Need years to go with the entries.

515 Lancaster and 15 Mosquito aircraft of the RAF attacked Berlin, Germany; 33 Lancaster bombers were lost.

The USAAF struck Germany proper for the first time as B-17 and B-24 bombers attacked Emden and Wilhelmshaven.

The prototype of the B-25 Mitchell first flew in 1939. Unfortunately it was considered unstable and under-powered.

Gary

And, where did this occur and what was the significance of the; "captured the 5 digit code book of the Japanese."

In 1942 it became possible to move Lend-Lease supplies through Iran following the invasion of Iran by both the USSR and Britain.
This comes from 2194 Days of War, p 214:
Great Britain and the USSR sign a treaty of alliance with Iran, by which Iran undertakes to remain neutral; British and Russian troops will be withdrawn from the country six months after the end of the war with the Axis powers. The ‘Persian corridor’ is to be come one of the main routes by which supplies from the Western Allies reached the USSR.

Interesting how different the two readings of the same event sound!

Cheers
Brian G
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"We have met the enemy, and he is us." Walt Kelly. "The Best Things in Life Aren't Things" Bumper sticker.

Dan,

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I have no idea and was hoping that OpanaPointer had some info on this. He seems well informed on the Pacific War.

Gary

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I found this, I am guessing this may be the captured books you mentioned:

The Japanese submarine, I-1 started the war off Hawaii, and shelled the harbor at Hilo. Later, she patrolled the East Indies, then witnessed the Doolittle raid on Tokyo, before patrolling the Aleutians. Adapted to a cargo role, her after 14cm gun was removed to make room for a 46-foot daihatsu barge. On a supply mission to Guadalcanal, she was attacked by the New Zealand frigates Kiwi and Moa and, after a 90-minute battle, sank just off the beach on 29 January 1943. The (submarine) crew took the current code books ashore, but left past and future codes aboard. Her bow remained out of the water, so the Japanese tried to destroy the boat by demolition, submarine torpedo, and air attack, but all attempts failed. The US Navy salvaged remaining code books, charts, manuals, and the ship's log, a total of 200,000 pages of intelligence booty.

[30 Jan] 1943: Using two squadrons of Mosquito aircraft the RAF conducted its first daylight raid on Berlin.

To elaborate a bit on Quote:
It wasn’t two squadrons of Mosquitoes, but two two separate formations of 3 Mosquitoes for a total of six aircraft. Three were with 105 Sqdn; three from 139 Sqdn.

30 Jan was a special date in Nazi hagiography. On this date in 1933 President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler Chancellor of Germany. The date was usually celebrated in some fashion. In 1943, two (I believe public) speeches were planned for Berlin. Goering would speak in the morning; later in the day Goebbels would offer another oration. Both were in praise of the 1000-year Reich. The Mossies too were on their own propaganda mission. The three morning Mossies, timed to appear over Berlin at Goering’s speech time, bombed on cue and caused sufficient upset that Goering’s speech was postponed for an hour. None of the three Mossies from this raid was lost. The afternoon Mossies were less fortunate in their attack, in that one aircraft was lost.

There is a certain irony in that the German assault on Stalingrad was about to implode.

Cheers
Brian G

Hi Gary,

In checking your site yesterday, I found the US 1st Cavalry was involved in taking back the Philippines in this time frame! My dad was wounded in the operation, (he was a scout for his unit, working with Native Americans), receiving his 2nd Purple Heart Medal. Just curious what weapon was standard issue for IJA Infantry? He was lucky that most Japanese Infantry men didn't have automatic weapons!? Or I might not be here??

Thanks for your thread!
MD

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MD,

Did any of your father's injuries effect his life after the war?

Gary

1940: In the war between Finland and Russia the Russians reportedly fired 300,000 artillery shells at one sector of the Karelian Isthmus.

Leaping back 4 days (how did we miss this!), what is arguably the worst marine disaster of all time occurred. On 30 Jan 1945 – yep, the last time Hitler’s assent to Chancellor would be publicly celebrated – MV Wilhelm Gustloff was sunk in the Baltic by a Soviet submarine (S-13). she was laden with many of those fleeing the Russian advance in Poland. The makeup of those aboard has never been settled, but most arguments now include both civilian refugees and military personnel. Surprisingly, given that the Germans kept records of everything, there is no final manifest for Wilhelm Gustloff, so a final death toll cannot be fixed. Estimates run as high as 9,400 dead.

That requires recognition on a number of counts. I don’t regret going back 4 or 5 days to bring it to mind.

Cheers
Brian G

1945: British Pacific Fleet arrives in Australia. It consisted of four aircraft carriers, two battleships, four cruisers, eleven destroyers, and many supply ships.

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Just for the record, this fleet consisted mostly of RN vessels but also warships from the RCN, RAN and the RNZN. It should be noted that many RN vessels contained crew members who were from Commonwealth countries. There were also many Canadians and New Zealanders flying as members of the British Fleet Air Arm.

Prior to the war Britain would permit Commonwealth sailors and aviators to join British services and many remained in those services once the war began. As well, the British Commonwealth Air Training Programme produced a lot of Commonwealth fliers and ground crew. Many Canadians would fly with the RCAF squadrons but many were also assigned to RAF and Fleet Air Arm squadrons.

So with Britain taking the lead of course, the fleet that fought in the Pacific was a Commonwealth fleet.

Cheers,

George

A source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Pacific_Fleet