brazilian planes promptly responded, a Hudson bomber and a Catalina flying boat. The Hudson dropped two depth charges that fell wide. While the Hudson, piloted by S. C. Schnoor, strafed the U-boat, the Catalina, piloted by Alberto M. Torres, finally sank U-199 with four depth charges. Twelve of U-199’s sixty-one-man crew, including Kraus, the first and second watch officers, a midshipman, and a warrant quartermaster survived and were rescued by the tender Barnegat, and all eventually wound up in a POW camp. This three-boat foray into Brazilian waters resulted in nine merchant ships sunk for about 44,000 tons and two ships damaged. It was a far better return than the concurrent five-boat foray into United States waters that resulted in only two ships sunk for about 20,000 tons and one ship damaged. But the price was a shock: two of the three boats sunk, one a valuable U-cruiser. Hitler's U-Boat War - Clay Blair Jr

Excellent

When I hear the word 'Ploesti' I'm always reminded of the narration provided by Lloyd Bridges.

My grandpa was a crewmen on a B-24 bomber. And most of his missions were attacks on eastern oilfields so I wonder if he participated in this one.

My dad was a bombardier on a B-24 that didn’t make it back from Ploesti. The crew was able to bail out but he landed inside a German military reservation and was captured right away. He wound up in POW camp but as the Allies approached, the Germans marched the POWs around and that allowed him to escape and walk out to the advancing U.S. lines. Will we see the likes of his generation again?

As the Solomon Offensive moves forward, I’m wondering when PBY Catalina Black Cat operations will be covered. USN maritime patrol (VP) squadrons flying as Black Cats have been making the night hell for Japanese shipping since September 1942 and my old squadron (VP-11) was a Black Cat squadron.

Plan to Breach Etna Line , Sicily (31 July - 7 August 1943) (part 2) Campaign Planning For Future On the 27th Monty had written to British Chief of Staff General Alan Brooke, telling him of his plans to attack the Etna Line at Adrano; this, he correctly surmised, was the hinge to the German defences, as it stood on the Etna foothills at the curve where the line turned east to Catania and north towards San Fratello on the coast. If both armies put in a big, full-blooded effort, then, Monty reckoned, the end should be in sight - although it was not going to be easy, because the enemy was in ideal defensive country with good-quality German troops. ‘We have not done so badly,’ he added; ‘in two weeks we have got the whole island and pinned the Germans in the NE corner.’ This was nothing less than the truth; and, with eventual victory in Sicily assured, Allied thoughts had already begun turning to what might follow the campaign there. At the TRIDENT conference between American and British chiefs of staff back in May, Churchill had urged an invasion of southern Italy, and while such a suggestion had not been dismissed, it had not been enthusiastically endorsed either. Instead, various tentative follow-up operations were to be looked into, from the invasion of Sardinia and Corsica to an operation in the toe of Italy; depending on how HUSKY went, a decision was to be taken at a later stage. The biggest concern of General Marshall and the US chiefs was the potential diversion of attention and effort from the planned cross-Channel invasion of northern France, now inked in to take place on or around 1 May 1944. However, Marshall did see the benefit of continuing operations in the Mediterranean, so long as they were not open-ended. An assault on Italy would inevitably impose a massive commitment on Germany, which was all to the good. He also recognized that the swift capture of the southern half of Italy would open up the airfield complex at Foggia, where heavy bombers could then be stationed to continue the strategic air campaign against Germany; and Foggia was also a step closer to the Ploesti oilfields in Romania, Germany’s only source of natural oil. A continuous tightening of the noose around Germany’s neck was part of the agreed Allied strategy. What’s more, decrypts of German Enigma-coded signals traffic had already revealed the Nazis’ plans to abandon Italy south of the River Po, which runs across the northern plains south of the Alps. This suggested that Rome - and, more importantly as far as Marshall was concerned, Foggia - could be captured relatively easily in a limited campaign that made the best use of the enormous assets now gathered in the Mediterranean theatre.Eisenhower was rather of the same mind. ‘I recommend carrying the war to the mainland of Italy immediately Sicily has been captured,’ Ike had cabled the Combined Chiefs on 18 July, ‘and request very early approval in order that no time may be lost in making preparations. As it happened, two days earlier, Marshall had suggested a new plan to the Combined Chiefs: that Eisenhower should mount an amphibious operation to capture Naples and then drive on as quickly as possible to Rome. The Combined Chiefs swiftly approved Marshall’s plan, and Eisenhower was now directed to start making preparations for Operation AVALANCHE alongside other plans for following up completion of the Sicilian campaign. On 27th , he wrote to Combined Chiefs of Staff : ‘The military significance of recent political changes in Italy ought to be revealed during the next few days,’ he wrote to the Combined Chiefs that same day, ‘and it will then be possible to decide which of the two plans to put into effect.9 My one concern is speed of action and all our efforts are bent on launching the next operation as soon after the completion of HUSKY as is humanly possible to do so.’ The Allies now urgently needed to smash open the Etna Line, burst through and finish the job in Sicily. Sicily 1943 - James Holland

This would be a good time to revisit Joseph Heller's "Catch 22".

Breaching Etna Line (31 July - 7 August 1943) (part 4) 78th British "Battleaxe" Division Breakthrough at Centuripe Now arriving just up the road at Catenanuova were the 78th ‘Battleaxe’ Division, which Montgomery planned to throw into the line immediately. Although the division was only a year old, its core had been formed from men who had served with the BEF in France and Belgium back in 1940, and so there was a good layer of experience, further enriched by the campaign in Tunisia. Setting sail in an LST on 27 July, the 17th Field Regiment had reached Avola at 8.30 a.m. on the 29th. ‘Unloaded the ship in forty-five minutes,’ Major Peter Pettit jotted in his diary, ‘(sixty-odd vehicles on two decks and 200 souls).’ The division was due to go into action the following day, 30 July, so getting them into the line and in position was a challenge, not helped by a freak thunderstorm that broke out as they wound their way north. ‘Streets in Vizzini and Palazzolo running like torrents,’ noted Pettit. ‘Mountains again, bad roads and bends. Heard guns again and smelt the peculiar odour of dead men." That same night, the leading elements of 78th Division, on the right of the Canadian 3rd Infantry Brigade, pushed across the River Dittaino and took Catenanuova with barely a shot: Hanns Cibulka’s battery and the HG Division’s troops had already pulled back to the Etna Line now that Agira had fallen and the old Hauptkampflinie had collapsed. The following night the 51st Highlanders, on 78th Division’s right, also pushed forward, clearing the ridge beyond and seeing off counter-attacks from the last of the HG men. Gerbini was, at long last, in British hands. From down in the Dittaino valley, the town of Centuripe could be seen in the distance, perched impossibly high in the mountains. At certain times of the day when the sun was high, it twinkled and shimmered, a silvery line on the top of a briefly flat crest. The town sat on neither the Hauptkampflinie nor the Etna Line, but roughly in between the two, a jutting outpost. However, because of its height, and because it lay on the same ridge as Leonforte, Assoro, Agira and Regalbuto, it stood sentinel to the Etna Line, imperiously guarding the key towns of Paterno and Adrano. If the British could get up on Centuripe, they would be able to stare down at these latter towns and unlock the entire position around the south of Etna - and with it, Misterbianco and Catania. Equally, if the Germans there could hold on, then they could very well frustrate British ambitions for quite some time to come. Centuripe was one of the most extraordinary towns in all of Sicily. Built on the apex of a number of spurs and ridgelines and then spread along them, from the air it looked either rather like a thick-limbed starfish or a prostrate man, depending on the angle of view. Lying some 2,000 feet above the Dittaino and Simetovalleys, it could be reached only via one winding, narrow road of numerous switchbacks that ran from one valley up to the town and then back down again to the other. All around it were the arms and legs of the ridges that fanned out from its centre, and which plunged precipitously, sometimes in sheer drops, at other places in a series of 6-foot-high terraced walls, elsewhere in banks of loose stone and scree. Guarding Centuripe now were some of the best German troops on the island, men from ‘King’ Ludwig Heilmann’s 3. Fallschirmjäger - the 1. Bataillon and much of the 2. Bataillon - bolstered by some Panzer Mk IIIs, a field artillery battery and an anti-tank troop from the HG Panzer Grenadier Division. Fallschirmjäger had double the number of machine guns a normal infantry unit would have - one every five men, rather than one every ten. This meant that every approach up to the town was covered not only by mortars and artillery fire, but also - and especially - by machine guns, whose teams had been placed in such a way that the moment anyone attacking showed their head, they would come within the field of fire. It was the newly arrived 78th British Battleaxe Division who were given the unenviable task of capturing this imposing objective; and, because of the successful capture of Catenanuova more quickly than expected, Major-General Evelegh decided to bring forward his attack by twenty-four hours. As a result, his 36th Brigade were sent in to attack on Sunday, 1 August. The key to their chances of success, as always, was the fire support - even Fallschirmjäger couldn’t be firing their MGs properly when shells were falling all around them - but Major Peter Pettit and the 17th Field Artillery were struggling to find the right places to set up their batteries of 25-pounders. Excellent field guns though they were, each weighed more than 1½ tons and required a Morris Commercial Quad - or equivalent - gun tractor to tow it, plus an extra ammunition limber. The 17th, like all British field artillery regiments, consisted of three batteries of eight guns, so twenty-four in all - and while they were terrific once in position, the problem in Sicily, particularly when firing at such an oddly shaped and difficult bit of high ground as Centuripe, was successfully getting them into good firing positions in the first place; below the town, there were few opportunities for a 25-pounder, Quad and limber to get off the road and deploy. ‘We recce almond groves on steep hillside and move in after dark,’ noted Pettit in his diary. ‘Very difficult country, rocks, bad roads and worse tracks cratered or landslid.’ Evelegh’s 36th Brigade managed to cross the open country before nightfall and then launched its attack that night - but made only limited progress, so that by first light the next day, 2 August, none of the infantry battalions were in the town itself, but rather were pinned down some way short, Centuripe still towering over them up slopes that looked even more precipitous and impossible than they did from the valley floor. During the morning, they continued to try to inch their way further up the slopes; but while progress could be made through the hidden gullies and folds in the land, the moment they emerged into the open, machine-gun bullets scythed through the air and another wave of mortars whistled down. As the day progressed, however, so the supporting artillery increasingly began to join the fight. In all, there were three field regiments and a further three regiments of medium artillery firing 5.5-inch howitzers, so the best part of 150 guns in support, of which only a fraction had been available the day before. Getting them into position was not at all easy, because the road up was both covered by enemy fire and cratered; the engineers worked ceaselessly to repair it so that the artillery could get into position. Peter Pettit and the 17th FA moved up as close as they could, but the road was a nightmare to climb. ‘It is cut out of mountainsides,’ he jotted in his diary, ‘with hairpin bends galore and steeply terraced almond groves on either side. Go over and you drop for hundreds of feet.’ Sicily 1943 - James Holland

Such a good person, that Kennedy guy. I hope he will live long and happily ever after. I mean who would dare to not respect such charming war hero.

Brilliant.

Worth mentioning, while we're talking about range: those Liberator planes used in the bombing of Ploesti? First bombers with transatlantic range (unloaded, i imagine, but still). And if the Ford facilities at Willow Run have anything to say about it, there will be a lot more coming down the pipe.

Capture of Catania , Sicily (3-5 August 1943) In the Plain of Catania, the front was finally about to move once more after over a fortnight of stasis on either side of battle lines redolent of the First World War. General Dempsey, 13th British Corps commander, had begun to realize from the patrol reports he was receiving that the Germans were starting to thin out their line in preparation for a withdrawal. With this in mind, he decided to attack with both 5th and 50th British Divisions, going in on the night of Tuesday, 3 August. Earlier that day, Lieutenant David Fenner and his men in 13 Platoon, 6th Durhams, had had a brief exchange with some Germans in the Fosso Bottaceto just north of the Primosole Bridge. They’d lobbed over some mortars as Fenner had been dozing quietly at the bottom of their ditch. In reply, Fenner and several of his men decided to throw some mortars back and to give the line a spray with the Bren. Honour salvaged, they’d returned to their ditch. Then word had reached him that he was to mount a patrol to see whether the Fosso up ahead was empty of enemy troops, as intelligence seemed to think they’d gone. Fenner explained what had happened earlier and this was fed back to battalion HQ. ‘It made no difference,’ recalled Fenner, ‘we were told to get on with it.’ He felt as though he’d been handed a death sentence, and was amazed when two of his men volunteered to go with him. His plan was simple. They’d each take a Tommy gun. Sergeant Connell would shoot up the Fosso with the Bren, and they’d run like hell, climb up over, have a look and hope for the best. They were just about to go when the patrol was cancelled because the company commander had been shot in the leg - which was bad news for him, but rather proved Fenner’s point. That night, Bill Cheall and the men of the 6th Green Howards were among those in 50th Division moving forward at last, advancing at around 8 p.m., then digging in for the night before jumping off the following morning. Cheall was in his slit-trench at 5.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 4 August, when the artillery opened up behind them with a thunderous barrage. The screaming of shells passing overhead was music to his ears; then he heard the distinct rumble and clanking of tanks also coming from behind; and then they were being ordered to get up out of their positions and advance. Men were falling, but the attackers were making ground. Also attacking that morning were David Fenner and the men of the 6th DLI, who were following the 8th Durhams out across the Plain. Nebelwerfers, mortars and an 88 were all firing, and one mortar shell landed directly on one of the 3-tonners carrying the brigade support company’s 4.2-inch mortar section, causing the ammunition to explode along with the truck and everyone on it. C Company were caught by the Nebelwerfers, with a number of the new boys in 13 Platoon catching the worst of it. Then they passed the bodies of their anti-tank gunners who had been killed back on 16 July and, much to their disgust, had not been buried by the Germans. Fenner couldn’t understand it; they’d been most careful to bury all the dead in their area, no matter what their nationality. By afternoon they had advanced some 4 miles, the enemy fire lessening as the rearguards pulled out, and by dusk Fenner and his men were on the outskirts of Catania. ‘The locals were busy looting the stores and shops,’ he wrote, ‘and didn’t pay much attention to us.’ Overnight, in accordance with General Hube’s orders, Col. Schmalz ordered his men from Battlgroup Schmalz to pull back. By morning, Catania - and Misterbianco - had been emptied of German troops. At first light on Thursday, 5 August, the 9th Durhams reached the seafront and port of Catania without firing a shot; and on the same day British troops entered Misterbianco. One of Montgomery’s first objectives had finally been taken. Sicily 1944 - James Holland

Brilliant in all fronts

No mention of the 1st Fallschirmjager Division on the map or on the video? They played a major part in the Sicily fighting

Do our torpedoes work now?