Fantasque Time Line (France Fights On) - English Translation

[Wings]

January 20th, 1943

Yan'an - It is not easy for a disgraced general to make contact with foreigners in Communist Chinese territory without attracting the attention of the political police of the dreaded Kang Sheng, Dai Li's communist counterpart. For several weeks - after having learned of the news of the Nationalist victory against the Japanese in Zhejiang and Jiangxi - Peng Dehuai has been seeking to meet with CATF members deployed in the region without a Public Security Bureau snitch getting wind of it. He finally succeeded, using a trusted intermediary, the military doctor Ma Haide, who, under an innocent pretext, invited Captain Nicolas Van Wingerden to his house, where Peng joins them.
Ma, whose real name is Shafick George Hatem, was born in the United States to parents of Lebanese origin. As a specialist in venereal diseases, he felt that the best place to open a practice was in the city then known as "the biggest brothel in the world", the one of which some missionaries said that "If God does not destroy it, he will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah": Shanghai. In 1936, he had joined the communists who were establishing themselves in Shaanxi and helped to set up a real health service for Mao's armed forces. In June 1942, with the arrival of the Americans, he had quickly established himself as an indispensable intermediary between them and the local population and had established strong ties of friendship with Captain Van Wingerden, commander of one of the B-17s. Tonight, it is while opening a bottle of the local tord-boyau, a sorghum alcohol whose smell evokes the most powerful industrial solvents, that he introduces Peng to Van Wingerden.
"Two and a half years ago," Peng explains as Ma translates, "the so-called Hundred Regiments offensive was launched under my command. In fact, there were 115, four hundred thousand men, including the entire Eighth Road Army. Almost the entirety of our regular forces! In a few weeks, we surrounded the Japanese garrisons in Shanxi and northern Hebei, cut the communication lines and even rendered one of the largest coal mines in the region unusable. For nearly two months, we held the Japanese in check. And then they counterattacked and, of course, we were forced to retreat.
Mao disavowed the whole operation, blamed me for what he claimed was a failure, and even blamed me for revealing to the Nationalists the size of our forces. Finally, are we in a common front with the Nationalists or not? It was necessary to have a minimum of coordination! And here I am now," he concludes, draining his cup of baijiu in one gulp, "dismissed from my command, subjected to re-education sessions, and forced to grovel before Mao so as not to face harsher punishment.
I don't want to spend the rest of the war playing the role of a girl while others are fighting to free our country from Japanese occupation. Before I was a communist, I was an officer in the Kuomintang army, and the reason I changed sides was that communism seemed to me a better way to restore national sovereignty and to lift the people out of misery. Today the Communists waste their time in sterile ideological pinaillas, while the people groan under the boot of the occupier.
- But what do you want from me?" asks a very embarrassed Van Wingerden through Ma (after all, he is an aviator, not a political commissar...).
Peng empties a new cup and turns a red color that matches the star on his cap: "What I want? I want to drive the Japanese out of China! And if I can't do it from Yan'an, then I'll do it from Chongqing. And that's why I need your help. I must leave secretly, or Mao will accuse me of desertion. That would be the last straw, but that wouldn't stop him from imprisoning me or worse. You will soon be leaving by plane to the nationalist zone, I humbly ask you to accept me, with my wife Pu Anxiu, as undeclared passengers.
While Van Wingerden ponders this request, a young woman with a bright smile brings a new carafe of baijiu. "My wife, Zhou Sufei," says Ma with a touch of pride, "the most beautiful thing this country has given me.

 

[Wings]

January 20th, 1943

Operation Skachok (Gallop)
1st Belorussian Front - The pressure on the forces of the LIII. AK forces is reduced sharply during the night. Von Weikerstahl does not know it, but an order from the Stavka is the cause. Worried about the possibility of a counter-attack by German troops of the 2. Army deployed around Polotsk, Stalin demanded that Kurochkin cover his right flank first.
On the other hand, considering the Vitebsk garrison as a lesser threat than expected, Stalin orders the right wing of the 1st Guards Army to change its axis of attack, to abandon Krynki and reorient itself to the southeast towards Boguchevsk [Bahushwsk], in order to break through between the LIII. AK and V. AK and to destabilize the whole German defense north of Orsha. The effect of this order is immediately felt. Rakutin's forces stop threatening Vitebsk, but despite the partial interception of communications, this change of orientation is not correctly interpreted by the staff of the 9. Army, which sees it as a ruse.
But if the pressure falls in the north, it continues to increase in the south. Threatened to be overwhelmed, the 6. ID is in difficulty against the 3rd Guards Army. The defensive pivots of Dubrovno and Stansiya Osinovka [near the present-day town of Buda] still hold, but Soviet assault groups infiltrate through the enemy lines, forcing the 35. ID (stationed in Orekhovsk) to dispatch elements to plug the holes. The German artillery fires all it can at the Soviet columns, but the sky belongs to the planes with the red star.
At nightfall, von Vietinghoff makes the decision to shorten his front by ordering the 197. ID (XX. AK) to abandon its positions at Lenino (fifty kilometers east of Orsha) and to take the place of the 134. ID at Gorki [Horki], the latter going to take over the positions of the 26. ID, which must now be entirely committed on the road, alongside the 6. ID. Further north, the 5. ID is holding rather well on the Luchessa, taking advantage of a terrain of marshes and frozen rivers, as well as the increasingly low temperatures, to block the advance of the left wing of the 1st Soviet Guard Army.
.........
2nd Belorussian Front - The advance of the 2nd Guards Army is facilitated by its attack at the junction of the German 4. and 9. German Army... and by the shortening of the German front more to the north. But the commander of the 106. ID stationed at Drybin, Kullmer, is vigilant. Quickly alerted, Heinrici does his accounts: in addition to the 106. ID, he could dispose of 258. ID and the 268. ID, both stationed east of Moguilev. The terrain, with its north-south oriented rivers and more or less frozen marshes, is also an asset for the defense. Finally, the German artillery is recently reorganized and its command unified; it could theoretically offer a more efficient fire by responding more quickly to the demands of the ground units.
At Gomel [Homiel], the XII. AK have to fulfill two missions: to prepare for the imminent arrival of the 3rd Shock Army, while making room for the retreating units of the 1. Panzerarmee. At the 34. ID, placed right in the planned axis of the Soviet offensive, the commander (Grassner) adds the 31. ID, until then deployed northwest of Gomel. The third division of the corps, the 45. ID, remains for the moment in Gorodnya [Horodnia], in ambush on the Gomel-Mena-Bakmach railroad.
.........
Kiev Front - Informed by the 16th Air Force of German movements, Zhukov - himself spurred on by Stalin - ordered to accelerate the pursuit, even if it meant that the
to leave the infantry behind. Shuikov's forces constitute advanced detachments intended to seize the crossing points on the Desna, including the railway bridge of the Chernigov-Nijyne line and the road bridge, both located a few kilometers north of the Vzdvizh. Together with a third, narrower bridge, which crosses the Desna a little east of Chernigov, they form the main crossings over the river.
For their part, German troops seek not only to protect these bridges, but also to maintain the bridges located further east, notably at Goritsa and Saltykova, through which the formations of the LVI. PzK, but also of the LVII. PzK, began to pass northwards. At Mena, the 15th and 54th Armies, very weakened (their armored brigades are sometimes reduced to a third of their nominal strength), do not manage to prevent these movements, well covered by the XXXIX. PzK (227. ID, 14. ID (mot.) and von Lüttwitz group - 20. ID and 20. Panzer), although the latter is far from its nominal strength.
Further south, the salient empties at full speed, with rear-guard detachments ensuring the protection of the innumerable convoys, which the Soviet air force does not worry as much as it should, attracted as it is by the operations in the region of Chernigov and in Byelorussia.

 

[Wings]

January 20th, 1943

Rastenburg, 14:30 - Upon arrival, Guderian, accompanied by Halder and von Brauchitsch, is led before Hitler. A heated discussion ensues. Hitler refuses to listen to Guderian's arguments and relieves him of his duties as commander of the 1. PanzerArmee.
Von Brauchitsch tries to oppose this decision, but Hitler takes the opportunity to blame him for the failure of Typhoon and the destruction of the 2. PanzerArmee!
16:00 - Overwhelmed by reproaches, called a "capon" and a "coward", von Brauchitsch submits his resignation as head of the OKH. No sooner had he left Hitler's office than he suffers another heart attack.
21:00 - In the evening, a new crisis meeting is held. Hitler is still angry with his generals, whom he openly calls cowards. Having accepted von Brauchitsch's resignation, he announces his decision to assume the supreme command of the Heer, relegating Halder (who remains chief of staff) to a mere technical role.
22:00 - Guderian, who had eaten, is allowed to participate in the meeting and reiterates his advice of a general withdrawal. Hitler then dismisses him and advises him to "retire if he could no longer bear the stress of combat". He appoints Hoth in Guderian's place and tells him to hold his positions "at all costs".

 

[Wings]

January 20th, 1943

West and center of the Italian front - At 07:00, the first shells of operation Romulus fall on the allied lines. The German attack is aimed at the American-Italian lines on the one hand, and at the French lines on the other, thus the western and eastern flanks of a vast salient formed by the Allied front, on either side of the lines of the Tancrémont Brigade, which occupies the northern tip of the salient.
.........
On the plain south of Civitavecchia, near the coast, the men of the 168th Infantry Rgt. and the 36th Reconnaissance Bn (34th US-ID) are forced to retreat towards Santa Severa under the pressure of the Hermann-Göring Division's tanks*. Indeed, the 37 mm AT used by the Americans once again demonstrated its inefficiency against the Panzers IV and V. The inadequacies of this gun had already been reported during the Sicilian campaign, but some generals preferred to blame it on a bad doctrine of use or, at worst, the use of shells unsuited to anti-tank combat.
In contrast, further inland, in the hills east of Allumiere, the 133rd Infantry Rgt, effectively supported by divisional artillery, resists the blows of the 314. IR of the 162. ID, despite the intervention of the Sturmgeschutz of the 278. StuG Abt.
.........
Further north-east, south of Viterbo, the 82nd Rgt of the Trento Division, reinforced by the 1st Battalion of the Centauro II Armored Regiment, yield to the furious assaults of the 303. and 329. IR of the 162. ID, supported by the 236. Pionier Bn. The Italians are forced to retreat but the front does not break, at the cost of the loss of many tanks. The old M14/41 are disadvantaged by the terrain and especially by the superior length of the 75/L40 of the German Sturmgeschutz III: only the Semoventi da 75/18 distinguish themselves.
.........
To the east of the fighting, on the French front, the SS-Panzer Das Reich attacks in force on both sides of Narmi (west of Rieti), but the spearheads of the German offensive, the 3. and 4. SS-Panzer Rgt, become entangled in the recently laid minefields and in the French anti-tank system. Well supported by the air force and the artillery, the French 3rd armored division holds on. At the end of the day, not only the Germans do not break through, but they are forced to interrupt their attack and to return on their starting positions.
.........
All day long, the Jagdwaffe is out in force to cover its troops, but it is to escort the bombers and the Germans can only launch one air raid. A dozen Fw 190 Jabos infiltrate by sea, but they are intercepted by P-40s of the 324 FG positioned in the second line, which shoot down two of them and force the others to get rid of their bombs before retaliating and destroying two P-40s.
On the front, the day's toll is one Mustang and three P-38s shot down against two Bf 109 and an Fw 190.
.........
At the rear of the front, the Combat Command A of the 1st US-AD, although its recompletion is not completed, is sent in urgency towards the positions of the 34th US-ID. During this time, corps units (2nd Ranger Bn, 601st Tank Destroyer Bn, 91st Cavalry Bn, 36th Engineer Rgt and artillery elements) deploy west of Cerveteri to cover the road to Rome. The remainder of the 1st Armored Division moves into reserve south of the Bracciano lake to provide for any eventuality.
On the French side, the 4th Spahis go urgently to the front and deploy alongside the divisional engineers of the 3rd AD to fortify the cut between Magliano Sabina, Calvi Dell'Umbria and Tarano, in case of a German breakthrough.

* The Hermann-Göring Brigade was officially transformed into a division at the beginning of the year, and reinforced accordingly.

 

[Wings]

January 20th, 1943

Plaka (Epirus) - General Ricagno did not come to admire the arch of the magnificent Ottoman bridge. He came to meet Colonel Napoleon Zervas, leader of the Greek National Republican League (EDES), whose "republican" character (demokratikos in Greek) is increasingly questionable. The presence of the British envoys, Colonel Eddie Myers and Captain Alexander (Xan) Fielding, confirm what he had suspected: the EDES is financed and armed by His Britannic Majesty and will not do anything that harms His Hellenic Majesty. His attitude towards the house of Savoy is more uncertain.
Zervas, with verve and good humor, makes a point of supplying the Alpine Division Julia - a division which, between losses and defections, does not exceed the strength of a large regiment.
It is under the name of Julia Brigade that the Italian unit concludes a mutual support agreement with the EDES. The strategic objectives of this alliance are not yet clearly defined.

 

[Wings]

 

[Wings]

January 21st, 1943

Kristiansand (Norway) - The German cargo ship Togo sails to try to reach the Atlantic. Its commander, Captain Thienemann, was until now in charge of the development of German auxiliary cruisers, in other words raiders that chase Allied merchant ships. Today, he takes to the sea on a fast and well-armed ship: six 155 mm guns, six 40 mm Bofors and eight 20 mm AA 2 tubes. Once in the Atlantic, Togo is to be renamed Coronel, in homage to the naval battle of the same name, which remains a bitter memory for the British.
The ship already had a history full of twists and turns. At the time of the declaration of war, she was in Cameroon and only escaped the French thanks to the tenacity of its Belgian captain. Back in Germany, Togo took part in the invasion of Denmark and Norway, suffering some damage after having triggered a mine. Once repaired, it was used as a minelayer and patrol boat before being converted into an auxiliary cruiser at Rotterdam, then Stettin. The decision to send the ship on a mission in the Atlantic was one ofvthe last decisions taken by Raeder before his replacement by Dönitz; however, at the Admiralty no one had many illusions about its chances of success, given the almost absolute control of the exits from the North Sea by the British.
Thienemann patiently waited for the best conditions: a high tide to facilitate the crossing of the defensive minefields, a new moon to be as inconspicuous as possible, and bad weather, but not a storm.
After having reached the open sea and pretended for a while to sail north-west, in the direction of the Denmark Strait, like all the raiders that preceded it, the Togo turns towards the south: Thienemann decides to force the passage through the English Channel!

 

[Wings]

January 21st, 1943

Sportpalast Berlin - It is 17:00 when the Reichsminister für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda (Reich Minister for People's Education and Propaganda), Joseph Goebbels, enters the Berlin Sports Palace. The hall is decked out and filled to the brim with a carefully selected audience of 14,000 members of the Nazi party.
Above the podium where the Reichminister is seated, an imposing banner set the tone of the meeting to come: TOTAL WAR - SHORTEST WAR...
Joseph Goebbels places on the lectern the few pages of the speech he is about to give. For four days he has meticulously worked on every sentence, every word...
Goebbels is now sure of his effects, and this speech must be memorable: it will be a milestone, it embodies a break with the past. And for the Reichminister, too, the personal stakes are high: to position himself as the Führer's loyalist, to embody will and determination, to strike astonishingly the weak, the weak and the incapable, all those whose indecision within the Movement is an obstacle to the final triumph of National Socialism.
Goebbels addresses the entire Reich; in addition to the audience in the Sportpalast, the speech is broadcast throughout the Reich. It is also filmed and broadcast in the newsreels.
From the very beginning, the speaker strikes a chord.
First of all, he recounts the tragedy that had struck the troops fighting on the German front only a week earlier. That of the last combatants of the 2. PanzerArmee, forced to surrender or die after a desperate struggle in the cold, snow and mud.
Entrenched in the villages and in the woods, fighting until their last cartridge against the overwhelming forces of a ruthless and barbaric enemy. Falling with arms in hand to defend the German people and nation to the end.
It is then the reminder of the abominable betrayal that occurred barely a month earlier in the Mediterranean. That of the Italian government which, turning its back on the Duce, on the greatness of fascism and the benevolent German alliance, cowardly and underhandedly handed over half of Italy to the English, the French and the Americans.
Yes, it is a question of setbacks! Yes, the hour is dire! Yes, the Reich is besieged on all sides by its enemies! So what to do?
"Time is running out! It is no longer time to lose ourselves in sterile debates. We must act, immediately, decisively, as those who follow the National Socialist path have always done!" Goebbels answers.
In the wake of this, he draws a nightmarish picture of the nature and extent of the threat to the Reich: the Bolshevik invasion!
"We tried to open the eyes of the world to the terrible threat of Bolshevism from the East, which had handed over a nation of almost two hundred million people to Jewish terror and which was formenting a war of aggression against Europe!" Goebbels proclaims. For only Germany saw through Stalin's game and guessed his hidden agenda.
Germany is now the only bulwark of Europe against this threat, which is ready to enslave the entire continent, because "the goal of Bolshevism is the Jewish world revolution. They want to throw the Reich and Europe into chaos and use the devastation and despair to impose their international Bolshevisto-plutocratic tyranny!"
And Goebbels described in sinister words the "Jewish extermination squads" ready to unleash themselves on the sacred soil of the Reich and on all of Western Europe.
But in the face of this threat to civilization, Germany would not shy away: "It is our historical mission! Two thousand years of Western civilization are in danger!"
Goebbels then begins to castigate the Western Allies. English, French and Americans, all appeared at first to be blind and naive in the face of the Bolshevik danger, but the truth is now coming out: they are its active accomplices! For "hidden behind Bolshevism in the Soviet Union and behind plutocratic capitalism in the Anglo-Saxon and French Saxons and the French" is in reality the same threat: the Jews! "The cooperation between internationalist Bolshevism and the international plutocracy is not a contradiction, but a sign of the deep communion between the different incarnations of international Jewry, all ready to annihilate Western civilization!"
And Goebbels paints another fearsome picture, that of the threat from the West and the South: "these masses of savage Negroes, raised by the Jews in the jungles of Africa and the cotton fields of America, ready to spread out and defile the land of the Reich and Europe!" He then recalls the traumatic memory (which he... darkens to pleasure) of the occupation of the Rhineland by French colonial troops, twenty years earlier.
Goebbels has seized his audience, he has cemented it with fear, it is time for him to pass on the essential message of his speech: the necessity of the general and total mobilization of all the energies of the Reich for the war.
He begins his speech with a vibrant exclamation: "This is where we must all proclaim loud and clear: German men, to arms! German women, get to work!"
It is to a mobilization of all the men and material means, energies and wills that Goebbels calls for. This mobilization must aim at a single objective, a single achievement: war! War! War! "TOTAL WAR is the demand of the moment!" proclaims the minister. "We can no longer make partial and measured use of our war potential at home and in the significant parts of Europe which we control. We must make use of our full resources, as quickly and as forcefully as possible. There is no room for unnecessary scruples!"
The rest of Goebbels' speech is an inventory of emergency measures that must be implemented immediately, such as increasing the speed of work in all industrial workplaces, administration, and in all productions that are in any way or by far useful to the war effort. It is also an indictment of the "slackers", the lazy and the undecided, all those whose indolence and incompetence harm the war effort. At them, Goebbels implicitly targets his rivals in the national socialist leadership, who are guilty of lacking determination and dedication to the Nazi cause.
While each of Goebbels' objurgations is now accompanied by a frenzied applause from the audience, the Reichminister reaches the climax of his speech, a series of rhetorical questions whose answers are unambiguous.
- The English claim that the German people have lost faith in victory. I ask you: do you have faith in the Führer and in the final and total victory of the German people? I ask you: are you determined to follow the Führer through all the trials, are you willing to accept the heaviest burden?
Applause, shouts of approval.
- The French claim that the German people are resisting the government's total war measures, that they do not want total war, but surrender! [Shouts from the audience:
"Never! Never! Never!"] I ask you: do you want TOTAL WAR? Do you want a war more total and more radical than anything that it is possible to imagine today?
Applause, shouts of approval.
- The Americans claim that the German people have lost confidence in their Führer. I ask you: is your confidence in our Führer greater, stronger, more solid than ever before? Are you absolutely and completely determined to follow our Fuehrer and to do whatever is necessary to bring the war to a victorious conclusion?"
At this moment, the crowd gathered in the Sportpalast stands up as one man. In an exuberant display of enthusiasm, thousands of voices shout: "The Führer commands, we follow him!" A wave of "Sieg Heil!" and "Heil Hitler!" fills the room, flags are waved as the crowd honors the Führer.
Goebbels is satisfied, his speech had had the desired effect: he had sown fear and hatred, he reaped in bonus the enthusiasm and the determination! He can now conclude his speech with a vibrant: "And now, People, rise up! Storm, unleash!"
.........
The speech in the Berlin Sportpalast on January 21st, 1943, a summit of Goebbels' staging and oratory skills of Goebbels, is often considered as a real turning point in the propaganda of the Nazi regime. For the first time, the National Socialist regime admits the reality of its defeats, for the first time the regime presents Germany as a besieged fortress under siege, threatened in its very existence by immense barbaric forces determined to annihilate it. After the revanchism intended to erase the humiliation of the Treaty of Versailles, after the glorious conquest of the "living space" necessary for the expansion of the German people and the German nation, the war is now presented as a desperate struggle for the survival of the German people and of European civilization.
This speech had a considerable impact on the Reich, due to its wide distribution aand the effect that Goebbels wanted to give it. However, if many consider that it marked Germany's entry into "total war," this statement must be qualified: many measures to mobilize men, resources and industrial capacities had already been taken in the preceding months and were clearly taking the direction of an intensification of the war effort. ut it is true that the regime publicly assumed, again for the first time, the reality of this development.
Moreover, the speech of January 21st, 1943 was also a clever maneuver in the context of the power struggles at the top of Nazi Germany's state apparatus. Goebbels was implicitly targeted some of his rivals in the National Socialist leadership, especially Göring, as well as the high command of the Wehrmacht, all suspected of indolence or incompetence. From this point of view, the speech of the Sportpalast marks the beginning of the rise of the supporters of the transition to total war, a rise already marked a short time ago by the appointment of Speer to the Ministry of Armaments and by the progressive increase of the place occupied by Himmler's SS in the state apparatus and the armed forces. The influence of Goebbels, Speer, Himmler and Boorman within the Führer's close entourage is to continue to grow stronger until the end of the conflict, favoring the war effort and the political radicalization of the regime.

 

[Wings]

January 21st, 1943

Bomber Command Home - The brains of the BCH integrate the Baltic island into the Ruhr battle plan, adding five other more or less secondary objectives, but understandable to the Germans: Bremen, Lübeck, Kiel, Schwerin... and Berlin. This is not a target, in reality: it will be the diversion of the D-day raid on Peenemünde, operated by Mosquito pathfinders and the VHA of the 8 Group, which will make again radar jamming tests. But by choosing Nazi flagship cities, it may seem logical to the interested parties that Berlin will be the next target on the British list, which will result in the entire German night-fighter force being directed at the capital and not at the Baltic Sea, or so it is hoped.
The PRU units can then start their flights on all the concerned regions, including the Ruhr, already programmed, by criss-crossing Germany in a daily ballet, wearing out the nerves of the German fighters on duty during the day. Their nocturnal colleagues will soon experience the same fate, the RAF not having planned to give them much respite: the Battle of the Ruhr really started in February, the previous missions in the region having for only aim to validate the procedures.

 

[Wings]

January 21st, 1943

Stratford - Lagadec is cold: "-11° Celsius (I gave up counting in Fahrenheit)!
10:00 - Efficient road service! It took them all night and early morning, but a strip of 1,800 m by 40 m is cleared as well as the parking lots and taxiways. Huge bundles of snow are pushed back towards the ocean by the bulldozers. Snow or not, the war goes on and Vought has planes to deliver.
10:30 - An R4D (a Dakota for the earthlings) lands and comes to park in front of our hangar.
Ballet of the mechanics chided by Miklin, who take on board packages, tools and then "some" spare parts. Knowing Alphonse and Miklin, there must be a complete plane, at least!
11:00 - Our Corsairs are out of the hangar and the mechanics immediately warm up the engines. Good idea, because the weather is not getting any warmer!
12:00 - We take off after the Dakota, heading for Florida and the sun via Patuxent River, where we will refuel and spend the night (which falls around 17:00).
Cruising along the coast at 1,000 feet. The weather was grey and seriously overcast, with fog sheets pushed by the north wind sometimes envelop us. The good thing is that this same wind pushes us and makes us gain half an hour on the ETA to Pax River. The more we go south the more the weather clears up. We even have the right to a shy winter sun when we land!
14:00 - At the parking lot. Engines off, chocks in place... The local mechanics are already there, as well as the tankers (they must have heard about Andy). While the tanks are being filled up, hot coffee at the runway office, lodging for the night, etc."

 

[Wings]

January 21st, 1943

Pasadena - During a trip to California, Song Meiling made sure to meet a very promising Chinese student, Qian Xuesen. Qian, then a recent graduate of Jiaotong University in Shanghai, had been awarded a scholarship in 1935 that allowed him to continue his studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A year later, he left for CalTech, where his supervisor was to be Theodore von Karman. In 1939, he published his doctoral thesis on jet propulsion. Since then, with Frank Malina and other students of von Karman (whose recklessness earned them the nickname Suicide Squad), he experimented firings of self-propelled missiles, and his work began to attract the serious attention of the US Army.
Qian is not particularly interested in politics, but he is nonetheless a sincere patriot and is flattered that China's First Lady would take the trouble to meet him. But after all, isn't he engaged to the young virtuoso Jiang Ying, daughter of the late Jiang Baili, one of Chiang Kai-shek's closest collaborators? Jiang Ying, who was studying in Germany at the start of the war, is now in Switzerland. Song Meiling promises to make every effort to allow him to come to the United States "as soon as the military situation in Europe allows her to leave Swiss soil under acceptable safety conditions."
Grateful, Qian, who feels confident, explains in detail the nature of his work to the wife of the Generalissimo, who, if she sometimes has difficulty in following him on the technical field, she nevertheless perfectly understands the enormous military interest that the research of the young engineer represents. "Soon," he confides, "we will be setting up a brand new laboratory here at CalTech, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
- I'm happy for America and for you," Song Meiling replies. "And I hope that one day, you will set up a laboratory in China.
- That day will come," Qian assures her, "even if I have to work with bits and pieces. This research," he adds, pointing to the large piles of paper covered with complicated calculations that cover his desk, "will follow me to China, whether the Americans like it or not. Of course, it will have to wait until after the victory over Germany and Japan. But the silkworm does not weave its cocoon in one day*.

* Hence the title of Iris Chang's biography of Qian Xuesen, The Silkworm Thread.

 

[Wings]

January 21st, 1943

German Embassy, Paris - Jacques Doriot, Minister of the Interior and National reconstruction of the New French State, officially joins the LVF with the rank of Oberleutnant (lieutenant). Doriot chose to neglect the official recruiting office on Rue Auber (located in the premises of Intourist, the Soviet travel agency - an idea of Abetz...). He thought that, after all, the LVF was attached to the Wehrmacht and that going to sign directly in their embassy should please the Germans - he was right!
Doriot is granted numerous leaves of absence because of his political obligations. The rest of the time, his followers will keep the house. Simon Sabiani is the interim head of the PPF and Victor Barthélemy, just back from Italy, will represent his boss in the government.
.........
In the evening, Doriot officially presents his North African Legion to Laval. This small troop, supposed to reconquer North Africa, is composed of a few dozen Muslims from NAF - "Algerian natives". These men are much more attracted by the prospect of three meals a day than by the more or less independent ideology of their leader, Mohamed El-Maadi. They will only be known for a few acts of violence committed against the civilian population, under the guise of fighting against the maquis.

 

[Wings]

January 21st, 1943

Salween Front - During the night of the 20th and 21st, the Japanese 55th Division attempts to engage and encircle the forces of the 14th Indian Division, but the tactic only eliminates a few elements: the bulk of the troops continue to withdraw.
During the day, while the airmen of both sides try in vain to get the better of their opponents, the 14th Indian Division's artillery covers the retreat. At the end of the day, contact is established on a new defense line, but the 8th Indian Division is forced to slide southeast toward the 14th, and the 12th Japanese Division now appears to have a clear field on its right. Aerial reconnaissance shows that the Japanese had set up several bridges across the Salween to feed their effort.
To the north, however, the 71st Division is no longer in the line of attack: it is to push its opponents back to the north and west and push south, but its right wing and the Thai of the 2nd Division are blocked by the Belgians, while its left wing had advanced. It tries to turn the Public Force, but the 55th Indian Brigade holds on and the 1st Burma Brigade, instead of disappearing, holds on between its two partners.
Into the hole that had opens in the center of the front, Percival goes to throw his reserves. The day before, he had ordered the 50th Indian Tank Brigade, the closest to the Japanese landing site, to go to the aid of the two 13th Infantry Brigades. But he still had the 15th and 17th Brigades of the 5th British ID and the tanks of the 9th Armoured.
.........
Burma Coast, West of the Irrawaddy Delta - The day is spent in Japanese attacks to try to widen the perimeter against the 13th Indian and British Brigades, now well in line. But the eight 152 mm guns (in all) of the two surviving Thai coast guardsmen are not enough to compensate for the fact that they are sorely lacking in artillery! Worse : in front of them arrives during the day, like the cavalry of westerns (or rather like the lancers of Bengal), the Stuarts of the Calcutta Light Horse. Rushing from hot spot to hot spot, the small and fast armored vehicles avoid the Japanese concentrations to break through the gaps and confuse the rear. Confrontations against the amphibious Ka-Mi amphibious armor most often turns to the advantage of the small CLH armor. What saves the Japanese is precisely what hinders their advance: the numerous rivers that cut through the region, the deepest of which are obstacles that greatly hinder the Stuarts. On the other hand, the Ka-Mi can cross them without difficulty - but their bulky hull is a heavy handicap as soon as they get out of the water.
In the air, the fighting continues, but communications are poor between the Army planes and Admiral Sentaro's fleet. This is probably why WingCo Gibbs was again able to burst over the anchorage with six Beaufort. This time, it decides to attack, not the transports close to the beaches, but the most important warship: the cruiser Katori. Slow and not very maneuverable, the Japanese flagship is caught in a pincer movement by two trios of Beauforts and takes two torpedoes. It is mortally wounded even though all its crew is able to evacuate it, including Admiral Sentaro, who transfers his flag to the Hibiki.
The British lose only one aircraft, although all the others are hit, including two seriously.
At the end of the day, Sentaro, disgusted, decides to send back to Malaysia the fifteen or so transports that had not been damaged, accompanied by three of his destroyers, the three remaining Japanese torpedo boats and the submarine hunters. He is not wrong: the squadron sent from Ceylon by Admiral Somerville is on its way, ready to eliminate any Japanese ships that might linger in the area and to avoid the nasty surprise of a second landing.
Sentaro himself remains in front of the beaches with the Hibiki and the Thai torpedo boats, tto cover the unloading of the damaged transports and the coastguards in charge of pursuing the support fire to the landed troops. Without saying so, he blames the fiasco of the previous night the ships of his Thai ally (he did not know at the time that Japanese torpedoes had destroyed the Phuket).
At the beginning of the night, while the Japanese convoy is getting organized, a new explosion: it is one of the transports which had just been victim of the Tigris, which had taken the opportunity to infiltrate on the surface (or rather in semi-immersion). But this time, luck abandons the British submarine as the Arashio sees it, rushes in and rams it at the very moment its torpedoes hit their target. Two survivors are picked up by the Japanese.

 

[Wings]

January 21st, 1943

Guadalcanal - In the early morning, the convoy bringing the 27th IR of the 25th US-ID arrives without incident. But some of the GIs who disembark - and who get acquainted with the delights of the island's climate - immediately re-embark, to their great astonishment, ona disparate group of ships, composed of LCTs and LCIs covered by a few destroyers.
These are the troops designated to execute Cleanslate, who look with envy at their comrades who remain on land. The fact that some of the ships in the group are already occupied by Marines does not console them, on the contrary...
The aerial reconnaissance of the day and the reports of the coastwatchers do not indicate any changes: Patch and Halsey decide to launch Cleanslate as planned on the morning of January 22nd. In the early evening, some scouts are discreetly landed by torpedo boats.

 

[Wings]

January 21st, 1943

California, 05:30 - Arriving over the American continent, the Philippine Clipper from Pearl Harbor is confronted with terrible weather: pouring rain, raging winds, fog and 100 percent cloud cover - a pilot's nightmare. And shortly before dawn, tragedy strikes. The plane crashes into a mountain, killing all nineteen occupants, including Rear Admiral English.

 

[Wings]

January 21st, 1943

Operation Skachok (Gallop)
1st Belorussian Front - A Luftwaffe reconnaissance confirming the information transmitted by the LIII. AK opens the eyes of von Vietinghoff. With the conversion of his right wing, the entire 1st Guards Army is now in danger of breaking through the lines of the V. AK, or even worse. Because there is nothing left behind, except for the headquarters of the 9. Armee and of the 110. ID (in reserve of the Army Group), which are located in Sianno, about 30 kilometers west of Boguchevsk.
The detection of two armored brigades and a motorized division within the 1st Guards Army triggers the alarm at the headquarters of AG Center. In which direction will these units go? Von Kluge orders the transfer of the 110. ID by rail to Boguchevsk and the sending to Orsha of the 52. ID, which was being reconstituted in Borissov [Baryssaw].
All this does not prevent, of course, the left wing of the 1st Guards Army to drive the 5th ID out of its positions at Babinovichy, inflicting heavy losses in the process, thanks to the unexpected breakthrough of the 214th Heavy Armored Brigade between lakes Sitnyanskoye and Zelenskoye. General Allmendinger's men flee as best they can towards the Orekhovsk strongpoint, further south, still held by the 35. ID.
Finally, the 6. ID, entrenched around Dubrovno, continues to suffer martyrdom against the 3rd Guard Army, while the redeployment of the 26., 134. and 197. ID ordered the day before by von Vietinghoff continues.
.........
2nd Belorussian Front - The 3rd Shock Army comes into contact with the positions of the VII. AK between Drybin and Karoshin. The Soviet troops have the unpleasant surprise of being targeted by precise artillery bombardments and especially more quickly triggered than usual. Thick layers of fog prevent the Soviet air force from tracking the German batteries, they have a great time and succeed in preventing the Soviet infiltration.
Further south, the 29th Army take Cherikov [Cherykaw]. However, aerial reconnaissance reports the presence of German troops in Slavgorod [Slawharad] and Rabovichi, on the Sozh River. These are the 7. and 131. ID, the XLII. AK of the 4. Army.
The battle of Dobrush [Dobrush] begins with a bombardment of the positions of the 34. ID by one of the two artillery brigades of the 3rd Shock Army. But the subsequent assault fails. Kurassov tells Konev that the area is particularly favorable for defense: it is covered with marshes. forests and rivers that are difficult to cross, although they are more or less frozen. Ideally, the only cavalry division of the army should be used, but it is understaffed (it arrived as a reinforcement only a few days before the beginning of the offensive). In return, Konev asks Kurassov to maintain pressure on the German positions while trying to bypass them, until Chernigov falls or that the 4th Armored Corps joins. But in the evening, he learns some bad news: the tanks of the 4th Corps fell on the 45. ID, solidly entrenched in Horodnia which block their progression.
.........
Kiev Front - Around Mena and the bridges over the Desna river, the 15th and 54th Armies have a hard time facing defenders galvanized by the importance of their mission. They make very little progress and are unable to prevent the withdrawal of the 1. PanzerArmee.
On the outskirts of Chernigov, Vatutin and Shuikov's troops could not prevent the destruction of the two main bridges, but the Soviet paratroopers worked miracles.
Detachments manage to cross the Desna River on the remains of the railway bridge, with makeshift boats or on boats of the Dnieper flotilla, which could be transported there despite the road chaos. Indeed, Shuikov took it upon himself to request the help of NKVD troops, which made it much easier to transport the boats to the north.
But the German defense, reinforced by detachments from the south, stiffens. The areas west of Chernigov are the focus of fierce fighting, with the intervention of armor and artillery. The Soviet bombing gradually transforms the area into a field of ruins, causing many victims among the defenders, but facilitating the task of the survivors.
In the evening, Radio Moscow announces the recapture of Pryluky and states that "the final phase of the destruction of fascist forces in eastern Ukraine will soon be completed."
The fall of Pryluky goes almost unnoticed in Rastenburg - the pressure on Nizhne is such that Hoth obtains from Hitler what the latter had refused to Guderian, i.e. a "temporary" withdrawal to Chernigov.

 

[Wings]

January 21st, 1943

West and center of the Italian front - After a night streaked with flares and chopped up by artillery and machine-gun fire, the Hermann-Göring Division attacks the positions of the 168th Infantry Rgt of the 34th US-ID. The German grenadiers reach the outskirts of Santa Severa, but they are deprived of the support of their panzers and other vehicles. Indeed, these are violently attacked not only by the air force, but also by the naval artillery, because the cruiser Savannah and the destroyers Hambleton, Parker and Roe came to support the defense along the coast. In the street fight that follows, the grenadiers meet resistance they had not expected and are forced to retreat in the afternoon.
The Germans, however, had anticipated that the Allies would resort to naval support and they launch an anti-ship raid with Ju 88s escorted by Bf 109s. The radars detect them early enough to call for help the P-38s of the 27th FS, which are in charge of the fleet cover and ideally placed at altitude. Still a cadet in early 1940, the new Major William Leverette shoots down no less than 5 German aircraft, becoming an ace in a single sortie. In addition to his DFC, he is nominated for the Silver Star for this action.
In the afternoon, the CCA of the 1st US-AD starts to reinforce the troops of the 34th US-ID.
.........
In the north-east, the Italians defend themselves with determination and succeed in holding against the Germans of the 162. ID. Indeed, the two regiments engaged against the 82nd Rgt of the 102nd Motorized Division Trento had to undergo intense Italian artillery fire, while their own divisional artillery was largely committed further southwest to support the attack against the American 133rd Regiment, east of Allumiere. But the Americans resist and repel several assaults during the day.
.........
On the eastern front, the French continue to hold successfully. It is winter, the ground is full of small wet cuts, and it has been the object of a meticulous preparation.
As for the defensive fire, in addition to the divisional artillery, the 3rd armored division has the support of the IVth Corps artillery, and in some places of some batteries of the 14th ID. This one, deployed in the valley south of Stroncone and up to Rieti, has for the moment nothing more to repel than timid probes from its opponent, the 112. ID, which tries to position itself on the flank of the French armored division.

 

[Wings]

January 21st, 1943

Larissa and Volos (Thessaly) - B-25s of the 321st Bomb Group (8th Air Force) take off at dawn from Foggia, Southern Italy, and attack their targets, Larissa and Volos, in the morning.
The German fighters, based in Salonika, are belatedly alerted because the attackers had crossed Albania, where the Luftwaffe no longer had any means of spotting enemy raids. On the objective, the bombers are covered by RAF fighters coming from Mytilene. Moreover, the German pilots are not very experienced. They lose two of theirs in exchange of an Australian fighter, which crashes on mount Pelion and whose pilot will be collected by the ELAS maquisards. The bombers leave for Italy, except one of them, damaged, which must land in Araxos, in the Peloponnese.
This operation is mainly intended to improve the training of American pilots at the beginning of a difficult Italian campaign. But it also brings an appreciated support to the allied forces, regular or irregular, fighting in Greece.
The damage caused to the Larissa air base and the port of Volos is less than expected, but their restoration is delayed. The station of Volos also receives its share of bombs, causing the death of 40 Italian prisoners awaiting embarkation for Germany. But German troops passing through the region are not affected by this attack.

 

[Wings]

January 21st, 1943

Berlin - Mafalda of Savoy has just spent almost a month of detention and mistreatment in the gaols of the Niederkirchnerstrasse. She is extracted one last time from her cell to be brought before Heinrich Müller in person. With the amused look of one who weighs a trinket for a moment before breaking it, the man with the partially shaved head announces: "Frau von Weber - for from now on you will answer to this name - the Führer has finally decided to be magnanimous and spare your miserable life, despite the betrayal of your husband and your dog of a father. I am ordered not to kill you, which I would have gladly done. But nothing requires that we offer you the castle life to which a social parasite like you is accustomed! So I have arranged for you to stay in a place where you will have the opportunity to think. The place is charming, it is called Buchenwald!"
The princess will be transferred by truck in the evening.

 

[Wings]

January 22nd, 1943

Verona - The situation becomes untenable. After having multiplied the exactions at the time of the "Bloody Christmas", the German troops move on to arbitrary requisitions, extortion of credit or racketeering on the wages of the workers of the armament factories! A mark (worth ten liras) is already in use since the end of December... As a result, inflation rises very quickly, to unimaginable proportions.
When asked for his opinion a month earlier, Rahn, like Kesselring, had opposed to the plan for a reconstituted fascist government in occupied Italy. Could this be the experience with the NEF in the Paris embassy that made him realize that there was nothing good to be gained from the puppet government of a rump state, when the legal one was waging war in the opposite camp? Still, he had not been listened to... And now he has to solve a problem for which he is in no way responsible.
In two hours, the matter is closed with Pellegrini, the RSI's Minister of Finance. The Occupation currency is withdrawn from circulation. A decree prescribes the freezing of wages and prices. Measures are taken to strictly control the lira-mark exchange rate.
Finally, credit requests from German services to Italian banks are no longer accepted and those already validated will be reimbursed in full.
The first dark cloud has passed for the RSI. It does not, however, conceal the much more violent storm that is coming...