Fantasque Time Line (France Fights On) - English Translation

[Wings]

July 1st, 1943

Dien-Bien-Phu, 06:00 - The night is quiet. The Lysanders circle in the sky without finding valid targets. The soldiers of the Rising Sun have learned to hide their activities from the prying eyes of their unkind neighbors. As for the bo-dois scattered in the hills, they do not attack, preferring to devote this night to their specialty, the sabotage of roads in piano keys between Dien-Bien-Phu and Tuan Giao.
In the morning, B-25s and P-40s begin to harass enemy positions. Like the day before, the flak reacts little. Only one P-40 is lost.
10:00 - An artillery bombardment falls on the Japanese positions in front of the Gabrielle and Eliane support points. After half an hour, the artillery finishes this brief preparation by launching a smoke screen.
10:30 - The 1st REP leaves the trenches to attack the hills held by the Japanese. This attack, led by fresh troops, that nobody expected in the Japanese camp, provokes a terrible shock. If some isolated groups fight with obstinacy, attracting artillery fire and aircraft strafing, many give up.
12:00 - After more than an hour of sporadic clashes, the Japanese launch a counter-attack which is easily contained.
"They looked like the damned from hell. There were many of them, but they advanced with difficulty. Emaciated skeletons, their eyes burning. Some were shouting, pushing their comrades. We put FM and machine guns in battery. The artillery, called by radio, also began to enter the dance. Others were still coming, despite the carnage.
We began to withdraw in skirmishers, one platoon after another. The Japanese were trailing miserably behind us, unable to catch up. When we were able to stall, the planes came in and made a killing. The strafing passes were laying these muddy uniformed puppets in rows, the bombs threw them to the ground. I have a nightmarish memory of that day. It was like facing dead people rising from their graves." (Captain Moulin's account)
13:30 - The Franco-Vietnamese withdraw to their starting positions.
.........
20:00 - The events of the day are studied by the Epervier staff, which does not dare to believe the reports they receive. They have, however, a choice piece of evidence. Thirty prisoners, most of them too weak to commit suicide. The doctors have examined them (and the film operators have filmed them). The Japanese suffer from malnutrition, various diseases or untreated wounds... or all three.
Martin looks at Nguyen Binh and Giap, who are flanking a beaming Ho Chi-Minh: "One day, people will ask how we won this battle. I will answer: I was advised to let the enemy defeat himself, and the advice was good."

Tuan Giao, 15:00 - Two NA-73s pass over the airfield, where they discover that the Vietminh intelligence was correct: there is a fair amount of activity on the ground. They make do with a strafing pass before leaving, accompanied by anti-aircraft fire.
At Dien-Bien-Phu, their report confirms that of the bo-dois.
Knowing very well that the minutes are counted, the personnel of the airborne and the 23rd Engineer Regiment are scrambling to empty the last boxes brought by the planes that had landed shortly before. They then pile up as many wounded as possible. At the same time, the air traffic controllers ask Hoa Binh for an escort to protect the transports. The planes - two Ki-57 and some Ki-76 - take off in overload, some at the limit of stalling, fortunately none of them crashes.
16:00 - The transports had barely taken off when a formation arrives from Dien-Bien-Phu. In all eight B-25s of the II and III/62, covered by as many P-40s of the 76th and II/40, dive on the field. The Nipponese flak is firing without sparing its shells. The artillerymen are well aware that every hesitation of the enemy aircraft could save many of their comrades. A B-25 and a P-40 are shot down, two B-25 are seriously damaged. In response, the imperial gunnery posts undergo an intensive strafing from the "full-nose" Mitchells, which once again prove to be formidable, inflicting terrible losses to the servicemen.
The two Ki-57 damaged the day before are destroyed, as well as several vehicles. The track is once again unusable. Several of the anti-aircraft guns are destroyed. In the meantime, however, the escort arriving from Hoa Binh (seven Ki-43) was able to join the transports, which will not be bothered.
18:00 - With the last fires out, one of the Typhoon supervisors asks when it would be possible to get the airfield back in operation. The commander of the 23rd Engineer Regiment replies curtly: "Either when Tokyo sends us reinforcements, new vehicles and new earthmoving tools... Or when Amaterasu* comes to restore everything. I think the second possibility is the most likely."

* Goddess of the Sun in the Shinto religion. The emperors of Japan were considered as her descendants.

 

[Wings]

July 1st, 1943

New Georgia - By quick action, taking advantage of the elimination by the destroyers, the day before, of the small battery at Viru Harbor, the Marine Raiders seize this objective, deserted by its defenders. But contrary to what had been hoped, this anchorage proves to be unsuitable for unloading equipment.
Under a torrential rain that prevents any fire support missions, whether naval or aerial, the Japanese are waiting for the next Allied movement. The Allies are preparing a new amphibious action for the next day.

 

[Wings]

July 1st, 1943

London - The Axis preparations in Ukraine could not go unnoticed by British intelligence services. The information recovered through the electromagnetic eavesdropping system and secondarily through other sources (agents on the ground and air reconnaissance that confirmed the movement of units towards the east) allowed Churchill and his staff to anticipate the German offensive. But several fundamental questions remain unanswered and give rise to lively debate.
On the one hand, if it is certain that the Germans are going to strike in Ukraine, it is not certain that the target is Kiev. Strategically, it represents the most likely objective of a major operation. But Churchill learned to distrust Hitler and his intuitions that, great or not, could defy logic. The reports from Bletchley Park are not clear: ignoring the debates within the OKW, British analysts had got hold of contradictory information. The decoding of the code used by Kluge (HG North Ukraine) to communicate with the OKH was certainly a great victory, but ULTRA had not been able to break other equally interesting codes. In fact, most of the data on the Russian front came from listening to Luftwaffe communications, which were very detailed on the air forces... but much less about the ground forces.
Lacking a precise view of the distribution of the Ostheer armored means in Ukraine and although they recognized the reactivation of the 2. PanzerArmee in the south and the creation of the 3. PanzerArmee in the north, the British were hesitant about what conclusions to draw. Hitler would he agree to a simultaneous attack north and south of Kiev with a potential major encirclement to the east of the Ukrainian metropolis? Wasn't such a maneuver too visible not to fail? Was Zitadelle in reality only a limited offensive aimed at eliminating some irregularities from the front in order to free up manpower to better move on the defensive? Did the arrival of armored reinforcements in Romania foreshadow an attack towards Odessa in order to push the southernmost Soviet fronts away from the Danube and the precious Romanian oil wells? And what were the Hungarians doing away from home if it was not to save German manpower?
Moreover, another question remains, with particularly heavy implications: what to tell Stalin?
Of course, the United Kingdom is the Soviet Union's unwavering ally against the Third Reich. But nobody in London had forgotten that it was Soviet oil (not to mention manganese!) that had sustained the Nazi war effort until the summer of 1942. Although there are a number of Soviet sympathizers (and even double agents) among the British military and political elites, many were not upset to see Moscow in trouble with its former partner. It was not only among the Poles of London that the idea of the Red Army suffering heavy losses met with a (very discreet) approval. Churchill himself hesitates: not telling Stalin could only lead to complications (as well as the reading of very unpleasant letters). But after all, he himself did not know much about Axis plans. He could not be blamed for not revealing what he did not know in detail. And then, weren't the Soviets themselves not confident? Without showing too much whether he was really in the confidences of the Stavka, the Soviet ambassador in London had a big smile on his face: the USSR had been surprised in 1942, it would not make the same mistake twice.
Finally, the solution to the dilemma comes from Moscow in the form of a letter (a perfectly diplomatic one) from the Leader himself. Thanking the allied services for their cooperation with his own, Stalin is also reassuring: let the Germans attack as they please, the Red Army is ready.

 

[Wings]

July 1st, 1943

Korosten - The city is not only the headquarters of the 3rd Ukrainian Front. Located about fifty kilometers from the front, it is the nerve center, the heart, the lungs and the liver of the latter. Packed with material depots and tented camps, seeing dozens of trains arriving every day, it is one of the pillars of Kiev's defense. And as such, it is heavily defended. Two fortified lines run around it, bordered at regular intervals by concrete positions equipped with cannons, automatic flamethrowers and heavy machine guns. Between these lines, the Soviet engineers laid thousands of mines while several dozen buildings were transformed into fortresses. Detachments of armoured vehicles and motorized infantry detachments are ready to rush to the threatened points, while in the air, the 3rd Air Force is on the lookout.
But it takes much more than swarms of fighters and masses of anti-aircraft batteries with their acoustic or electronic detection means to dissuade the Luftwaffe. Even more so certain crews that were disliked by their colleagues and by the propaganda: those of the Nachtschlachtgruppen (NSGr).
This is how the idea of attacking Korosten came about among the NSGr 4 pilots. Of course, the site is overprotected. The crews of LuftFlotte 4 are very clear on this point: flying during the day would be like walking around Berlin with a sign "I was a pacifist in 1914, a Spartakist in 1918 and today I support the Allies." But it's not much safer at night: the few Ju 88s that dared to try to silence the radars of Kiev had to quickly retreat in front of a very active flak and even night fighters. So, why not go with smaller and slower aircraft? It would certainly be dangerous, but one does not fly a militarized training aircraft over the Russian front without a minimum of courage (or madness). And the abundance of targets in and around the city eliminates the need for precision bombing: the projectiles will always find something to destroy and it is obvious that the possible civilian losses would be of no importance.
A mission is thus planned thanks to the information provided by men of the UPA (Ukrainian People's Army, pro-German militia) and some Soviet maps. Four crews of NSGr 4 volunteer.
Taking off well before daybreak from a muddy field near Sarny, their Heinkel He 46s first head north before diving east after passing Olevsk.
Crossing the Soviet lines at the boundary between the 5th Army and the 57th Army, flying at low altitude and reduced speed to minimize the risk of attracting attention, the planes finally arrive over Korosten to discover that they were not expected at all. They fly over the city at dawn, not much disturbed by a few shots coming from batteries served by artillerymen badly awake and visibly not warned of their arrival, the He 46 drop five bombs of twenty kilos each, before running away hoping very hard not to meet a Yak or a MiG of morning patrol. Confronting a fighter with an unarmed training biplane would be as brief as fatal! However, to the happy surprise of the crews, the Soviet fighters do not show themselves and the return trip is made without any problem.

 

[Wings]

July 1st, 1943

Ochinese (Corsica) - End of the works ! In ten days, the SeaBees and the Marine Engineers have established a 1,800 m runway, parking areas for 100 medium-sized aircraft, with ammunition and fuel bays, living areas and anti-aircraft emplacements.
On the beach, a team assembles the Rhino Ferries, a floating dock and three barges each powered by two huge 125 hp Chrysler outboard engines.

 

[Wings]

July 1st, 1943

French Mediterranean coast - The Liberators of the 97th Bomber Group, escorted by the Mustangs of the 81st FG, attack the Carnoules depot (Var). The escort effectively interposes itself against a timid reaction of the German fighters. On the ground, the hangars, the roundhouse and a dozen locomotives are destroyed.
The medium bombers do not remain inactive: the B-26s of the 320th and 322nd BG, escorted by the 350th and 81st FGs, attack the coastal defenses in the sectors of Corniche des Maures and Palavas les Flots. The French Air Force does the same in the Cavalaire sector thanks to the Marauders of the 11th EB, escorted by the Mustangs of the 4th EC.
Finally, the A-36s of the 522nd FBS (27th FBG) and the P-51B-As [NA-98 - the A is for Assault!] of the 526th FBS (86th FBG), escorted by the 358th FG, attack the Port Saint-Louis du Rhône sector.
The 358th FG is a newcomer in the 8th Air Force. For the moment, its role is rather experimental. The tests carried out for more than a year by Republic showed very good performance at altitude, it was decided to assign P-47s to a group dedicated to bomber escort in order to evaluate it as a pure fighter and not as ground support. The first result is positive: on one of these aircraft, Lieutenant Mark Osborn shot down a Bf 109 of the JG 2 that day.

 

[Wings]

July 1st, 1943

Italian Front - The 132nd Brigade of the 44th British ID completes, almost without fighting, the junction with its neighbors: east of Ussita on the one hand and north of Mount Regina, at the foot of the Madonna dell'Ambro, on the other. The 44th ID finally leaves the Sibylline Mountains which it had approached in March.
.........
Monfalcone (Veneto Giulia) - RAF bombers make a night visit to this small port northwest of Trieste. It seems that they found the place to their liking, because they will come back on July 3rd, 13th, 21st and 27th. The Nachtschlachtgruppe 9 (Night Fighter Group n°9) of the Luftwaffe tried several times to catch them, with variable success.
Strangely enough, and this did not fail to attract the attention of the German general staff, the British bomb the Ronchi dei Legionari cantonments and the coastal fortifications, but they hardly touch the bridges of the Soca and Fiume Torre rivers, to the north of the city, nor the railway junction of Cervignano, further west. Well, well...

 

[Wings]

July 1st, 1943

Adriatic - The RAF based in Italy has already conducted raids in the Adriatic or along the Yugoslavian coast, but these are the first ones conducted within the framework of Operation Macon II. Operation Macon is the air part of the deception operation Zeppelin. Macon II refers to actions carried out by units based in Italy; Macon I was entrusted to units based in Greece.
Today, the Beaumont Mk II of Sqn 18 covered by the Spitfires of Sqn 73 attack the airfield of Monfalcone. At the same time, in the Rabac sector, the Beaufighters of Sqn 39 accompanied by the Spits of Sqn 119 attack the coastal defenses. The Luftwaffe reacts only moderately, and the groups return without losses.
At night, the airfield of Sinj is bombed by Halifaxes from Sqn 148 and Wellingtons from Sqn 37 and 38.

 

[Wings]

July 1st, 1943

Porto Albona/Rabac (Istria) - In this small tourist port, nicknamed "the pearl of Kvarner Bay", resided Richard Francis Burton, poet and explorer, translator of the One Thousand and One Nights, and the rich family of the Prohaska, merchants in Fiume (Rijeka for the Slavs).
It is precisely in the Prohaska's villa, requisitioned by the German command, that Kapitänleutnant Peter Reischauer, commander of the Adriatic Torpedo Boat Flotilla (TA-6 Albatros II, TA-7 Wildfang and TA-8) is listening to a piano piece when a very unmelodious siren interrupts the concert. Most of the officers run for cover, but Reischauer rushes to the flak station, the only place from which he could see his ship, the Albatross II. The TA-6 is, as its abbreviation indicates, a Beuteboot, a spoils of war, seized, in this case, from the Italians. In the smoke and noise of the Flak, he just distinguishes a squadron of twin-engine planes, Beaufighters, unless he is mistaken*, rushing towards him...
When he wakes up, he is luxuriously lying on a four-poster bed in the last intact wing of the villa. The cleanly sliced wall lets in the sea breeze. "What about my boat?" he asks. The young officer at his bedside replies, with adolescent gravity: "It's hit, but it still floats, Herr Kapitän."
It floats, but only just: the poor Albatross II was taken in tow, taken to Pola and then to Trieste and scrapped. As for Kapitänleutnant Reischauer, seriously wounded and retired from service at sea, in October, he received a new assignment, in a staff in Cherbourg.
.........
Senj (Dalmatia) - Despite the absence of the moon, two squadrons, Sqn 148 (equipped with Halifax) and Sqn 38 (with Wellingtons), come to bludgeon the coastal fortifications, occupied by a detachment of the 3rd Croatian Division.

* Reischauer is mistaken: they are Beaumonts. Which doesn't change much for him...

 

[Wings]

July 1st, 1943

Attica - The dawn rises on a devastated landscape. Shells, machine guns and grenades have been firing all night, and it is far from being over. The vanguards of the British 8th Army have only partially reached the "black line" which was their objective: in the hardest sectors, at Mount Penteel and Porto Rafti, they are trampling on the "red line" or on the "green line", the first and second German defense lines. Around 02:00, a detachment of Gurkhas of the 6th Indian has reached Mount Merenta, but it is pushed back by a counter-attack of the 22. Luftlande ID.
At dawn, Montgomery orders to relieve the exhausted troops and to launch a wave of aerial bombardments. Objective: the quarries of Mount Ekali, which served as a shelter for the HQ and the enemy's logistical reserves. It is not planned to destroy the deep galleries but to make their access unusable. From 06:00 onwards, the raids follow one another.
Montgomery hesitates to launch the tanks: the Gerakas gap is too narrow, well defended by artillery and minefields, and above all, he is afraid of falling into a trap like the British have already known in the Peloponnese. Instead, he moves the 3rd Battalion of the 8th Punjabi Rgt to take the northern tip of Mount Hymette, but the Indians suffer heavy casualties for little gain in ground.

 

[Wings]

July 2nd, 1943

Upper Silesia - The coal mines in the town of Plesschen [Pleszew] are visited by a delegation from Berlin. The all-powerful Minister of Armaments of the Reich, Albert Speer, has heard about the Plesschen Werke, a modest coal company, but whose work organization seems promising enough to warrant close attention. Speer's representatives come to speak directly with their director.
Gunther Falkenhahn explains to them that he had developed an organization based on the output of the workers. There is nothing extraordinary about this, nor about the fact that most of these workers are Ostarbeiter, more or less voluntary workers recruited from all over Eastern Europe.
Falkenhahn's brilliant (?) idea was to link the food rations provided to the workforce to the output of the workforce. The calculation is simple: producing the required amount of coal allows each miner to receive his standard food ration.
Producing less than this quota meant receiving less food. On the other hand, the best workers are rewarded with improved rations... with the food taken from the less productive. A vicious circle is thus set up, for the weakest - condemned to die of hunger in the more or less long term - to the benefit of the most efficient workers. But this measure ensures a higher and more regular production. This aspect of things suits the ministry perfectly, the loss of a few unproductive sub-humans being considered quite insignificant.
The organization of the Plesschen Werke could not but arouse the enthusiasm of the German bureaucrats. The "Falkenhahn system" is first extended to the Upper Silesian coalfields, then gradually spreads throughout Germany.

 

[Wings]

July 2nd, 1943

Paris - Joseph Darnand has made his decision: he will join the LVF to fight against Bolshevism. "At least on the front," he writes in a letter to Philippe Henriot, an honorary member of the SONEF, "I will not be disturbed by the political maneuvers and the baseness of these mediocrities. I will fight from now on for a more noble cause." Henriot, anxious to keep his position and his microphone, will never mention this letter publicly.
At dawn, the ex-minister receives his ex-substitute, Pierre Gallet, as well as Marcel Gombert, one of his closest friends. He hopes that these three former members of the Corps Franc will go into battle together: the leader (Darnand), his deputy (Gallet) and the eternal accomplice (Gombert): "Like in the days of the 24th BCA, it would be a blast, wouldn't it?" If we are to believe Gallet's memoirs, the latter's reply cooled Darnand's warlike ardor: "I think the time has come to separate us. I followed you as chief of staff of the Ministry of the Interior and State Security. You are no longer Minister of the Interior and State Security, so my duties have come to an end. In front of us, France is remobilizing. I don't want to do anything that would put me in opposition to her." And Gallet recounts: "Darnand held out his hand to me, without a word, and left the room. Left alone, I burst into tears in despair." (P. Gallet, unpublished memoirs)*.
Gare de l'Est, on the platform where Darnand, Gombert and about twenty SONEF executives who had decided to follow their leader are about to take the train to the Russian Front, we suddenly see Victor Barthélemy arrive, accompanied by a team from Radio Paris. Doriot's representative comes to "wish Darnand good luck" in "the most beautiful battle, that of Civilization against Barbarity." But he also wants to get Darnand to make a statement on the microphone of Radio Paris "in order to calm the spirits, in a spirit of national reconciliation". The friends of Darnand barely manage to stop him before he carried out his threat to make Barthélemy and eat his microphone - Barthélemy is left with three missing teeth and a broken nose.
A few weeks later, Pierre Laval sends Joseph Darnand, through a trusted man, in which the President of the NEF explains - or tries to explain - the accusations that he had made against him in the middle of the Council of Ministers.
In short, Laval claims that it was a feint to put Doriot's distrust to rest and to prepare for the takeover of the government. He also claims (which seems to be at least partly true) that Abetz and Oberg had wanted a "political simplification" that the departure of Darnand represented. This letter (of which only a copy will be found in Laval's archives) will remain unanswered. According to the testimony of Marcel Gombert, Darnand tore it up angrily, uttering a whole series of insults in French, German and even Russian...

* Pierre Gallet, born in 1914, entered Saint-Maixent when he was called up for his military service. At the declaration of war, he joined a combat unit as a second lieutenant. He volunteered for the corps-francs, he met Joseph Darnand. Wounded during a coup de main, he was saved by Darnand. At the end of June 1940, he was treated at the Bégin hospital in Saint-Mandé, he escapes at Germans' arrival to avoid captivity. He found Gombert who informed him of his plan to escape Darnand from the Pithiviers camp. Gallet's participation in this escape is not proven. At the end of the summer of 1940, he was with Darnand in Paris where he shared his doubts about the course of action to take for the rest of the war: To leave or to stay? The idea of joining Algiers seemed to tempt Gallet (who before the war had been close to the Jeune République, a small left-wing Christian party), but when Darnand decided to stay, Gallet, out of loyalty, decided to do the same. From October 1940 to February 1941, he held the position of assistant director of the SONEF for the Alpes Maritimes. Then, at Darnand's request, he joined Darnand by becoming his chief of staff. In the spring of 1943, he replaced Darnand at the Ministry of the Interior and State Security.
After Darnand's resignation and his departure for the Charlemagne Division, Gallet refused several offers of services from various NEF ministers, devoted the rest of 1943 to writing a book recounting his career since the declaration of war. The book was forbidden to be published.
After the Liberation, these memoirs will be presented at his trial by his lawyers and will probably help him not to be sentenced to death (Darnand killed in Germany, he would have been in a way his substitute deputy, this time before the judges!) He was sentenced to life imprisonment, a sentence that was later reduced to five years in prison. (Grand Larousse de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, Paris, 2004)

 

[Wings]

July 2nd, 1943

Paris - While Darnand is driving to the front, Jacques Doriot reforms the NEF according to his idea. President of the Council, he takes over Darnand's ministry, that is to say the Interior and National Security. Strangely enough, he does not put an end to the duplication and is content to give the Ministry of the Interior and National Reconstruction to his former interim, Victor Barthélemy (perhaps to console him for the wounds and bumps harvested in service...).
The rest of the government does not escape the change. The loyal to Laval (Bergery, Grasset, Gibrat) and to Darnand (Knipping) resign, forced to do so.
Count Jacques Bouly de Lesdain arrives at the Foreign Office. Editor of L'Illustration, he started his career in diplomacy; he was posted in China at the beginning of the century. The man is notably known for having organized several exhibitions since the beginning of the Occupation, including La France Europeenne. The latter, presented in Berlin itself, received a favourable reception there, as a reassuring sign of the cultural submission of the New French State to the Reich. Otto Abetz had not ceased to praise his merits to his superiors: the choice of the count of Lesdain thus seemed quite natural to ensure the smooth running of the NEF's diplomatic services.
As for Bergery, he is sent to replace Chautemps as ambassador in Oslo, to Quisling. He suspects that this is a form of house arrest, but he accepts without budging as he had feared much worse! Like under Laval, the embassies serve as a convenient way out.
At the Ministry of Health (at least, for the time being), Georges Montandon is appointed, a doctor and anthropologist of Swiss origin. Appointed curator of the Broca Museum in 1936, he was naturalized French shortly after the arrival of the Front Populaire. Nevertheless, he sinks at this period in a forcible anti-Semitism ("The Jews, ethnic whore" he says with delicacy). This did not bring him luck: the decrees of the NEF cancelling all the naturalizations carried out since the arrival of the Popular Front make him lose both his French nationality and his job! Not avenged, he published in 1941 a pseudo-scientific treatise entitled "How to recognize the Jew?" which earned him a French passport and in 1942 he was appointed director of the Institute for the Study of Jewish and Ethno-Racial Questions. Doriot, who bombarded him as president of the ethnic commission of the PPF in 1941, appreciates him very much!
In Communications, the nomination of Gabriel Lafaye is a small reward for Déat. USR deputy for the Gironde, briefly under-secretary of state for labor in 1938, Lafaye was a member of the Commission for Public Works and Means of Communication. He was above all a member of the permanent commission of the RNP since its creation.
It was not considered useful to replace Knipping - it is true that with the Ministry of Air, he had inherited the most useless position in the government.

 

[Wings]

July 2nd, 1943

Paris - Other changes are shaking up the NEF apparatus. They may have more real importance than the ministerial reshuffle.
After the SONEF, the Reconstruction Crusaders and their SSLAANs are officially disbanded to make way for the Secret State Police. The inspiration, the methods and even the name of the new organization are to be found in the great friend of Jacques Doriot, Heinrich Himmler. Paul Touvier is appointed to head it (duly controlled by the two Ministers of the Interior), in charge of convincing the members of the former SONEF to convert to the new order.
All the members of the Crusaders of Reconstruction are effectively transferred to the PSE. On the other hand, 30% of the men of the SONEF prefer to leave for the LVF (they were not retained), most of them ended up in the Charlemagne. A small minority (about 10%) rebelled, deserting or even attacking the Crusaders who came to take possession of their premises. Finally, more surprisingly (although...), some sections went so far as to join the maquis that they had fought a few weeks earlier! This will not be without complex and often bloody consequences...

 

[Wings]

July 2nd, 1943

Norfolk - Preparations continue on all TF-100 vessels.

 

[Wings]

July 2nd, 1943

Dien-Bien-Phu - The night is strangely agitated. The planes of the "Louvre" perceive a great movement in the Japanese positions. Shortly thereafter, the bo-dois in charge of cutting the road to Tuan Giao discover that the Japanese are trying to leave the area under the cover of night. Taking advantage of the darkness, Vietnamese light regiments oppose these movements.
Soon a fierce battle rages in the hills. Attracted by the explosions and flashes of the weapons, the Lysanders circle above the combatants without daring to intervene. The dark night envelops friends and enemies in the same thick veil. The fighting and the darkness dislocate the Japanese and the fight turns into a deadly game of hide-and-seek. The shooting continues until dawn.
At dawn, Scott and Devèze, with the agreement of General Martin, contact Kunming.
Two words, "Charognard satiated", signified the suspension of Operation Vulture, which is definitively stopped 48 hours later. This message makes at least one person happy: the USAAF logistics manager in China! Indeed, in a few days, the 308th Squadron almost consumed the equivalent of a month's supply of fuel and ammunition which was difficult to transport by the Burma Road!
At the same time, General Kanji Nishihara leaves the shelter that serves as his headquarters. He is not wearing his cap or his jacket. Only the off-white canvas shirt with a small collar which is part of the summer outfit. Behind him, a silent procession of officers, led by General Hirata Masachika.
Nishihara kneels on the ground and places his katana before him. As the sun rises, he bows and draws a short tanto which he wraps in a white cloth before pushing it symbolically near his navel. His orderly then finishes him off with his sword. General Nishihara took note of his defeat as a samurai, by performing seppuku - the "honorable thing". A dozen officers, including Colonel Yamagata, follow their superior in death. Masachika, willy-nilly, receives formal orders to go to Hanoi and, if possible, to Tokyo to transmit Nishihara's report on the progress of the operation.
.........
Tuan Giao, 07:00 - Arriving unexpectedly, four small aircraft, two Ki-76 and two Ki-36, manage to land in the middle of the bomb craters, under the stunned look of the small garrison. They bring some medicines and a few boxes of food.
Officially, they were on a reconnaissance mission. In fact, they have extorted the authorization to carry out a final evacuation of the wounded. Although the majority had already left by road during the night, there remain some untransportable ones, which are installed with care in the small single-engine aircraft.
The air traffic controller and the commander of the 23rd Engineer Regiment thank the pilots for their bravery, but they order them not to return. It is certain that the Westerners will come back to make sure this airfield is never used again.
If three aircraft leave quickly, one of the Ki-76s must first repair a flat tire during landing. This delay allows for mail to be loaded. Many letters contain nail clippings or hair for the family altar, because those who send them anticipate that they will die without seeing their loved ones again.
Two P-40s of the 76th, returning from a morning patrol, spot the small aircraft as it takes off in an easterly direction. Seeing this as an opportunity to easily improve their hunting record, the two Americans dive in, thinking they could settle the matter in a few seconds. But the pilot of the Ki-76 handles his small aircraft with a master's hand and does not intend to let himself get shot down without reacting. The "Stella" proves to be a very restive game for the Curtiss, who have the greatest difficulty in adjusting this adversary which slaloms at ground level on a rough terrain. By trying too hard to copy the maneuvers of this oriental cousin of the Fieseler Storch, one of the Warhawks ends up catching a large tree with its wingtip, almost crashes, and barely makes it back, but without a large piece of wing, has to land on its belly in a clearing in a Vietminh zone. He is left with an injury to his self-esteem while his teammate, cautious lacking fuel, decides to give up.
.........
Dien-Bien-Phu, 09:00 - The artillery of the fortress begins to shell the main known Japanese positions.
10:00 - As the last shell falls, whistles and bugles sound. The 1st REP, the 108th Vietminh Regiment, the Cazin Group and the 10th RIC come out of the trenches. In pairs, P-40s circle over them, both to observe possible enemy movements and to intervene as fire support.
The positions in the hills south and southeast of Dien-Bien-Phu were completely abandoned during the night and the Vietnamese of the 108th Regiment, in particular, are walking amidst rotting corpses, often torn apart by explosions. The smell of carrion and the sound of flies raise the heart.
The only living Japanese are wounded or sick, often left without care for days. As they are unable to flee as to fight, they are taken prisoner - at least that is what the official accounts of the battle will briefly state. In reality, the epilogue of the confrontations is appalling. Several wounded Japanese committed suicide as soon as their capture appeared inevitable. Others waited for someone to approach them before blowing themselves up with a grenade - and with at least one enemy. Some Allied soldiers, especially Vietnamese - perhaps because of this behavior, but sometimes spontaneously - start to massacre the wounded who do not have the decency to kill themselves...
In the northern hills, the Japanese have not yet finished evacuating, hampered by the Vietminh light infantry. A few exhausted living skeletons charge, staggering and collapsing under machine-gun fire and aircraft bombs. A few well armed bunkers offer a longer and more dangerous resistance. Most of the time they are reduced by artillery and even by bombers.
15:00 - The second battle of Dien-Bien-Phu is officially over, as well as operation Typhoon. When it comes time to take stock, the Allied victory is undeniable. It was a real disaster for the Japanese. They lost two divisions: more than 50% of the men were dead or seriously wounded, almost all the heavy equipment had to be abandoned, all the draft horses were dead... Worse, perhaps, the images of the disaster - with those of the few prisoners - will soon appear on the newsreels.

 

[Wings]

July 2nd, 1943

New Georgia - The weather remains overcast over the Solomons. This does not prevent a real armada from heading towards Munda and crossing the coral reef through the Onaiavisi Pass. This was covered by the heavy artillery set up on Rendova and by Ainsworth's cruisers. Pressed by the very tight schedule imposed on him by Halsey, Major-
General Hester chooses to strike a blow right away.
It is the baptism of fire for the 169th and 172nd Infantry Regiments, the bulk of his 43rd Division. They land at Zanana Beach, about 5 miles from Munda airfield. Hester's decision remains disputed today: should he have attempted a frontal assault on the enemy base, even with inexperienced troops, instead of resorting to an indirect strategy in such unfavorable terrain? No doubt he did not imagine to what extent the jungle could be a real enemy... In any case, his troops land without opposition and go into the jungle to reach the Japanese airfield on foot, carving out a route with axes and machetes. The assault on Munda is scheduled for three days from now, on July 5th.
.........
"It's the big bath today! This shouldn't scare a sailor like me, but it's not the ocean that's soaking me, it's the ambient humidity*! I am literally dripping
in my uniform. Simpsons, next to me, looks more comfortable in his shirt arms and shorts. He talks about the Other War, his grandfather fought in Gallipoli... In any case, we have taken foot with the Boys on the island of New Georgia. From the jungle around us, there is a dull and threatening impression, the dark green mountains forming a monstrous wavethat seems to swallow the men as they come ashore. Once on land, we are each given a Thompson machine pistol - the young private who serves as our chaperone explains that he could not ensure our safety alone. Be careful though where we will keep this utensil at night: we are informed that all the material rusts in less than 8 hours without adequate maintenance! And the same for us, it seems that the diseases of the feet are frightening, especially those due to mushrooms. The Americans call it "jungle rot". It promises!" (L.V. Jacques Chambon - op. cit.)
.........
In the afternoon, the twelve fast boats (PT-boats) of the New Georgia Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron arrive in the roadstead of Rendova, their new advanced base, in order to ensure a permanent naval presence and to secure the supply of the 43rd ID.
.........
Shortly after, in spite of the cloudy weather, planes appear! Indeed, Admiral Jinichi Kusaka (commander of the 11th Air Fleet, based in Rabaul) has learned the lesson of the carnage suffered two days earlier. His aircraft (24 G4-M, escorted by 24 Army Zeros and 20 Navy Zeros) approach Segi Point after a large detour to the south to avoid being intercepted.
Unnecessary precaution: the atmospheric conditions on Guadalcanal do not allow the Corsairs to be present that day. The Nipponese quietly bomb the ground troops, who suffer 59 dead and 77 wounded. Many material damages are also inflicted; the field hospital - just completed and fortunately unoccupied - is completely destroyed.
.........
At the beginning of the night, it is the turn of the Imperial Navy to act. A fleet of nine destroyers, led by the light cruiser Yubari, arrives in Blanche Channel and shells the American positions on Rendova and at Segi Point. Their fire lacks accuracy and only scratches the jungle around the Americans. Moved by the sound of the cannon, the PT-boats of Rendova set off in pursuit of the Nipponese, and return with great fanfare, claiming a sunken destroyer.
It was not until daybreak that the truth came out: the two torpedoes fired had finished off the poor transport McCawley, abandoned for two days on its reef! The lieutenant responsible could only show the information he had at his disposal, which stated "the total absence of friendly ships in Blanche Channel at night".
The Japanese ships thus escaped without causing any damage or loss.

* The humidity level in New Georgia reaches 100% in this season!

 

[Wings]

July 2nd, 1943

Korosten - The triumphal reception reserved in Sarny for the German crews contrasts strongly with Vatutin's anger. Of course, the raid did not cause much damage, but it will disrupt the logistics of his Front for several days. It will be necessary to determine why the 3rd Air Army did not do its job properly, why nobody on the ground detected the arrival of the Germans and why no one retaliated effectively. What is the point of having planes if we are unable to prevent a handful of opposing pilots to come and hit one of the most critical points of the sector as they please? We have not finished to hear about it!

 

[Wings]

July 2nd, 1943

Sevastopol - Crimea is officially considered "cleansed" by a joint NKVD and Communist Party inspection. According to the final report, no less than 191,000 Tatars were deported to Central Asia, mainly to Uzbekistan. The non-Russian national minorities were also largely affected:15,000 Soviet citizens of Greek origin, 12,000 of Bulgarian origin, 10,000 of Armenian origin as well as Italians and descendants of German settlers were also transferred. The large Jewish minority, on the other hand, was spared for reasons of foreign policy at the insistence of the CAJ (Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee).
A plan to replace the deportees with Russian or Ukrainian settlers is planned for the post-war period. In the meantime, the commission insists on the need to increase productivity and to develop the use of prison labor and women to replace departures, especially in the agricultural sector.
Local leadership has also undergone profound changes. All the cadres of Tatar origin have been deported: this is the case of Abdul-Celil Menbariyev, president of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) of Crimea, and Ismail Seyfullayevich Seifullayev, chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the SSR. But Russian officials were also displaced, the highest ranking being the First Secretary of the CPSU in Crimea, Vladimir Semenovich Bulatov. More importantly, the region loses its status as an autonomous republic and becomes a simple oblast.
To lead the Crimea, Stalin surprises by calling Alexander Feodorovich Kabanov.
Far from being a senior Party official, Kabanov had made a career in the Stalingrad region and especially in Penza, where he became the leader. A former worker who later chose to turn to agriculture, he had held since June 1942 the secondary position of Deputy People's Commissar for state farms.
The message delivered here is twofold: to strike a blow at the nationalities, which Stalin believed that they had taken advantage of the conflict to assert themselves in too important a way (Pravda will also remind, attacking with force the regionalist deviationism during the summer and autumn of 1943), while at the same time marking its authority over regional cadres and representatives who could also have freed themselves from the Kremlin. In order to confirm the new inflection of Soviet policy towards the regions, Stalin orders Beria to maintain a brigade in the peninsula, officially to protect the deliveries of the Lend-Lease. One can never be too careful.

 

[Wings]

July 2nd, 1943

Ochinese (Corsica) - From a cargo ship that arrived during the night, the Rhino Ferries begin to unload, to the great relief of the crew, a few dozen tons of ammunition but all adapted to single-engine planes. They are loaded on trucks which disappear at once towards the bunkers camouflaged in the Corsican maquis. Then come all impedimenta necessary to the life of several hundreds of men (and some ladies).
.........
A little higher, at the exit of the village of Casta on the departmental road 81, a certain Mr. Hector is negotiating over a pitcher of rosé wine with a local farmer - a tall, moustachioed man, robust forty-something. It is about renting a barn ideally located on the roadside, at the crossroads of a path leading to the now completed works at Ochinese. Hector Garneri sees four huge barrels through the cellar door that has remained open and stops. "The wine you just drank," says the farmer in response to the question Hector had not asked. Both return to their seats, looking serious.