France Fights On (English Translation) - Thread II - To the continent!

[Wings]

February 19th, 1944

Operation Woodwork
Languedoc - Since the day before, the German staff clearly saw that a hole was forming at the junction of the 327. and 708. ID. Not that this hole is worrying: the 104. Panzergrenadier Rgt of the 15. Panzer is positioned on the rear and all the 14th SS PzGr is ready. But the situation still requires a redeployment.
The defense of Saint-Pons de Thomières is left in the hands of the 596. Rgt, while the divisional Kampfgruppe of the 327. ID repositions itself to defend the hills south of Castanet-le-Haut, again in contact with the 708. ID. Finally, the last regiment of grenadiers of the 327. ID is assigned to block the D14 and its surroundings, northwest of Olargues.

Operation Pike
Little by little...
Pays de Sault - To the west of Quillan, the German position drops off sharply towards Bélesta and Puivert. However, the withdrawal is carried out without panic, relying on all the hills and leaving the roads cluttered with fallen trees to delay the enemy. The objective of the the Germans in this sector is to settle on the line of defense that runs along the massif of the Plantaurel, which had been under construction for several weeks.
An American battalion moves onto the N613 towards Quillan, which is beginning to be surrounded.

 

[Wings]

February 20th, 1944

King's Eggs
England - The organization of the preparations for Overlord is becoming more and more visible, from the southern coast of the country. On the air side, the future physical and logistical infrastructure for the temporary airfields that would have to be created on French soil.
Those already existing risk to be unusable for a certain time, covered with bomb craters as they will be soon...
This is how the pilots of the different bases see the arrival of long columns of trucks, GMC or Bedford, filled with various equipment, from canvas tents to mobile kitchens, including tools and ammunition, accompanied by mobile Bofors of DCA. An imposing organization which will take the place of the base by itself. Manston, for example, saw the arrival of Airfield 123 of the 84th Group, which absorbed two squadrons of the RAF on Typhoon and the Belgian squadrons equipped with the same type of aircraft (the name Wing 123 will appear a little later for the whole). No need to guess that future operations would take place on the other side of the Channel!
Especially since the whole 123 will move to Thorney Island to train the teams and pilots to the outdoor life: take-offs and landings on a makeshift, short airfield but also sleeping in tents (in February!), which did not please many pilots, which did not make many pilots happy, including "Cheval" Lallemant, who has a constant cold.

 

[Wings]

February 20th, 1944

Timeo Danaos...
Irredentism
Royal Palace (Athens) - Under the aegis of the Governor of Cyprus, Charles Campbell Woolley, the Royal Greek Government opens discreetly, but also in a good mood, preparatory discussions with the representatives of the Greek community of the island of Aphrodite.
This one is the only one invited, both for obvious reasons of discretion and because it is a majority: Cyprus has about 350,000 Greeks for only 75,000 Turks (to which should be added 3,000 Armenians, 1,750 Maronites and 1,500 members of other ethnic groups).
As a symbol of this very strong numerical superiority, the Cypriot delegation is led by Bishop Makarios, the new bishop of Cyprus and a pan-Hellenicist who notoriously despised the Ottomans. For him, the Greek capital would be much more at home in Constantinople than in Athens! He is notably accompanied by Georgios Grivas, a former officer of the royal Greek army known for his... sharp (even cutting) opinions towards the Turks as well as the communists.
These personalities may seem radical - and they certainly are. They are nevertheless representative of the general opinion of their community on an island that has been British since 1878, but which has been trying for nearly thirty years to rejoin the mother country! The British suspect that the matter is likely to be settled quickly, perhaps even a little too quickly. But this is not the concern of London, whose only stated wish is to keep sovereignty over the bases at Dhekelia and RAF-Nicosia, which are very useful to both the Navy and the RAF.
The fact remains that, for the governor and his team, everything must be organized according to the rules, in order to look like a popular and spontaneous movement - the Empire should not be accused of selling the mandate that has been entrusted to it. To this end, Archbishop Makarios proposes that his powerful Church prepare a great event for March 10th (the day of "Pure Monday" or Kathari Deftera). This would be the starting point for an intense campaign by Grivas and culminating on March 25th - the day of the Independence Day, commemorating the uprising against the Turks in 1821!
The affair was obviously well prepared. The British could only agree. But, a little worried about the future, they will not fail to follow the events very closely - they make it clear to the Interior Minister Philip Manouilidis and to Prime Minister Papandreou. It is up to them to moderate their future compatriots, since they claim to govern them!
..........
In another room of the palace, General Liosis is putting the finishing touches to the deployment of the Greek Army in Northern Epirus. These forces, essentially from the reconstituted royal gendarmerie, represent a substantial effort for the Kingdom. Indeed, they count almost 3,000 men equipped with weapons coming from the maquis or seized from German units captured in Macedonia. This force will soon leave the official Greek territory for this irredentist region. A slight risk with regard to the communists, perhaps, but the reunification of the Hellenes is priceless.
The deployment should start within a week, beginning with the main localities: Korçë, Girokastër and Sarandë on the coast. Although the situation in Albania seems to be easing, there is no question of hanging around!

The complicated Balkans
Everyone loves Tito!
Yugoslavia - It is still raining in the borders of Serbia and Montenegro. But this does not bother Jozip Broz Tito who, well sheltered in his comfortable cave, lets himself go to some confidences in front of his court: Milovan Đilas, Aleksandar Ranković, Edvard Kardelj and, of course Zdenka, his "secretary." The thing is rare - the "Old Man" is known to be very secretive. Is it not said that he even hides the dispatches from Moscow in his boots? His words are all the more important, especially after his return from his mysterious escapade in Greece. What did he say to himself on the Mediterranean? And when does Tito plan to travel to Moscow again to talk with the Little Father of the Peoples, rather than with the decadent capitalists? For it is obvious that the West will never offer AVNOJ one hundredth of the support that the Workers' Paradise provides. Without doubt, most of the weapons dropped into Yugoslavia in the last three years did not come from Soviet arsenals... But now, the Red Army is very close to the borders of Yugoslavia, and it will not be satisfied with sending them some old rifles and a handful of grenades!
Faced with the questions of his comrades, the leader of the Partisans remains little spoken. He questions more than he answers, speaks at length about the state of readiness of his forces in Bosnia, Slovenia and Croatia, questions Đilas about the state of mind in Zagreb, probes Ranković about what he guesses about the intentions of the Western agents present among his troops. Finally, he concludes: "The hour of the Revolution is approaching. I know that my statements and my recent meetings may have caused confusion in people's minds. I will only answer: trust me and love me as I love you. As I love all Yugoslavs!"
- Even the Croats of NDH?" asks Zdenka, sententiously.
- Even the Croats of NDH, who will inevitably come to their senses when the time comes.
Did I ever tell you the story of the little hawk that the comrades gave me? I trained him, fed him meat, taught him to come and rest on my shoulder. One day, once he had grown up, I gave him back his freedom. Well, he came back on his own two days later, on his own, to land on my shoulder so that I could feed him! I think he came back four times before disappearing for good. Ahahah! Since that day, there are comrades who say to me "Every living thing should love a man like you!" I am not worried about the Croats as a people - they are no different from other Yugoslavs. They suffer from fascist oppression as much as the others. They have simply been just a little better stuffed in their heads, thanks to the complicity of some traitors.
- May you be right...
Aleksandar Ranković intervenes, as a good member of the Politburo and head of the AVNOJ police: "History has always proven the Marshal right! Already, at the 5th Congress Conference of the CPY in 1940, he had the wisdom to call for an immediate fight against the fascists, without any hasty actions, but without ever compromising with them*.
- Unfortunately, Aleksandar, the situation has deteriorated even further since then. Yugoslavia is today threatened with implosion in the face of fascist activities and the return of the capitalists.
Firmly seated on the box that serves as his armchair, facing the small assembly that is observing him, the warlord resumes in a professorial tone: "More than ever, our Nation needs a truly popular government to lead the armed resistance, to unite its components and to fight against the attempts to dismember the country. It is not the impostor, the social parasite from Belgrade who will be able to carry out such a task! Why is this so? The history of the Revolution itself teaches us! In Russia, in 1917 - I was there, I can tell you about it - the change came first of all from a bourgeois revolution, supported by the working masses and the liberal middle classes. It was this union that overthrew the tyrant Nicholas II and accomplished the first stage of the revolution. We are now in a similar situation: no one in the country believes in royal power anymore. And we must also unite, otherwise the Yugoslavian countries will be separated and will become English or American protectorates - as they could have become German or Italian - but this time, without even a foreign invasion being necessary. It is up to the Party to oppose this catastrophe now by organizing the popular struggle and unmasking the bourgeois treachery and the violence of the foreign capitalist powers.
Tito gives his audience time to assimilate this somewhat scholastic lesson in communism, before continuing. "That's why it is necessary from now on to work for the union of the proletariat, for the union of the working classes, to eliminate all the possibilities of action of the reactionaries.
By armed struggle if necessary! You have obviously all read my book on this subject**?" All nod in unison. "So don't forget what Lenin said: the proletarian revolution is the highest form of class struggle. And the agitation of the masses caused by the war finally offers us the opportunity."
The speaker opens his arms in an affectionate gesture to his audience. "And thanks to all of you here, we finally have the means. The long experience gained from the war in Spain or from the works of great minds such as Clausewitz or Napoleon - reactionary but valiant nonetheless - will finally bear fruit!"
Milovan Đilas ensures one of the responsories of this ritual: "Our army will be the iron fist of the proletariat, which will lead the struggle and take with it the workers, peasants and the various national liberation movements. In the process, it will neutralize and destroy the old administrative and military system.
- I said it already 3 years ago, on April 15th, 1941: a new world will be born from this bloody imperialist war. A truly fraternal community will be formed on the basis of the real independence of all the peoples of Yugoslavia.
Tito pauses briefly after this self-citation, then continues: "It is true that the comrades in Moscow found me too adventurous at the time - but the reality is there. By the will of the people, I will be the leader of this community. I can, I want and I must be its leader! For the good of all! That is, if Moscow has no objection of course."
Ranković laughs: "No risk - it is also thanks to our information that the Red Army was able to punish the fascist armies that attacked the Soviet Union so quickly***! It is thanks to our participation in the collective effort that the garden of the Workers and Peasants could bloom without fear of invasion!"
Edvard Kardelj cannot help but show a little bitterness: "Yes, we immediately responded to the call of comrade Dimitrov: "The CPY must do everything possible to support and facilitate the just struggle of the revolutionary peoples! Every member of the Party is today a soldier of the Red Army!" Alas, it is a pity that the solidarity of the Red Army took so long to materialize. I don't believe that some of its officers waited like Moša Pijade for 37 nights in a row for supplies that were never to arrive.
This unpleasant historical reminder from the Slovenian intellectual cools the atmosphere for a moment. Everyone here knows that Moša Pijade and his men did indeed freeze for a long time on the plain below Mount Durmitor, hoping for promised help that never came. The Comintern had been content to send recipes for making explosives!
Tito corrects, for the sake of form but with authority: "Comrades, chatter is detrimental to the struggle. Grandfather Ded said it again very recently to our Greek comrades... And besides, at the time of this story, it was not us who were at fault, but our politics judged, I laugh today, too much on the left! That offended me, but I understand now. I understood that the Fatherland of the Workers did not want to support too visibly our fight for fear of triggering a reaction of the capitalists! This explains my recent declarations. But nothing has changed in our project. You all know what our slogan "No return to the old order!" We are not renouncing the Revolution, we are simply now in agreement with the Soviet doctrine which emphasizes the patriotic character of the struggle."
- In the fight against the occupier, the Revolution will find itself!
- Yes, Comrade Đilas! Brilliant! And for this fight we have weapons, men, women, and even boats! Ah - and two airplanes I believe, although I'm not sure they can fly anymore. Too bad comrade Jovanović is not with us, he could have confirmed it to me. Finally, everyone knows the good he is doing now in Slovenia.
Indeed, everyone knows that Arso Jovanović is near Ljubjana. And this for a simple reason: if Tito sent him there, it was to get rid of him! Without succeeding completely, because this former captain of the Yugoslav army is decidedly distinguished by his narrow-mindedness and his innumerable blunders. Indeed, as soon as he arrived in Slovenia, this Montenegrin refused with morgue to take into account the opinions of the CPS and the Executive Committee of the National Liberation Front, and even to receive their representatives! Worse, he ordered a series of changes which strongly displeased the local partisans. Obligation to wear the red star. Arbitrary changes in the general staff in favor of his Serbian relatives (all of whom arrived armed to the teeth, proud to be "terrifying"!). Finally, deployment of the Slovenes in Croatia (south of the Kolpa river), on the grounds that Slovenia would not be "a suitable terrain for mass combat of Partisans"! Kardelj himself had to be summoned to stop the massacre and - unprecedented situation for a military leader - to forbid him to carry out any action without the express agreement of the central staff! The contentious measures were of course immediately repealed, but this was not enough to completely calm the discontent. As Kardelj was to try later - in vain - to explain to him, "if a regular army can move as it pleases, a revolutionary army must grow from its own revolutionary roots in its own country". To stir up Slovenian mistrust, which is still strong, by trying to impose a centralizing reform by force was the last thing to do.
This was not Jovanović's first attempt. It is not for nothing that Kardelj calls him "one of those former staff officers who do not understand that the methods of partisan warfare are very different from those of frontal warfare." An illustration of this costly and long-standing misunderstanding: on December 1st, 1941, in Levja (Sandzak province), he massacred nearly five hundred fighters (203 dead and 269 wounded) by ordering stupid frontal attacks against the Germans.
However, Tito appointed him to the supreme command in Slovenia - the old man is really faithful in friendship****. Sensing the dark thoughts of everyone, Josip Broz says in a loud voice: "Brotherhood and unity, comrades! They said we were dead, finished, having given up the World Revolution! And yet we are still here, more powerful than ever! With the AVNOJ, we touch the goal! So be demanding with your men, but also learn to forgive. As I forgave Comrades Kardelj and Đilas, here present, for providing me with passports of a deplorable quality, or for making me linger two months in Istanbul."
All with a big smile - obviously returned. If the old man forgives easily, he forgets much less easily... Cordiality does not exclude control*****.
- And I don't need to tell you that there is nothing to forgive to Marshal Stalin, who will soon send us a military mission that is announced to be large, and who has agreed not to a loan, but a substantial donation. Isn't that right, Comrade Đilas?
- That's right, Tito. When I mentioned paying back, he said, "You offend me. You spill your blood and you want me to accept that you pay me back money that you have used to acquire weapons. I am not a merchant. We are not merchants!"
- There, he honors us with his trust. He has always had ours. This is not the case with the Western capitalists who support us by opportunism. Do not lower your guard, friends! I think I have made myself clear? On the other hand, we must open wide the doors of the Party to all repentant people. Even to the former soldiers of Mihailovic, that old rascal who boasted about our exploits, with whom we shared our booty and who kept trying to stab us in the back.******
Realizing that his judgment might be misinterpreted, Tito immediately corrects:
"Although, on reflection, I had nothing against Draza himself. But he was badly surrounded by untrustworthy officers, undisciplined drunks, looters, rapists! Those who are now in Belgrade! Hey, who knows if the English were not behind some fratricidal clashes - that Hudson who advised Draza..."
At that moment, a large German shepherd emerges from the shadows to pounce on the Marshal. The leader of the Partisans abandons his speech to flatter, caress and embrace the affectionate animal, who multiplies the strokes of his tongue.
- Oh that's a good dog! Tiger, you are more loyal than the English, I'm sure! Loyal like your predecessor Luks! I hope you won't suffer the same fate. No, surely not - the bad days are over!
The whole AVNOJ knows the story of Luks, the faithful companion of the chief who sacrificed himself during the 1942 fights to protect his master who was wounded in the arm. The dog lay down in the middle of Tito's head, falling on his face "like a full sack of wheat" (a dirty, stinking, flea-infested sack) at the risk of suffocating him, despite his master's attempts to push him away. Then, just as his master was about to hit him, Luks suddenly shivered to fall dead on the stunned Croatian. The dog had just taken a shrapnel that, without him, would have decapitated Tito!
The story is beautiful - and even authentic. It is also inspiring: many Partisans would be ready to imitate poor Luks, if one day it proved necessary...

Churchill on a mission
Democracy
House of Commons (London) - It is not yet tea time when the old Lion takes the podium for a "short" statement about his recent Mediterranean tour (which obviously does not include his stopover in Moscow...). In front of the MPs, Churchill will try to find the right tone to defend the colossal efforts made by the Crown in the Balkan theater. A theater, it must be said, where the forces of His Majesty have encountered many problems and some frustration... But the Prime Minister is enthusiastic, especially since he believes he has now secured his back. So, after having explained and defended his exchanges with the Greek and Yugoslav governments, he concludes...
"I wish to draw your attention, Ladies and Gentlemen, to the extreme complexity of the domestic politics of these two kingdoms. In our beloved London, much is said about these countries - some of them correct. Others, according to my information, are the opposite. In any event, hours of debate over many days would be necessary for the House to grasp all the subtleties of our positions in Greece or Yugoslavia. I cannot emphasize enough that these positions have been achieved only with the greatest of efforts, and despite of other concerns which are at least as serious.
I therefore address your Honourable House to remind you that we are not only talking about the future of the Kingdom of Greece or the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, but also that of many other countries in Europe, which are under such terrible torments while their soldiers, inside and outside these countries, have valiantly assisted us in the fight against the Enemy. The House will therefore, I am sure, continue to place its confidence in my person to direct our intervention in this region, and to define at the same time the tone, the personality, the character and above all the purpose. This is the meaning of my appeal, as well as of my intervention of last November 19th."
This prayer does not seem to convince the House, agitated by "various movements". Obviously, Members of Parliament are less sensitive than in the past to Churchillian flights of fancy. For the Labour Party, in particular, the Balkans are an ideal angle of attack to weaken the Bulldog, while the Victory in Europe seems close. We know the man's taste for expensive expeditions. Why waste time and money supporting regimes that are dubious from the point of view of democracy? Why persist in carrying at arm's length faltering kings, and sometimes showing worrying bouts of authoritarianism?
As a politician, Churchill chose to anticipate the criticism that would inevitably be directed at him. The record of the House will reflect this.
The Prime Minister - Before I go into the fate of particular nations or regions, I would like to tell the House about the attacks that have been made on us. It has been said that we are using Her Majesty's forces to disarm the friends of Democracy in the Balkans, and to muzzle movements which have heroically assisted us. This is an important accusation, to which I wish to reply at once.
Certainly, Her Majesty's Government would be untrustworthy if it used the forces of the Commonwealth and its allies to disarm the democrats of Greece or other countries and to support authoritarian regimes. Nevertheless, the question has been asked, so it must be answered.
But first, it is necessary to ask: "Who are the true friends of Democracy, and which Democracy are we talking about?" My idea of this regime is that it allows the simple, modest and common man - the most ordinary of men, with his wife and family, who fights for his country when he has to - that it allows this man, therefore, to go to the polls under certain circumstances, and to put a cross on his ballot to designate the candidate he wishes to see elected to parliament. This is the essence of democracy. And according to this same essence, it is essential that this man...
Dr. Edith Summerkill (West Fulham) - Or that woman!
The Prime Minister - I apologize. I always assume that the Man unless the context suggests otherwise. So, it is essential that this man or woman can do this without fear, and without any form of intimidation or oppression.
He or she puts the ballot of his or her choice into the ballot box in strict secrecy, and then the elected representatives gather and decide together what policy and government they want for their country. This is Democracy. I salute it, I embrace it and I work for it.
Mr. Shinwell (Seaham) - Like in Spain!
The Prime Minister - I am not afraid to get involved in this subject, but the one we are dealing with now is enough for now. It is a gross misrepresentation to say, as some people do, that I once praised Franco. On the other hand, I have always maintained - and I am prepared to maintain it to this day - that Spanish politics is far more complex than the crude picture that people have of it. It is totally useless to grimace in the face of adversity as if we were swallowing a bitter potion.
Mr Shinwell (Seaham) - The Honourable Prime Minister is right. Alas, that is precisely what I am doing, as are many others in this country, when I hear about the events in Greece and the tremors in Yugoslavia.
The Prime Minister - I would not comment on the opinion of the "many others" referred to by the Hon. Gentleman, for they are quite entitled to have their views on the matter. And as for the Honorable Gentleman being concerned about it, I expect he has other unpleasant medicines to swallow on many other subjects before the end of the conflict - I shall not fail to present them to him with the utmost respect. So I repeat that I will not engage today in a debate about Spain. In my comments on Democracy, as in the attitude which I have maintained at all times since Providence brought me to responsibilities, and even generally in all the political opinions I have expressed throughout my life, I have always favored the establishment of elections by direct universal suffrage. This is the basis of Democracy, and the heart of my politics.
But I have very different feelings for another form of Democracy, or rather for a twisted regime that pretends to be democratic because it claims to be left-wing. It takes the expression of all parties to create Democracy, not just one - be it socialist or communist. I say that a party is democratic because it practices a permanent one-upmanship leading it to the most extreme forms of revolution. I cannot accept that a party that claims to represent the whole population advocates violence - most often with all the more ardor that it is in fact a minority party. I cannot accept anything of this kind in a democracy.
I have too much respect for this regime, and its name should not be used lightly. Violent revolution is the law of the mob, not of the people, a law imposed by gangs of heavily armed gangsters, taking over police stations and places of power and imposing a totalitarian regime with an iron hand...
Mr Gallacher (West Fife) - The hon. Prime Minister has just given an eloquent description of some of the so-called allied regimes!
The Prime Minister - I am in despair at being met with such misunderstanding! [Churchill resumes in a louder voice]. I have all the time in the world, and the outbursts of my honourable political opponents will not prevent me from expressing my thoughts. They can only slow down the demonstration, which would of course be regrettable. I therefore repeat that the last thing that represents democracy would be the law of the gangs and the desire to introduce a totalitarian regime where anyone can be shot at - and believe me, in politics today there are many, many opportunities to do so, especially the politically inconvenient and who is often accused (usually wrongly) of having collaborated with the Germans. Let's not let Democracy stoop so low as to become a simple game of power grabbing where you assassinate whoever disagrees with you. That is the antithesis of Democracy.
Mr Gallacher (West Fife) - That is not what has happened - at least not on the part of the movements that the Honourable Prime Minister is targeting. Which movements, by the way, have been armed by His Majesty's arsenals.
The Prime Minister - The Honourable Member of Parliament should not get so excited - he is only fanning the flames controversy and division. I have spent eleven years alone in this House to make my views known. So he too has hope... This being the case, and without going back to my previous description, I must remind you that our duty is to ensure that, in the liberated countries, the People - and not a mass of bandits from the mountains or the countryside - assume power. But they will certainly not assume it by overthrowing parliaments, governments or legal states. During this war, of course, we had to arm anyone who could help us bring down the Hun. Beyond that, there was no question of questioning our partners about their personalities, their convictions and their past actions. If they wanted to kill German, they were our friends and we were eager to help them satisfy that healthy desire.
Mr Mac Govern (Shettleston, Glasgow) - And now we are paying for it!
The Prime Minister - We are paying for it with the debate we are having today, which, at the moment, I personally find inspiring. We are paying for it with our gold rather than with our blood or with our defeat. It was never intended that once these countries were liberated, that those who have received arms from us should indulge in violence and murder to bloody traditions and overthrow powers to which the populations concerned are - I believe - are firmly attached to. If helping Democracy consists in favoring coups d'état committed by gangs without legitimacy but with an iron fist, composed of thugs wishing to rise to power without a vote ever having been cast in their favor, I believe that the entire House will be united in calling this a farce. I do not believe that having fought valiantly in the face of the enemy gives one the right to come forward and say "We are the Saviors of the Nation, and therefore must be its Leaders. This is our reward, we must now reign in Majesty." This behavior differs only slightly from the regime that the oppressed people had to endure under the boot of the Reich.
Dr. Haden Guest (Islington North) - To whom are these generalities addressed? To the Greeks or to the Yugoslavs?
The Prime Minister - To all those who want to restore democracy and civilization. [Hubbub] The honourable members of the Opposition must learn to give as much as they receive. Interruptions, shouts and clamors are useless - I have heard them as well as seen their authors. Just as I now see the honourable members of the Majority laughing at this behaviour. May they be satisfied that it is only a laugh.
So, as I said, I support the supporters of Democracy and universal suffrage. It would be unthinkable that after three years of German tyranny, these values should be liquidated and thrown away in a series of social wars. Even the most imperfect systems evolve if they are given time - I leave it to the honorable members of the Opposition to ponder this sentence, which will surely inspire their behavior.
If the friends of Democracy and its supposedly muzzled defenders are so sure that they are expressing the wishes of our People, why don't they wait for the judgment of the ballot box? What is our policy in all the nations through which our armies pass? To favor the formation of a government of national unity before the end of the conflict, then the choice in conscience of the future of this nation by the people who live there. It is the same in the countries mentioned, and Her Majesty's services are working hard on it every day.
Mr. Shinwell (Seaham) - Has not the hon. Prime Minister at other times felt similar fears about the French Republic?
The Prime Minister - What a small remark, and yet what an inspiration. It is not a question of France. I have feelings for Prime Minister De Gaulle******* that are out of all proportion to the leaders of other countries. Like his predecessor, the present President Reynaud, he is a man of honor, who has never reneged on his word. To his country as well as to the Kingdom. Nevertheless, the comparison has a value: with our fraternal support, in terrible times, which, thank God, have little to do with the ones we are experiencing now, our valiant ally has risen from the brink of the abyss and has not ceased to wield the Glaive of Justice at our side. This, everywhere in the world and notably on its own territory. All this without abandoning the founding principles of its democracy: the elections held last year are proof of this. It is not to be feared that the same support from us will have opposite effects elsewhere - which obviously argues for a reinforcement of this support depending on the reality of the situation on the ground.
Mr Bowles (Nuneaton) - And what about Italy? The Honourable Prime Minister once supported Mussolini!
Prime Minister - In 1928? That's right, if you call the fact that I made speeches congratulating myself on the fact that Rome has not fallen into Bolshevism.
Mr. Shinwell (Seaham) - And where was the Democracy touted by the Honorable Prime Minister? Who is to say today that the same support from us will not have the same effect as it did twenty years ago in this country?
The Prime Minister - We must trust the wisdom of each individual and not intervene in the internal affairs of others. Our role is only to ensure that violence or the threat of violence is not used by one side against the other.
Mr Shinwell (Seaham) - The alliance of the best men under our patronage?
The Prime Minister - I will not go against the advice of the hon. Gentleman when the Truth comes out accidentally from his mouth from time to time. I will add, however, that it is now evident that the admirable advance of the Russian armies... [Hubbub on the Conservative benches: "Bolsheviks!" throw out many voices, to which a few voices reply, across the way: "Soviets!" - but Churchill pretended to have only heard the first ones]. Oh no, certainly not. It is a pernicious remark. Some members of the Assembly are always trying to capture or distort my thinking. That's also why debates on foreign policy are so difficult. I will not be disrespected for the splendid patriots of the army that drove the Hun from Russian soil.
So, these armies, in their heroic and triumphant march towards the heart of the Reich, obviously assume tasks similar to ours, with difficulties all the greater that the Hun, in his malice, has carefully ravaged the land he could not keep. In this sense, marshal Stalin shows a great spirit of responsibility, without the future of these regions has been decided. The question is: can we go back on our word and do less than Marshal Stalin? Can we wash our hands of the future of the peoples who have trusted us, to whose rescue we
who have trusted us, to whose aid we have gone, and who, tomorrow perhaps, will suffer the onslaught of extremists of all kinds? Yes, from those who have welcomed our army with all the more eagerness because they already imagined that it would offer them power and would only pass?
The Athens conference, organized with our French allies, ended as everyone knows on a brilliant success. It proves in itself the rightness of our policy and the eminent necessity of its continuation. This undertaking was carried out successfully thanks to the wisdom of the participants, experienced and venerable personalities... [A shout from the floor: "Just like you!"] Yes, just like me! This wisdom allowed for the formation of a government that brought together all of Greek society, from the left and the right. In doing so, the conservative members of this same government wisely chose to keep silent and even forget a number of documented crimes committed by ELAS...
Mr Gallacher (West Fife) - Not true!
The Prime Minister - In this country we are trying to have a debate. The hon. Gentleman, whom I am sure he will admit has been treated with the utmost respect and consideration, must now learn to keep his mouth shut. ELAS has not hesitated, in its time, to murder members of the EKKA and even to collaborate with the Germans against the EDES, thus favoring the reign of the Reich in Greece and facilitating its hideous reprisals, organized with the tacit approval of its own security battalions.
Of course, we cannot tolerate such actions - but we can accept that they should be postponed to avoid rekindling the wounds of division and the fire of civil war. It will of course be the same in Yugoslavia, for all parties, Chetniks and communists. This is the mission that His Majesty's forces have set themselves, according to my directives, in order to help this unfortunate country in the best possible way.
If I am to be blamed today for this decision, I gladly accept my resignation into the hands of the House. But if the House wishes to place its confidence in me, you may be sure that I shall persist in this course, which is that of Justice, Law and Democracy. The Royal Government of Greece [Shouting on the benches: "Why royal?"] and of Yugoslavia [New cries: "With its Quisling!"] count on our help and our wisdom.
I hope I have stated as clearly as possible my position concerning both the world, the war and the Government. I am not afraid of its consequences, nor of the examination that may be made of it later. No man of sense and good will who can examine it, no test that could be inflicted upon it, will be able to show that we are pursuing a reactionary policy that hinders the expression of the National Will of the liberated countries that suffered under the Nazi boot from returning to a normal state. The House can judge, and if it allows me to do so, we will work towards this goal tomorrow, with our customary ardor and our unshakeable confidence in the future.
.........
"Of course, the House vote was a success for the Prime Minister: you don't change a winning team (especially a world war) on the pretext of a disagreement on a minor issue - at least as seen from London. However, the result was not the expected triumph: a significant part of the MPs chose to abstain on this particular point of English policy.
Churchill could of course be satisfied with the absence of votes against him, but if the old man was smiling with a havana and waving the V of victory as he exited Westminster, he would nonetheless speak in his memoirs of a "complex affair".
Indeed, the alarm was serious. The House, and through it public opinion, was alarmed by the situation in Greece and especially in Yugoslavia. A situation on which it had however only rumors or censored articles! Who knows what the man in the street in London would have thought of the actions of the Yugoslavian Corps, or if he had known that the Allied troops were forced to act as an interposition force in Kosovo...
The breach had been opened, and could not be closed again: the policy of King Peter II had indeed become a subject of interest to the British, and one that engaged the credibility of the Prime Minister! A subject of discord - a political risk factor even. The consequences were soon to be felt, in the form of ever more intense pressure from London on Belgrade and on the French, who were still supposed to sponsor the royal government." (Robert Stan Pratsky, The Liberation of Greece and the Balkans, Flammarion, 2005)

* From October 19th to 23rd, 1940, 108 delegates had met in Dubrava (in Croatia) to study the future orientation that it was advisable to give to the Party, under the close monitoring of Moscow. In reality, Tito had decided precisely the opposite: namely, not to oppose immediately the "fascists"...
** Technique and Strategy of the Armed Insurrection - a study written by Tito between February and March 1941 for a conference held at the Party school.
*** In the spring of 1942, the CPY sent to Moscow numerous reports of troop movements towards Romania, of armored vehicles bearing the words "Nach Moskau" and even of conversations between drunken officers bragging at the bar that they were "going to get cut through Russia like butter."
**** Tito later wrote: "The Slovenes will never forgive me, because this man did all kinds of things in their country. But I still managed to free myself from his presence during the final offensives!"
***** This was the case with his friendly relationship with the writer Miroslav Krleža, who returned to Belgrade on his own initiative in 1945, although he had been in the Soviet Union for many years. He returned to Belgrade on his own initiative in 1945, although he was very critical of the Titist government. When Tito was informed, he received him very coldly in his office, without shaking his hand and ordering him curtly to sit down in front of him. Half an hour later, he invited him to lunch. However, the camaraderie born of the First World War had its limits - Krleža later told young Communist cadres: "You have no idea what the Party is (...) it is a grinder that grinds."
****** Tito is referring here to the episode of the capture of Užice in 1941, after which Partisans and Chetniks shared 15,000 rifles and 5 million dinars in cash. The CPY leader hoped to conclude a lasting cease-fire with his rivals - but two days later, Chetnik emissaries asked the Wehrmacht for additional weapons "to fight against the Communists"!
******* Churchill, for the sake of clarity, called De Gaulle, President of the Council, Prime Minister so that he would not be confused with the President of the Republic.

 

[Wings]

February 20th, 1944

Poland
Operation Storm
Occupied Poland - Continuation of the "audits" requested by London, in a feverish, even dangerous confusion, further increased by the sometimes worrying, sometimes encouraging (depending on one's point of view) that arrive from the front. The reports, established in a hurry and in disregard of a great number of security rules (the Occupation forces have detected many things, they simply misunderstand their nature!), will begin to be transmitted tomorrow - at least for their first elements.
.........
Lvov District - Strangely quiet situation in the city, despite the approaching front and the extreme lightness (some would say weakness) of the German security apparatus, entrusted for the most part to two battalions of the 454. Sicherung Division. However, the fire smolders under the embers...
.........
Lublin District - The SS under Sepp Dietrich, whose new panzers and abundant ammunition convoys seemed to have crossed the city with great fanfare, new panzers and abundant convoys of ammunition, did not go unnoticed by the Armia Krajowa forces guarding the area. These forces are commanded by Colonel Kazimierz Tumidajski "Marcin" - a glorious former member of the Austro-Hungarian army and then of the Polish army, whose son was executed by the Germans and whose daughter was deported to Ravensbrück. And they are substantial, on the scale of the Secret Army. Two divisions - the 3rd and 9th - with three regiments each, for a total of 16,000 men, further reinforced in recent days by several hundred men from Vilnius and Nowogródek.
Thanks to these fugitives, Tumidajski knows perfectly well what to expect from the Reds: nothing at all, except duplicity and treachery. And he also knows that the passage of these scum in black does not augur well for them... as for the Reich, moreover, considering the haste of their ascent to the front! He deduces that there is something to be gained from the situation.

 

[Wings]

February 20th, 1944

Burma Campaign
Occupied Burma - Although the airfield of Kampong Ulu had almost ceased to exist the day before, the Americans, leaving nothing to chance, launch a new Liberator raid to drive the point home.
In the north, the Allies repeat the operation of the previous day. This surprises the Japanese even more that until now, their adversaries had never used the same attack pattern twice in a row. The damage is significant and the Japanese lose another three Shoki against two P-40 (whose pilots were recovered!).

Indochina Campaign
Tet offensive
Cambodia - The newspaper Nagaravata, official mouthpiece of the so-called Khmer Republic, publishes an exceptional issue devoted to the defense of the city of Neak Leung, capital of the district of Peam Ror, where the main ferry service on the Mekong River south of Phnom Penh is located. Son Ngoc-Thanh, who himself took up the pen, proclaimed that "the Vietnamese invaders" would never be able to seize the fortifications built to stop them.

 

[Wings]

February 20th, 1944

Baltic
Operation Beowulf
Headquarters of the Marineoberkommando Ostsee (Kiel), 10:00 - Informed of the latest weather forecast, Vice-Admiral Kummetz orders the execution of Beowulf for the night of February 22nd to 23rd.
February. Indeed, the weather forecast calls for overcast weather over the Baltic Sea and the Baltic countries on the 22nd at the end of the day, but the night should be clear. The weather will deteriorate again on the morning of the 23rd. Although the rain will reduce the effect of the fires, it will also make it more difficult for the reaction of the Soviet air force.
.........
Danzig - At the end of the day, the nine U-boots designated for the operation leave for their patrol areas, which extend from the Åland Islands to the Irbe Strait.

Operation Neptun
The Flying Dutchman
Lida and Navahroudak region - The Wehrmacht's Neptun counter-offensive attempts to gain speed. This is logical: seen from Rastenburg, the recent and increasingly serious setbacks of HG NordUkraine only make it more urgent to succeed.
Problem for the Germans: the weather is really nice today in Belarus. And Naumenko's 2nd Air Army throws all its weight into the balance, vigorously relaunched by a Zhukov still perplexed by the German motivations, but fearing the means that the Heer could have at its disposal. The Soviet is right to worry: the XL. PanzerKorps (Eberhard Rodt) and XLVI. PanzerKorps (Franz Westhoven) pass Skidal, east of Hordna. Driving as fast as possible on bad roads, three armored divisions and two infantry divisions will arrive tomorrow morning in Bielica and in the Lida area. It is true that these will be tested by the long journey - but they represent a significant contribution to the 4. PanzerArmee, which might be able to tip the balance.
Aggravating circumstance: they were not spotted by the VVS, whose reconnaissance logically look for enemy armored reserves much closer to the front.
But for the time being, the infantry of the LXIII. ArmeeKorps of Ernst Dehner is only supported by the 10. Panzergrenadier (August Schmidt) and the 501. schw. Pz Abt (Major Erich Löwe), which had crossed the Niemen in the night. From Naharodavičy, the 304. ID (Ernst Sieler) completes the breakthrough of the Soviet lines still too stretched to finally enter the Dziatlava plain.
Several villages fall around this crossroads town: Pahiry, Žukovŝina, Norcevičy...
While the infantry goes to work to capture it, Schmidt and Löwe undertake to bypass the inevitable bottleneck from the north and turn toward Novajaĺnia.
The panzers then encounter a violent counterattack by the armored regiments of Kuzma Galitsky, whose 2nd Shock Army undertakes to pivot to his right to receive the enemy and to assist the 3rd Guards of Zakharkin. The presence of fresh Bolshevik troops so close to the Niemen is the umpteenth unpleasant surprise for von der Chevallerie, who has nothing to throw in the battle in order to outbid! In order not to risk being cut off from their bases, the panzers have to turn back... And in the evening, we are still fighting around Dziatlava, on a front fluctuating according to the hours, the woods and the relief, but following roughly a Razvaža-Dziatlava-Viedravičy line.
At the end of this second day, Neptun is already behind! Especially since, due to lack of support, the 290. ID (Gerhard Henke) is still advancing cautiously. It takes Vsieliub, having progresses 18 kilometers in two days against an opponent who is still inferior in number, although it is getting stronger...
.........
HQ of the 1st Belorussian Front (Vilnius) - In their new premises, close to the Lithuanian front but far from the place of the confrontations - 125 kilometers away, in Belarus - Georgi Zhukov and Vassily Sokolovsky still have difficulty in understanding what the Fascists want to come to... The left wing of the HG Mitte attacks in difficult terrain, with obviously limited means, in a strategically worthless area, and while its right wing undergoes the assaults of the 2nd Belorussian Front of Konstantin Rokossovky! Does the Reich have such a poor opinion of its opponents that it imagines it can envelop them? Or is this action just a pathetic, unplanned attempt to relieve the pressure on positions close to collapse?
Zhukov knows perfectly well that the forces of his Front are exhausted by the almost uninterrupted succession of offensives ordered since January 17th. And he also knows that he has no right to make mistakes, being now more than ever under Moscow's surveillance after his last outburst in front of Kaunas. This tough rider is not particularly playful - however, he senses that there is something to be gained from this story, if only to regain the initiative. The Fascists don't have as many panzers as they used to - and if those arriving in Belarus came from Lithuania? So he asks, confidentially, Sokolovsky to study a plan for a sudden offensive from the eastern bank of the Niemen to Marijampolė, intended to graft onto Vistula-Warsaw while covering its right flank. A sort of Šiauliai bis, which would complete the collapse of the Fascist Army Group Center and would eventually aim at Königsberg. Obviously, to do this, the Baltic Fronts have to collaborate - a challenge, given recent events! To this end, the marshal is preparing to personally plead his cause with Moscow - and therefore with Stalin, obviously.

Vistula-Warsaw Offensive
The Valkyrie
Baranavitchy region - On the banks of the Shara, the carnage continues. The 1. PanzerArmee of Josef Harpe, even reinforced by the Armee Abteilung Neptun, has difficulties to face the full anger of the 2nd Belorussian Front as well as the VVS.
The 3rd Shock Army definitely breaks through the Katastrophenlinie. The Korps Abteilung F of Friedrich Hochbaum is thrown back westward into the Maĺkovičy woods, while the 387. ID of Werner von Eichstätt gets stuck on the plain, towards Lanсavіčy and Mіliavіčy, still holding on to some of the cover. Faced with the weakness of the opposition, Maksim Purkayev very civilly gives his comrade Alexei Panfilov the signal to start... And the 7th Armored Corps moves south towards Zelva, in the hope of cutting one of the three roads connecting the 1. PzA to the General Government. But Zelva is not just a crossroads: it is also the location of the HQ of the XXXIX. PanzerKorps (Otto Schünemann) - which holds the entire center of the German system. And to defend it, there is nothing but a few elements of the 221. SicherungDivision and the Hetzer of the 236. StuG Abt (Major Rolf Brede), held there in reserve... In the evening, the T-34s have already passed the Dziarečyn crossing and are heading towards their objective, while the Heer tries to improvise a defense in the woods of Dolgopolichi while waiting for the return of the 20. Panzer, which is to strike the enemy from the rear.
Fortunately for Schünemann, in the center, the 15th Army is still not making any real progress. Grigori Kulik shows, as usual, an almost complete incompetence. Of course, he advances - the enemy redeploys... But far from taking advantage of the opportunity, the Soviet marshal moves his troops forward only after a meticulous and useless artillery preparation. In short, he loses time. Staraya Golynka and the road from Masty to Slonim are taken - it took three days to cover 13 kilometers.
On the Slonim side, due to lack of manpower, and in order to avoid a fatal encirclement in the ruins of the city, Eberhard Kinzel starts to extract his 337. ID from the rubble to reposition it behind the locality, according to a Vorob'i-Tushevichi arc. Obviously, it is to move backwards to better jump. But Kinzel hopes that the 4th Guards Army will take time to come and he prays that, by then, his neighbors will have pushed the enemy back.
For Ivan Muzychenko, despite the ruins, snipers and mines, the bank of the Shara is therefore now deemed clear for 12 kilometers long and 3 wide.
To his left, in the area of Čemiely, the 29th Army finally reaches the heart of the battle. Under a storm of Sturmovik, it brutally pushes back the 227. ID (Friedrich von Scotti) from Kozina to Kozel. Three kilometers only... but it is enough to cut the road to Slonim, forcing Martin Unrein to deploy his 18. Panzer and the 905. StuG Abt (Major Jobst Veit Braun). The 3. SS-Panzer Totenkopf (Hermann Priess) assisted by the 203. StuG Abt (Hauptmann Gerhard Behnke) still faces the 54th Army, while the 23. Panzer (Nikolaus von Vormann), each day more blunt, covers the flank ... It is the air call that Rokossovsky and Serguei Roginski were waiting for - after two days of bloody and fruitless assault, their troops finally manage to clear a bridgehead towards Mahilicy and to hold on to it for the night.
.........
Volodymyr-Volynsky region - Cold, dry and invigorating. A beautiful weather worthy of the Russian winter settles on the plains of Ukraine, making the snow and frost glisten in the sun, stuck to the tracks of the T-34s of the 3rd Belorussian Front. And for Rodion Malinovsky, these are the victories that sparkle and follow one another...bursting out of Ustyluh and pushing back improvised groups, sometimes brave, sometimes trembling with terror, the 5th Armored Corps (Semyon Krivoshein) seizes Teratyn and continues towards Chelm with the 4th Shock Army (Ivan Maslennikov) in its wake. As for the 4th Tank Army of Dmitri Lelyushenko, it finishes crossing the Niemen and is now cutting straight towards Zamość, followed by the 5th Army (Mikhail Potapov).
On the right flank, Vasily Chuikov's 37th Army has just been attached to the 3rd Belarusian Front. It crosses the Kuriya River at Tursk to advance towards Lyuboml - thus covering Krivoshein in its crazy race towards the west. Taking advantage once again of the offensive to question the men in the ranks, Vassily Grossman gets closer to the famous 393rd Rifle Division, which was much talked about in Lutsk.
"The 393rd Division is commanded by Colonel Zinoviev. This Hero of the Soviet Union was born in 1905 in a peasant family: "I am a muzhik!" In 1927, he joined the Red Army and served first in Central Asia, in the border guards.
During the Finnish campaign, he commanded a company. Fifty-seven days he remained surrounded. It was there that he was named Hero of the Soviet Union.
"The most terrible thing about the Finns is when they crawl. You shoot at them with a machine gun, you shoot at them with machine guns, you shoot at them with mortars, you shoot at them with artillery, and they crawl, they crawl, they crawl! From now on, I ask the same thing of my soldiers: crawl!"
He comes out of the Academy [Frunze], but he has difficulty expressing himself. He hesitates, he gets confused and feels his simplicity as an embarrassment. But he no longer hesitates when he talks about his men.
The key figure in the war is the soldier of the Red Army," says Zinoviev, "because he puts his life on the line, he puts himself on the line. His life is at stake, he sleeps in the snow at minus 35 degrees. But giving one's life is not so easy.
Everyone wants to live, and heroes also want to live. Authority must be gained through a daily exchange with the soldiers, through a daily discussion. With the soldiers, you have to discuss, sing, dance. But the authority of the commander must not be arbitrary, it must be of quality. I learned that from my service on the front. He who fights must not only know the goal, he must also understand it. When the soldier believes in it, he will do whatever needs to be done and put his life on the line. The village must be occupied, the road must be cut. I know it: they will occupy it, they will cut it off."
The 393rd is a division of miners. Nothing but miners from the Donbass, all volunteers.
The Germans call it the "Black Division". These miners-soldiers did not want to back down.
"We will not let a single Fascist go beyond the Dnieper!" They call their division commander "Our Chapaev*".
During the first fighting of the invasion, one hundred German armored vehicles attacked the division and the miners repelled the attack. When the enemy breached the division's flank, Zinoviev rushed on horseback in front of the first line, shouting "Miners forward!" And the Red Army soldiers replied, "Miners do not retreat!" These fighters are not afraid of the tanks: "At the bottom of the mine, it is much more frightening!" they said.
No doubt. However - and these brave Soviet miners ignore it as much as their opponents - but in front of them, the I. SS-PanzerKorps of Sepp Dietrich has finished disembarking from its trains and is now advancing from Lublin towards Krasnystaw (thus in the sector between Chelm and Zamość) with a caution stemming from the contradictory information he received...
As for the Soviet left wing, it continues to push the German defenses northeast of Sokal and continues towards the Lower Carpathians, with Rzeszów in its sights. The 11th Mechanized Corps (Viktor Obukhov) is in Telatyn, the 50th Army (Konstantin Golubev) a little behind in Poturzyn. And the other formations of the sector go to Lytovezh and Kryłów, to break through as well. In doing so, they also head for a place that, for the time being, the whole world does not know about: Bełżec.

Lvov-Kovel Offensive
Wotan's spear
Lutsk and Kovel region (northern Ukraine) - The 6. Armee, whose device on the Styr was overthrown the day before by the breakthrough of the 7th Mechanized Corps, now tries to defend the Stokhid - that is to say the left of the 3. PanzerArmee - by using the terrain for yet another delaying battle.
The 389. ID (Walter Hahm) runs through the forest to Prylisne (crossing the Lioubechiv-Lutsk road, the main route to the north), pursued by the 61st Army.
As for the 218. ID (Viktor Lang), it slips from Lisove to Manevychi, having given up to defend the woods against the multiple infiltrations of Ivan Tutarinov, whose Cossack methods find a new application here. In this chaos, the XVII. ArmeeKorps welcomes a new commander: Generalleutnant Dr. Franz Beyer, a sailor**(!) who has been in the military police and then in the infantry. He is a talented colonel who had recently attended the command courses of the Heer - a new generation of generals is badly needed! - Beyer notices, as soon as he arrives, that his system is not working: the 389. ID is dangerously isolated in the north, while in the south, the 218. ID could not defend everything against a superior armored force. And above all, between the two, there is a gap of 10 kilometers! However, his troops will have to stay on the spot and suffer, if only to help their comrades...
Indeed, the defenders of the Huta-Lisivs'ka-Kam'yanukha line - the 78. Sturm-Division (Hans Traut), the 4. Luftwaffen-Feld-Division (Hans Sauerbrey) and the 377. ID (Arnold Szelinski) - are only one large division in total. But now they are facing another brutal assault by the 65th Army. Ivan Boldin has room to maneuver and he is upset about his setbacks of the last two days. So he starts by bludgeoning severely with aviation and artillery of the troops that Rastenburg had forbidden to retreat! Obviously, the losses are significant ... However, on the right, the 368. ID and 331. ID are in place.
This fact, as well as a more general retreat of Roznychi towards Rudka, releases the 79. ID (Richard von Schwerin), which can finally go to support these stubborn defenders. The Soviet attack is generally unsuccessful; the Red Army will not progress any more today than yesterday on the ravaged road to Kovel.
On the other hand, this same route may already be threatened from the south. At Borshchivka and Novyi Mosyr, the 20th Armored Corps finally manages to overrun the 9. ID (Siegmund von Schleinitz) and the 210. StuG Abt (Major Herbert Sichelschmidt). These will still have lasted almost three days in front of a very superior opponent in number... They can only retreat to the woods around Kryvlyn to improvise a new defense line.
While praying that the machines of Pavel Poluboiarov do not exploit immediately towards them!
In fact, this is not the goal of the Soviet: it goes much more willingly towards Volya-Lyubytivs'ka, thus threatening the entire left wing of the 3. PanzerArmee, that is to say the 81. ID (Erich Schopper) and the 246. ID (Wilhelm Falley). They are still fighting against the 1st Shock Army (Andrei Vlassov) and the 19th Armored Corps (Ivan Vasilev) at Honchyi Brid, but has to withdraw suddenly to the north, Lyubytiv and Vorona, in order to avoid being surrounded and crushed. They will succeed... but not without losses.
The 81. and 246. ID join the XLVII. PanzerKorps (Erhard Raus), which is still facing with difficulty the 2nd Tank Army of Sergei Bogdanov. This one continues of course to push... but starts to show some signs of weakness. Engaging in the woods to threaten Kovel directly from the south, today it only seizes Vorona - dispersion, fatigue and wear and tear are definitely starting to take their toll.
But in any case, the main thing is no longer there: in a ruined Kovel and subjected to the fire of the sky, the 3. PanzerArmee is now fighting openly for its survival. The 11th Armored Corps enters the city, where it awaits Ivan Chernyakovsky's 5th Shock Army, which is only 12 kilometers away. Vol'ka has fallen, and Vasily Alexeyev moves up the Kuriya without finesse - though avoiding the city center - to cut the Fascists off from the bridges and the road to Lyuboml, in spite of the anti-tanks ambushed in the houses and the Stuka of the III/SG.77 and the IV/SG.2 which try to slow it down. Facing the first ones, Alexeiev does not hesitate - he demolishes the facades of the bank front with great blows of cannon! As for the second ones - the VVS take care of them.
At noon, the 38. ID of Eberhardt and the 39. ID of Löweneck (both of the LII. AK of Hans-Karl von Scheele) reach Kovel. They are followed, around 15:00, by the three infantry divisions of the XXIV. PanzerKorps of Martin Wandel, which seem to be pursued by a cloud of Sturmovik, hardly hindered from time to time by a flight of predatory Bf 109s, sometimes swooping among the assault aircraft while trying to avoid the MiG and Yak patrols...
The arrival of these Landsers saves the situation for today: drunk with Pak 40 and portable anti-tank fire, assaulted by reckless magnetic mine carriers, the T-34s of the 11th BC stop less than 2 kilometers from Stantsiya Verbka, the last bridge held by the Fascists. And in the evening, when the 5th Shock Army enters the city, it immediately comes up against the divisions of the XXIV. PanzerKorps. The 167., 267. and 208. ID are well regrouped - and if they are neither fresh nor entrenched, they are at least still more or less intact...
Kovel will not fall - well, not just yet. It is all the more urgent to make a decision about this new, totally useless salient. And faced with an exhausted Werner Kempf not helped much by Maximilian De Angelis, who has become completely atonic in the course of events, Ferdinand Schörner, the national socialist, the fanatical soldier, the authentic German praised by Hitler, can only turn to Rastenburg and his Guide. For the time being, AG North Ukraine must wait for orders!

Proletarians aviators of all countries, unite!
"The main field is now only used as a rest base. In the morning, we are directed to another rudimentary field, located only five kilometers from the front, from which the alert patrols were flown. It was from this advanced platform that Albert, Lefèvre and Largeau would leave for new exploits. It was also from this platform that Léon flew to save the life of Foucaud, whose plane had just been hit very hard: the entire upper windshield had been torn off by a burst of flak. It was also there that an event occurred which was to cause us deep mourning.
One morning, Major Albert had entered a zemlianka: "Astier and Rey," he ordered, "you will both leave for Babyn's old field. You will bring back an urgent package. Take the U2 [an all-purpose liaison biplane, part Caudron Luciole and Potez 25]. Astier will be the pilot. Rey will be the navigator. Pay attention to the lines. You might get shot."
Twenty minutes after this recommendation, Astier and Rey made the fatal mistake. Flying at 120 kilometers per hour, the U2 passed over the enemy positions and was received by the Flak, whichwas having a great time. Cannons, machine guns, rifles, everything went. In two minutes, the poor U2 was transformed into a sieve. How did Astier manage to turn back and, under the hail of steel and lead, to join the Russian lines by zigzagging?
No one, not even he, will ever be able to explain it. But the fact remains. The more Fritz shot at it, the more the U2 made it a point of honor to stay in the air. But in the post, behind Astier, there was only a shredded corpse, that of Rey, riddled with bullets. A piece of shrapnel had blown out his skull. And Astier, after landing in Lutsk and having been bandaged, returned to the group without having wanted to separate himself from his comrade, horribly mutilated, in a post covered with blood, flesh and brains.
Atrocious vision. Astier was mute. One tried, in a gesture of gallantry a little childish, to keep Sergeant Komarov away - without success, of course. The last missions returned, six pilots carried a hastily assembled white wooden coffin into a grave that the Russian soldiers had just dug. When the sun disappeared, more crimson than the fires, a salute of honor rang out in the strange silence that reigns on the plain as night approaches. Last homage. Final farewell. On February 20th, 1944, one of our own was still sleeping his last sleep in this land so bruised of Ukraine.
He was well avenged the next day."
(Cap. F. de Geoffre, op.cit.)

Cracking sounds
Lvov region (south of Ukraine) - The 3rd Ukrainian Front pushes more and more towards Lvov, taking advantage of the extreme fragmentation of HG Sud-Ukraine - which can hardly send reinforcements to the north.
On the right wing, the 26th Army continues to cross the Bug and bypasses Chervonohrad - where the 8th Mechanized Corps crosses - to reach the crossroads of Belz, more delayed by logistics than by the few reactions of the 8. Panzer. This one had withdrawn from Ostriv in the morning; it is now bludgeoned by the tubes of Vladimir Baskakov, the bombs of the VVS... and the orders of Hermann Balck, ulcerated by the pusillanimity of Werner Friebe. This Friebe seems to be unable to adapt to the rhythm of the operations. To his credit, taking command of an isolated unit, outnumbered and in the middle of an enemy offensive is perhaps not the most tender of schools. That said, Friebe did succeed in withdrawing to the woods of Kulychkiv, waiting for reinforcements from the south. That's something...
These reinforcements are not far away... Coming from Dobrotvir, the 6. Panzer (Rudolf von Waldenfels) and the 311. StuG Abt (Hauptmann Karl-Ludwig von Schönau) are already in Hirnyk, after having passed the small Rata at Velyki Mosty, hoping to close the Chervonohrad-Lvov road and stabilize the 8. Armee's left wing. But for this to work, it is still necessary that the center holds! Dobrotvir has already fallen into the hands of the 5th Guards Army ...
Vyacheslav Tsvetaev, who wants to show the NKVD how wrong they were to accuse him of espionage for the benefit of the Germans in 1939, relaunches without waiting in front of the 7. Panzer of Gottfried Frölich, to the remains of 223. ID (Friedrich Fangohr) as well as some machines of the 232. StuG Abt (Hauptmann Paul Franke). But the frontovikis are also beginning to be tired a little... and the Germans benefit from a favorable terrain, the woods forming a basin around their point of passage. So we fight all day long everywhere around Dobrotvir, in insignificant villages - Stryhanka, Koshakivs'ki, Perekalky ... Behind them, Vasily Badanov's 3rd Armored Corps rallies to pass.
On the right of the 8. Armee, the GrossDeutschland, still alone, must finally give up 5 kilometers to the 9th Guards Army. It withdraws on a new axis, Staryi Mylyatyn-Kutkir (along the railroad line to Lvov). Despite their fanaticism and the Deutschqualität of their Panther, Walter Hörnlein and his men really start to be somewhat overwhelmed under the thunder of the red tubes... And behind the infantry, Porfiry Chanchibadze's 1st Armored Corps is already preparing to leave!

Eastern Front operations on February 20th, 1944 (Neptun, Vistula-Warsaw, Lvov-Kovel)

* Vasili Ivanovitch Shapaev (1887-1919), hero of the Red Army famous for having defended the line of the Ural river during the civil war before drowning while trying to swim across the water, shot in the shoulder. His name was given to a modern heavy cruiser, the first of its class.
** He served as an officer in the Hochseeflotte, on the Westfalen and Ostfriesland.

 

[Wings]

February 20th, 1944

Respite
Yugoslavia - While it continues to rain on mountains, woods and trenches, the Balkan front seems to be asleep. On the southern wing of the Axis, the Ustasha occupy their battlements in the lines without seeing a single allied soldier.
These are most often ten or twenty kilometers to the east, all surprised by the calm that reigns... on their rear. For several days now, there have been no reports of the slightest incident involving Yugoslav, Kosovar or Albanian militias of any kind. For reasons of their own, they all seem to be keeping their heads down.
Satisfied with this state of affairs, the command of the 2nd French Army orders General Dimitrios Papadopoulos (2nd Greek Corps) to be a little less understanding than before with the ballists holding the Prizren region, without going so far as to create an incident. Indeed, these groups should not become too comfortable and consider that the part of Kosovo they occupy is theirs for all time.

Achievement
Drobeta-Turnu Severin (Romanian-Yugoslavian border) - The Royal Engineers find neither sword nor champagne. But this does not prevent them from inaugurating with satisfaction their work on the Danube: the Iron Gates Bridge is finally completed and able to pass road convoys.
Of course, it is winter and the beautiful blue river is frozen - the technicians already fear the spring breakup. It is unlikely that the structure will survive. So much effort for a provisional equipment, which will be used only until the repair and the extension of the Yugoslavian network! Finally - there will remain the satisfaction of a job well done. The smiles on the few photos taken (since exhibited in the Gillingham museum) are obviously not forced. Only Sir Godfrey Dean Rhodes, on the right of the picture, looks a little worried. Have his leaders forgotten something?

Air preparations
Syntagma Square HQ (Athens) - Air-Marshal Tedder, accompanied by his French deputy, General Weiss, takes stock of the re-equipment of his air forces and of the new units he has requested. The news is good - even better than expected. Indeed, Cairo has just confirmed that, in addition to the bomber squadrons based in Italy, its Balkan Air Force will be able to call on the services of the South African B-24 of Sqn 31 and 34 (based in Corfu) for maritime patrol and parachuting operations. So many tasks that will no longer be the sole responsibility of the Halifaxes based in Crete...
This news compensates a little for the small disappointment that the Air-Marshal has just received from Moscow via London: for the Soviets, it is not possible to deploy their "Long Range Aviation" to the Balkans, because it is required... elsewhere (as always, the Reds are admirably transparent). However, as a consolation prize, Marshal Novikov makes a point of mentioning that the tactical bomber divisions of the 5th and 17th Air Force, which depend respectively on the 2nd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts, will be able to "contribute to the common effort against the fascists and their allies." This would represent apparently about 400 aircraft of various types, mostly Petlyakov Pe-2s - a machine whose performance remains poorly known in the West.
It would therefore be necessary to try to clarify all this before actually launching the orders for the next air offensive, named Perun (the god of Heaven and Lightning in the Slavic pantheon). And fortunately, in his great kindness, Novikov promises Tedder to send him two liaison officers to untangle the skein and prepare the continuation. A diplomatic approach that does not deceive anyone in Athens: the participation of the VVS will be, at best, punctual.
- I don't think the Soviets will help us much, my dear Weiss," grumbles the Britishman. "Too bad... Well, let's start without them, they'll join us on the way!
The Frenchman can only agree: "That's my opinion too. Fortunately, our means are already sufficient for the opposition we are likely to encounter. Our fighter pilots are bored turning alone in the empty sky! By the way, our first probe on Zagreb is well maintained? "
- Yes, a night attack with no real connection to "Perun". Direct order from Monty. The poor guy can't stand to hear the Serbs' reproaches and whining about our supposed passivity in front of the Ustasha. And then, that will occupy us a little, without making us run great risks - there is hardly any risk to meet a Boche fighter in Croatia! We don't even have any more great aces in our ranks - even this Bulgarian defector preferred to join your Foreign Legion to fight in France!
At these words, the Frenchman smiles, happy to announce good news: "It's not true anymore, Air Marshall. I learned this morning from Marseille that Major Pierre Le Gloan, who is coming to head our GC I/39. The "Shield of the Mediterranean" at ours. Who said that the Republic forgot us?

Second line aviation
Government Palace (Zagreb) - While the allied officials count their considerable air assets, General Vladimir Kren of the Ustasha Air Force (ZNDH) does the same - but it is shorter.
First of all, the fighters. The 22 Bf 109Es ordered in 1941 were finally delivered! Almost three years late, which makes them hopelessly outdated...but it is still progress compared to the antiques that were used as mounts for the pilots until now. As a sign of their value, the precious fighters have been deployed on the three fields around the capital: Črnomerec, Lučko and Borongaj (the airfield that serves the - rare - civilian traffic still serving Zagreb). Obviously, the three squadrons are far from being operational: the transformation of the pilots has only just begun, thanks to some fifteen Bücker 131 training aircraft flying without constraints despite the fuel restrictions.
It is an expensive but necessary effort for the ZNDH: it seems that the instructors sent by Berlin are sorry to see that the general level of their students (who had never flown anything but fixed-wheel biplanes), at least as much as the turn of the conflict.
General Kren has few illusions about the chances of his men in the event of a serious confrontation - yet, he wants to be optimistic. After all, the Balkans must be as secondary for the Allies as for the Germans. We are not likely to see much action there for a long time. And since the Titists have no air force, the Zrakoplovstvo Nezavisne Države Hrvatske could well retain control of part of the Croatian sky, for lack of opponents!
The Ustasha general switches to bombers. He will soon receive "his" 30 Do 17E (which should be immediately operational, the crews knowing the aircraft) and "its" 12 Fi 167, for which it still has to find a use. As for the Italian aircraft, delivered by the Reich as and when possible (the bad tongues say that they were refurbished), they are used for training, liaison and ground support (in the absence of enemy air opposition!). With such means, there is no doubt that the ZNDH will soon be able to valiantly contribute to the defense of Croatia, and finally obtain aircraft worthy of it. "It is necessary to start somewhere..." concludes the ustashi by considering with a sigh the list of the apparatuses which he had before these deliveries...
.........
Fighter and ground support: 25 Fiat G.50, 6 Fiat CR.42, 7 Avia BH-33 (ex-Czech, 1928), 4 Ikarus IK-2 (1935), 1 Hawker Fury II.
Bombing: 9 Cant Z.1007 bis, 6 Fiat BR.20.
Transport and liaison: 18 Saiman 200, 7 Avia-Fokker F.7, 1 Avia-Fokker F.9, 1 Avia-Fokker F.18, 42 Breguet XIX, 39 Potez 25, 1 Amiot 143.
Training: 9 Zmaj Fizir FP-2.

 

[Wings]

February 20th, 1944

Air Warfare
Italian Front - Lieutenant John R. Booth, 57th FG, scores a remarkable quadruplet, which he did not even realize at first!
His mission of the day ended with a crash landing, from which he emerged unscathed, with a Mustang riddled with bullets. He then tells the operations officer that his formation was attacked on his way back from an escort over northern Italy by about thirty Bf 109s and Macchi 202. The fight had started very badly and he found himself alone against four opponents firing all their weapons. At a closing speed of almost 1,300 km/h, everything went very fast - in the midst of the avalanche of tracers, Lieutenant Booth had to admit that he felt... his scrotum tightening. Suddenly, a shock. His wing had just touched the wing of a Messerschmitt that was passing him. Booth had seen the Messerschmitt, unbalanced, hit his own wingman. He therefore claimed two victories, which were confirmed by other pilots.
But during the development of the film of the machine guns, it was observed that during the fighting, two other enemy fighters had been blown up by Booth's fire, even before the collision. The lieutenant is finally credited with four victories and the record for the most victories in five seconds of combat.

 

[Wings]

February 20th, 1944

Operation Woodwork
Languedoc - The fighting is gradually calming down. In the German camp, we are more than satisfied: the 1. Armee has pulled a division out of trouble by simply giving up about twenty kilometers in the hills. We also appreciate the behavior of the 327. and 266. ID, which did not give up any ground, even the 327. ID had to redeploy a bit behind. Finally, Millau has still not fallen. This stabilization of the front was achieved without drawing the slightest the least mechanized unit of the reserves which were painfully reconstituted, after a very difficult end of the year 1943.

Air warfare
Lyon - The Luftwaffe invites an audience of war correspondents to celebrate the 2,000th victory of the JG 2, obtained against a B-17 of the 99th BG which crashed in the sector of Chambéry. The photos will show the wing's number one Viermot specialist, Egon Mayer, standing on the wing of the monster, examining the carcass.
The journalists present do not suspect however the mood of the ace. He thinks of the unnecessary losses suffered above this front, considering the allied superiority, whereas, for him, the real fight is above the Reich, against the allied formations that ravage German cities every day, killing innocent civilians. He hears again the berliner joke that Göring could now be called... Meyer, since he cannot stop the Americans and the British from bombing German territory. Mayer does not know whether to laugh or cry.

Operation Pike
Tourism
South of the Corbières - North-east of Quillan, the men of the 338th IR of the 85th US-ID reach Rennes-le-Château. The most cultured or the most curious remain amazed in front of the Magdala tower, built on the model of the medieval towers of which the region is not lacking, but whose state of preservation is remarkable. And for good reason, it was built at the very beginning of the century on the initiative of the mysterious abbot Saunière, thanks to his no less mysterious treasure. This passage of the American troops will contribute to make known the legend in the United States and will be the origin of many tourist visits in the sixties.
.........
Aude Valley - The decision to evacuate Quillan is taken by the commander of the LXXVI. Armee-Korps. In the gorges of Pierre-Lys, the defenders prepare their withdrawal by dynamiting rocks to block the road and collapsing one of the entrances to one of the many tunnels of the railroad.
.........
Ariege Valley - After two days of unsuccessful attempts, the Americans admit that they were unable to break through the blockade set up by the 5. Fallschirmjäger-Regiment at Sinsat. The departure of the 1st GTM, the Rangers and the 1st SSF is cruelly felt: to overflow by the sides of the valley, even by the mountain in the Vicdessos is beyond the means of the 179th Regiment, even though the Germans would probably not be able to oppose such a move. The battle in the Aude mobilized most of the forces and the supply, mainly of ammunition for the mortars, could not keep up with the sustained consumption to which the GIs were used to. Operations in the Ariege Valley are therefore halted for the time being.

 

[Wings]

February 21st, 1944

Crossbow
Channel Coast from Le Havre to Niewport - In addition to the noball sites on the coast, the Namur and Chièvres airfields, further inland, are visited by the Marauder and Havoc of the 12th AF. Only about sixty aircraft participate in the raids - between overhauls, replacements and training of new crews, it becomes difficult to get a large number of available aircraft. Especially since the weather conditions remain... seasonal and are not very suitable for inexperienced crews. They will learn soon enough to respect the flak that the old-timers have been harping on since their arrival.
Today, still over Dunkirk, it is the turn of the Martin B-26 RJ-T Papa DeDe (serial 41-35006) of the 454th BS, 323rd BG to be hit by direct fire. The pilot, 1st Lieutenant William Kehoe, loses control of the aircraft which crashes into the Marauder serial 41-31873 of the same group. Of the two crews, only the tail gunner of the Papa DeDe manages to jump out, very close to the ground. Wounded in the legs, he will end the war in captivity in Germany.

 

[Wings]

February 21st, 1944

Poland
Operation Storm
Warsaw District - Among the flood of information that the Armia Krajowa transmits to London through many different channels, there is one that seems to go unnoticed. In this case, the preliminary report by Józef Świda "Kmicic" on the situation of the Resistance movements in the former capital.
Patriotic in spite of everything, and being careful not to be defeatist - already sentenced to death, he might as well not tempt the devil too often... - the lieutenant gives back to his superiors a mixed opinion concerning the situation of the Secret Army as he sees it. The number is there, the enthusiasm too... but the organization is lacking, while the armament can be described, he writes, as "negligible".
It is not even certain that Świda's report ever reached its intended recipients. And if the latter may have read it, it is not certain either that they wished to take it into account, given the circumstances of those moments when one might have felt one had no choice. And besides, what are the evaluations of a compromised deserter worth?

 

[Wings]

February 21st, 1944

Burma Campaign
Occupied Burma - The Mergui base is again the target of a massive bombardment. Around 01:00, according to a well established ritual, Night Battles used by Sqn 47 mark the installations that the Halifax and Wellington are going to bomb. The damage is quite important. Several twin-engine Ki-48 Lily, which could not be released on the small annexed fields, are destroyed.
During the day, the allied aviation multiplies the Rhubarb missions between Ye and Tavoy, tracking down vehicles and artillery positions.

Rangoon - The report of the investigation on the Mosquito accidents that had plagued Sqn 47 in the previous weeks is submitted. It appears that the Wooden Wonder was not a victim of rotting due to the climate (as we had feared at the beginning), but to a lack of glue, perhaps aggravated by the local humidity. This report will go back to Europe, where the same defect will be found on the aircraft of the next series. While waiting for new mounts with correctly glued wings, Sqn 47 makes good use of the Night Battle bequeathed by the Belgians.

Indochina Campaign
Tet offensive
Neak Leung (Cambodia) - The Vietminh enter the city without fighting. The garrison of the "Khmer Republic" garrison evaporated during the night. While the rodomontades published the day before by President Son were still in everyone's mind, the arrival of the bo-dois - a peaceful arrival, moreover! - was particularly unexpected.
The "Vietnamese invaders" had the proclamation of Prince Norodom Sihanouk proclaiming the return of the city to the Khmer kingdom read and immediately begin to cross the Mekong River, willingly assisted by the regular ferry crews.

Phnom-Penh - The news of the capture of Neak Leung causes a real earthquake in the capital of the "Khmer Republic". Cut off from all Japanese aid since the beginning of the Tet offensive, the regime had only one slim hope of survival: to stop the Vietnamese on the Mekong, the only line of defense that could allow the Khmer militia - much less numerous and armed, to contain the Bo-Dois. But even more than the military defeat, the conditions of this one complete to discredit Son Ngoc-Thanh. The great battle of "the Khmer nation against the Vietnamese invasion" did not take place! The militia of the republic fled Neak Leung; it no longer believes in its leader!
Riots break out all over the capital, but are quickly calmed down by a parade of monks. They invite the population to gather and pray in front of the royal palace and the Silver Pagoda.
The militia barracks on Boulevard Doudard de Lagrée gradually empty, the garrison leaving the place in civilian clothes and in small groups.
As for the Japanese, they take refuge in their barracks located north of the Vat Phnom garden, near their embassy. A group of Japanese officers goes however to the "Palace of the Republic" installed nearby, in the offices of the residence, rue du Maréchal Foch. Their visit is brief and when they come out, there is with them one more man, a lieutenant, whose uniform is not quite to his size... It was in fact Son Ngoc-Thanh in disguise. He is taken to an airfield near the city. There, in the company of the Japanese ambassador and the most senior officers of the small Japanese garrison, he boards a twin-engine Ki-34 "Thora" which immediately takes off. Flying low over the trees towards the southwest, the plane (a derivative of the DC-2 built by Nakajima) will arrive without incident in Malaysia.
The escape of the president of the "Khmer Republic" is obviously not announced anywhere, but his collaborators, informed in one way or another, leave in haste their luxurious residences to take refuge in the Thai embassy. It is indeed one of the few diplomatic legations that remain in the capital.
At nightfall, the puppet regime ceases to exist.
In the courtyard of the Japanese embassy, the flames devour piles of files that the busy staff throws into the blaze. Shots ring out... fighting? No, it is the Kempetai slaughtering his prisoners.

Sino-Japanese War
Operation Bailu (final preparations)
Hong Kong - Sixteen B-24s and their escort of 14 P-51s of the 68th Composite Wing attack the city again. The last eight Japanese fighters on site (four Ki-43 and four Ki-61) try to intervene, but are quickly overwhelmed by the Mustangs, which shoot down two Hayabusa and a Hiei without suffering any losses. The Liberators have free rein and drop their bombs over the shipyard and the marshalling yard, not much hindered by the sparse flak.
However, the bombing proves to be inaccurate and many bombs fall on the Kowloon district, where a fire breaks out that would not be controlled for two days.
The Japanese, in spite of the aerial harassment of which they are the target, do not remain inactive. Tanaka, faced with the imminence of the Chinese attack, hastens the construction of defensive works on the whole perimeter, orders the destruction of bridges and the mining of roads around it, orders a landing field be set up at Qingyuan and finally gets the Imperial Navy HQ in Hong Kong to "coordinate their actions" with him (no question, of course, to ask that they follow his directives!) In fact, in Hong Kong there are some small warships: the destroyer Tsuga (which had already participated in the capture of the city in 1941), the escort ship Kaii (ex Kashi, given to Manchukuo and then recovered in 1942 by the Imperial Navy) and the gunboats Hashidate, Nanyo (ex Teh Hsing of the Chinese customs, seized in 1937), 102 (ex-HMS Moth) and Okitsu (ex-Lepanto, salvaged after being scuttled by its Italian crew in the port of Shanghai in December 1942). With the exception of the Nanyo, which stays there, all go up the Pearl River to Canton; the Hashidate and the Okitsu continue to Qingyuan.
.........
Meanwhile, elements of the 14th Air Force Engineers begin to establish a forward base at Shaoguan for the ROCAF.

 

[Wings]

February 21st, 1944

Baltic
Operation Beowulf
Swinemünde, 10:00 - The torpedo boats of the 1st Flotilla set sail towards the Swedish coast to join the M-boats and the trawlers that are constantly combing the area around Gotland Island in search of enemy submarines.

Pillau - In the early evening, the three torpedo boats of the 3rd Flotilla and the nine S-boats of the 1st Flotilla come to moor in the different basins of the port. The crossing of the bay takes place under a light drizzle, ideal to hide the movements from the eyes of the curious.

Gotenhafen - Meanwhile, on board the Tirpitz and the four destroyers of the 7th Flotilla, the final preparations are being made. In order not to arouse attention, the group should not leave until the following evening to join the ships that have just arrived in Pillau.
.........
Danzig, 14:00 - The Windau group leaves the bay in a westerly direction, apparently to escort a slow convoy to Kiel.
.........
Baltic, 19:00 - Abandoning its escort role, the Windau group turns north-east and climbs to 25 knots Only the torpedo boats of the 5th Flotilla remain with the convoy.
21:00 - The torpedo boats of the 1st Flotilla join the M-boats and the trawlers of the Gotland group, covering a wide arc south of the Swedish island of Gotland.
22:30 - The floating battery Niobe* leaves the port of Danzig for Pillau. The conversion of the former protected cruiser Gelderland, seized by the Reich in the Dutch naval base of Helder, was started in 1941 in the Netherlands and recently completed by the Schichau-Werke shipyards in Danzig. Unlike most of her counterparts in the Kriegsmarine, the Niobe has retained its machinery and can therefore reach its destination by its own means.

Operation Neptun
The Flying Dutchman
Lida and Navahroudak region (sector of the 1st Belorussian Front) - The XL. PanzerKorps (Eberhard Rodt) and the XXII. PanzerKorps (Franz Westhoven) finally arrive in the area of Neptun North. These two corps represent three PanzerDivisions, one StuG Abteilung and two infantry divisions - which were however reduced to less than 50% of their strength by the recent fighting near Vilnius and Kaunas. As for the armored units, they look impressive, but they are also very tired... It would be less so: after a first series of confrontations, they have just done 275 kilometers of transfer through cold and hostile roads!
Model knows it well - however, he has no choice and orders without waiting Kurt von der Chevallerie to launch all his troops on the back of the 304. ID, which seems close to breaking through. The 290. ID is much further away... so it will have to manage alone, hoping that it can join Neptun South! However, Eberhard Rodt obtains from his leader a grace period of 24 hours for his infantry - for lack of motorized means (they are becoming increasingly rare in the Heer!) and because of the losses suffered, the 123. ID (Louis Tronnier) and the 253. ID (Hans Junck) are in no condition to immediately resume the offensive.
In fact, they are hardly able to defend the banks of the Niemen! It is always that...
Nevertheless, Leopard, Panzer IV, StuG and Jagdpanzer IV start to cross the river without waiting, at the level of Bielica.
Up front, the situation becomes confusing. In spite of the lack of aviation in the afternoon - which also hinders the Luftwaffe - the 2nd Shock Army continues to attack east of Dziatlava.
Kuzma Galitsky visibly tries to cut the fascist assault in two by separating the 10. PzGr (August Schmidt) and the 501. schw. Pz Abt (Major Erich Löwe), on the one hand, from the 304. ID (Ernst Sieler), on the other hand. Meanwhile, the 3rd Guards of Ivan Zakharkin takes charge to counter the most advanced points from the north-east, coming from Navahroudak.
That is to say that the tribulations of the 290. ID (Gerhard Henke), approaching Navahroudak by Bol'shie Karnyshi, do not inspire much concern! The covering forces left behind by Zakharkin are all quite capable of gaining time against this lonely formation.
Similarly, the 371. ID (Hermann Niehoff) can be as restless as it wants in Bucily - and even attack Goluby if it wants - Galitsky has no fear for this unimportant zone located in difficult terrain and on the back of a 3rd Shock Army that has already broken through!
In short, the Soviets understand perfectly where the Schwerpunkt of the Fascists is. They therefore undertake both to pinch and block it. For the moment, the panzergrenadiers forced to the defensive hold on - they give up only a few kilometers to Golovy and Narbutovichi while vigorously contesting the crossroads of Dziatlava, whose 304. ID seizes at the end of the night. What is the purpose of this?
.........
Banks of the Niemen - The new LXI. AK of Ferdinand Neuling goes on line to the 2. Armee. His 361. ID (Alfred Philippi) and his 364. ID (Hermann Hähnle) are going to position themselves in the region of Alytus, in order to reinforce a right wing that was at the moment dangerously exposed and, moreover, defended exclusively by the two "zombie" divisions of the LIII. ArmeeKorps of Friedrich Gollwitzer.
However, if the LXI. AK was literally resurrected after Bagration, General Hening von Tresckow - still alone at the head of the 2. Armee in Kalvarija - is well aware that his two divisions, composed of barely trained novices, will have difficulty resisting a possible Bolshevik offensive in this sector. And yet, he has just been asked to extend his lines to Varėna, in order to help the 4. PanzerArmee - that is 50 kilometers of front in addition! Decidedly, in the Thousand-Year Reich, you don't get something for nothing...
.........
Vilnius (HQ of the 1st Belarussian Front) - On the side of Georgi Zhukov, things are progressing.
His offensive project would involve two armies (the 20th and 63rd), two mechanized formations (the 10th CB and the Oslikovski Group), and (eventually) the 3rd Tank Army to exploit - even after the losses suffered, it is still worth a large mechanized corps.
The Marshal therefore proposes to launch on the enemy a kind of big probe, which could perhaps be transformed into much more and which would touch at first the lines of the 2. Armee in Prienai and Alystus. Only, this time, no need to go back to Kaunas...the objectives are Marijampolė and Suwałki! On the map, the advantages of this action are threefold: to threaten to envelop the fascist offensive on the Lida side to force it to slow down or even stop**, to cover the 2nd Belorussian Front of Rokossovski against any attempt to take a flank, and finally to threaten East Prussia, or even Königsberg.
The last point is probably the most speculative - there are 235 kilometers from the Niemen to the city-fortress! However, it is the one that Zhukov, who knows his Stalin well, plans to put forward. The marshal knows, through his contacts at the Stavka, that the Vojd is already reviving all projects concerning East Prussia. And everyone suspects, in Moscow, that Stalin would like to seize this German territory before the inevitable peace conference with the capitalists.
However, regardless of one's plans - which may, after all, match - the first thing to do is to have the means to do so. And for this, it is clear that nothing can be done without Meretskov's 2nd Baltic Front. So, rather than wasting time arguing with this fellow, Zhukov will fly to Moscow tomorrow.

Vistula-Warsaw Offensive
The Valkyrie
Baranavitchy area (sector of the 1st Belarussian Front) - The weather is much less favorable than yesterday (snow and -10°) obviously slows down Konstantin Rokossovsky's offensive - but not as much as the Germans expected.
On the right, the 7th Armored Corps reaches the woods of Dolgopolichi, and brutally faces - even before sunrise! - the stopper formed around the Hetzer of the 236. StuG Abt (Major Rolf Brede), which triess to close the road to Zelva until the 20. Panzer to arrive.
The small flat-top tank hunters, easy to camouflage and equipped with an excellent Pak 39 of 75/L48, are a bad surprise for Alexei Panfilov's T-34. However, they are few and the Russians do not hesitate, sometimes to go to the contact to overrun them by taking advantage of their lack of turret, sometimes to crush their positions under the shells of the mobile artillery. However, Brede gains enough time to allow Mortimer von Kessel to arrive on the left flank of the Soviet from the road to Staraya Golynka. His division has only a handful of vehicles left, but they are Panzer IVs, Leopards and JadgPanzer IV. They will not be enough to destroy an entire armored corps, but they force him to stop for the night, having gained only 3 kilometers.
The intervention of the 20. Panzer does not solve anything: Zelva is still threatened with envelopment from the north, while no reinforcement is in sight: the infantry (387. ID and KorpsAbteilung F) is every hour pushed further back to Pieski or Samujlavičy Doĺnyja, chased by the 3rd Shock Army. The 387. ID loses its leader, Werner von Eichstätt, killed by a shell.
In the center, far from taking advantage of the opportunity, the 15th Army continued to be locked in. Instead of assisting Panfilov as the doctrine would require, Grigori Kulik undertakes to send the equivalent of an infantry corps on his left, in order to help the 4th Guards Army around Slonim. Except that nobody asked him anything and that he scatters his forces, wasting precious time: in the evening, we are only at Sniežnaja, having advanced only 5 kilometers on von Kessel's heels. And we get lost in the plain towards the Slonim-Zelva road at Revtovichi, or even at Chadzievičy, without being at any place strong enough to make a difference. At his headquarters, Rokossovsky, annoyed, grumbles that he should have protested against the assignment of Kulik to his Front... and remembers what the late Vatutin had once said to him about this marshal: "Every time I think of Kulik, I feel bitter. At the beginning of the war, he fulfilled all his tasks without any success and then commanded each of the formations entrusted to him just as badly. Because of his shortcomings, he did not enjoy the respect of his troops and did not know how to organize their actions." But it's a little late to realize this!
Around Slonim, Ivan Muzychenko, on the other hand, has regrouped to break through as quickly as possible.
According to him, there is only one good axis: the direct road to Ružany. Facing him, Eberhard Kinzel's 337. ID had obviously anticipated this - for example, by entrusting its entire right flank to the 336. ID (Walther Lucht) as far as Žyrovičy. But the blow is still hard!
And if Muzychenko does not break through yet, he wins 3 and a half kilometers, takes over Derevyanchitsy and threatens Sokolovo. The break seems imminent...
Finally, at the end of the left wing of Rokossovsky, the Armee-Abteilung Neptun continues to successfully fight against the 29th Army and the 54th Army - which are not advancing much today, except to the north, towards Slonim and Mironim. However, this defensive success is not very satisfactory for Josef Harpe. Understanding the danger of letting his left collapse without reacting, he asks Model for authorization to redeploy the Armee- Abt Neptun on a Karalin-Ivatsevitchy line, in order to allow the XXXIX. PanzerKorps (Otto Schünemann) to slide northwards to defend the Vawkavysk region instead of the XII. ArmeeKorps (Edgar Röhricht), visibly in the process of destruction. Denied for the time being! South Neptun is already on the defensive while it is supposed to attack - Rastenburg will never accept this maneuver. At least not yet.
........
Volodymyr-Volynskyi region (sector of the 3rd Belorussian Front) - Starting from Turyisk, despite the Siberian cold, Vasily Chuikov's 37th Army captures Lukiv (which the Poles insisted on calling Matsiev) almost without a blow. It immediately continues towards Lyuboml, which should be reached tomorrow, because there is no one in front - at least, this is what the Soviet thinks.
However, there are people in the Polish plain! The proof: at the end of the afternoon, in the middle of nowhere, in the region of Skierbieszów, the I. SS-PanzerKorps of Sepp Dietrich collides with the right wing of the 4th Tank Army, formed by the 22nd Armored Corps (Fedor Volkov). This one is brutally corrected by the 2. Panzer-SS Das Reich, reinforced by the Tiger of the 101. SS schw Pz Abt which, in open terrain, make a real carnage of T-34. And still: without the VVS, the result could have been even worse! Warned of the arrival of the Fascists, they were nevertheless able to launch waves of Il-2s to attack the panzers and the half-tracks, with an appreciable if not decisive result.
Nevertheless! Dimitri Lelyushenko, who already saw himself entering Zamość before nightfall (he would have advanced 40 kilometers in one day!) is forced to rotate his vanguard - 5th GAC Zhitomir (Vladimir Zhdanov) to go and assist Volkov. He leaves the 5th Mechanized Corps (Ivan Sukhov), on his left, to continue.
No luck for Zhdanov: at nightfall, he runs into the 1. Panzer-SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler. Black crosses and red stars on white machines dancing under the first flakes of a snowfall... The spectacle would be almost poetic! On the ground, the initial concentration of the Schutzstaffel, the superiority of the German optics and the quality of the new German equipment - in particular the Panther, which is now equal to the T-34/85 - meant that the confrontation immediately turns to the advantage of the SS. The night avoids a new disaster.
Thus, Lelyushenko is forced to withdraw his two armored corps on a Szopinek - Żuków line, facing north, when he was about to reach his first objective!
Frustration, concern... However, the Soviet is far from being alone! Behind him, in Werbkowice, the 5th Army of Mikhail Potapov arrives, already covering him against any risk of envelopment. And on Dietrich's left, the 5th Armored Corps (Semyon Krivoshein), now perfectly aware of the situation, obliques from Białopole towards Sielec, thus passing south of Chelm to better surprise the enemy. Moreover, Krivoshein is himself covered by the 4th Shock Army (Ivan Maslennikov), which advances on his left towards the west, between Wólka Leszczańska and Feliksów.
On the German side, the day leaves a... mixed impression. Of course, we are happy to have so rudely put those subhumans in their place... but it didn't escape anyone that they were much more advanced and much more numerous than expected. So, to his great regret, SS-OberstGruppenführer Sepp Dietrich is forced to send a mixed report to his chiefs indicating that the Slavs had been contained, but also that they are still there, and in force. His SS-PanzerKorps is "perhaps not enough" to stop them completely...
In fact, Dietrich does not know it, but on Malinovksy's left help (thus in front of him and on his right), the 11th Mechanized Corps (Viktor Obukhov) continues to carve straight to Rachanie, covered by the 50th Army (Konstantin Golubev) at Łaszczów. Tomaszów-Lubelski will probably fall soon, and communications between Lublin and Lvov will be cut off. And if there were only this corps and this army! Behind it, the 8th Guards Army (S.G. Trofimenko), the 60th Army (I.G. Kreyzer) and the 2nd Cavalry Corps (A.G. Selivanov) are deployed in the Przewale and Ulhówek regions, as much to fill the gaps as to saturate the possible defenses of the Ostheer.
Dietrich's message, however, is met with skepticism in Rastenburg. The Reds can't have that many more troops to insert into the breach! Not with the intensity of the operations in the Ukraine and Belarus, no! Dietrich undoubtedly simply hit the tip of a Soviet force that was too far ahead, thus slamming the door of the General Government in the face of the Soviets. Precisely what was asked of him - the SS, as reliable as ever!
However, some staff officers note that it will be necessary from tomorrow morning to send as many reconnaissance planes as possible between Lublin and Lvov...
And during this time, somewhere on the road to Lyuboml, Vassily Grossman still takes the time to draw some of those portraits he has the secret of...
"Regimental commander Savinov, a beautiful Russian face. Blue eyes, a reddish tan. On his helmet, a bullet hole. Savinov: "Under the impact of the bullet, I became as if I were drunk. I lay unconscious for fifteen minutes. The Germans had made me drink until I was drunk!"
Some civilians, too, met in one or another village crossed. "The spies. A boy of twelve, who had identified the [German] headquarters from the telephone wires, hairdressers, cooks, messengers. A woman to whom the Germans had said to her, "If you don't go [to spy on local movements] and if you don't come back, we will shoot your two daughters." So many others..."

Tankist (Evgeny Bessonov)
Forbidden games
"Where is Andrei? Have you seen Andrei?" I've been asking this question for an hour to almost all the whole camp, avoiding of course the informers and the members of the Osoby Otdel*** who might want to put their cap in my business. We haven't seen him all day, and yet we need him to clean the gun. He couldn't have gone AWOL - no! It's not in his nature, and then I believe enough in our friendship to expect that he would not for a moment consider putting me in such trouble.
The solution, I will find it thanks to my intuition, in the truck park. In a broken down machine that was lying at the bottom of the muddy forest, obviously abandoned and yet quite loaded... "Come on, get down from there, Andrei!" The passenger side door slowly opened, as a figure jumps out on the driver's side, walking away with shoes in hand.
"You could have told her to put her boots back on, I wasn't going to tell on her, your Polina!"
Cigarette in his mouth, hair in a mess, our pointer looks proud of himself, maybe even in love, who knows! "It's shyness, comrade captain. And then, in the evening, their sergeant has them watched." "Not my problem, get to work!"

Lvov-Kovel Offensive
The spear of Wotan
Lutsk and Kovel region (northern Ukraine) - The drama continues for the left wing of HG Nord-Ukraine, now completely isolated from the rest of its army group, pushed aside by a breakthrough that already exceeds it by at least 100 kilometers and moreover facing a Soviet Front certainly tired, but still largely in a position of strength. It will take more than the imminent arrival of the 277. ID (Eugen Wößner) - which, by the way, did not land close to the 6. Armee, in Kovel, but in Chelm, because of the situation! - to straighten out the situation...
For the XVII. ArmeeKorps, the ordeal continues. In command, the new Generalleutnant Dr. Franz Beyer has a hard time to keep his device upright. On the left, the 389. ID (Walter Hahm) confronts the 61st Army of Pavel Belov in Prylisne in a battle obviously lost in advance, where only the terrain is his ally - for lack of anything else, really. Without saying too much, Hahm has to give up 8 kilometers on the road to Hradys'k, in a beautiful landscape of woods and ponds. And on the right, the 218. ID of Viktor Lang desperately clings to the crossroads of Manevychi, in order not to give up Okons'k, i.e. the rear of the defenders of the Huta-Lisivs'ka-Kam'yanukha line. Here also, nothing to do! Without wasting time to face the Fascist infantry, Ivan Tutarinov's 7th Mechanized Corps turns, twirls, infiltrates between defenses like water between rocks... and finally reaches the Sarny-Kovel road at Troyanivka, i.e. 12 kilometers behind Hahm's positions. The situation was already already critical, it becomes untenable.
On his own initiative, De Angelis believes that this is the heart of his 6. Armee - both in substance and in geography - that is now threatened by this infiltration. He therefore orders the set of forces defending the southern bank - 78. SD, 4. LFD, 377. ID and (this is new) 79. ID - to make a new leap backwards on the road from Velyka Yablun'ka to Kopyllya before risking fragmentation, encirclement and destruction. 15 kilometers all the same... Too bad, this area was resisting so well ! And the 65th Army, still as lost as ever, has to be content to follow.
Another advantage for De Angelis: this "redeployment" would allow him to free up most of the 168. ID (Werner Schmidt-Hammer) and 331. ID (Karl-Ludwig Rhein) to defend the sectors of Hulivka and Pidrizhzhya - and thus to prevent any unexpected assault (or destruction) of the crossing points on the Stokhid. Which may well prove to be useful soon...
In fact, on the right wing of the 6. Armee (which is also the left wing of the 3. PanzerArmee), things also continue to deteriorate. The 9. ID (Siegmund von Schleinitz) and the 210. StuG Abt (Major Herbert Sichelschmidt) are now on the plain, or nearly so - the woods around Kryvlyn are very sparse. On its side, the 20th Armored Corps of Pavel Poluboiarov... ignores them and heads for Kovel to confront Budyshche, Lyubytiv or Voloshky, alongside the 1st Shock Army and the 19th BC, what remains of the center of the 3. PanzerArmee. The Red Army will thus force the eastern gate of Kovel, since (it seems) the west resists!
Admittedly, the red stream is now a bit scattered and tired, but in front, the 81. ID and the 246. ID can only gain time... Just enough, however, to allow the XLVII. PanzerKorps (Erhard Raus) to rally in front of the 2nd Tank Army, which engages the 3rd Mechanized Corps of Ivan Dubovoy and the 4th GAC Malin of A. Kukushin - which had already suffered heavy losses.
Finally, the Heer could withdraw under the bombs of the Red air hordes. Among them, the Luftwaffe pilots report very aggressive planes with a blue-blue nose and blue-white-red rudder - but in the rear, the services in charge of listening to the Allied propaganda were already aware of this...
The defenders retreat to the outskirts of the future Festung Kovel, where marshes, avenues, buildings and railroads make the Soviets uncomfortable. Festung Kovel? Perhaps!
Undoubtedly, for the time being, the XXIV. PanzerKorps (Martin Wandel) and the 38. ID and 39. ID are still holding the 11th Armored Corps of Vassily Alexeiev and the 5th Shock Army of Ivan Chernyakovsky, with Panzerfaust and MG-42 bursts. But, under the blows of Ivan Konev's sledgehammer, the city seems little by little flattened under the rockets and bombs, until taking the aspect of a kind of huge chopper...
Even more serious - by retreating, the XLVII. PanzerKorps has, in fact, lost contact with the 6. Armee in Kryvlyn. This one is only connected to the 3. PzA by the road to Sarny, and still, by making a detour to the north at Bilyn. A very tenuous link, and practically not defended... This is not lost on Ferdinand Schörner - but in Rastenburg, his many anxious reports go under the pile of bad news, on top of which the news of the SS clash between Zamość and Chelm. Once again the disciplined Schörner must prepare to take responsibility according to his own judgment, which will define the date, time... and content of his orders to De Angelis.

Proletarians aviators of all countries, unite!
"The day after Rey's death, in a single morning mission, the group shot down three Stukas south of Kovel, plus three more damaged ones.
In the mess hall at noon, Albert said that something new was happening on the German side: "The capture of Kovel is close. We must finish the offensive in style. But the Boche will commit everything they have. I'm sure I've spotted some Heinkel 111s. You will see that we're going to get some of them. But watch out! These bastards must be well protected!"
The afternoon of this February 21st was rough, indeed. The group found the famous Heinkel 111 announced by Albert, the prophet, duly escorted by Fw 190.
As an aperitif, Lefèvre, Albert of course, Risso called "Cadolive" and La Poype called "Le Vicomte" have already sent to the Walhalla of the Führer an isolated Junker 88 [probably a reconaissance aircraft] which brought the Besançon's total to 32. Ten MiGs are now flying for a mission on the road to Kovel. The city is burning. A heavy blanket of fog and ash covers it. At three thousand five hundred meters, it is a real swarming of planes.
- Hello, hello, Heinkel 111 protected at 9 o'clock and at 3 o'clock by Fw 190," shout the radios.
The ten MiGs fell on more than 50 He 111s accompanied by swarms of Fw 190s. Caught by the ground assault, the Germans decided to turn the eastern part of Kovel into a ploughed land. All the Luftwaffe of the sector seemed to be in the air. Let's go, guys! The deadly match begins. The Besançon attacks first. After a wide turn where the engines give all they have in the belly, they fall on a platoon of about fifteen bombers. The Focke-Wulf were waiting for them. They collide in an indescribable hand-to-hand combat. The wings, the fuselages, the propellers give the impression of being tangled up. It is a swarming of metal and canvas in a storm of fire and iron. Each of the two adversaries wants to be the first to puncture the other. The melee reaches its climax. The faces of the pilots are distorted alternately by the centrifugal and centripetal forces. The blood, pressed against the wall of the brain, forms a black veil before the retina.
The eyes, however, remain riveted to the collimator, the fingers tightened on the controls. At maximum speed, in a fantastic whirlwind that reminds us of the motorcycles of the circle of death of the fairs, each one waits for the failure of the other. It comes sooner or later and it is unforgiving.
Durand, the Marseillais, buys his first Heinkel. Léon, Risso and Mathis hit the bull's eye and set three Fw's on fire, one each. But the Germans returned blow for blow. The MiGs of Captain De Forges and the ensigns Laurent, Fauroux and De Sibour were shot down. Laurent and Fauroux managed to jump and were rescued unharmed, but for De Forges and De Sibour, that morning of February 21st was their last. They were not, however, fanatical warriors, risk-taking adventurers, as many were said to have been attracted by their assignment to the Russian front. Fine and racy, a bit dreamy, a bit poetic, the plane had seduced them, as it had seduced a Saint-Exupéry. They had seen in it a machine to grow the man. But what was supposed to make life more beautiful had, in the end, only served to make it shorter for them. And in the evening, the news of the first victory of Sergeant "pilot-interpreter" Komarov (a Heinkel 111 pursued to ground level) did not raise morale much.
Another heavy night in the camp, where the good mood seems a bit forced and where the vodka of after the victories has a funny taste. In the sleeping bags, before sinking into sleep, each one, after having evoked the dear and distant faces of those who are waiting or those who are no longer, can't help but think "And tomorrow? Whose turn will it be?
turn? Maybe it's my turn"... "...
(Captain François de Geoffre, Escadre Franche-Comté/Vistule, Charles Corlet ed. 1952, reprinted in 1996)

Inexorable
Lvov region (south of Ukraine) - Here too, the icy knife of the 3rd Ukrainian Front ends up on Lvov and the 8. Armee.
In the north, the 26th Army of Lev Skvirsky has no opponents, except for some AlarmBataillonen and other unfortunate militias thrown in its way - not always deliberately, by the way. It is now approaching Rawa Ruska - a strategic crossroads of the region - covered on its left by the 8th Mechanized Corps, which runs the plain around Volytsya. Faced with this surge, the pathetic attempts of the 8. Panzer - visibly overwhelmed and in full discomfiture - can do nothing. Werner Friebe therefore withdraws from Kulychkiv to defend Bobroidy and the northern approach to Lvov. On his right, the 6. Panzer and the 311.StuG give up - due to lack of resources - a project of flanking action intended to assist it and instead withdraws step by step to Velyki Mosty, at the level of Dobrotvir, where the fighting continues. Cursed Reds who do not attack where they are expected!
Around Dobrotvir, precisely, the 5th Guards Army of Vyacheslav Tsvetaev continues its bludgeoning and its regular burning of the defenders facing it - who, in the long run, can only give in under the pressure. In the evening, at the cost of significant efforts, the frontovikis are close to breaking through in the direction of Reklynets and to reach the road to Jovkva, which will allow them to spread in the plain of Rovne while flanking the machines of the 6. Panzer (von Waldenfels). And in the night, the 3rd Armored Corps launches its machines.
Finally, still alone in front of the 9th Guards Army and at the tip of the 1st Armored Corps - but now in a large steppe where his opponent is free to maneuver - the proud GrossDeutschland is forced to retreat like a boxer in the ropes towards the road from Velykosilky to Zadvir'ya, now located 8 kilometers from its position. For the Reds have not yet reached it - but they are getting closer, especially to the north, towards Velykosilky.

Witch hunt
Berlin - General Johannes Friessner continues to wait, with less and less carelessness, the results of the Bagration commission of inquiry - which are slow in coming. The political situation regarding the Ostheer has changed, everyone seems to have forgotten his name, this morning Hitler himself would have been furious about the fact that if Neptun did not produce the results expected of it, it was also because it was necessary to send panzers to Kaunas just a little earlier.
This is undoubtedly true. It is even indisputable. But in terms of form, the 2. Armee and its leader probably had little to do with this painful state of affairs, which was due above all to the terrible lack of reserves from which the Reich suffered on all fronts. Nevertheless, for lack of arguing, Friessner can only wait...

* 8 x 105 mm, 4 x Bofors 40 mm, 4 x FlakVierling, a Würzburg radar.
** Thus, very ironically, Zhukov reasoned precisely the same way as his opponents when they decided to launch Neptun.
*** Third Department - political and disciplinary surveillance service controlled by the NKVD.

 

[Wings]

February 21st, 1944

Respite
Balkan Front - Rain follows snow throughout the theater of operations. There is no action to report.

Brotherhood of arms in the air
VVS HQ (Moscow) - Red Square is white with snow, while the Soviet air force is putting the finishing touches to the mission that leaves for Athens tonight.
This one will be restricted: colonel Levandovich will go almost alone to the Capitalists, accompanied by a single assistant-translator who obviously works for the NKVD (for the colonel, it is so obvious that even their hosts must know it).
Levandovich - of course, that's not his real name - is the man for the job: after all, he was responsible for the smooth implementation on the front of the 52nd French Mixed Wing, which came to assist the Soviet people in their heroic struggle. He also took advantage of the opportunity to learn a minimum of French - to the point that he wonders if his assistant's main mission is not to watch him!
The colonel should therefore be well received in Athens. However, diplomacy is not everything - and since it is the capitalists who are in demand here, it will be advisable to negotiate hard, by giving as little as possible and getting the maximum of support... and of course of information.
This is why, facing Levandovich, there are no less than three generals around the table: General Fedor Yakovlevich Falaleyev (representative of the Stavka for the air force on the southern front), Lieutenant-General of Aviation Vladimir Alexandrovich Sudets (17th Air Army) and Lieutenant-General Sergei Kondratievich Goryunov (5th Air Army). Three important figures of the Soviet air force, whose time is precious and who do not hide their desire to solve this issue as soon as possible. Goryunov, in particular, keeps on shortening to get to the point, his broad and severe face surmounting a short but corpulent figure - the man is undeniably competent but does not really encourage discussion.
Finally, after a long technical presentation, Falaleyev concludes: "Comrade Colonel, this collaboration with the Western forces has been approved... at the highest level [From the tone the colonel understands that indeed, the superlative is in order]. However, you will have understood that it responds more to a political goal - to bring Hungary back into the Workers' camp, as we have already done for Romania and Bulgaria - than to a deep desire to facilitate the life of the Capitalists. We therefore count on you to limit our participation in the Anglo-French operations to Hungary, by valorizing the cobelligerent countries [the aforementioned Romania and Bulgaria!] which will be mobilized for this task. Concerning Yugoslavia, any action is to be avoided - this subject is directly linked to the Kremlin. I have no doubt that you will find a convincing reason to explain this limitation to the Westerners..."
Colonel Levandovich does not have the luxury of being of another opinion. He obviously nods, before the generals stand up to indicate that everyone is finished. In two hours, the Soviet emissary will be on a plane to Greece.

Proletarian brotherhood in arms
Yugoslavia - After having asked for the agreement of the non-collectivist political parties members of the AVNOJ, the Partisan movement officially gives its accreditation to the Soviet assistance mission. Symbol of its desperate attempts to hide its orientation, the Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Josip Smodlaka went so far as to signify to Moscow that the National Committee for the Liberation of Yugoslavia was "flattered by the interest of the USSR"! History does not say whether Molotov smiled at this tartuffery. But one thing is now certain: the arrival of the Soviets was scheduled for the night of February 25th-26th.

 

[Wings]

February 21st, 1944

RAS
Italian Front - The sky is dark and threatening, with numerous showers. In both camps, the men stay warm. There is nothing special to report.

 

[Wings]

February 21st, 1944

Operation Woodwork
Béziers - In the American camp, we are also satisfied with the last days of fighting in the Languedoc, because the real objective was not so much to advance in the south of the Massif Central than to advance as far as possible in the direction of Mazamet. Two months earlier, the American army held only a strip of land about forty kilometers wide and over 200 kilometers long, all the way to the Spanish border. Today, the Hérault is no longer flanked by the German battle corps, the armored reserves are reconstituted and everything is in place, or almost in place, for the spring offensive. In short, we have the feeling that we have led the enemy to where we wanted him to go. The last touch-up will be carried out in a few days with operation Charleroi.

Operation Pike
Aude Valley - The last German soldiers evacuate Quillan, after blowing up the railway station and the bridges over the Aude. It is the same in the villages further north, as the first American tanks reach the river.
.........
Pays de Sault - While the men of the 45th US-ID try to pursue the Germans towards Bélesta and Puivert, a company of the 180th IR carries out a reconnaissance in the small village of Comus. Located on a dead-end road off the N613, the place seems to be of no interest. However, the inhabitants tell the GIs that they could probably bypass the German system by taking the Frau gorge. This gorge dug by the Grand Hers and passing under the mountain of the same name links the Pays de Sault to the Pays d'Olmes. Borrowing without delay this way, the Americans emerge on a small road which leads westward to Bélesta, still occupied by the enemy, and east to Montségur.
But the Germans have long understood the importance of controlling the castle in order to have an observatory on the surroundings and to complicate the movements in this sector.

 

[Wings]

February 22nd, 1944

Crossbow
Pas-de-Calais - The weather is not very nice this day in the east of England. Following the orders, we try to take off, but the results are sometimes catastrophic. In Wethersfield, in Essex, the first plane to try its luck takes off in a sudden gust of wind and ends up on a wooden horse, wiping out the right leg of the landing gear. This was the end of the road for the Douglas A-20 Havoc (serial 43-9203) of 1st Lieutenant George Cowgill, 671st BS. If the crew is safe and sound - which is fortunate considering the plane was filled with bombs and gasoline - the aircraft is scrapped. Apart from the fact that this does not encourage the other pilots to take off, the runway must be cleared, which cancels the mission, to the great relief of the crews.
Only one group (394th BG) of Marauders manage to take off. Starting from Boreham, it will visit bomb a V1 site in the Pas-de-Calais, at Esquerdes Wood, 18 km southwest of Saint-Omer. The bombing, spoiled by a gloomy weather, is not a success.
The only event of the mission concerns the American sports world: one of the Martin B-26 Marauder of the 386th BS, serial 42-96042, is indeed piloted by Captain Elmer Gedeon, an athlete of 1m93, soccer and baseball player from Michigan, member of the Major League Baseball. The thirteenth mission of the plane was fatal for him and five other crew members (including a supernumerary apprentice). Only the co-pilot, 2nd Lieutenant James Taaffe, managed to jump. After the war, he said: "It was so dark that the Huns had turned on their searchlights. Just before we got to the target, we were caught in the beams of light, and the plane was hit severely several times by flak, including a hit under the cockpit. I saw Gedeon collapse on the controls and jam them. We nosedived, while the cockpit filled with flames. I had just enough time to open the hatch and get out of there to jump."

 

[Wings]

February 22nd, 1944

Slight difference of opinion
Belgrade (14:00) - Harassed as never before by all political actors in Yugoslavia, and despite the poisonous atmosphere in the Yugoslav capital, Ivan Šubašić submits his first... arbitration proposal (?) for the formation of a government of national unity in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
The demands of AVNOJ - that is, Tito - are simple but harsh. And the snow that falls does not really soften their terms. For the National Committee for the Liberation of Yugoslavia to unite with the royal government in Belgrade, King Peter II has to officially denounce "the crimes committed by the Chetniks and by the clique of intriguers who claim to be his and pronounces an amnesty for all combatants (from Chetniks to Partisans), valid until the end of the conflict, when Justice can serenely do its work". Then he must dissolve his current government and appoint a new cabinet of national unity, as well as a military command where "the posts will be distributed according to the efforts of each." These minor adjustments made, the Partisans are ready to "to commit their powerful armies to liberating the rest of the country as quickly as possible."
Everyone suspects that, for the Communists, the name of the new Prime Minister begins with B and ends with a Z. Tito feels he is in a strong position and is not willing to give up much.
And even though Šubašić is - personally - in favor of the monarchy, it is clear from his report that this solution is now the only sustainable way forward for Yugoslavia.
This is not, of course, the opinion of the main leaders in Belgrade, who are as upset as ever by the attack committed in the morning (among other things): Prime Minister Bozidar Purić quickly rejects this "inadmissible hostage-taking of national unity". And the Knežević brothers, from the king's military cabinet, will spend long hours explaining to their sovereign the multiple traps of the Titist offer and then to reveal to him the duplicity of the Partisans thanks to the numerous messages deciphered by their services. As far as they are concerned, Ninčić and Živković chose cautiously to slip away - at least this time. No need to wear out their credit on this issue played out in advance. Besides, the young king should not be overloaded with information...
On the side of the large European Allies, one is rather unsatisfied with this beginning of dialogue, which one senses will be difficult to reach a solution. However, Churchill is determined to force the hand of the King - "the traps of Serbian politics must not thwart our plans!" he scolds in front of Anthony Eden. The latter openly regrets that the French did not proceed to a great cleaning of the entourage of Peter II when they had it under hand... But in Marseille, Léon Blum argues, professorial: "It is a basis of work. They now speak to each other, even if it is to insult each other. And they will continue to talk to each other tomorrow, because it's in their country's interest!"
Despite the many ups and downs of his career, Blum has always had faith in human nature...

 

[Wings]

February 22nd, 1944

Poland
Operation Storm
Rovne District - The 27th "Volhynia" Division of Colonel Kazimierz Damian Bąbiński "Luboń" is at the forefront of the fighting for the capture of Kovel, bravely sending wave after wave of fighters into the furnace, amidst the frontovikis. Between Poles and Soviets even seems to appear as a vague beginning of camaraderie forged in the flames of the fights. This can only be a good omen for the future!
However, now that the Red Infantry is there en masse, the support of the Resistance is no longer necessary. It is therefore agreed that the members of the Armia Krajowa will disperse for a short period after the capture of Kovel, in order to gather, see their families and prepare the next step. A continuation which will of course include the formation of a real division regularly equipped by the Soviets.
.........
Lvov District - At 12:00 noon, the 16,000 men of the 5th Infantry Division "Children of Lvov", commanded by Colonel Ludwik Czyżewski "Julian" jumps at the throat of the weak garrison of the city. The latter was in a state of confusion - the best informed members of the garrison know that it is necessary to prepare for evacuation.
In the center, in the district of Śródmieście, everything goes well: the Poles take over the means of communication without a hitch, including the central post office in Mariacki Square, forcing the detachments guarding it to withdraw before storming the last machine-gun nests with grenades. In the evening, there is fighting in the Kościuszko Park (Jesuit Garden) as well as in the theater district, without any consideration for the wounded - but the Polish, American, French, English and Soviet flags are already flying on the tower of the city hall.
A little further on, in the eastern sector, the Poles seem to fear the Germans much less than the Ukrainians... However, in the absence of defenders, they quickly take over this area, in an atmosphere of palpable tension. It is the same in the Wehrmacht who has no qualms about abandoning the handful of German settlers still present to possible reprisals. The medieval citadel, practically undefended, is taken after a brief assault, thus freeing a (small) arsenal that will be very useful for the future.
However, in the Western District - undoubtedly the most important for the Ostheer, because it is there where the railway station is located - the attack fails. Under intense automatic fire, the Poles are forced to withdraw to their starting positions, triggering panic among the civilians trapped in the middle of the confrontations.
Similarly, in the north, the Armia Krajowa faces fierce resistance and makes almost no progress. The resistance fighters do not manage to capture their objectives, including
the municipal gas plant, which they feared the Germans would blow up when they left.
In short, the Secret Army now holds a large half of the city. Obviously, in front of such a powerful coordinated action, the 454. SicherungDivision of general Johannes Nedtwig is unable to regain control of the city. It thus asks for reinforcements to the 8. Armee - which does not have only that to do! However, it is likely to be forced to keep control of its communications. But who to send?
.........
Lublin District - Colonel Kazimierz Tumidajski "Marcin" - well informed by his network of spies spread all over the countryside - learns that the SS are coming back in his direction, pursued, it seems, by a not inconsiderable fraction of the Red Army. With calm, he decides that his two divisions are not capable of facing this enemy in the open country and therefore postpones the action initially planned for this day, to be satisfied with a simple intensification of his harassment campaign. No matter what the radio or London might say, how could he claim to be protecting the settlers and the population from reprisals if all his forces are gathered in one place to fight a battle lost in advance?
However, Tumidajski is not only (more or less) aware of what is happening on the front - other elements help to guide his decision. For example, he is aware that there is, unfortunately, an infamous place in his sector, which is called the camp of Lublin-Majdanek and which he considers essential to take over intact so that the world knows what happened there.
One more reason not to rush... Even if, to his great surprise, there is no particular reason to, the death machine continues its work as if nothing had happened.
.........
Occupied Poland - Everywhere in the cellars, faces are tense. Fists are clenched.
In spite of death and misery, a martyred people is waiting. A cry, a word, a breath even coming from London. At the end of the night, this breath is finally spread on the airwaves, in radios sputtering in the middle of German parasites... "W-hour will take place tomorrow at 17:00"

Preparations
War Office (Horse Guards Avenue, Whitehall, London) - First working meeting between officials of the Polish government in exile and the British Army, intended to define the modalities of deployment of the Polish Airborne Brigade in Greece, or even in Serbia - but always with the aim of jumping from there to Poland. The task is obviously technical - but it is also and above all urgent! Indeed, the Poles have categorically refused a transfer by boat "ridiculously long for an air-transportable training course". It is understandable: the transfer of the unit by plane is not impossible, in view of the means available to the United Nations in the Mediterranean at the moment, on the one hand, and on the other hand, the brigade's strength, which is by no means plentiful.
.........
- Staff (Major-General S. F. Sosabowski, Deputy: Lt-Col. S. Jacnic): 104 men;
- 1st Battalion (Maj. M. Tonn): 354 men;
- 2nd Battalion (Maj. W. Ploszewski): 351 men;
- 3rd Battalion (Capt. W. Sobocinski): 374 men;
- Anti-tank battery (Capt. J. K. Wardzala): 132 men;
- Engineer Company (Capt. P. Budziszewski): 133 men;
- Signal Company (Capt. J. Burzawa): 93 men;
- Medical Company (Lt. J. Mozdzierz): 90 men;
- Transport and Supply Company (Capt. A. Siudzinski): 43 men;
- Light Artillery Battery (Maj. J. Bielecki): 80 men.
.........
In total, Stanisław Sosabowski's unit numbers only 1,754 fighters, which is quite manageable for Dakotas that could carry 28 equipped soldiers, or 14 men with containers. Moreover, given what is expected of this formation, the British do not plan to carry the 6-Pounder artillery. Moved en bloc, the brigade will instead be deployed in the field in self-contained battle groups (probably companies). Parachuting will be provided by decommissioned bombers that are already part of Air-Marshal Tedder's forces. These, of course, will then provide the supply, in coordination with the AK. And in this regard, the French have already promised the same old LeO-458T like in Belgrade, if by chance Albion was perfidious...
So we expect the first landings of Poles in Athens within five days. The name of the operation is already found: Comet - a word that is pronounced the same way in French, in English and almost in Polish (kometa), and which perfectly describes the regular passage of celestial bodies coming to decorate the sky with pretty luminous trails... But the English are not inclined to poetry in such circumstances - they seem rather prodigiously annoyed because they consider, always, as a vain waste of resources*.
And as Sir Allan Brooke (Chief of the Imperial Staff) aptly put it to his visitors: "It will obviously be appropriate for these actions to be meticulously prepared upstream, based on the feedback from your agents in the field. We are no longer in the days of the great cavalcades of your winged hussars, dear friends!"
This line of British humor raises a few laughs around the table... a little forced, perhaps. General Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski - who had come as a representative of the Armia Krajowa - simply nods with a smile. "Yes, yes... Unless something unexpected happens." New laughter.
Then, in petto, the general adds for himself: "After all, Peter II has succeeded in forcing their hand to recover Belgrade. So why not us with Warsaw?"

Lithuania
Run for it
Occupied Lithuania - Juozas Ambrazevičius, very short-lived Prime Minister (less than two months) of the government of President Škirpa, now under arrest, flees his country to the west, disguised as a railway worker**.

* Nevertheless, much later, this action will inspire the special operations projects conceived by the Green Berets and the SAS in the context of a possible major conflict against the Warsaw Pact. The principle would have been broadly the same: parachuting or landing by submarine of small groups operating in isolation in enemy territory. Only the objective - most often the destruction of strategic installations or the creation of insecurity on the immense Soviet territory - differed significantly from that of the Poles. Finally, of course, the members of the commandos were supposed to return to their base after the action, not to wait for the arrival of an allied army.
** Ambrazevičius would hole up in Berlin until the end of the war, under the false name of Juozas Brazaitis,before managing to reach Bamberg, in Bavaria (thus with the French) with his family who had arrived in the meantime. He emigrated to the United States in 1950. With him disappeared the last remnant of the pro-German government of the Republic of Lithuania - which did not last long enough to pretend to help its country, but long enough, alas, to make some very bad choices. The Germans were only an occupying power in the Baltic, just like the Soviets... But had they ever wanted to be anything else?

 

[Wings]

February 22nd, 1944

Indochina Campaign
Tet Offensive
Phnom-Penh - At sunrise, a column of several thousand FUNC militiamen enter the city from the north. The story goes that the arrival of Prince Norodom Sihanouk was not greeted first by the Buddhist clergy, but by the priests of the church of Russey Keo.
The news spreads quickly and the guerrilla advance becomes a victory parade. While some of the fighters surround the Japanese in their barracks, others search the "Palace of the Republic" abandoned the day before. However, they only put their hands on flags and emblems of the "Khmer Republic", which will feed a bonfire in the middle of the street. The Japanese embassy is also visited. It is deserted: in the night, all its personnel went to seek asylum... just on the other side of the street, in the Thai embassy.
In the streets, it is the joy. The crowd is waving flags and portraits of the prince, who is gladly shaking the hands that everyone is holding out to him. Dressed in Western style, Norodom Sihanouk, beaming, walks on a carpet of rose petals that symbolizes the love and admiration of his people. The doors of the royal palace, miraculously intact, are opened wide before him. The "Khmer Republic" had planned to transform it into a museum, but this project, like the other great ideas of Son Ngoc-Thanh, had not seen the day. It is in front of the palace that the young sovereign read his famous "Liberation Speech". We reproduce below some very short excerpts from this speech.
"I trust only in the supernatural powers. Each man, like a boat, can be carried away by the storms of destiny. But let him keep his faith whole, it will be his compass. No matter what the contrary winds may be, let him trust in Buddha. He loves those who love him and punishes those who forget him. One day the boat returns to its port. One day the man returns to his house. One day the country will return to sanity."
A great admirer of General de Gaulle, the prince, after having spoken in Cambodian, switches to French to address him - and, beyond that, the French in general.
"With the return of the Kingdom of Cambodia to the Allied camp, Algiers today, or rather Marseille, and tomorrow Paris will recognize our contribution to the establishment and maintenance of order and peace in Southeast Asia. Victory is now achieved in Cambodia and imminent in all of Indochina. I would like to reaffirm here to the President of the Council, the friendship and attachment of Cambodia to France.
Thanks to the courage and strength of our people, we have been able to repel the enemy who made such good use of our sovereignty. In order to free ourselves, we were forced to ask for the help of other countries, such as France and the United States of America, who granted us help fraternally. Now we wish to help our neighbors in Indochina to find peace as well.
For the future, we still consider France, which has given us its culture, as our main friend and we wish to strengthen our military, political, industrial and economic cooperation with her. For having been so often and in such a murderous way attacked our peaceful people can only suffer to see France still occupied by Nazi Germany. Also, I want to assure you that Cambodia is France's ally and will fight by her side until the tyrants who unjustly attacked her give thanks, in Tokyo like in Berlin."
.........
After several hours of fighting, the Japanese barracks are transformed into a pile of rubble and the last shots are extinguished. In search of other targets, the men surround the Thai embassy, where they had learned that members of the government of the former Khmer Republic had taken refuge. After two hours of negotiations, the guerrillas warned that the embassy would be destroyed and all its occupants massacred if the ministers are not delivered to them. After having tried, without success, to reach Prince Sihanouk, the Thais forcedthe ministers to leave; they are immediately executed on the lawn in front of the building. Afterwards, the Thais were able to exfiltrate the families to Bangkok.