On this day of May 7 1942...

Battle of the Coral Sea, 7-8 May 1942 --
The Events of 7 May 1942
The first day of the carrier battle of Coral Sea, 7 May 1942, saw the Americans searching for carriers they knew were present and the Japanese looking for ones they feared might be in the area. The opposing commanders, U.S. Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher and Japanese Vice Admiral Takeo Takagi and Rear Admiral Tadaichi Hara, endeavored to "get in the first blow", a presumed prerequisite to victory (and to survival) in a battle between heavily-armed and lightly-protected aircraft carriers. However, both sides suffered from inadequate work by their scouts and launched massive air strikes against greatly inferior secondary targets, which were duly sunk, leaving the most important enemy forces unhit.

Japanese scouting planes spotted the U.S. oiler Neosho (AO-23) and her escort, the destroyer USS Sims (DD-409), before 8AM, in a southerly position well away from Admiral Fletcher's carriers. Reported as a "carrier and a cruiser", these two ships received two high-level bombing attacks during the morning that, as would become typical of such tactics, missed. However, about noon a large force of dive bombers appeared. As was normal for that type of attack, these did not miss. Sims sank with very heavy casualties and Neosho was reduced to a drifting wreck whose survivors were not rescued for days.


Photographed circa the later 1930s.

Meanwhile, a scout plane from USS Yorktown (CV-5) found the Japanese Covering Group, the light carrier Shoho and four heavy cruisers, which faulty message coding transformed into "two carriers and four heavy cruisers". Yorktown and USS Lexington (CV-2) sent out a huge strike: fifty-three scout-bombers, twenty-two torpedo planes and eighteen fighters. In well-delivered attacks before noon, these simply overwhelmed the Shoho, which received so many bomb and torpedo hits that she sank in minutes. Her passing was marked by some of the War's most dramatic photography.

Adding to the confusion, if not to the score, Japanese land-based torpedo planes and bombers struck an advanced force of Australian and U.S. Navy cruisers, far to the west of Admiral Fletcher's carriers. Skillful ship-handling prevented any damage. Australia-based U.S. Army B-17s also arrived and dropped their bombs, fortunately without hitting anything.

All this had one beneficial effect: the Japanese ordered their Port Moresby invasion force to turn back to await developments. Late in the day, they also sent out nearly thirty carrier planes to search for Fletcher's ships. Most of these were shot down or lost in night landing attempts, significantly reducing Japanese striking power. The opposing carrier forces, quite close together by the standards of air warfare, prepared to resume battle in the morning.


Shoho


Japanese aircraft carrier Shoho is torpedoed, during attacks by U.S. Navy carrier aircraft in the late morning of 7 May 1942.




Japanese aircraft carrier Shoho under attack by U.S. Navy carrier aircraft in the late morning of 7 May 1942. Photographed from a USS Lexington (CV-2) plane. A TBD-1 torpedo plane is visible at right, beyond the large splash.


Japanese aircraft carrier Shoho under attack by U.S. Navy carrier aircraft in the late morning of 7 May 1942. Photographed from a USS Lexington (CV-2) plane.
A TBD-1 torpedo plane is visible against the smoke in the center of the view.


Japanese aircraft carrier Shoho under attack by U.S. Navy carrier aircraft in the late morning of 7 May 1942. A TBD "Devastator" is visible in the lower right center, and another plane can be seen in the top center.


USS Neosho (AO-23), 1939-1942

USS Neosho, a 7470-ton Cimarron class oiler built at Kearny, New Jersey, was commissioned in August 1939. In the months before the United States entered World War II, she was employed transporting fuel to Hawaii. When the Japanese raided Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Neosho was docked in the "Battleship Row" attack area, but escaped with slight damage. During the following months, she actively supported U.S. Navy forces as they attempted to disrupt the Japanese offensive and establish a stable defensive perimeter in the Southern Pacific. On 7 May 1942, after supplying fuel to USS Yorktown (CV-5) immediately before the Battle of Coral Sea, Neosho was attacked by Japanese carrier aircraft. She was badly damaged and her escort, USS Sims (DD-409), was sunk. For four days, her crew kept the crippled oiler afloat, but she was beyond saving. Neosho was sunk by USS Henley (DD-391) on 11 May 1942, after her surviving crewmen were rescued.


Left: This is, most likely, the last picture taken of the U.S.S. Neosho (the bow is to the left). It was taken from a Japanese plane about 1 p.m. on May 7, 1942, after a large squadron of Japanese torpedo planes and dive bombers attacked the Neosho and its escort, the destroyer U.S.S. Sims.


USS Sims (DD-409), 1939-1942

USS Sims, lead ship of a class of 1570-ton destroyers, was built at Bath Maine. Commissioned in August 1939, she served in the Atlantic for the next two-and-a-half years, taking part in fleet training exercises, neutrality patrols and "short of war" operations. She transited to the Pacific in December 1941, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

As a unit of Task Force 17, built around USS Yorktown (CV-5), Sims operated in the Central and Southern Pacific during the first part of 1942. In early May, she was assigned to escort the oiler USS Neosho (AO-23) as the U.S. carriers maneuvered to confront a Japanese force advancing to attack Port Moresby, New Guinea. On 7 May 1942, in the early phases of the Battle of the Coral Sea, enemy carrier planes found the destroyer and oiler. In an overwhelming air attack, USS Sims was sunk and Neosho so badly damaged she had to be scuttled.

The U.S.S. Neosho at Coral Sea

May 7, 1942: The Attack

Note: This is the first of several pages that describe the ordeal of the tanker U.S.S. Neosho during the Battle of the Coral Sea. This page and the ones that follow include excerpts from the book, "Blue Skies and Blood" (1975) by Edwin Hoyt, which I've edited and notated where appropriate.

On the evening of May 6, Admiral Fletcher and his staff tried to sort out the various items of intelligence they had been receiving all day long from Pearl Harbor and other sources. They knew that somewhere around them was a large number of Japanese ships, but the reports were conflicting and confusing; virtually everything from submarines to fleet carriers had been reported.

Finally Fletcher decided that at least three carriers were in the area and that the Japanese advance was going to come through Jomard passage, up north of them. Admiral Fletcher had hoped to top off his fuel tanks before going into action, but with the seas as they were, it would have meant heading away from the enemy to do so. He had to run north during the night to be in position to launch search planes to confirm all the intelligence reports early in the morning.

Radar contacts and one visual sighting of an unidentified plane had suggested that the Japanese knew Fletcher was in the area and more or less what he had to work with. So reluctantly, that evening, Fletcher detached the tanker Neosho, giving her destroyer Sims as an escort, and sent them off to be out of the way, but available in case of need.

The Japanese Find the “Carrier” Neosho

One hour after dawn, Neosho and Sims were precisely where they were supposed to be â€" at 16â˚S, 158â˚E. At dawn, also Admiral Takagi had a suggestion from Admiral Hara, the carrier division commander. Let Hara send Zuikaku's planes out to search one area behind the carrier force, and Shokaku's planes to search another -- just to make sure that the Americans had not circled around and come up in the rear of the Japanese covering force. Takagi approved. The Zeros and the medium bombers revved up and took off from the Japanese carriers, circled and set out at 0600.

At 0736 the Japanese searchers in the eastern section of the zone spotted ships on the water. The observers radioed back to the carriers that they had come upon the American carrier force. Below, said the Japanese observer, were a carrier and a cruiser. Admiral Hara directed the bombers to the location and the Japanese began to close in. But the ships on which they were moving were not the American carriers, but destroyer Sims and oiler Neosho.

Just after eight o'clock that morning, lookouts on the Neosho spotted two planes, but assumed they were American planes checking on the safety of the oiler and her escort. Shortly after nine o'clock in the morning, Chief Petty Officer Robert James Dicken of the USS Sims was sitting in the chiefs' quarters, when he heard a loud explosion. From Neosho's bridge, Captain John S. Phillips could see that a single plane moving over Sims dropped that bomb, which exploded about a hundred yards off the starboard quarter of the destroyer.

From the bridge of the Sims, Lieutenant Commander Willford Milton Hyman, the captain of the little one-pipe destroyer, passed the order: General Quarters. The ship was under attack. At the moment, some aboard the destroyer thought it was all a dreadful mistake, that one of their own planes had failed to identify the ship and bombed them by mistake. Frantically, chief Signalman Dicken on the bridge began blinking his light, sending recognition signals. There was no response. The single medium bomber disappeared off to the north.

Captain Hyman ordered full speed. The ship's guns opened up on the retreating bomber, but the plane quickly disappeared into the clouds. Neosho changed course to starboard, and Sims, the little bulldog, kept out ahead of her, Neosho traveling at 18 knots, and Sims racing back and forth in front, from port to starboard, the sea swirling in her excited wake.

Fifteen minutes went by, and then twenty. The ships moved on, the lookouts craning around the horizon, squinting into the sun and waiting, sure now that it was no mistake and that there would be more bombs to come. On the bridge Captain Hyman's orders were quiet and terse; it was an eerie time, the whine of the engines driving the propellers, the swish of the sea alongside the ship, the clang of metal on metal -- and still it seemed very, very quiet. Sun and sky and sea had never been more peaceful.

The Attack Continues

Then, about half an hour after the first attack, little specks, ten of them, appeared in the sky in the north, before the noises of their engines could be heard. The lookouts on Sims saw them coming. Captain Hyman called up Captain Phillips to warn Neosho; the lookouts of the oiler had not seen the planes. The ships changed course, swung around in a wide arc to throw off the approaching enemy, for now every man on the destroyer and the oiler knew what he must face.

The Japanese pilots saw, and with no effort at all, it seemed, adjusted and came moving in. Still they were very high, paralleling the course of the American ships on their port side. The bombers were so high that although Sims began firing rapidly, they were hopelessly out of range.

Sims was an efficient little ship, and her captain had high marks in the service for his gunnery in particular. It was his specialty, dating back to his boyhood when he became an expert rifle shot. In three months' time, Captain Hyman would be forty-one years old. More than half that life had been spent in the service of his country, and nearly all the time he had been among the leaders of the battle-ready. He had served for a long time aboard the USS New Mexico and had been instrumental in that ship's proud victory over USS Maryland for the fleet's Battle Efficiency pennant in 1930. Now, in the face of the enemy, such commendations seemed small turkey indeed, but in the peacetime navy in which he had grown up, such matters had been the making of a career, and Lieutenant Commander Hyman had gone on with a reputation as a potential fighter of the first rank. Service with the staff in Washington had come and gone, then two years at the Naval Powder Factory, followed by two big jobs as a gunnery officer of cruisers, the Minneapolis and the San Francisco, and the destroyer Quincy. Seven months earlier he finally got his own ship, the Sims.

The Japanese planes were dropping down as they moved away from the ships, and circled to come back at bombing level. Meanwhile other bombers came up, and the Japanese flight leader split the attack in two. Ten planes dove down to make horizontal runs over Sims, while another handful moved in on Neosho, which was about a mile astern of the destroyer.

To get the range and to give his gunners a feel for their job, Captain Hyman had loaded his ammunition supply so that every tenth shell was star-shell. The gunners were trying to draw a bead on the approaching aircraft. From the Sims it seemed very satisfactory. Chief Petty Officer Dicken saw from the bridge that the Japanese were staying high and giving the ship's guns plenty of care. All the bombs missed by a wide margin.

Neosho was also under attack. Her captain kept changing course to confuse the planes, and her guns fired as seven bombers came in. The tension grew on the bridge, as the war diary shows:

1006: Changed course to 237â˚T. Planes paralleled course at high altitude on port side, out of gun range and crossed bow to northeastward; Sims firing. No bursts were observed. Observed what were believed to be white flares dropped by planes. (These were Sim's star-shells).

1017: Changed course to 187â˚T.

1023: Sighted approximately seven enemy planes bearing 010â˚T. Sims commenced firing.

1024: Changed course to 242â˚T.

1025: Changed course to 207â˚T; commenced firing with 3”/50 caliber guns. Again observed what were assumed to be white flares from planes.

1033: Changed course to 243â˚T.

1034: Group of 10 planes approached from 140â˚T, of which three planes (twin-engined bombers) broke off and commenced horizontal bombing attack, others proceeded to northeastward.

Captain Phillips watched the planes as they came in on the oiler; waiting, waiting until he saw the bombs begin to fall. Only then did he move, and ordered the ship put hard aport.

Down came the screaming missiles into the sea, sending geysers of water splashing the air. One bomb hit a hundred yards off the starboard beam, two more were much closer, only 25 yards off target. Had the captain not taken evasive action, they almost certainly would have smashed Neosho.

When the attack began, Lieutenant Commander F. J. Firth, the executive officer of Neosho, was in the messhall. He was checking on the Abandon-Ship and General-Quarters stations of several seamen from the Yorktown and the cruiser Portland who had come aboard the ship during the refueling period, and had been stuck there when Neosho was ordered away from the main force during the excitement of the night of May 6.

Commander Firth ran to his action station forward of No. 4 gun on the port side of the stack deck. From that vantage point, he watched the attack progress as he waited for reports of damage. When the three bombs fell so close, it was a bad moment. A quick check revealed that there had been no casualties, and no material damage except in the engine room, where those near misses had jarred loose some electrical fittings. Three minutes after the Japanese planes moved away Captain Phillips changed course again, and ordered the steam smothering system turned on, just in case of fire from a bomb hit.

Sims meanwhile, had beaten off an attack. Captain Hyman turned hard right just as ten bombers dropped their explosives. Only one bomb came anywhere near; the Sims moved so quickly, and that one sent a piece of shrapnel slashing through the shoulder of one man on the ship's number 2 gun. Luckily the metal missed bone and arteries, and after the attack the pharmacist's mate bound him up and in a few minutes he was back at his post.

Sims did have one casualty early in the battle, and it shortened her defenses; one of the 20mm guns jammed, which cut down the 20's by a quarter.

The Third Wave

For nearly an hour and a half, the quiet of the sea returned. From time to time, Sims's radarman reported blips on the screen. The Japanese were moving around them, but not a single plane appeared within the glasses of Captain Hyman or Captain Phillips. They watched, and they waited for a renewed attack that must certainly come.

Aboard Neosho Captain Phillips instructed his communications officer, a young naval reserve Lieutenant to send out contact reports, first getting the positions right by asking the ship's navigator. But the young officer was badly rattled and failed to do his job properly. Admiral Fletcher would have given a good deal at this moment to know that the planes attacking Sims and Neosho were carrier planes â€" he had no idea of the presence of the two big Japanese fleet carriers to the north of him. Actually, at one point during the night, Admiral Takagi had been less than seventy miles away from Task Force 17, but neither commander knew it. As of this morning, they had managed so far to miss one another completely. The young radio officer bollixed up his reports, left most of the detail to an overworked radioman, and the vital word did not get through. Admiral Fletcher, who had been seeing evidences of Japanese land-based air power for days, was not warned.

As the radar contacts came in aboard Sims, destroyer and oiler kept changing course, hoping to thwart the enemy. But Admiral Hara was not to be denied. The reports coming back from his carrier pilots only renewed his intention to sink those two American ships, and any others they might find in the vicinity. He sent out a much larger force, and around noon some three dozen Japanese bombers were approaching the two ships.

At 1155, chief Signalman Dicken was on the bridge when some of those bombers came in sight. As was standard procedure he began blinking, to try to secure recognition. But he knew, and so did everyone else on the bridge, that there would be no response. The silhouettes were familiar now; these were not friendly planes, but the enemy in great force.

Sims opened up with her five-inch guns, and the three unjammed 20mm antiaircraft guns as well. The boom of the five-inch and the staccato barking of the 20mm's dominated all sounds; only dimly could the roar of the approaching planes be heard. This time the planes were dive-bombers, not horizontal bombers, and that note should certainly have been passed on by Neosho, whose captain was senior officer of the unit. But again, the communications officer failed, and Fletcher did not get the word.

The major attack now was against the "carrier” â€" Neosho â€" and the Japanese planes came in from astern in three waves. Both ships maneuvered furiously, trying to change the course so quickly and so drastically as to throw off the bombers. Bombs began dropping around Neosho, sending up their frightening geysers. They came from bow to quarter, port and starboard, but for a few minutes it seemed the oiler bore a charmed life. Then at 1205 one bomb struck very close by, rattling the plates and knocking out the ship's gyro compass. Captain Phillips ordered the shift to steering by the magnetic compass.

The Loss of the Sims

The Sims took her first direct hit at 1209. From the bridge of Neosho it was a terrible sight, a bomb landed amidships and the section erupted in smoke and flame. Aboard Sims, as the smoke cleared, Captain Hyman could see that the bomb had hit near the after torpedo tubes, pierced through the deck, and exploded in the after engine room. The whole deck forward of the after-deck house was buckled and torn, tortured black metal sticking crazily up into the air. The number of casualties was not known. The chief engineer, Ensign Tachna, was badly wounded but he stuck to his post, and tried to keep Sims going.

In rapid succession two more five-hundred-pound bombs struck Sims squarely, and the radar mast fell, dropping squarely across the gig, and immobilizing it. One bomb also smashed the after deck house, and the other struck on Number 4 gun mount, putting that gun out of action.

By this time only two of the ship's five-inch guns were still firing, Number One gun was in bad shape, the heat was so intense at that point that the paint was burning on the gun, and yet the crew stood by and fired it steadily by local control. The fire control system was long gone. Soon the ship began to list heavily, and Captain Hyman summoned Ensign Tachna and the firemen and other engine room personnel out of the wreckage. On deck, Ensign Tachna moved forward, trying to fire the forward torpedo tubes and thus eliminate the danger of an internal explosion. The torpedo deck-house was aflame, which meant more danger from the deadly stores within. Tachna led men in putting out that fire, then moved aft for further orders.

In half an hour it was obvious that Sims was sinking and that she could not be saved. The job now was to get as many of the men off as possible. Captain Hyman stayed on his bridge, but he ordered all others off. Chief Signalman Dicken went aft to try to flood the after magazines and prevent a dreadful explosion that might cost every life. Dicken could not get aft â€" the deck between bridge and after deck-house was ablaze from starboard rail to port. Ensign Tachna was attempting to put the whale boat into the water. The men from the "black gang" in the engine room, more of them uninjured than among the deck crew, came up to help. They took off their shoes and shoved until the boat went over, in spite of the tangled rigging. Two men were aboard, but they were firemen, and not at all skilled in small boat handling. Chief Dicken jumped overboard, swam to the boat, clambered in and took the tiller, then began picking men out of the water as they jumped clear of the foundering destroyer.

At this point the deck between the after deck-house and the machine shop was awash, and Captain Hyman ordered Dicken to move back in the whale boat and try to put out that fire in the after deck-house. He tried. But he could not get back aboard the Sims â€" she was already settling aft, and the men in the boat could sense that she was going to go. They pulled clear; just after they got away from the side the boilers blew, and then came a smaller explosion, perhaps a torpedo going off. The ship began to break in two.

Last man off the after section was Machinist's Mate 2c E. F. Munch. Just before he jumped, he stopped and secured a depth charge to the deck so it would not go over the side and kill any men who might be swimming.

Almost immediately the two parts of the Sims separated. The captain was still standing on his bridge in the last moment as the explosion destroyed that section of the ship and both halves sank.

Chief Dicken found himself senior officer of those in Sims's whaleboat, and he directed rescue operations for the next hour and a half. Two life rafts had been shoved over the side in the last few minutes of the destroyer's existence. As soon as the men in the water who were still alive were picked up, he began searching for them. Others in the boat told him they thought there were perhaps twenty other survivors on the life rafts. But Dicken could not find the rafts; they had drifted away somewhere. Counting noses, including his own, he found that he had fifteen survivors, two of them badly wounded. He began pulling for the Neosho.

The Attack on the Neosho

The big oiler, known familiarly to her friends in the fleet as "The Fat Lady," was having her own troubles, and they were nearly as desperate as those of Sims.

The real trouble began when the gunners of Sims or Neosho brought down one of the Japanese dive bombers in flames. Determined not to let the "carrier" escape, and true to the spirit of Bushido, the pilot dove his plane for the deck, and it crashed in the No. 4 gun enclosure, starting a flash fire that spread across the starboard side, aft, knocking out five life rafts. No men of the gun crew were killed, for they had machine guns. But Lieutenant Commander Firth, the ship's executive officer, was at his action station on the port side, just forward of the gun mount, and the explosion knocked him unconscious. The fire got to him before he regained his wits. Badly burned, particularly about the face and arms, he stumbled away from the wreckage, and immediately dispatched a messenger to the bridge to ascertain the captain's orders.

By the time the messenger arrived on the bridge, Neosho had taken seven direct bomb hits. The first bomb smashed into the port side of the main deck, tearing a hole fifteen feet long in the port side of the ship. The second bomb penetrated the stack deck, starboard, plunged down into the after center bunker tank, smashing through the ship's store on the way down. It blew the pump room apart, blew an oil tank that let go and caused oil to run all over the forward part of the engine room, and flooded it with six feet of fuel oil. Then the oil caught fire.

The third bomb exploded in the fireroom, killing every man there, knocked out the steam system and the ship's electric power. The fourth blew another huge hole in the ship's port side and caused the main deck to buckle badly. The fifth and sixth bombs blew huge holes in the ship's oil tanks, and so did the seventh, and a near miss â€" one of eight â€" did almost as much damage. The other seven bombs were armor piercing, but the near miss was a fragmentation bomb and shrapnel smashed across the bridge, decapitated a machine gunner, killed the rangefinder on the flying bridge, and knocked out the starboard searchlight.

So when Lieutenant Commander Firth's messenger arrived, on the bridge, Captain Phillips knew his ship was in anguish, and wondered how long she might survive. His gunners had stood fast. They had shot down three planes, and thought they had destroyed a fourth, although no one had seen it fall, and three more were seen to falter badly as they swept away after attacking.

"Prepare to Abandon Ship!"

The condition of the oiler was so grave, power out, listing badly, taking water, and with fires burning in several places, that Captain Phillips sent back the word to Lieutenant Commander Firth: "Make preparations for abandoning ship and stand by."

The messenger retreated aft, where the message was duly delivered. But by this time, the men had seen Sims blow up, and some of those aft panicked, Seaman W. D. Boynton, the messenger, reported quite correctly to the executive officer, who was supporting himself unsteadily on the superstructure deck, while several men stood around. Firth gave the orders, and then he collapsed from pain and the shock of his burns. Boynton then repeated the orders, but the men were not listening. Some jumped over the side and began floundering in the water.

On the bridge, Captain Phillips was getting ready for the terrible moment when he would have to abandon his sinking command. He called the communications officer to him, and ordered him to destroy all classified material â€" which included the ship's code books. Seeing this, men on the bridge began to panic and deserted the bridge, shouting that it was every man for himself. The officer of the deck, who was also the navigation officer, was among those who panicked â€" he left the bridge after he heard the captain give the order to flood the ship's magazines.

Forward, men were throwing the life rafts overboard, and leaping after them. The navigation officer warned them that they ran the danger of losing the rafts. Other men were trying to launch the Number 1 whale boat, and he ordered a life raft moved so it could be swung out. Thinking twice about his actions, he then headed back for the bridge, but as he moved up, he heard more men coming down, crying "every man for himself" and rushing to throw themselves into the water. The navigator then leaped into the water, along with the enlisted men, as the radio officer and several others tried desperately to launch another boat.

Seeing officers abandoning ship, the men lost all discipline. In a few minutes the water and the rafts were filled with escaping seamen, who were certain the Neosho's end had come.

On the bridge, Captain Phillips watched as so many of his men panicked. He saw that unless he did something, they would drown or be lost on the rafts. Lieutenant Commander Thomas M. Brown, the gunnery officer, had come down to the bridge to help, after seeing all his people clear of the control tower and the flying bridge from which he had been directing the fire against the Japanese planes. The Japanese were long gone now. Brown addressed himself to the problems of the ship. He helped destroy classified material, called back men who were moving toward the boats, and got the two motor whale boats over the side. The executive officer was unconscious aft, and Lieutenant Commander Brown took over his duties.

Below, Lieutenant Louis Verbrugge, the engineering officer, stayed in the main engine room, until the fire from the bunker tank drove him out. All power was lost. He could sense from the heavy list that there was definite danger the ship might capsize at any moment but he stayed below assessing the damage, and then he went on deck, to report to the captain and supervise the launching of the port motor launch from its skids. With all power gone it was a dreadful job; the starboard boats could not be launched at all, because the seas were breaking over that side of the ship, so deep was her list.

Slowly, through the efforts of the captain, the gunnery officer, and the chief engineer, it became apparent that conditions were not quite as desperate as they had appeared. But most of the men were out of control.

The bomb explosion in the fireroom had terrified many of the survivors. Machinist's Mate First Class Harold Bratt was in charge of the battle station in the after engine room. That compartment was located underneath the fireroom, which was full of live steam, and Bratt advised the four men with him that there was no chance of escaping at the moment, since the only hatch led into the fireroom. But two of the men panicked, they knocked him down and into the bilges, snatched the emergency hand lantern and gas mask he was carrying, and ran up into the fireroom. Bratt and the two others were left below, in darkness, with the compartment slowly filling with cold sea water.

For three-quarters of an hour, Bratt waited there in the gloom, not knowing whether or not the ship would sink beneath him. Finally, feeling that enough steam had escaped from the fireroom above to make their chances almost even, he told his two men to put on gas masks and wrap rags around their arms and hands. When they had done so, he led them up the after escape hatch, and into the fireroom. There they passed the bodies of the two men who had overpowered Bratt and disregarded his orders, and then moved on up to the main deck and comparative safety.

Chaos On A Burning Ship

For every coward there were twenty heroes this day. Even among those who panicked, the main reason seemed to be the dreadful shock of seeing Sims explode before their eyes.

Machinist's Mate Second Class Wayne Simmons was in the engineroom when one bomb exploded nearby, covering the others with oil from head to toe, and blinding them so they could not see. He helped them out of the engineroom, then manned valves that kept the ship going during the dreadful moments before all power was cut off.

Chief Watertender Oscar Vernon Peterson was standing behind the watertight door that led from the fireroom to the mess compartment, when an explosion blew the door open and knocked him down. Most of Peterson's repair party was killed, and the others were so seriously injured they were out of action. He crawled into the fireroom in spite of his own burns and gashes, and turned off the steam valves â€" but was terribly scalded in the process, before he could escape the room.

On deck, Chief Pharmacist's Mate Robert W. Hoag and Pharmacist's Mate First Class William J. Ward went to search for the ships medical officer, but he had been killed by one of the bomb blasts, and they did not even find his body. They set to work, then, to succor the wounded.

But on deck the confusion persisted. The assistant gunnery officer had failed to pass the word when the captain ordered the men to prepare to abandon ship but stand by. And he failed to stop the men from throwing over life rafts and jumping into the water after them. Instead he went to the Number 2 motor whale boat and began lowering it into the water. He was stopped by Lieutenant Brown, who ordered him to take the boat out, pick up all life rafts and tow them back to the ship and pick up survivors before they drowned.

The sea was running briskly, four-and-five-foot waves slapping up against the sides of the Neosho, and some men were thrown against the side of the ship with enough force to injure or knock them out. Others were pulled away by wind and current and still others drowned as the spume and froth of waves choked them and the caps swept down over their heads. Captain Phillips watched in dismay as the assistant gunnery officer made only token efforts to save the struggling men in the water, and did not bring back a single life raft.

Those rafts were scarcely visible from the bridge in the undulating sea for they were dun colored. Against the water even men swimming a few yards from them could not see them over the rising waves. So more men drowned within a few feet of help.

Captain Phillips watched in more dismay as the rafts began to move out beyond his range of vision. The boats went out, to search, but the seas were not any easier, and they were getting nowhere. The captain could spare only part of his attention to the problem. His main task was to try to restore order to his ship as long as she was afloat.

When the bombs began to fall, nearly all the men of Neosho were concentrated in the after section and the bridge. Two gun crews were forward and ammunition and repair parties were stationed near them, but the rest of the ship's company was aft, and the bombs struck aft and in the bridge area. All seven rafts still inflatable had been set afloat, and no one knew how many men had leaped after them. The captain had to find out, and save every man possible. That was the matter at hand.

Attack Aftermath

Captain Phillips's basic concern was to get his ship back under control, for even if she sank, he would have to try to save the lives of all those he could, and without the taut discipline of the navy, there was little chance of saving anything. The chief engineer made a trip below to see if there was any chance of raising steam, but the whole power plant of the ship had been wrecked by the bombs, and there was no way at all it could be repaired. So the captain had to resign himself to drifting and waiting for help.

At 1445 Chief Signalman Dicken of the Sims appeared alongside Neosho in the one living boat of that ship, and with his fourteen men â€" all that remained of the whole ship's complement of a destroyer. He and others believed there were more survivors on the two rafts they had seen drifting away from the side of Sims before she blew up, but they had not found them, nor had they seen any sign of the rafts after Dicken had finished picking survivors out of the water. Now Dicken placed himself and his men under the orders of Captain Phillips and asked what he could do.

Captain Phillips took the Sims's wounded aboard and turned them over to Pharmacists Hoag and Ward, who were giving morphine, bandaging wounds, and swabbing out bloody holes in the flesh of the survivors and trying to comfort the burned men. The captain then instructed Dicken to circle Neosho and pick up any swimmers in the water. Sims's complement joined the Neosho survivors at the port rail, where Captain Phillips had kept them for the past hour in anticipation that the ship might founder, and they would have to leap for their lives.

As the sun sank in the sky, Neosho continued to settle in the water and her list became more profound. Captain Phillips was very worried. He ordered the radio officer to get the fix from the navigator that had been made during a lull in the fighting, and to send out a call for help. It would have to be in the clear, since he had destroyed the code books. That meant running the danger of being rescued by the Japanese, but the ship was in extremis, and there was no alternative. So the radio officer got the information from the navigator and sent off a message.

The navigator had plotted their position as Latitude 16â˚, 25' South and longitude 157â˚, 31' East. With that information, even accepting the vagaries that would be caused by their drifting without any power at all, Admiral Fletcher's task force should be able to find them within twenty-four hours. All they had to do was hold on.

Neosho's two whale boats and the Sims boat ranged wide out from the ship, searching and picking up men until 1800. As dusk began to fall, they came in, all of them badly overloaded, moving gingerly in the rough sea, until they reached the ship's side. Only then did Captain Phillips learn that Sims's boat had so great a gash in the hull that it was kept afloat only because Dicken had stuffed it with a mattress, and his men bailed constantly.

Five of the men of Neosho who were in best condition had been ordered into the water off the port side, to keep a minimum of personnel aboard the sinking hulk, and now they were picked up by the Sims's boat. There were so many injured that they could not all be moved back to the shrinking deck of Neosho and Captain Phillips ordered the whale boats to fend off, and remain not closer than fifty yards off the port side of the ship during the night.

The First Evening

As darkness fell the able-bodied men of Neosho got ready for what might come. They tore all the standing rigging and extra gear out of the two motor launches that were pinioned to the ship by the fall of debris and the lack of power, in the hope that if Neosho sank during the night, they would float clear and could be used. They gathered mess tables and benches, and the objects they could find that would float, and brought them to the port side, where they would float clear as the ship sank and give the men some kind of chance, waiting for dawn when Fletcher's rescue party would surely be there at their side.

Lieutenant Verbrugge, the engineer, went below again, to see what he could salvage, but there was very little, and once again he came back to report mournfully that there was no chance of getting up steam.

The captain sent men to repair the transmitting antenna, which was found to be broken, so the messages to the task force would get through. The radio men manned the auxiliary gasoline generator to send the word.

Captain Phillips took a muster of survivors. He found that of 21 officers and 267 men aboard Neosho that morning before the attack, there were now 16 officers and 94 men aboard, plus the fifteen survivors of Sims. One officer was known to have been killed (the medical officer) and nineteen men were dead; but four officers and one hundred and fifty-four men were missing, the result of the panic and misunderstanding of orders that had sent them scrambling over the side of the ship during the Japanese attack. Captain Phillips was concerned, but he knew that most of these people had made it to the safety of the life rafts, and he was certain that next day the search planes of the two big carriers would locate the men and they would be rescued, perhaps even more quickly than the men of Neosho itself.

There was a good deal to be done to save the ship, if such was possible. The captain kept a close watch on the inclinometer, which showed the relative stability of the vessel. The list was 30 degrees. It would have grown worse except that Captain Phillips opened the valves to the starboard wing tanks, which filled them with sea water, and tended to counteract the port weight.

There was one big worry. The main-deck plating was continuing to buckle under the conflicting pressures, and this gave the captain much cause for concern. Lt. Verbrugge reported that the engine room and fireroom were taking more water in the evening than they had been in the daylight hours, and it was quite noticeable.

As darkness fell, the captain issued his orders: there were to be absolutely no lights shown â€" flashlights or lamps of any others. There was to be quiet, and the men were to get as much rest as they could during the night, while they waited for the rescuers. They would need their strength in the morning to climb aboard the rescue vessels.

So the hulk of Neosho settled down, the horribly cramped men in the whaleboats, adjusting themselves as best they could, and riding the heavy sea, part of the crew constantly on watch, lest they drift away from the side of Neosho. On the port rail, the pharmacists did what they could to make the seriously wounded men comfortable, and shook their heads over Construction Mechanic Second Class Leon Brooks, whose wounds were very severe. They hoped he would make it through the night. For that matter, they hoped they would all make it through the night, until rescue came.

RAAF Beaufighters, Hudsons, Bostons and Kittyhawks also participated in the Coral Sea Battle

HotelBushranger... Which Units and on what day or day's?

These Coral Sea posts are GREAT woofiedog! I can't wait for the rest of the story. What amazing feats of self-sacrifice. It is truly inspiring and makes playing this sim that much more rewarding. I'm sure there are similar stories from the "enemy" side. If anyone has any, please feel free to post them here.

7 May

1940
In Britain... There is a major debate in the House of Commons on the conduct of the war and especially of the Norwegian campaign. At the vote Chamberlain's government has a majority of 281-200 but when compared to former support this is not sufficient to allow the government to continue to claim to be representative. Neville Chamberlain resigns. In fact the errors of the Norwegian campaign have been at least as much Churchill's as any others. However, in a wider sense the responsibility is Chamberlain's for failing to to establish a coherent decision-making structure to see that plans were properly coordinated and that subordinates worked sensibly and efficiently.

Neville Chamberlain after the resignation

1941
In the Mediterranean... Part of Cunningham's Mediterranean Fleet shells the harbor at Benghazi sinking two ships.

Results of the bombing of Benghazi harbour

In the North Atlantic... In a special operation mounted for the purpose the German trawler Munchen , a weather ship, is captured northeast of Iceland and secret papers relating to the Enigma coding machine are taken.

In Iraq... General Quinan takes command of the British forces in Iraq.

1942
In the Philippines... General Wainwright broadcasts the news of the American surrender at Corregidor from Japanese custody. He invites the remainder of the American forces in the Philippines to surrender. Despite the American surrender, the opposition faced by Japanese forces has been effective in disrupting their plans. General Homma was allocated 50 days to take the Philippines, the actual conquest took five months. The continuing resistance of the Filipino forces has prevented the release of his troops for other campaigns.

General Wainwright broadcasting after his surrender

In the Coral Sea... American Admiral Fletcher sends Task Force 44 to attack Japanese troop transports bound for Port Moresby. The Japanese retaliate with attacks from land based aircraft. The Japanese also sight the American tanker Neosho and the Sims, they send aircraft after the ships and the Neosho is sunk. The Americans find Japanese Admiral Goto's close support force and they proceed to sink the carrier Shoho. Meanwhile, Japanese Admiral Takagi sends planes out in an attempt to find the American fleet. Twenty-one of the Japanese planes are lost without engaging the enemy, including a small group which attempt to land on the American aircraft carrier Yorktown. The Japanese troop transports return to Rabaul to await the outcome of the battle.
Be sure to read woofiedog's excellent post on the Coral Sea

In Madagascar... The Vichy commanders at Diego Suarez surrender to the British Admiral Syfret and General Sturges.

1943
In Tunisia... Tunis and Bizerta are both captured in the afternoon by British and American forces, respectively. The Axis defenses can no longer contain the Allied pressure.

A destroyed German column

In the Solomon Islands... Americans lay mines in the waters around New Georgia to prevent Japanese supplies reaching the island.

In Burma... The Japanese force the British to withdraw from Buthidaung. The city is occupied by the Japanese.

1944
Over Romania... The US 15th Air Force and British Bomber Command attack railway yards in Bucharest during the day and night, leaving the city in flames.

Over Germany... The US 8th Air Force conducts a massive raid on Berlin with 1500 aircraft.

Over Occupied France... The US 9th Air Force attacks the railway yards at Mezieres-Charleville with Marauders and P-38 Lightnings.

In the Bismark Archipelago... Elements of the US 46th Division occupy Cape Hopkins Airfield. There is no Japanese resistance encountered.

1945

In Rheims... At 0141, German military representatives, General Jodl and Admiral Freideburg, sign the unconditional surrender at the headquarters of General Eisenhower (SHAEF). British, French, Soviet and American representatives are all present. Operations are to end at 2301 on May 8th.

The surrender. SHAEF Headquarters, Rhiems, France. General Jodl signs while Admiral von Friedburg, Commander-in-Chief of the German Kriegsmarine (right), and an aide (left) look on.

On the Western Front... Allied military operations come to an end almost immediately after the surrender is signed.

On the Eastern Front... Soviet troops of the 1st Belorussian Front reach the Elbe river north and southeast of Magdeburg. In Silesia, the German garrison of Breslau surrenders to the Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front after an 82 day siege. In Czechoslovakia, fighting continues north of Olmutz and in the town itself. On the Frische Nehring, in East Prussia, the remaining German forces continue to hold out near the village of Vogelsang.

In the North Atlantic... Two merchant ships sunk by U-2336 in the Firth of Forth are the last vessels sunk by German submarines during World War II.

In the Philippines... On Luzon, the US 43rd Division advances about 5 miles toward Ipo. American troops attacking towards a ridge near Guagua are repulsed by Japanese defenders.

In the Ryukyu Islands... On Okinawa, the US 7th Division completes the elimination of Japanese units that infiltrated into the Tanabaru area. Fruitless attacks on the Japanese held Shuri Line continue.

On this day of May 8 1942...

The Battle of the Coral Sea

Action on May 8, 1942

By the end of May 7, the American and Japanese navies had been skirmishing in the Coral Sea for three days. Although the Americans clearly had the edge so far, after three days of searching, neither carrier fleet had found the other and both sides were poised for what would be the climactic battle in the Coral Sea.

The two sides, itching for a fight, were evenly balanced. Each had two carriers, the Americans with the Yorktown and Lexington, commanded by Admiral Fletcher, and the Japanese with the Shokaku and Zuikaku, commanded by Admiral Takagi. The Americans had 122 planes and the Japanese had 121. The Japanese task force had been operating together much longer as a group than the Americans, but the Americans, unlike the Japanese, had radar.


USS Lexington (CV-2) during the action, seen from USS Yorktown (CV-5), 8 May 1942. Large number of planes on deck and low sun indicate that the photo was taken early in the morning, prior to launching the strike against the Japanese carrier force. Yorktown has several SBDs and F4Fs on deck with engines running, apparently preparing to take off. Lexington, whose silhouette has been altered by the earlier removal of her 8-inch gun turrets, has planes parked fore and aft, and may be respotting her deck in preparation for launching aircraft.



Zuikaku


Shokaku

Before dawn on 8 May, both the Japanese and the American carriers sent out scouts to locate their opponents. These made contact a few hours later, by which time the Japanese already had their strike planes in the air. The U.S. carriers launched theirs' soon after 9AM, and task force commander Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher turned over tactical command to Rear Admiral Aubrey W. Fitch, who had more carrier experience. Each side's planes attacked the other's ships at about 11AM. At that time the Japanese were partially concealed by thick weather, while the Americans were operating under clear skies.


Ready for takeoff from a Japanese aircraft carrier, 1942.


Bombs burst near the Japanese aircraft carrier Shokaku as she was attacked by USS Yorktown (CV-5) planes in the morning of 8 May 1942.

Planes from USS Yorktown hit the Shokaku, followed somewhat later by part of USS Lexington's air group. These attacks left Shokaku unable to launch planes, and she left the area soon after to return to Japan for repairs. Her sister ship, Zuikaku, was steaming nearby under low clouds and was not molested.


Japanese aircraft carrier Shokaku attacked by USS Yorktown (CV-5) planes, during the morning of 8 May 1942. Flames from a bomb hit on her forecastle are visible, as are smoke and splashes from dive bombers' near misses off her starboard side.

The Japanese struck the American carriers shortly after Eleven, and, in a fast and violent action, scored with torpedoes on Lexington and with bombs on both carriers. For about an hour, Lexington seemed to have shrugged off her damages, but the situation then deteriorated as fires spread through the ship. She was abandoned later in the day and scuttled. Yorktown was also badly damaged by a bomb and several near misses, but remained in operational condition.


Japanese aircraft carrier Shokaku under attack by USS Yorktown (CV-5) planes, during the morning of 8 May 1942. Flames are visible from a bomb hit on her forecastle.

By the end of the day, both sides had retired from the immediate battle area. The Japanese sent Zuikaku back for a few days, even though her aircraft complement was badly depleted, but they had already called off their Port Moresby amphibious operation and withdrew the carrier on May 11th. At about the same time USS Yorktown was recalled to Pearl Harbor. After receiving quick repairs, she would play a vital role in the Battle of Midway in early June.


USS Lexington burning and sinking after her crew abandoned ship during the Battle of Coral Sea, 8 May 1942.


During the Battle of the Coral Sea, a heavy explosion on board USS Lexington (CV-2) blows an aircraft over her side, 8 May 1942. This is probably the "great explosion" from the detonation of torpedo warheads stowed in the starboard side of the hangar, aft, that took place just after the ship's Commanding Officer, Captain Frederick C. Sherman, left Lexington.

Shokaku...
A 29800-ton aircraft carrier, was built at Yokosuka Dockyard, Japan. Completed in August 1941, she participated in Japan's early wartime offensives, including the attack on Pearl Harbor, the raid into the Indian Ocean and the Battle of Coral Sea. In the latter action, on 8 May 1942, Shokaku was seriously damaged by dive bombers from USS Yorktown (CV-5) and had to return to Japan for repairs.

Later in 1942, Shokaku took part in the August Battle of the Eastern Solomons and the October Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. She was again badly damaged by bombs in the latter action. In 1943-44, she continued operations as one of the Japanese Navy's most important fleet carriers. Shokaku was sunk by the U.S. submarine Cavalla (SS-244) on 19 June 1944, during the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

Zuikaku...
Sister ship of the 29,800-ton aircraft carrier Shokaku, was built at Kobe, Japan. She was commissioned in September 1941 and took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor the following December. During the great Japanese Pacific offensive of late 1941 and early 1942, Zuikaku was a participant in attacks on Rabaul, the East Indies, and the Indian Ocean. While covering an intended invasion of Port Moresby, New Guinea, in early May 1942, Zuikaku and Shokaku formed the Japanese side of the World's first significant battle between aircraft carriers, the Battle of the Coral Sea. On 8 May, her planes helped disable USS Lexington (CV-2) and damage USS Yorktown (CV-5). In return, Shokaku was seriously damaged, and Zuikaku's air group was greatly depleted, ensuring that both ships were unavailable for the pivotal Battle of Midway in June.

During the rest of 1942, Zuikaku was an important component of the Japanese forces involved in the Guadalcanal campaign, taking part in the carrier battles of the Eastern Solomons in August and Santa Cruz Islands in October. After the long lull in carrier actions that covered all of 1943 and the first part of 1944, Zuikaku again engaged her American opposite numbers in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, on 19-20 June 1944. That action, which cost Japan three more carriers, hundreds of planes and most of the rest of her trained carrier pilots, reduced her once-irresistable aircraft carrier fleet to a state of virtual impotence. Zuikaku was damaged in the battle, but was soon repaired.

In October 1944, Zuikaku led the remaining Japanese carriers in the role of "bait" to divert U.S. carrier planes away from the surface forces that were attempting to attack U.S. ships off Leyte, in the Philippines. This mission was successful, though it did not lead to Japanese victory in any component of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and it came at great cost to Zuikaku and her consorts, who had few planes embarked to defend themselves. In the resulting Battle off Cape Engano, on 25 October 1944, the four Japanese aircraft carriers were repeatedly hit by U.S. carrier planes' bombs and torpedoes. All of them, including Zuikaku, were sunk.

Coral Sea, May 8 1942...

8 May 1942
The climax of the battle on the 8th finds the IJN invasion fleet has retired to let the carrier forces battle it out. The opposing forces are fairly evenly matched with two carriers and approximately 20 aircraft each. Scout planes from both forces discover the enemy at about 0820 local time and approximately 200 miles apart.

American Attack

At 1057, American dive and torpedo bombers attack the Shokaku finding twin problems in defending Zero's and bad weather. After numerous near misses, the Dauntless dive bombers score a hit with a 1000 pound bomb. VB-5 pilot, Lieutenant John Powers, with his plane on fire, hits the Shokaku with another 1000 pound bomb causing extensive damage and fires. Powers does not recover from his dive and is awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor for his bravery.

A third SBD from the Lexington hits the Shokaku with a 1000 pound bomb. At this point the badly damaged Shokaku transfers her aircraft to the Zuikaku and retires to the north. The Zuikaku safely hides in a rainstorm throughout the action and is not touched by the American attack.

Japanese Attack

A search plane from the Shokaku, hiding in the clouds, shadows the Americans and later guides the IJN strike group to within sight of the Lexington. Fourteen IJN torpedo planes execute an attack on Lexington. Demonstrating their seasoned tactics, the IJN torpedo bombers attack with two simultaneous thrusts from 45 degrees either side of the bow. Lexington tries to dodge the torpedoes, but at 1120 she receives two hits. Attacks on the Yorktown by four torpedo planes come close, but she receives no hits.

Japanese dive bombers push over in steep attack formations a few minutes after the torpedo attack. The F4F Wildcat's of the Combat Air Patrol (CAP) fight to stop them, but find themselves engaged in furious dogfights with the escorting Zeros. The Lexington suffers two bomb hits and numerous near misses.

Dive bombers from the Zuikaku attack the Yorktown at 1142. They are harassed all the way down by two F4F's from VF-42. As the Yorktown is steaming crosswind at full speed and skillfully avoids all but one direct hit. This 250 kg bomb strikes the center of Yorktown's flight deck forward of the middle elevator. Several near misses cause underwater damage. Throughout all the action there are numerous dogfights.

Once the IJN attackers retire, the U.S. carriers are still able to steam at 24 knots and recover aircraft despite their damage. But trouble is developing aboard the Lexington. Leaking gasoline results in a tremendous explosion at 1247, killing 25 men. She is able to recover her strike group, but is wracked by two more explosions. The situation rapidly deteriorates. In short order Lexington experiences crippled communications, loss of helm control from the bridge, smoke drawn in by blowers putting out her boiler fires and forcing the boiler room personnel to evacuate, low fire main pressure, more fires and explosions until she is dead in the water and helpless.

Consideration is given to towing the Lexington with one of the cruisers, but in view of her severe damage and the possibility of another air attack, the decision is made to abandon ship at 1707. This is done in nearly ideal conditions and 92% of Lexington's complement is picked up by friendly ships.

Later, with the Lexington burning furiously, the destroyer Phelps sends five torpedoes into the "Lady Lex" and she sinks at 1952 with final tremendous underwater explosions.

After this day's battles, both fleets retire. The Japanese postpone their invasion of Port Moresby and suffer the first major strategic setback of the war.

IV. Results and Conclusions

At first glance it would appear that the battle was a Japanese victory or a draw at best, since they lost but a small carrier and the U.S. a large one. But strategically, the outcome was unquestionable an American Navy victory.

Most importantly, it stops the Japanese advance southward, and possibly saves Australia from invasion. Secondly, Japan's newest large carriers, the Shokaku and the Zuikaku are prevented from participating in the Battle of Midway. Shokaku is heavily damaged and has to return to Japan for major repairs remaining out of service for three months. The Zuikaku, although undamaged, has suffered major losses to her air group and also returns to Japan. She is out of action for two months while replacement pilots are trained. Thus both these new carriers are unavailable for the Battle of Midway. It is conceivable that their presence at Midway would have spared the IJN from their staggering defeat with the loss of four carriers.

U.S. Navy lessons learned:
(1) F4F's could defeat Zeros if they would attack with altitude advantage, not try to out turn the more maneuverable Zeros, and stay together for mutual protection.
(2) Torpedo planes and bombers had to be escorted.
(3) Fighters needed belly tanks for more range.
(4) Better CAP (carrier air patrol) and fighter direction procedures were essential.
(5) Communications equipment improvements were desperately needed.
(6) Fire fighting training and equipment improvements were necessary to save ships.
(6) IFF (identification friend or foe) gear on all friendly aircraft was greatly needed to identify themselves to one another.

The list is long and the Battle of Midway would be in less than a month, long before many of the lessons could be implemented.

The Battle of Coral Sea marks the first time in the history of naval warfare that opposing ships are never in sight of each other, and no shots are exchanged, and the battle is fought entirely by carrier planes. It ushers in a new era in the history of naval warfare - the supremacy of the aircraft carrier.

Re: Coral Sea posts: Great job woofiedog!

8 May

1940
In Britain... For a while it seems that Lord Halifax will be the next prime minister. Most of the Conservative majority in Parliament would prefer to have Halifax, and the Labour minority are also ready to support him. The problem is that as a peer he sits in the House of Lords and this is not ideal for a national leader. At the meeting of senior Conservatives Halifax's own worries about this leave Churchill as the only alternative.

Churchill with the King on the day of his appointment.

1941
In the Indian Ocean... The British heavy cruiser Cornwall finds and sinks the German raider Pinguin near the Seychelles. The Pinguin has sunk 28 ships of 136,550 tons during its cruise.

The German raider: Pinguin

In the Mediterranean... There are air attacks on the eastward and westward bound British convoys. The carrier with each convoy engages the attacking Italian planes.

In East Africa... The Amba Alagi fighting continues. Indian forces take the the Falagi Pass and three small peaks south of Amba Alagi itself.

In Moscow... Timoshenko replaces Voroshilov as commissar for defense. Training programs are soon introduced to correct some of the defects which have appeared during the Winter War.

1942
In the Coral Sea... Both the Japanese and the American fleets become aware of each others positions due to aerial reconnaissance. In the battle that follows, the USS Lexington is badly damaged and abandoned. (She will late be sunk by an American destroyer) The USS Yorktown is also hit. On the Japanese side, the Shokaku is seriously damaged. Of major importance is the loss of trained pilots on the Japanese side, as they take severe aerial losses. The battle is noteworthy for several reasons. The Japanese are forced to abandon their attack on Port Moresby, the first real stumbling block in their expansion. It is also the first time that a naval battle has taken place without visual contact between the main combatants. The damage done to the ships was achieved by aircraft launched from carriers and not by naval guns.

Japanese recon photo of the US fleet engaged.
see woofiedog's excellent posts above

On the Eastern Front... The German springtime offensives begins with the 22nd Panzer Division of the 11th Army attacking the Kerch Peninsula in the Crimea.

1943
In Tunisia... Axis forces are attempting to withdraw to the Cape Bon Peninsula. During the night (May 8-9), however, the British 6th Armored Division drives from Hammam Lif toward Hammamet, disrupting the retreating Axis columns.

A British column in Tunisia

In the Solomon Islands... Three Japanese destroyers are sunk by the American mines surrounding New Georgia Island.

1944
On the Eastern Front... In the Crimea, the Soviet offensive toward Sevastopol continues. The defending German and Romanian forces are now being evacuated. There are at least 45,000 Axis troops isolated there.

Wounded soldier evacuated by plane

From Berlin... Hitler gives his permission for a full-scale evacuation of the German and Romanian forces in the Crimea. Meanwhile, Eichmann proposes to release Hungarian Jews in return for 10,000 trucks, 2 million cases of soap and other goods. The offer is transmitted to the western Allies by Joel Brand, a member of the Vaadat Ezra v'Hazalah (Jewish Assistance and Rescue Committee) and it is rejected.

In Washington... The US Senate extends the term of Lend-Lease aid to June 1945.

In London... General Eisenhower selects June 5th as D-Day for the Normandy invasion.

1945
VE Day

In Britain... Victory in Europe -- VE Day -- is celebrated. Churchill and King George VI make special broadcasts to mark the occasion.

In France... VE Day is celebrated in Paris with fireworks and extra rations of wine.

In Canada... In the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, VE Day celebrations turn into a riot as Canadian sailors loot shops.

In the United States... President Truman warns Americans that the war is only half won.

In Berlin... The German surrender is ratified. For Germany, Keitel, Freideburg and Stumpf sign, and for the Allies, Spaatz, Tedder, Zhukov and de Lattre. Hostilities officially end at one minute past midnight.

On the Eastern Front... The units of Army Group Kurland, long cut off in Latvia, surrender to Soviet forces. Most of the German pockets, which have been holding out in eastern Germany, have also given in.

In Occupied Czechoslovakia... In Prague, the German forces officially surrender. Some Waffen SS units continue to resist, nonetheless.

In Yugoslavia... German forces continue to resist. The Yugoslavian partisan army, under Tito, liberates Zagreb.

In Norway... Crown Prince Olaf lands with British and Norwegian troops.

In the Philippines... On Luzon, the US 145th Infantry Regiment captures the ridge near Guagua, southeast of Mount Pacawagan and blocks a track along the Mariquina river. On Mindanao, units of the US 24th Division establish a bridgehead over the Talomo river, north of Mintal. The US 31st Division clears the Colgan woods, reaching the Maramag airfield. American units land on Samar. On Negros, American forces in the south continue to progress against strong Japanese resistance.

In the Ryukyu Islands... On Okinawa, torrential rain restricts military operations. The US 1st Marine Division eliminates several Japanese held cave positions on Nan Hill, with explosives.

-HH- Beebop... Glad you and other's enjoyed reading the story of the Coral Sea Battle.
Thank's

9 May

1940
In Belgium... The Belgian army is placed on alert because of recent tension and signs of German troop movements. The Luftwaffe has been successful in keeping Allied reconnaissance flights away from the German preparations.

In France... Reynaud has been growing more and more unhappy with the leadership of Gamelin, the Supreme Commander. He has been unable to dismiss him because he is supported in Cabinet by Daladier, who remains influential although he is no longer prime minister. These quarrels now come to a head but no announcement is made pending the formation of a new government. The German attack on May 10th will cause the changes to be deferred.

In Germany... Hitler issues orders for the Western offensive.

1941
In the North Atlantic... After sinking two ships from the convoy OB-318, U-110 is forced to surface by a depth-charge attack and is boarded and captured. Throughout the war the Germans do not discover that U-110 has been captured.

The Enigma machine rescued from the U-110

In the Mediterranean... One of the Operation Tiger transports sinks on a mine. Force H begins to return to Gibraltar.

1942
In the Mediterranean... 64 Spitfires are successfully delivered to Malta by naval forces including the USS Wasp and the HMS Eagle. This time, the planes are quickly refueled and rearmed and there is no destruction on the ground as with the previous delivery. The USS Wasp returns to service in the United States after this operation.

Spitfires on the runway at Malta

In the Philippines... On Mindanao, the Japanese forces fighting near Darlirig come close to ending organized local resistance.

1943
In Britain... A German Ju88, fitted with the new Liechtenstein BC radar set, lands in Scotland. It has been flown there by a British intelligence agent. The analysis of this new night-fighter equipment assists the British strategic bombing effort.

Lichtenstein BC radar mounted on the nose of a Ju-88

1944
On the Eastern Front... In the Crimea, the Red Army captures the city of Sevastopol after three days of fighting. German and Romanian troops fall back toward Cape Kersonessky where evacuations continue.

In New Guinea... Japanese forces skirmish with American forces on the beachheads around Hollandia.

Over Occupied France... Allied air forces begin large scale raids on airbases in France as part of the preparation for the D-Day invasion.

1945
On the Eastern Front... German forces in Czechoslovakia and Austria continue to resist. The Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front liberates Prague, the last capital to fall to the Allies. Czechoslovak rebels assist the Soviet advance into the city. German forces holding out in East Prussia and Pomerania capitulate to forces of the Soviet 2nd and 3rd Belorussian Fronts. The 3rd Ukrainian Front advances westward in Austria and reaches Graz and Amstetten, where they make contact with American troops.

Fireworks in Red Square celebrate VE Day

In Yugoslavia... Forces of German Army Group Ostmark (Lohr) continue to resist in Croatia and to the north.

On the Western Front... In the south, among the prominent captives are Goring and Kesselring who surrender to the US 7th Army. In Copenhagen, the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, the only major German warship still afloat, surrenders.

In the Philippines... On Luzon, forces of the US 145th Infantry Regiment, an element of US 11th Corps, captures Mount Binicayan and patrols into the Guagua area. On Mindanao, the US 24th Division continues to defend its bridgehead over the Talomo river against Japanese counterattacks but fails to build a bridge. The US 31st Division breaks off its attacks in the Colgan woods to allow air and artillery strikes on the Japanese positions.

In the Ryukyu Islands... On Okinawa, the US 1st Marine Division captures Height 60 after eliminating Japanese positions on Nan Hill. The US 77th Division continues attacks on Japanese strong points north of Shuri. The Kochi Crest area has been secured by American forces.

In Burma... The British 82nd West African Division occupies Sandoway in its advance south from Taungup, along the Arakan coast.

On this day of May 10 1940...

May 10, 1940 - Nazis invade France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; Winston Churchill becomes British Prime Minister.


The "Militaire Willemsorde" is the highest reward in the Netherlands

Actions of our Air force in the early May day's of 1940.
In May 1940 the Dutch air force was part of the Army. Due to wrong economy measures of an incompetent government, the defense of the Netherlands in comparison with the German Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe was far in minority, as well in materials and weapons as in number.
The fact that our country lasted five days against an overwhelming dominance is deserved to the efforts of our men of the army, navy and airforce.


Fokker T-5


Although in practice bad trained and supplied with old-fashioned weapons, our forces did a performance that is unique in war history.


Fokker D-XXI

Fighters, built in 1936-1937

On the very first day of the battle (May 10, 1940), our Air Defense was surprised by the strategy of attack of the Luftwaffe. The German air force intended to destroy our Air force in one strike, but succeeded only partly. By flying North of our country over the North Sea and after a bend of 180 degrees, our airfields were attacked and bombed from the West, a direction unexpected by our air defense. During this raid, 11 of the 12 Fokker G-1 fighters at the airfield in Bergen were damaged and partly destroyed. Only one pilot succeeded to take off his plane. Later on 6 of the damaged G-1's were repaired by the mechanics, so they could join the battle again.

On the first day of the war, 15 of the 124 operational airplanes were destroyed on the ground. In spite of that, our airmen and anti-aircraft personnel succeeded in destroying 328 of the 1024 deployed German aircraft. (One third of the whole German Air Transport fleet in one day; this never happened again during WW2!)


Aircraft : Fokker G.1AYear : 1939
Engine : 2 x Mercury VIII , 840 hrs.pwr.
Wingspan : 17.16 m
Length : 10.87 m
Weight : 4800 kg
Max. speed : 475 km/h
Ceiling : 9150 m
Range : 1500 km
Crew : 2
Armament : 9x7.9mm guns

At Schiphol(Amsterdam Airport) 8 fighters Fokker D-21 and 9 bombers Fokker T-5 were available on the 9th of May 1940. During the bombing by the Germans, early in the morning the 10th of May, alot of planes were damaged, but some D-21's and T-5's were able to take-off and start fighting against the much faster Messerschmitt Me-109 fighters of the Luftwaffe.

A number of German Aircraft were shot down by our airmen.

The Navy airfield "De Kooij" at Den Helder had 11 Fo.D-21 fighters of which 4 were destroyed on the first war day.


Fokker T-5
Engines: two Bristol Pegasus XXVI, 915 hp each
Wingspan: 21.00 m (36 ft 1 in)
Length: 16.00 m (26 ft 11 in)
Weight: 1835 kg (4045 lb)
Maximum speed: 417 km/h (286 mph)
Armament: three 7.9 mm machineguns, one 20 mm gun and a 1000 kg (2205 lb) bombload
Crew: five


Dogfight
10 G-1's, were placed at Waalhaven, near Rotterdam, 1 of them was destroyed during German bombing, but the other 9 could take-off amidst the bomb craters and even succeeded in bringing down 7 German aircraft.


Gustav “Micky” Sprick
was born on 29 November 1917 at Biemsen in the Lemgo region of Westfalen. Sprick was posted to JG 26 on 23 September 1939. Fähnrich Sprick was assigned to 8./JG 26. Leutnant Sprick shot down his first enemy aircraft on 10 May 1940, a Dutch Fokker T-5 twin-engined bomber over Breda. Sprick was very successful during the French campaign having accrued nine victories by the fall of France. However, on 14 June he was shot down, near Evreux, by RAF Hurricane fighters after claiming one of their number. He force-landed but survived the incident uninjured being rescues by German troops.

One of our in 1938 built bombers

Not all of our T-5 bombers were provided with bomb racks. So part of them were used as fighters and destroyed a number of German Aircraft.

The T-5 bomber had a wingspan of 21 meters and a weight of 7.250 kg. It could carry a bomb load of 1.000 kg.
With its 2 Bristol Pegasus engines it was fairly fast and reached a maximum speed of 417 km/h.
It was the first aircraft of the LVA that was provided with retractable gear.

Bombing the Maas Bridges in Rotterdam failed, some planes were shot down or damaged.

In addition to Fokker aircraft, some Koolhoven FK-51 reconnaissance and American Douglas-8A bombers were available at Ypenburg airbase.
In those days the last were used as fighters. Because of low speed and bad maneuverability, these planes could hardly be useful in the air combats. A number of them were destroyed during the attack of Ypenburg and Ockenburg airfields and the Douglas planes succeeding in becoming airborne, were destroyed on the 10th of May.


A T.5 in formation with two Fokker D.21's

After landing of Luftwaffe transport planes at Waalhaven Airport, Rotterdam, from Schiphol airport an attempt was made to destroy those invaders. Three T-5 bombers, escorted by 7 D-21 fighters performed a successful raid and destroyed several of the Junkers on the ground.
During these attack two of the T-5's and one D21 were downed by German fighters.
Also the British Air Force did bomb raids on Waalhaven Airport that night.

One T-5, commanded by Lt. Swagerman (Lieutenant pilot-observer), performed an effective raid on Ockenburg Airstrip near The Hague, destroying German Junckers that had landed there. Old Fokker C-X and C-V planes attacked Ypenburg Airfield very successful.


Fokker G-1 fighters

Fokker G-1
The Pride of our Air Force

After attacking Luftwaffe Aircraft on the first day of war, the G-1's from Waalhaven couldn't land on their base; and lack of fuel and ammunition forced them to divert to the airport of Haamstede (now a Glider field) and the beach of Voorne-Putten.
Later this day, Waalhaven was also bombed by British Air forces.

On the 13th of May, Lt. Swagerman in his T-5, only escorted by 2 G-1's, attended to bomb the Moerdijk bridge in order to delay the march of German tank forces from the South towards Rotterdam.
His plane was carrying two bombs of 300 kgs. each and he decided to make two raids. The first bomb missed the bridge and in the second raid the last bomb grazed on a concrete pile of the bridge, but didn't explode.
They were attacked by German fighters and AAguns and crashed near Ridderkerk. All of the men were killed. Also one of the G-1's was destroyed.

T-5/D-21 formation

After the war B. Swagerman was posthumous decorated with the "Militaire Willemsorde", the highest Netherlands order for courage and faith. One of the D-21 pilots: A.H. Bodaan, killed on the first war day, was also posthumous decorated with the MWO.

Another three G-1's, under construction at the Fokker Aircraft Factory and forced ready, were able to attack the German positions at the Grebbe-frontline.


The 20 mm gun in the nose

During the last days of this short war, some old-fashioned C-V and C-X biplanes were used for disturbing activities at the front and near Moerdijk; none of these reconnaissance planes had been destroyed on the first day, because of hided placement round the air field of Bergen. One Fokker C-V, pilot sgt. Roeloffzen, tried to attack enemy positions at the Grebbe Lines near Wageningen, but was shot by 3 Me's and crashed near Opheusden, south of the Rhine in front of the Dutch lines.
A number of C-V reconnaissance planes, from the temporary airfield of Middenmeer, surveyed the Wons and Kornwerderzand positions in Friesland.

Not only the LVA but also the MLD (Marine Luchtvaart Dienst - Naval Air Service) took part in the battle. A Fokker sea-plane C-XIV-W succeeded in bringing down a much faster Messerschmitt.


Fokker sea-plane C-XIV-W

Sea plane of the MLD

Regarding the superiority of the german Luftwaffe, the existence of our small Air Force was finished soon.
After five days of war, only 36 Dutch aircraft were left.
Some of our airmen (mostly from the pilot school), took the chance to escape with their planes to France. They had to leave their planes their and were shipped to Great Britain.
A number of remained aircraft were destroyed by their crew and some were captured by the Germans.


Douglas-8A bombers

As on the 14th of May the city of Rotterdam was heavily bombed by 84 Heinkel He-111 bombers, this catastrophe caused the Dutch commander-in-chief General Winkelman to surrender, as the Germans threatened to bomb Utrecht, maybe more cities.

A heroic battle was performed with great courage and sacrifice of our airmen, naval- and ground forces.

On the 18th of May, 1940, General Winkelman decorated the Air Force Corps with the Military Willems Order.
The "Militaire Willemsorde" is the highest reward in the Netherlands.

Only pilots who reached England could continue the combat against the Germans. They were placed in several RAF-squadrons.

In 1943 the Dutch airmen got their own squadron. As allied pilots they served over Britain, took part in D-Day in France and actions over Holland and had a humble part in destroying the entire German Luftwaffe.

Dutch Air Victories

Hateboer W. LVA 1 1 Ja.V.A.; claimed 1 Ju-88 on 10/May/1940 while flying Fokker D.XXI (No. 244)
Kiel unknown LVA 1 2 Ja.V.A.; claimed 1 Ju-52 on 10/May/1940
Kuypers J.P. LVA 2 3 Ja.V.A.; claimed 2 He-111 on 10/May/1940 while flying Fokker G.1 (No. 302)
Noomen P. LVA 3 3 Ja.V.A.; claimed 1 RAF Whitley Mk.IV on 20/Mar/1940 and 2 He-111 on 10/May/1940 while flying Fokker G.1 (No. 312)
Plesman J.C. LVA 1 2 Ja.V.A.; claimed 1 Ju-52 on 10/May/1940 while flying Fokker D.XXI
Roos J. LVA 2 2 Ja.V.A.; claimed 2 Bf-110 on 10/May/1940 while flying Fokker D.XXI (No. 225)
Sitter H. LVA 1 2 Ja.V.A.; claimed 1 Bf-109 on 10/May/1940 while flying Fokker D.XXI
Sluyter N. LVA 1 2 Ja.V.A.; claimed 1 Ju-88 on 10/May/1940 while flying Fokker D.XXI
Smits unknown LVA 1 claimed 1 Bf-109 on 10/May/1940 while flying Fokker D.XXI (No. 242)
Sonderman Gerben LVA 4 3 Ja.V.A.; claimed 2 Bf-109, 1 Ju-52 and 1 He-111 on 10/May/1940 while flying Fokker G.1 (No. 311)
Souffree H.F. LVA 2 3 Ja.V.A.; claimed 1 He-111 and 1 Bf-109 in May/1940 while flying Fokker G.1 (No. 328)
van Arkel J. RAF 0.5 41, 167 & 322 Sq; 6.5 V-1 destroyed
van de Vaart A.M. LVA 1 1 Ja.V.A.; claimed 1 Do-215 on 10/May/1940 while flying Fokker D.XXI (No. 212)
van der Stok Bram LVA 1 2 Ja.V.A.; claimed 1 Bf-109 (this claim may actually be for 2 shared Bf-109) on 10/May/1940 while flying Fokker D.XXI (No. 234)
van der Stok Bram RAF 1.5 91, 41 & 233 Sq
van Helsdingen J.P. ML-KNIL 3 2-VIG-V; KIA 7/Mar/1942
van Overvest H.J. LVA 2 1 Ja.V.A.; claimed 1 Bf-109 on 10/May/1940 while flying Fokker D.XXI (No. 219); total victories may be 3
van Ulsen Antionne LVA 1 4 Ja.V.A.; claimed 1 Bf-109 on 12/May/1940 while flying Fokker G.1 (No. 321)
Vlotman Christian RNZAF 4 488Sq
Woudenberg K.W. LVA 2 3 Ja.V.A.; claimed 1 Ju-52 and 1 Ju-87 in May/1940 while flying Fokker G.1 (No. 329)


A captured Fokker T.5

Dutch Bomber's

Fokker T.5
At the end of 1933 Fokker started with the design of an "aircruiser", meant to be able to stay in the air for a long time in case of an enemy attack. It was armed with three 7.9 mm machineguns, a tailgun, one on top and one under the fuselage. Also, a 20 mm gun was mounted in the nose. The Dutch government also wanted it to be able to act as a medium bomber, therefore it could carry a 1000 kg (2205 lb) bombload.

Because the Dutch government had no money to order the building of a prototype Fokker financed the prototype itself. In september 1937 the prototype was finished and made its first flight. The Dutch Airforce ordered 16 T.5's, including the prototype. It was then clear that the T.5 should not be used as an aircruiser, like the Fokker G.1, because its speed was inadequate for that role. Instead the T.5's formed the BomVA, "bombingaircraftdepartment". At the beginning of 1940 all the T.5's where delivered to the Dutch Airforce.

The War

When the Luftwaffe bombed Schiphol airport, where BomVA was stationed, on may 10th for the first time, only nine T.5's where ready to fly. All the bombers were ordered to take off at once. One of the T.5's was hit by a shell and was unable to leave the ground. Because of the chaos that was caused by the German attack, the T.5's where unable to coordinate a cooperate action. Each T.5 was ordered to do as much damage to the enemy as possible. They where quite successful at that. Three T.5's shot one enemy plane each, and one probably even managed to shoot down two. The Germans didn't manage to shoot down a T.5 but two had to make an emergency landing.

The next day three T.5's took off to bomb Ockenburg airport. On the way back one was shot down killing four Dutch aviators. On that same day Waalhaven airport was also bombed by three T.5's after bombing the airport two T.5's where shot down by the Germans, killing eight. Later two T.5's failed to bomb the Maasbridges in Rotterdam, they had to return and one was shot down, killing its entire crew.
On may 12th only one T.5 was still able to fight the Germans. It should have made a flight to the "Afsluitdijk" but the flight was aborted because of the German air supremacy. Nevertheless the last T.5 perished.
At least one captured T.5 was evaluated by the Germans.

10 May

1940
On the Western Front... The Germans launch Operation Gelb, the offensive in the west. Army Group C (Leeb) holds the German frontier opposite the French Maginot Line while Army Group A (Rundstedt) makes the main attack through the Ardennes and Army Group B (Bock) makes a secondary advance through Belgium and Holland to draw the main British and French forces north. During the day, Army Group A strikes, with three armored corps in the lead, heading for Sedan, Montherme and Dinant. The advance is rapid and the little opposition, mostly French cavalry, is thrown aside. To the north, Army Group B carries out parachute landings deep inside Holland which do much to paralyze Dutch resistance, while German units cross the Maas River near Arnhem and the Belgian fort at Eben Emael is put out of action by a German airborne force which lands its gliders literally on top of it. The fort is meant to cover the crossings of the Albert Canal nearby and this is not achieved. The Luftwaffe gives powerful support. At the end of the day the German advance has gone almost exactly according to plan. Meanwhile, the Allied Plan D provides for the French 1st Army Group ( General Billotte), consisting of the British Expeditionary Force ( General Lord Gort) and the French 7th Army (General Giraud) to advance to the line of the Dyle River and the Meuse River above Namur, to be joined there by the Belgian forces and on the left to link with the Dutch. General Gamelin is the Allied Supreme Commander and General Georges commands the armies on the French Northeast Front. The Allies react quickly to the German attacks as soon as they hear of them from the Belgians. By the evening much of the Dyle line has been occupied but the troops find that there are no fortifications to compare with the positions they have prepared along the Franco-Belgian frontier during the Phony War period. Some of the reserve is therefore committed to strengthen the line. Some of the advance forces of French 7th Army make contact with the Germans in southern Holland and are roughly handled.

German paratroopers drop in Holland

In Britain...Churchill visits the King and officially takes office as prime minister.

In Norway... British forces are sent south from Harstad to Mo-i-Rana to join the small units trying to delay the German advance to relieve the Narvik force. Some of these units are now engaged at Mosjoen.

In Iceland... British troops land on the island. They are the advance elements of a force which is to set up a destroyer and scout-plane base to help in the convoy battles in the Atlantic. Equally, they will prevent the Germans using the island to aid their U-boat campaign.

1941
In Britain... Rudolf Hess, the deputy leader of the NSDAP and second in line to Goring as heir to Hitler, flies to Britain on a bizarre peace mission. He lands by parachute at Eaglesham near Glasgow, hoping to contact the Duke of Hamilton whom he met at the 1936 Olympics. He believes that there is a considerable body of British opinion that is opposed to Churchill but is also anti-Communist and therefore prepared to consider making common ground on these terms with Germany. He is immediately disowned by the German authorities (he has left a note explaining himself to Hitler) and this prompt reaction detracts from the propaganda value that the episode might have had for the British.

In the Mediterranean... Benghazi is shelled again by part of Cunningham's Mediterranean Fleet.

In East Africa... The Amba Alagi fighting continues. Indian forces take the Gumsa position.

In Iraq... British-led forces from the Jordanian Arab Legion take Rutba. A stronger detachment, Habforce, is being prepared for a move to Rutba. Part of this force, to be known as Kingcol, will then move on to relieve Habbaniyah.

1942
In the Philippines... American General Sharp commanding the few remaining resisting American forces issues orders of surrender. Some American troops continue with guerilla actions for the next several weeks.

American commander surrenders to the Japanese

1943
In Tunisia... The last organized Axis resistance is eliminated. Large scale surrenders, of Axis troops, begin.

Axis POW's in Tunisian camp

From Berlin... Hitler approves Operation Citadel, the attack on the Kursk salient, despite expressing misgivings and news of Soviet defensive preparations.

1944
In China... Chinese forces cross the Salween River, near the Burmese border, on a broad front.

In New Guinea... Japanese forces continue to skirmish with American forces on the beachheads around Hollandia.

In Occupied France... The French resistance organization (FFI - Free French Forces of the Interior) claims a membership of 175,000.

In Washington... J.V. Forrestal is designated the new Secretary of the Navy. He replaces Knox, who died on April 28th.

1945
In the Philippines... On Luzon, the advance of US 43rd Division, part of US 11th Corps, loses momentum. On Mindanao, part of the US 40th Division lands on the coast of Macalajar Bay, in the north of the island. The naval support group is commanded by Rear-Admiral Struble. The landing is successful. Filipino guerrillas provide additional support and the beachhead is rapidly consolidated and extended. Some elements advance some 5 miles to the southeast and link up with units of the US 31st Division. There is heavy fighting between the American and Japanese forces already present on the island. Units of the US 19th Division begin to eliminate a number of Japanese pockets of resistance around Davao.
In the Ryukyu Islands... On Okinawa, at 0300 elements of the US 6th Marine Division begin an attack against the estuary of the Asa river. A bridgehead about 1 mile wide and 400 yards deep is established. During the night a Bailey bridge is built to allow tanks and artillery to cross the river. The US 1st Marine Division makes slight progress towards Shuri, facing heavy Japanese opposition. At sea, Japanese Kamikaze strikes hit 1 American destroyer and 1 mine layer.

On the Eastern Front... The forces of the Soviet 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts join up as they reach Klagenfurt and Linz in Austria. They establish contact with American forces.

In Liberated Norway... Quisling and some of his supporters are arrested. Reichs Commissioners Terboven and the German Chief of Police in Norway both commit suicide.

In Washington... The government announces plans to withdraw 3.1 million American troops from Europe.

11 May

1940
On the Western Front... The German offensive continues. The advance in Holland is very rapid and even more of the Dutch army is put out of action. In Belgium the Germans are approaching the British and French positions which are now strongly held. Eben Emael falls to German attacks after some fruitless resistance. Rundstedt's forces advance nearer to the Meuse.

Hitler poses with the paratroopers who captured Eben Emael

1941
In the North Atlantic... U-110 sinks from the depth charge damage while on the way to Iceland.

German submarine U-110

1942
In Canada... The government, following a public referendum (April 27th), passes conscription for overseas service. However conscripts will not be forced to fight overseas.

Canadian Prime Minister visits troops in Britain

1943
In Burma... The British 26th Division pulls back from Maungdaw. This marks the end of the British Arakan campaign. They have suffered 3000 killed and seriously wounded. The Japanese have experienced less than half that number of casualties in the campaign. Furthermore, British morale is low and the health of the troops is poor.

British soldier on a jungle trail

In the Aleutian Islands... The US 7th Division (commanded by General Brown) lands on Japanese occupied Attu Island. Admiral Kinkaid's Task Force 16 supports the operation. The supporting naval forces include 3 battleships, 1 escort carrier and numerous cruisers and destroyers. Once ashore, the American troops encounter difficulties advancing inland due to Japanese resistance and difficult terrain.

In Burma... At Kalewa. The British turn and fight a fierce rear guard action here before continuing the withdrawal to the Imphal area.

In the Mediterranean... German aircraft from Crete sink the British destroyers
Lively,


Kipling


and Jackal.


In the Caribbean... British and French troops land on the Dutch islands of Aruba and Curacao to protect the oil installations there, and also the approach to the Venezuelan fields.

1944
In Italy... The US 5th Army launches new attacks against the German-held Gustav Line. The preparatory bombardment begins just before midnight. It is followed up by infantry advances. The US 2nd Corps, the Polish 2nd Corps, the British 13th Corps and the French Expeditionary Corps are engaged. Attacking Allied forces amount to 12 divisions plus reserves. The German defenders have 6 divisions, including reserves. The commanders of the German 10th Army (Vietinghoff) and the 76th Panzer Corps (Senger) are both absent from their headquarters at the start of the offensive. Meanwhile, Allied warships bombard German heavy artillery batteries around Gaeta.

Over Germany... German fighter ace Oberst Walter Oesau (123 victories) is shot down and killed over the Eifel Mountains.

Walter “Gulle” Oesau was born on 28 June 1913 at Farnewinkel in the Dithmarschen region of Holst. He enlisted in the army in 1933 and served in an artillery regiment. By 1934 he had become a Fahnenjunker and was undertaking flying training with the Deutschen Verkehrsfliegerschule. On completing his flying training he was posted to Jagdgeschwader “Richtofen”. Leutnant Oesau was one of the first fighter pilots to join J/88 in Spain in April 1938. Here he served with 3. J/88 and gained nine victories. He became one of only 27 recipients of the Spanienkreuz in Gold mit Brillanten . He was also wounded in this campaign and was awarded the Spanish Wound Badge. On 1 March 1939, Oesau joined the Stabsschwarm of I./JG 2. On 15 July, Oberleutnant Oesau was appointed Staffelkapitän of 1./JG 20 which was later redesignated 7./JG 51. Oesau gained his first victory of World War 2 on 13 May 1940. He ended the French campaign with five victories to his credit. On 18 August 1940 he became the fifth Luftwaffe pilot to reach 20 World War 2 victories, bringing him the award of the Ritterkreuz. On 25 August 1940, Hauptmann Oesau was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of III./JG 51. On 11 November 1940, Oesau was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of III./JG 3. He led the Gruppe to the Eastern front where the invasion of Russia was launched. He recorded his 40th victory on 5 February 1941. On 6 February, he was awarded the Eichenlaub (Nr 9). He recorded his 50th victory on 30 June. He claimed five enemy aircraft shot down on 10 July 1941 for his 64th to 68th victories. He recorded his 70th victory on 11 July and his 80th on 17 July. On 15 July his victory tally had reached 80 and he became only the third man to be awarded the Schwertern. At the end of July 1941 he was recalled to the Western Front to take command of JG 2. He recorded his 100th victory on 26 October, only the third Luftwaffe pilot to reach this landmark. He was forbidden to fly further combat missions, his combat experience and leadership qualities being considered too valuable to risk. A series of staff appointments followed, including being appointed Jagdfliegerführer 4 Brittany.


Stabschwarm and Kommodore JG 2: Oblt. Erich Leie (118 v.), Maj. Walter Oesau, Oblt. Rudi Pflanz (52 v.) and Ofw. Günther Seeger (56 v.)

On 12 November 1943, Oberst Oesau returned to combat when he was appointed Kommodore of JG 1 following the death of Oberst Hans Philipp (206 victories, RK-S). He soon added at least 14 victories against the USAAF formations of B-17 and B-24 four-engined bombers. On 11 May 1944, Oesau, leading three aircraft of the Stabsschwarm, took off from Paderborn to intercept Allied bombers raiding north-eastern Belgium and Luxembourg. During his attack on the bombers he was bounced by escorting P-38s. In the ensuing combat he was shot down and killed in his Bf 109 G-6/AS (W.Nr. 20 601) “Green 13” near St Vith.
“Gulle” Oesau scored 127 victories in over 300 combat missions. 9 victories were scored during the Spanish Civil War, 74 were scored on the Western front including 14 four-engined bombers (one B-17 as engültige Vernichtung) and 44 over the Eastern front.
No Date Time A/c Type Unit Location / Comments
1. 15.7.1938 - Curtiss Stab J/88 Spanish Civil War / I-16
2. 17.7.1938 - Curtiss Stab J/88 Spanish Civil War / I-16
3. 18.7.1938 - Rata Stab J/88 Spanish Civil War
4. 20.7.1938 - Curtiss Stab J/88 Spanish Civil War / I-16
5. 27.7.1938 - SB-2 Stab J/88 Spanish Civil War
6. 15.8.1938 - Curtiss Stab J/88 Spanish Civil War / I-16
7. 20.8.1938 - Rata Stab J/88 Spanish Civil War
8. 15.10.1938 - Rata Stab J/88 Spanish Civil War
9. 3.11.1938 - Rata Stab J/88 Spanish Civil War
10. 13.5.1940 - Curtiss 7./JG 51
11. 31.5.1940 - Spitfire 7./JG 51
12. 31.5.1940 - Spitfire 7./JG 51
13. 7.6.1940 - Blenheim 7./JG 51
14. 16.6.1940 - Amiot 7./JG 51
15. 7.7.1940 - Spitfire 7./JG 51
16. 10.7.1940 - Spitfire 7./JG 51
17. 10.7.1940 - Spitfire 7./JG 51 Folkestone
18. 10.7.1940 - Spitfire 7./JG 51 Folkestone
19. 19.7.1940 - Defiant 7./JG 51 Defiant of 141 Sqn RAF
20. 19.7.1940 - Hurricane 7./JG 51
21. 25.7.1940 - Spitfire 7./JG 51 Dover
22. 5.8.1940 - Spitfire 7./JG 51 Dover
23. 14.8.1940 - Hurricane 7./JG 51 Dover
24. 15.8.1940 - Spitfire 7./JG 51 Folkestone
25. 15.8.1940 - Spitfire 7./JG 51 Folkestone
- 15.8.1940 - Ballon Luftsperre 7./JG 51 Dover
26. 16.8.1940 - Spitfire 7./JG 51 Cape Gris Nez
27. 16.8.1940 - Spitfire 7./JG 51 Cape Gris Nez
28. 18.8.1940 - Hurricane 7./JG 51 Cape Gris Nez
29. 18.8.1940 - Hurricane 7./JG 51 Canterbury
30. 4.9.1940 - Spitfire Stab III./JG 51
31. 6.9.1940 - Spitfire Stab III./JG 51
32. 7.9.1940 - Spitfire Stab III./JG 51
33. 11.9.1940 - Hurricane Stab III./JG 51
34. 14.9.1940 - Spitfire Stab III./JG 51
35. 14.9.1940 - Spitfire Stab III./JG 51
36. 15.9.1940 - Hurricane Stab III./JG 51
37. 18.9.1940 - Spitfire Stab III./JG 51
38. 27.9.1940 - E/a Stab III./JG 51
39. 27.9.1940 - E/a Stab III./JG 51
40. 28.9.1940 - Spitfire Stab III./JG 51
41. 30.9.1940 - E/a Stab III./JG 51
42. 30.9.1940 - E/a Stab III./JG 51
43. 30.9.1940 - E/a Stab III./JG 51
44. 5.10.1940 - Spitfire Stab III./JG 51
45. 12.10.1940 - Spitfire Stab III./JG 51
46. 15.10.1940 - Hurricane Stab III./JG 51
47. 25.10.1940 - Spitfire Stab III./JG 51
48. 1.11.1940 - Spitfire Stab III./JG 51
49. 5.2.1941 15:05 Hurricane Stab III./JG 3 Desvres, 2500 m
50. 16.5.1941 15:45 Spitfire Stab III./JG 3
51. 28.5.1941 19:25 Hurricane Stab III./JG 3 Pas-de-Calais
52. 24.6.1941 12:08 MiG-1 Stab III./JG 3
53. 24.6.1941 15:15 I-15 Stab III./JG 3
54. 26.6.1941 6:42 SB-2 Stab III./JG 3
55. 26.6.1941 6:45 SB-2 Stab III./JG 3
56. 26.6.1941 12:45 I-15 Stab III./JG 3
57. 26.6.1941 12:50 SB-2 Stab III./JG 3
58. 29.6.1941 18:10 Il-2 Stab III./JG 3
59. 30.6.1941 9:20 Il-2 Stab III./JG 3
60. 30.6.1941 13:30 SB-2 Stab III./JG 3
61. 1.7.1941 18:20 SB-2 Stab III./JG 3 Lvov area
62. 1.7.1941 18:22 SB-2 Stab III./JG 3 Lvov area
63. 1.7.1941 18:24 SB-2 Stab III./JG 3 Lvov area
64. 2.7.1941 12:00 SB-3 Stab III./JG 3
65. 6.7.1941 14:42 SB-3 Stab III./JG 3
66. 6.7.1941 17:20 SB-2 Stab III./JG 3
67. 6.7.1941 17:24 Pe-2 Stab III./JG 3
68. 7.7.1941 5:57 Pe-2 Stab III./JG 3
69. 8.7.1941 13:00 SB-2 Stab III./JG 3
70. 8.7.1941 13:02 SB-2 Stab III./JG 3
71. 8.7.1941 13:04 SB-2 Stab III./JG 3
72. 8.7.1941 17:15 SB-2 Stab III./JG 3
73. 10.7.1941 9:07 Il-2 Stab III./JG 3
74. 10.7.1941 11:50 I-17 Stab III./JG 3
75. 10.7.1941 12:35 Pe-2 Stab III./JG 3
76. 10.7.1941 15:55 I-153 Stab III./JG 3
77. 10.7.1941 18:35 I-16 Stab III./JG 3
78. 11.7.1941 17:44 I-16 Stab III./JG 3
79. 11.7.1941 18:00 SB-2 Stab III./JG 3
80. 12.7.1941 13:00 Il-2 Stab III./JG 3
81. 12.7.1941 13:04 Il-2 Stab III./JG 3
82. 12.7.1941 15:35 I-16 Stab III./JG 3
83. 12.7.1941 15:35 I-16 Stab III./JG 3
84. 12.7.1941 15:35 I-16 Stab III./JG 3
85. 12.7.1941 15:36 SB-2 Stab III./JG 3
86. 12.7.1941 15:37 SB-2 Stab III./JG 3
87. 13.7.1941 11:44 DB-3 Stab III./JG 3
88. 15.7.1941 12:50 I-153 Stab III./JG 3
89. 15.7.1941 12:55 DB-3 Stab III./JG 3
90. 22.7.1941 16:40 Il-2 Stab III./JG 3
91. 23.7.1941 11:20 DB-3 Stab III./JG 3
92. 23.7.1941 13:44 SB-2 Stab III./JG 3
93. 23.7.1941 15:28 I-15 Stab III./JG 3
94. 23.7.1941 17:22 DB-3 Stab III./JG 3
95. 24.7.1941 13:55 DB-3 Stab III./JG 3
96. 10.8.1941 14:15 Spitfire Stab JG 2
97. 12.8.1941 11:43 Spitfire Stab JG 2
98. 12.8.1941 12:51 Spitfire Stab JG 2 NW St. Omer
99. 12.8.1941 12:53 Spitfire Stab JG 2 NW St. Omer
100. 12.8.1941 13:06 Spitfire Stab JG 2 15 km SE Dover
101. 12.8.1941 13:15 Spitfire Stab JG 2 SE Dover
102. 16.8.1941 19:39 Spitfire Stab JG 2
103. 16.8.1941 19:42~ Spitfire Stab JG 2
104. 21.8.1941 10:23 Spitfire Stab JG 2 Off Calais
105. 21.8.1941 15:10 Spitfire Stab JG 2 E Etaples
106. 31.8.1941 20:07 Spitfire Stab JG 2
107. 4.9.1941 17:35 Spitfire Stab JG 2 St. Omer-Béthune
108. 13.10.1941 14:32 Spitfire Stab JG 2 15km SW Boulogne
109. 26.10.1941 13:08 Spitfire Stab JG 2 Spitfire Vb (AB822) of 72 Sqn, RAF flown by Sgt L Stock
110. 17.4.1942 - Lancaster Stab JG 2 S Beaumont-le-Roger / Lancaster of 44 Sqn RAF, L7536, KM-H
111. 20.12.1942 12:30 B-17 Stab JG 2 Melun
112. 20.12.1942 13:53 B-17 Stab JG 2 25km NNW Dieppe
113. 4.4.1943 14:30 B-17 Stab JG 2 W St Pierre
114. 5.1.1944 12:00 B-24 Stab JG 1 Heide, 7500 m
115. 30.1.1944 12:00 B-17 Stab JG 1 SW Osnabrück
116. 30.1.1944 12:20 B-17 e.V. Stab JG 1
117. 8.2.1944 12:00 P-38 Stab JG 1 Friedburg-Giessen, 8400 m
118. 10.2.1944 12:55 B-17 Stab JG 1 Zwolle-Hardenburg, 6000 m
119. 10.2.1944 13:00 P-47 Stab JG 1 Zwolle-Kampen, 4000 m
120. 22.2.1944 13:36 B-17 Stab JG 1 N Thierl (Bielefeld-Münster), 6000 m
121. 22.2.1944 15:25 B-17 Stab JG 1
122. 24.2.1944 12:40 B-17 Stab JG 1 Hameln-Hildesheim, 7500 m
123. 25.2.1944 13:05 B-17 Stab JG 1 Baden-Baden area, 6500 m
124. 25.2.1944 15:00 B-24 Stab JG 1 Baden-Baden area, 5000 m
125. 6.3.1944 12:05 P-47 Stab JG 1 NW Vechta, 6500 m
126. 6.3.1944 12:20 B-17 Stab JG 1 S Delmenhorst, 3000 m
127. 8.5.1944 9:45 P-47 Stab JG 1 SW Verden


Victories : 127
Awards : Knight`s Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords
Units : J/88, JG 51, JG 3, JG 2, JG 1


Over Occupied France... The US 9th Air Force begins a series of raids on airfields around Caen.

In Britain... The Lancaster bomber "S for Sugar" (RAF No. 467 Squadron) completes its 100th mission.

In the Sulu Sea... The Japanese begin to assemble most of their remaining heavy warships at Tawitawi. Admiral Ozawa commands the forces. The build up is in anticipation of the American offensive against the Mariana Islands to the northeast.

In New Guinea... Japanese forces continue to skirmish with American forces on the beachheads around Hollandia.

1945
In the Ryukyu Islands... On Okinawa, American forces conduct a coordinated attack on the Japanese held Shuri Line. The forces deployed include the US 3rd Amphibious Corps on the right of the line and the US 24th Corps on the left. Only minor gains are achieved. At sea, Kamikaze strikes damage the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill and 2 destroyers.

In the Philippines... On Luzon, elements of US 1st Corps make contact on Kapintalan Ridge. The US 25th Division advances on Santa Fe. On Mindanao, elements of US 40th Division advance to hills overlooking Del Monte airfield. Units of Filipino guerrillas liberate Cagayan. The US 24th Division mops up the area northeast of the Talomo river, near Mintal. On Samar, a small American contingent is landed to spot Japanese artillery sites firing on Davao on Mindanao. Fighting continues in the western mountains on Negros.

In New Guinea... After a bitter fight, elements of the Australian 6th Division occupy Wewak, the last Japanese-held port on the mainland.

In China... Chinese armies hold up the Japanese offensive against Chihchiang, threatening the flanks of the advancing columns and firmly defending in the area of Paima Shan.

On the Eastern Front... Units of the Soviet 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts eliminate most of the German resistance in Czechoslovakia and make contact with American forces at Pilsen. German Army Group Center (Schorner), confined to a pocket east of Prague, surrenders to the Soviets. In Austria, Soviet pressure forces some German units to surrender as well.

In Yugoslavia... In Croatia and the northwest, German Army Group Ostmark (Lohr), formerly Army Group E, continues to resist against Yugoslavian forces.

In the Aegean Sea... German island garrisons begin to surrender.

On this day of May 11 1940...

Fort Eben-Emael Falls to German Paratroopers and Glider Units.





Fort Eben-Emael was reputed to be the strongest military stronghold in the world. On May 10th 1940, Fort Eben-Emael was attacked by the Germans as part of their blitzkrieg attack on Western Europe. The speed with which Eben-Emael fell and how the raid was executed was symptomatic of just how devastating blitzkrieg could be.


First Lieutenant Rudolf Witzig, Commander of the Group which captured Eben Emael Fortress on the 10th of May, 1940.

Fort Eben-Emael was north of the large Belgium city of Liege. It commanded the Albert Canal and was seen by the Belgium military as being the principle barrier against an attack from her eastern borders. As well as the Albert Canal, the fort also had a commanding position over the high bridges over the canal. If an enemy captured these bridges, their ability to move military vehicles and troops would have been greatly helped. Without the control of these bridges, such movement into Belgium would have been severely restricted and the mobility that blitzkrieg needed for success would have been blunted.


The DFS 230 assault glider, the type of machine which carried German paratroops into action at Eben Emael, the invasion of Crete, and the rescue of Mussolini.

The fort itself was awesome. Built between 1932 and 1935, it abutted the Albert Canal at Caster. From north to south, the fort was 900 meters long and from east to west, it was 700 meters. The fort was a base for infantry and artillery units, and the defences of the fort were placed so that each mutually covered the other should the fort come under attack. Getting into the fort would have been very difficult. Two of the walls were 40 meters high and nearly vertical. Climbing them in an assault would have been all but impossible. The other sides of the fort were protected as a result of a man-made ditch around them, again making any assault difficult. To further complicate any assault, outer trenches had been built and more walls, the majority of which were 4 meters high.


Fort Eben Emael

The weaponry within the fort was also awesome. The fort contained 7.5-cm cannons, 12-cm revolving cannon; machine guns; searchlights; anti-tank cannons and anti-aircraft cannon. Dummy weapon emplacements were built to fool the enemy.


One of the immensely thick cupolas of the Eben Emael fortress complex. Even the largest of hollow charge grenades had little effect on them.

The fort itself was connected within by a series of tunnels that totalled many kilometres. There was only one access to these tunnels at Fort 17 in the south-west of the vast complex. The fort was effectively self-sufficient as it contained barracks, sick bays and a communication centre. The tunnel complex was built with a ventilation system complete with filters in case of a poison gas attack.





However, Eben-Emael had one major weakness. It was vulnerable to an attack from the air. The German High Command knew that they had to capture intact the bridges over the Albert Canal if blitzkrieg was to function. They also knew that a paratrooper attack â€" so devastating in Holland â€" would be unlikely to be successful at Eben-Emael as it would give the defenders too much time to react as the paratroopers descended. They therefore decided on a mode of attack the defenders would be surprised by â€" the use of gliders carrying troops. The gliders would land at half-light inside the fort thus negating its defences. Such an attack would possess a high surprise factor which would not be achieved using paratroopers.


German troops standing on the roof of part of the Eben Emael fortress complex.

The attack had to be carefully co-ordinated so that it took place just at the same time as the main Wehrmacht attack across the Belgium border. In this way, the Belgium army would be fully occupied and no units outside of the fort could come to its aid.


Defender's of the Fort

The raid was full of risks. Take-off and landings were potential problems. When the gliders came within range of the fort’s anti-aircraft guns, they were at risk. To compensate for the latter, the attack was planned at half-light â€" making the task of the glider pilots even more difficult as visibility would be a key issue. The plan was to release the gliders 20 kilometres from the fort at a height of 2000 meters. The pilots selected for the raid were considered to be the best and were given a target of landing their gliders within 20 meters of their chosen target.


Although obsolete as a bomber by World War II, the Junkers Ju 52s delivered the attacking forces and their supplies during the German invasion of Norway, Denmark, France, and the Low Countries in 1940.

The attack was entrusted to the Koch Storm Detachment formed in November 1939. The main section of this unit comprised of paratroopers, including those trained in sapping. The actual attack on the fort itself was carried out by these sappers led by Colonel Rudolf Witzig.



The unit led by Witzig trained for six months for this attack. They were to use 11 gliders and the glider pilots were also expected to fight in the attack. Each glider was to fly seven or eight men, excluding the pilot. Each glider unit had two targets to attack. The sappers carried large quantities of explosives and such weapons as flame throwers.



The attackers landed at 05.25 on May 10th 1940, five minutes before the main attack across the Belgium border. To confuse the Belgium military around the area, the Germans also used dummy gliders that ‘landed’ in areas around the canal but served no other purpose but to confuse the defenders. Nine of the eleven gliders got through to the fort â€" one glider being lost to anti-aircraft fire and one having to land just outside of Cologne as its towrope had broken.



The Koch Storm Detachment had given themselves just 60 minutes to create a base in the fort which they could defend. In this time, they destroyed many of the gun emplacements in the fort and captured a large section of it. Some of the complex remained in the hands of the Belgium army but by May 11th, the fight was over as the advancing German army arrived in force. Confronted with an enemy literally within and surrounded by a massive army without, the defenders had no real choice but to surrender.



The attack was a success for the Germans as the fort was taken and the vital bridges captured intact. The Germans lost 6 men killed out of the 85 who set out on the attack with 15 wounded. The Belgium defenders lost 23 men killed and 59 wounded.







The attack on Fort Eben-Emael shows how blitzkrieg worked within a small environment as opposed to an attack on a whole country. The element of surprise was key, as was the use of a method of attack not really considered possible by other Western European armies. The use of troops specifically trained to become experts in explosives, parachuting etc were also vital. The defensive mentality of the Belgium army was exposed by the success of the attack on Fort Eben-Emael.



Link:
http://www.third-reich-books.com/blitzkriegfrance.htm
http://www.portal-ns.com/thecensure/eben.htm
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/G/Ge/German_1st_Parachute_Division.htm
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/paratroopers_and_world_war_two.htm
http://www.fort-eben-emael.be/English/Frame1_English/frame1_engels.htm

On this day of May 12 1940...

Adolf Galland scored his first kills on 12 May 1940.


Bf 109 E-4N - The aircraft of Lt. Col. Adolf Galland, on Audembert airfield, France, December 1940.

At the beginning of WW II, Galland flew in Poland in the Henschel Hs 123, until October 1, 1939, performing ground attack missions and proving the dive-bombing concept. For his efforts Galland was awarded by Iron Cross.


Major Adolf Galland after scoring his 40th victory on 23 September 1940. Galland is greeted first by his crew chief Uffz. Mayer.

Next, he was assigned to JG 27, commanded by Oberst Max Ibel. During the French campaign Adolf Galland scored his first kills on 12 May 1940, when he went with Gustav Rödel on a mission. Galland shot down two "Hurricanes" from 87th Squadron in two sorties.
On 12 May, west of Liege, Belgium, he scored his first aerial victory and had two more victories that day. All three victims were RAF Hurricanes.
By the end of the French campaign he had accumulated 14 victories.


Here is a right profile of a Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-4N W.Nr. 5819, used by Galland in the period of September 1940 - April 1941. This view is dated 23 September 1940, when Galland claimed his 40th victory. Note - this plane was repainted and remarked many times.

1 12.5.1940... Hurricane Stab JG 27 10 km W Lüttich Hurricane I (L1970) of 87 Sqn RAF flown by F/O J A Campbell, killed
2 12.5.1940... Hurricane Stab JG 27 18 km S Lüttich Hurricane I (L1632) of 87 Sqn RAF flown by Sgt F V Howell, baled out
3 12.5.1940... Hurricane Stab JG 27 7 km EEN Tirlemont
4 16.5.1940... Spitfire Stab JG 27 5 km S Lille
5 19.5.1940... Potez 63 Stab JG 27 N Albert
6 19.5.1940... Potez 63 Stab JG 27 SW Hirson
7 20.5.1940... Potez 63 Stab JG 27 S Amiens
8 29.5.1940... Blenheim Stab JG 27 15 km N Gravelines
9 29.5.1940... Blenheim Stab JG 27 30 km NW Gravelines
10 2.6.1940... Spitfire Stab JG 27 W Dunkirk
11 9.6.1940... Curtiss Hawk 75 Stab JG 27 E Rotoy
12 9.6.1940... Morane MS 406 Stab JG 27 13 km NW Meaux
13 14.6.1940... Blenheim Stab III./JG 26 22km SE Vernon/Breval
14 14.6.1940... Battle Stab III./JG 26 10km S Evreux


Ian R. Gleed Pilot of the 87 Sq RAF in France.


Ian R. Gleed


His personal insignia: Figaro the Cat.

In May 1940, Gleed was promoted to Flight Lieutenant and received orders to report to 87 Squadron, flying Hurricanes with the Advanced Air Striking Force (AASF) in France. Between receiving his orders and reporting to the squadron in Northern France on may17, 1940, the Germans had attacked in the West and the Hurricanes of the AASF were doing their best to keep the Stukas off the backs of the British Expeditionary Force as it made a fighting retreat out of Belgium. 87 Squadron was in the middle of the action, with pilots flying several sorties in a day and seeing combat on nearly every one.


According to serial number, P2798 may have begun life as a "rag-wing" Hurricane. Metal wings were produced beginning in the fall of 1939, and the units of the Advanced Air Striking Force were among the first to have their Hurricanes refitted with the new metal wings. In the Spring of 1940, they swapped out the Watts two-blade wooden prop for the de Havilland two-position controllable prop, while a few received early examples of the Rotol constant-speed prop, which maximized the airplane's performance at all speeds and altitudes. It's not known when these modifications were made to P2798, but the airplane had both the metal wing and Rotol prop by the time Gleed took delivery in May, 1940. It's very likely that the improved performance of this Hurricane, along with Gleed's superior flying skills, were what combined to allow him to score as he did against the Bf109E, an airplane that outperformed the Hurricane on all points other than turning circle.

It was here that Gleed encountered Hurricane P2798, which would be his combat mount for the rest of 1940.
In the ensuing week of combat and dodging from airfield to airfield ahead of the Germans, Gleed scored 5 victories over Messerschmitt 109s, and one shared.
By the time 87 was withdrawn from France ten days later, after suffering more than 50 percent losses among its pilots, Gleed had 7 kills and had decorated P2798 with what would be his personal insignia: Figaro the Cat. Figaro was a well-known "cat with an attitude" in prewar British newspaper comics who always defeated his opponents by use of feline wiles, perhaps a predecessor of today's Garfield; the little black-and-white cat seemed a symbolic "companion in war" for Gleed.


As with most RAF fighters in France, P2798 didn't carry a serial number after the fin flash was added to the insignia, since that was where the serial had been carried in 6-inchnumbers and letters until April 1940. Additionally, the airplane had a non-standard fuselage insignia after going through the various changes in insignia that happened between September 1939and August 1940. Also, while the lower surfaces had been painted black/white prior to June, 1940, it was repainted with the new Sky color, and 35-inch roundels were applied for identification.

As 87 Sqn. sorted itself out back in England, Gleed - whose combat leadership skills had become very apparent in the confusion of battle in France - was promoted to Squadron Leader and became Officer Commanding 87 Squadron. He would have a very short time to bring the "new boys" on board and pass on to them the rudiments of what he had learned of survival in aerial combat before the Battle of Britain would begin.


Restored Hurricane in Gleed's night fighter markings

On this day of May 12 1940...

Boulton-Paul Defiant flies it first Combat Missions.


RAF Defiant coded PS-A

The Defiant had a significant but brief operational career with the RAF. The first front-line RAF Defiant squadron was also the first to be deployed into battle on 12 May, 1940 over the beaches of Dunkirk, its fighters claiming 38 enemy aircraft in one day. The squadron totalled 65 enemy aircraft shot down by the end of May, 1940. When the RAF Defiants were moved to night fighter operations, many of them carried the then-new AI airborne interception radar. In this role the Defiant again proved itself in combat, achieving more "kills" per interception that any other of the improvised night fighter aircraft of the period.


RAF Museum Boulton Paul P.82 Defiant I N1671

General characteristics Defiant Mk.I
Primary function Fighter
Power plant One 12cylinder water-cooled Rolls-Royce Merlin engine
Thrust Merlin III (Mk.I) 1,030 HP 768 kW
Merlin XX (Mk.II) 1,260 HP 940 kW
Wingspan 39.4 ft 12 m
Length 35.3 ft 10.75 m
Height 12.1 ft 3.7 m
Wingarea 250 sq ft 23.23 sq m
Weight empty 6,000 lb 2,722 kg
takeoff 8,350 lb 3,787 kg
Speed 303 mph 488 km/h
Initial climb rate 1,900 ft/min 579 m/min
Ceiling 30,512 ft 9,300 m
Range 500 mi 805 km
Armament 4x 7.7mm machine gun (600 rounds each)
Crew Two
First flight Prototype 11.8.1937
Date deployed December 1939
Number built 1064 (both versions)




Often maligned as a failure, the Boulton Paul Defiant found a successful niche as a night-fighter during the German 'Blitz' on London, scoring a significant number of combat kills before being relegated to training and support roles.
The Boulton Paul company first became interested in powered gun turrets when it pioneered the use of a pneumatic-powered enclosed nose turret in the Boulton Paul Overstand biplane bomber. The company subsequently brought the rights to a French-designed electro-hydraulic powered turret and soon became the UK leaders in turret design.


Defiant F. Mk I banks away

On 26 June 1935, the Air Ministry issued Specification F.9/35 calling for a two-seat fighter with all its armament concentrated in a turret. Peformance was to be similar to that of the single-seat monoplane fighters then being developed. It was envisioned that the new fighter would be employed as destroyer of unescorted enemy bomber formations. Protected from the slipstream, the turret gunner would be able to bring much greater firepower to bear on rapidly moving targets than was previously possible.
Boulton Paul tendered the P.82 design, featuring an 4-gun turret developed from the French design, and was rewarded with an order for two prototypes. On 28 April 1937, the name Defiant was allocated to the project and an initial production order for 87 aircraft was placed before the prototype had even flown.


Defiant TT. Mk I DR972

The first prototype (K8310) made its maiden flight on 11 August 1937, with the turret position faired over as the first turret wasn't ready for installation. Without the drag of the turret, the aircraft was found to handle extremely well in the air. With these promising results, a further production contract was awarded in Febrary 1938. Performance with the turret fitted was somewhat disappointing, but still considered worthwhile. In May 1938, the second prototype (K8620)was ready for testing. This aircraft was much closer to the final production standard. Development and testing of the aircraft and turret combination proved somewhat protracted, and delivery to the Royal Air Force was delayed until December 1939, when No.264 Squadron received its first aircraft. Numerous engine and hydraulic problems were not finally resolved until early in 1940.


Defiant first prototype K8310 with turret fitted

The A. Mk IID turret used on the Defiant was a self-contained 'drop-in' unit with its own hydraulic pump. To reduce drag two aerodynamic fairings, one fore and one aft of the turret, were included in the design. Rectraction of these fairings by means of pneumatic jacks allowed the turret to traverse. Too allow the turret a clear field of fire, two rather large radio masts were located on the underside of the fuselage. These masts retracted when the undercarriage was extended. The overall aircraft was of modern stressed skin construction, designed in easy-to-build sub-assemblies which greatly facilitated the rapid build-up in production rates.


No. 264 Squadron.
Stations
Duxford 10 May 1940
Fowlmere 3 July 1940
Kirton-in-Lindsey 23 July 1940
Hornchurch 22 August 1940
Rochford 27 August 1940
Kirton-in-Lindsey 28 August 1940
Rochford 29 October 1940


A Boulton Paul Defiant Mk 1 in 264 Squadron day-fighter markings

Previously, a single-seat fighter unit, 264 Sqn spent some time working out the new tactics required by the type. Good co-ordination was required between the pilot and gunner in order to get into the best position to open fire on a target. A second day fighter unit, 141 Sqn, began converting to the Defiant in April 1940. The Defiant undertook it first operational sortie on 12 May 1940, when 264 Sqn flew a patrol over the beaches of Dunkirk. A Junkers Ju 88 was claimed by the squadron. However, the unit suffered its first losses the following day, when five out of six aircraft were shot down by Bf 109s in large dogfight. The Defiant was never designed to dogfight with single-seat fighters and losses soon mounted. By the end of May 1940, it had become very clear that the Defiant was no match for the Bf 109 and the two squadrons were moved to airfields away from the south coast of England. At the same time, interception of unescorted German bombers often proved successful, with several kills being made.


Defiant single-seat fighter mock-up

In the summer of 1940, flight testing commenced of an improved version of the Defiant fitted with a Merlin XX engine featuring a two-speed supercharger (prototype N1550). The resultant changes included a longer engine cowling, deeper radiator and increased fuel capacity. Performance increases were small. Nevertheless, the new version was ordered into production as the Defiant Mk II.



The limitations on the Defiant's manoeuvrability forced its eventual withdrawal from daylight operations in late August 1940. 264 and 141 squadrons became dedicated night-fighter units. The Defiant night fighters were painted all-black and fitted with flame damper exhausts. Success came quickly, with the first night kill being claimed on 15 September 1940. From November 1940, an increasing number of new night fighter squadrons were formed on the Defiant. Units operating the Defiant shot down more enemy aircraft than any other night-fighter during the German 'Blitz' on London in the winter of 1940-41. Initial operations were conducted without the benefit of radar. From the Autumn of 1941, AI Mk 4 radar units began to be fitted to the Defiant. An arrow type aerial was fitted on each wing, and a small H-shaped aerial added on the starboard fuselage side, just in front of the cockpit. The transmitter unit was located behind the turret, with the receiver and display screen in the pilot's cockpit. The addition of radar brought a change in designation for the Mk I to N.F. Mk IA, but the designation of the Mk II version did not change. By February 1942, the Defiant was obviously too slow to catch the latest German night intruders and the night fighter units completely re-equipped in the period April-September 1942.
From March 1942 many of the remaining aircraft were transferred to Air-Sea Rescue (ASR) units. The aircraft was modified to carry a M-type dinghy in a cylindrical container under each wing. Both Mk I and Mk II versions were used for this task, but the Defiant proved less useful than originally anticipated, and all examples were replaced in this role during the first half of 1943.
A specialised Target-tug version of the Defiant was first ordered in July 1941, designated the T.T. Mk I. The new version was based on the Mk II airframe, with the Merlin XX engine, but with space formerly occupied by the turret now taken up with an observers station with a small canopy. A fairing under the rear fuselage housed the target banner, and a large windmill was fitted on the starboard fuselage side to power the winch. The first prototype Target-tug aircraft (DR863) was delivered on 31 January 1942. 150 Mk II aircraft were also converted to Target-tugs, under the designation T.T. Mk I. A similar conversion of the Mk I was carried out by Reid & Sigrist from early 1942 under the designated T.T. Mk III. Nearly all the Target-tugs were withdrawn from service during 1945, although one example lasted until 27 February 1947.
Another, less publicised, task of the Defiant was in the radar jamming role. 515 Squadron operated at least nine Defiants fitted with 'Moonshine' or 'Mandrel' radar jamming equipment in support of USAAF 8th Air Force daylight bombing raids on Germany between May 1942 and July 1943, before replacing them with larger aircraft types.
One Defiant T.T. Mk I (DR944) was seconded to Martin Baker on 11 December 1944. It was fitted with the first ever Martin Baker ejection seat in the observers station, and commenced dummy ejection trials on 11 May 1945. Another Defiant (AA292) was later used for similar trials by the Air Ministry until March 1947. Martin Baker retained their Defiant until 31 May 1948.
The lack of forward firing armament presented a great handicap to a fighter which lacked the manoeuvrability to match single-seat fighters in combat, but as an interim night-fighter the Defiant met with a great deal of success.


No 141 Defiant Squadron

26 June 1935 Specification F.9/35 issued
4 December 1935 Contract for two P.82 prototypes signed
Feb 1936 P.82 mockup completed
26 June 1935 First prototype construction moved to Wolverhampton
28 April 1937 Defiant name allocated and first production order received
11 August 1937 Maiden flight of first prototype (without turret)
Feb 1938 Turret fitted to first prototype
18 May 1938 Maiden flight of second prototype
30 July 1939 First flight of first production F. Mk I day fighter
December 1939 First production delivery to the RAF (264 Sqn)
12 May 1940 First operational sortie, over the beaches of Dunkirk
20 July 1940 First flight of Mk II prototype
28 August 1940 Withdrawal from daytime operations
15 Sept 1940 First night-fighter kill claimed
Sept 1941 Radar equipment first installed
September 1941 Mk II enters Squadron service
1942 Withdrawal from night-fighter role
May 1945 One aircraft used for first ejection seat trials
27 February 1947 Last Defiant retired from RAF use


Boulton Paul Defiant Mk1: Flown by Flt I.D.G. Donald, Plt Officer A.C. Hamilton, (air gunner), 141 Squadron, 1940.

more great stuff woofiedog! After reading your post on the Defiant, I may become an 'Offical Defiant Whiner'.

12 May,

1940
On the Western Front... The French 7th Army advancing into Holland is engaged with the German advance near Tilburg and is thrown back. In their main armored thrust the Germans enter Sedan without a fight. The French forces in the area retire to the left bank of the Meuse River where they have substantial artillery support deployed to deny the crossing to the Germans. During the night, French artillery shells Sedan. Meanwhile, other German armored forces reach the Meuse farther north.

French artillery opens of on Sedan during the night

1941
In the Mediterranean... All the ships of the British convoys have reached their destinations. Operation Tiger has brought 238 tanks and 43 Hurricanes to Egypt for the loss of 57 tanks.

1942
On the Eastern Front... Soviet attacks aimed at recapturing the city of Kharkov start. This offensive is a renewal of attempts to trap the German armies in the area against Sea of Azov (in January).

Soviet T-34 tanks provide cover for the infantry

1943
In Tunisia... General von Arnim surrenders to the Allies. Italian General Messe is promoted to Field Marshal by Mussolini in hopes of encouraging him to continue fighting.

General VonArnim surrenders

In the Solomon Islands... Admiral Ainsworth leads 4 cruisers and 7 destroyers in two groups to shell Vila and Munda. American ships lay more mines near New Georgia Island.

In Washington... The Trident Conference. Roosevelt and Churchill meet to discuss strategy. The Americans seek a commitment to an invasion of western Europe. The British seek a commitment to an invasion of Italy and possibly the Balkans.

1944
Over Germany... About 800 bombers of the US 8th Air Force, with a substantial fighter escort, attack synthetic oil plants at Leuna-Merseburg, Bohlen, Zeitz, Lutzkendorf and Brux (northwest of Prague). The Americans claim to shoot down 150 German fighters and report losses of 46 bombers and 10 fighters.

In Italy... Allied attacks by forces of the US 5th Army make some progress against the German-held defenses. The French Expeditionary Corps (General Juin) encounters only the German 71st Division along its line and captures Monte Faito. The Polish 2nd Corps is held with heavy losses, north of Cassino. The British 13th Corps establishes two small bridgeheads over the Rapido River, opposite Cassino. The US 2nd Corps, on the western coast of the advance, experiences difficulty advancing.

In New Guinea... Japanese forces continue to skirmish with American forces on the beachheads around Hollandia.

1945
In the Ryukyu Islands... On Okinawa, Japanese forces repulse an attack by elements of US 3rd Amphibious Corps at Sugar Loaf Hill, southeast of Amike. The position is an important point in the Japanese held Shuri Line. The US 1st Marine Division suffers heavy losses but captures most of Dakeshi Ridge. The US 77th Division advances slowly toward Shuri. The Japanese held Conical Hill position is fought over by US 96th Division. At sea, a Kamikaze plane strikes the USS New Mexico, causing considerable damage.

US Navy medic administers blood to a wounded US Marine

In the Philippines... On Luzon, elements of the US 43rd Division, part of US 11th Corps, converge on Ipo, capturing several hill occupied by the Japanese. On Mindanao, Del Monte airfield is reached by elements of the US 40th Division. Other elements advance southwest of Tankulan. The US 123th Infantry Regiment eliminates the Japanese strongpoint in the Colgan woods after a lengthy air and artillery bombardment. American aircraft and artillery strike at suspected Japanese gun emplacements on Samar Island.

In Liberated Czechoslovakia... American forces transfer General Vlasov, former commander of the Russian Army of Liberation and chairman of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia, to Soviet custody.
In Occupied Germany... Elements of US 7th Army capture the Japanese ambassador to Germany, General Oshima, and 130 members of his staff.

In the Mediterranean... The German garrison on Crete surrenders.

In the Arctic... The last Artic convoys JW-67 (eastbound) and RA-67 (westbound) assemble.

In the North Atlantic... U-858 surrenders to American naval forces and is escorted to Cape May, New Jersey where it arrives on May 13th flying the black flag of surrender. This is the first U-boat to surrender since Admiral Donitz order the submarine fleet to surrender on May 4th.

In Washington... The government orders a suspension of Lend-Lease shipments to the USSR.

On this day of May 13 1940...

The Battle of France



Fall of the Low Countries and France



In October 1939, accepting the fact that the conquest of Poland, however impressive, would not prompt Great Britain and France to withdraw from the war, Adolf HITLER directed the High Command of the Armed Forces ( Oberkommando der Wehrmacht or OKW) to prepare for an offensive in the west. Although the leading German commanders believed the better course to be to await an Allied offensive, he insisted on striking within six weeks in order to forestall further Allied preparations. The first version of the plan for the attack, called Fall Gelb (Plan Yellow), was modeled on the old Schlieffen Plan, which had received a modified test in 1914. It was based on a main effort through Belgium north of Liege. A total of 37 divisions was to make this effort, while a subsidiary force of 27 divisions moved through the Ardennes region of Belgium and Luxembourg.

This was exactly what the Allied commanders expected. An attack against northeastern France was improbable because of the existence of the Maginot Line, the formidable belt of fortifications built in the 1930's from Switzerland to Longuyon, near the junction of the borders of Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. Because of the barrier of the hilly, forested Ardennes, Allied commanders considered a major attack there also improbable. Thus only the Liege area, leading to the flatlands of Flanders and thence to France's northern frontier, was supposedly open to the Germans.

Though built originally merely to protect Alsace and Lorraine until France could mobilize against a surprise attack, the Maginot Line had engendered a false sense of security in the war-weary country. French commanders were nevertheless conscious of the great gap reaching from the end of the line to the English Channel. They accepted the fact of the gap on the theory that France could not afford to fight along this line. In the first place, battle in the industrial Lille-Cambrai region would destroy or deny two thirds of the nation's coal resources. Secondly, accepting battle there would mean acquiesence in the surrender of Belgium. This France, victor over Germany in World War I and still a major power with reputedly the world's strongest army, could not accept.

It was apparent to French and British leaders that once the Germans attacked, the Allies had to move into Belgium. To provide time for this movement the Allied leaders depended on a delaying action by the Belgian Army, reinforced by the barrier of the Ardennes and the Meuse River, the large forts at Liege, the deep cut of the Albert Canal north of that city, and Fort Eben-Emael near the Dutch-Belgian border. (This fort was said to be the strongest single fortress in the world.) The major problem was the lack of consultation and coordination with the Belgians and the Dutch. Although the Low Countries realized that Nazi Germany would include them in any pattern of conquest against the West, they continued to hope that a policy of abject neutrality would forestall the inevitable.

The Allies planned nevertheless to advance into Belgium to the line of the Scheldt (Escaut, Schelde) River (Plan E). As the months passed without a German attack and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was increased to 10 divisions, this plan was replaced by a more ambitious decision to move to the Dyle River, a few miles east of Brussels (Bruxelles). Under Plan D, as the new concept was called, the Belgian Army was to fall back on the Dyle and the lower reaches of the Albert Canal to protect Antwerp (Antwerpen), the British were to defend the upper Dyle, and the French were to hold the Gembloux gap between the Dyle and the Meuse at Namur (Namen) and the Meuse itself where the river crosses the Ardennes. In the continued belief that the main German effort would be made in the Liege area, the supreme French commander, Gen. Maurice Gustave Gamelin, assigned to the Gembloux gap his strongest force, the mechanized First Army under Gen. Georges M. J. Blanchard. The second strongest force, the Seventh Army under Gen. Henri Giraud, ostensibly a reserve, was to move swiftly into the southern Netherlands to assist the Dutch. In keeping with the theory that the Ardennes itself was a considerable barrier, a weaker force, the Ninth Army under Gen. Andre Georges Corap, was to defend the Meuse from Namur to Sedan; and another weak force, the Second Army under Gen. Charles Huntziger, was to serve both as a bridge between Sedan and the garrison of the Maginot Line and as a hinge for the wide-swinging movement of the Allied armies into Belgium.

As the Germans prepared for attack in November 1939, an invasion scare gripped the Allies, but bad weather forced postponement of the attack. After repeated postponements because of weather conditions, the attack was firmly scheduled for Jan. 17, 1940. A week before the target date, however, a German plane strayed off its course and was forced down in Belgium. On the two officers aboard the Belgians found orders for the air phase of the invasion. This prompted an alarm of even greater proportions than before, and some French forces began moving toward their assigned sectors along the Belgian border. German observers could not help but note the nature of the French deployment, particularly the weakness of the armies at the hinge near Sedan. Of even greater consequence was the fact that the information gained from the fliers confirmed General Gamelin's view that the invasion was to come through the Liege area and not through the Ardennes.

In the meantime, Hitler and several of his subordinates had begun to question the basic concept of Plan Yellow. Indeed, even before the November target date, Hitler himself had forced a change in plan that shifted the main effort from north of Liege to both sides of the city. Col. Gen. (later Field Marshal) Gerd von Rundstedt, commander of Army Group A, which was to drive through the Ardennes, insisted that the main effort be made through that sector with armored divisions to the fore. In an audience with the German leader, Rundstedt's chief of staff, Lt. Gen. (later Field Marshal) Erich von Manstein, apparently provided the final arguments needed to change Hitler's mind. After weather again forced the cancellation of the target date, Hitler postponed the offensive until spring and ordered a basic alteration in the plan. Army Group B in the north, commanded by Col. Gen. Fedor von Bock, was reduced to 28 divisions, only 3 of which were armored. Rundstedt and Army Group A in the Ardennes had 44, including 7 armored divisions. With the main thrust moving via Sedan, Rundstedt was to drive to the channel, trapping French, British, and Belgian armies in Belgium.

Meanwhile, the Allies failed to profit materially from the eight months' respite that they had gained between the declaration of war and the onset of major hostilities in the west. They still felt no real sense of crisis, for they continued to consider the speed of the Polish campaign attributable less to German strength and to a new mode of warfare than to Polish weakness. Although some effort was made to extend the Maginot Line fortifications to the coast, it produced little more than a shallow antitank ditch and a few widely spaced blockhouses. Modern equipment for the French armies and the BEF remained a promise rather than a reality. Allied timetables for troop movements still resembled those of World War I. Corap's Ninth Army, for example, planned on five days for the move to the Meuse covering the Ardennes while only cavalry units sought to delay the Germans east of the river. The Allies, and particularly the French, still looked on tanks as servants of the infantry, parceling them out to infantry divisions rather than massing them in hard-hitting armored formations in close liaison with tactical aircraft.

The Allies actually were superior numerically to the Germans. The French, Dutch, Belgians, and British together had approximately 4,000,000 men available, in contrast to about 2,000,000 Germans who might be used against them. As of May 1940, 136 German divisions were in the west, as opposed to 94 French divisions in northeastern and northern France, plus 10 British, 22 Belgian, and 9 Dutch divisions. In tanks, too, the opposing forces were relatively equal. The Germans had 2,439 tanks in the west; the Allies, 2,689. Nor were German tanks vastly superior except in speed. Created as infantry support weapons, French tanks were heavily armed and armored but lacked appreciable speed and cruising range. In aircraft the Germans enjoyed some advantage in over-all numbers, with about 3,200 planes to 1,200 French and 600 British planes, but in fighter aircraft alone the two forces were approximately equal. Only in antiaircraft and antitank weapons were the French markedly inferior. The difference in opposing forces thus was less a question of numbers and quality than of a variance in approach to modern warfare. The Germans had developed new methods based on quick breakthroughs by armor supported by mobile artillery and aircraft, followed by rapid exploitation of the resulting gaps. In addition, a kind of war-weary lethargy still gripped both France and Britain, as is evidenced by their relatively slow industrial mobilization. Not until Hitler invaded Denmark and Norway in April 1940 was the full portent of the Nazi threat accepted in the two nations. By that time it was too late.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: woofiedog,

May 13 1940...

By the evening of May 12 (the third day) Guderian had reached the Meuse at Sedan with the main force in less than seventy-two hours.
Sedan is only a short drive from Bouillon.
Steep banks along much of the Meuse in this region means it is easily protected; Guderian headed for Sedan specifically because the countryside there is flat on both sides of the river, making a crossing more difficult to oppose.


In addition to the crossings at Mouzaive, the Germans captured Bouillon and began pouring troops across the river less than 15 kilometers from Sedan.

General Guderian began preparations for crossing the river and attacking the French 55th Infantry Division, which had occupied positions on the opposite bank of the river.
The attack did not go as planned.
Orders to subordinate units did not arrive in a timely manner, close air support coordination proved difficult, and units strung out for miles had a hard time consolidating for the attack. Nevertheless, 13 May 1940 the 1st Panzer Division led the attack on Sedan. Resistance rapidly crumbled and the Germans were across the Meuse River.


The city of Sedan and the Meuse River. According to the French high command the Germans could not cross the Meuse in less than ten days. The Germans were there in three and across in four..


Crossing site on the Meuse River used by the 1st Panzer Division on 13 May 1940. Hard to see on the far bank are the French bunkers defending the river.


Bunker 7ter. One of the many French bunkers on the high ground overlooking the Meuse River and Sedan.

Despite several counterattacks to contain the breakout around Sedan, the French army could not stop the Germans.
Wanting to maintain the initiative, Guderian did not stop and consolidate his forces once across the Meuse River.
Instead he pivoted to the west and broke out from the breach he had created in the French lines.
Holding the French off to the south with one division, the remaining divisions in his corps began their turn west and continued to advance deeper into France.


Though the 55th Division had not buried all its commo wire and completed all its bunkers, General LaFontaine, commander of the French division, constructed an impressive command bunker well behind front lines. Still beautiful 50 years later, one can only imagine it its appearance in 1940. Unfortunately, it did little to help stop the Germans.


2nd Panzer Division had the hardest time crossing the Meuse River. Finally, with the assistance of 1st Panzer, the 2nd crossed late on 13 May 1940 near Donchery.


Commanding the countryside near Donchery were several French bunkers, which hampered the German advance.


Many historians have criticized the French defense during the opening days of the 1940 campaign; however, few deny that some of the toughest fighting took place near La Horgne.


Steel bridge over the Muese in Houx
Commanding the northernmost arm of Guderian's Panzer corps--before he became an infamous figure in the war--Erwin Rommel's division reached the Meuse, on the same day as Guderian, but roughly 40 miles to the north, just above Dinant.
His route, unlike Guderian's, did not go through undefended Luxembourg, and Rommel ran into more resistance. But the roads were better and Rommel, himself, was driven like no other division commander.
When he reached the Meuse at Yvoir, the bridge had been blown. Rommel went up river (south) to find a crossing. Here, in an area with low river banks, he found an old weir, or low dam, between the shore and a small island at the little village of Houx. The weir extended to the western bank.
Rommel promptly got troops across on top of the weir, under cover of darkness. It's all there today, except that the old wooden dam has been replaced with steel and a foot bridge. As they reached the far side, history books describe the troopers as crouching under the bank fighting off French defenders, but in fact there are no steep sides here and the country to the west is reasonably flat.
The next morning, several hundred yards upstream, Rommel strung a cable over the
Flat country near Rommel's river crossing
river capable of carrying pontoon-supported vehicles. After commandeering another division's bridging equipment (his had been used farther back) a full pontoon bridge was laid a mile upstream, at Bouvinges, on May 14.
Tanks were moved over the Meuse both here and at Sedan.


Steel bridge over the Muese in Houx

-HH- Beebop... I love C--p Planes! And the Defiant fits this descreption perfectly. It would make a Excellent Addon for IL-2.