PRIORITY RADIO MESSAGE TO
GENERAL YAKUBOVSKY
JULY 14, 1941
General, I must regret that the units under my command (25th & 38th Rifle Divisions) have failed to gain access to St. Petersburg. German Panzer units and constant air attack have blocked our way and we have been unable to get into the city. I regret that the 33rd Rifle Division has been destroyed. St. Petersburg has fallen! We are falling back on Kolpino.
Respectfully,
Major General Lukin, Acting Corps Commander (1)
BBC WORLD NEWS
JULY 20, 1941
Good Evening, this is London. General George C. Marshall, the Chief of Staff of the US Army, arrived in London on an inspection tour of US Army forces in the United Kingdom and Middle East. He met briefly with His Majesty the King and then with Prime Minister Churchill. He spent the afternoon conferring with Mr. Churchill and General Sir Alan Brooke, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff.
This afternoon, RAF Fighter Command shot down over 50 attacking German bombers, a fitting tribute to Air Chief Marshal Sir High Dowding, a day before his retirement. He will turn over command to Air Marshal Sir Keith Parks.
In other news, the Russian Army has claimed that a massive counter attack outside Saint Petersburg will recapture the city within the next few days.
Excerpt from
ACTORS & ACTRESSES WHO
SERVED THEIR COUNTRY IN WARTIME
By Wes Zumwalt
Pelican Publishing
2003
July 20, 1941
Eugene “Gene” Roddenberry.
Lieutenant (j.g) Gene Roddenberry had joined the Navy after being rejected by the Army Air Forces and now he was flying a Catalina out of Darwin on an anti-submarine patrol. He had been in Australia for two months now and this was his 22nd anti-submarine patrol. They were three hours into their mission and they fully expected this one to end as all the others had – in sheer boredom. He was wrong.
At 1000 hours, his co-pilot spotted a submarine on the surface and it was not (at least for now) attempting to dive. After checking the information that they had gotten in the pre-flight briefing, they were certain that this was an enemy sub. They were carrying 4 depth charges and they were armed as Roddenberry pushed over the controls and the plane began its shallow dive towards the sub. The sub’s crew began firing on the Catalina as soon as they spotted her. The radio operator was having problems raising their base as the Catalina shook from being hit.
The two depth charges landed wide before exploding, jamming the starboard forward diving plane. Looking back, Roddenberry made the decision to attack again. As he was bringing the plane around, Roddenberry asked his crew if they had seen what he had – a German flag flying from the sub? The right waist gunner and the flight engineer both replied that they had, everyone else missed the flag. Bringing his plane in closer (and taking a lot of hits in the meantime), he dropped his depth charges on both sides of the sub, breaking it into two halves before the sub sank with all hands. But the sub had gotten its licks in as well. The plane’s hull was severely damaged, port engine out, starboard engine dying and the plane was losing altitude and fuel. Sending out a mayday, he aimed for a small island that was approximately 250 nm NNW of Darwin. The plane crash landed just off the beach, and the five unwounded sailors helped the 2 wounded men off (the flight mechanic had been killed in the attack on the sub.) and onto the beach. Roddenberry ordered two of his crew to remain with the wounded (and at the same time, to attempt to salvage what they could from their wrecked airplane) while he and the others explored the island. The island, while small and apparently uninhabited, there were plenty of Jackfruit trees and several fresh water ponds and plenty of cover where they could hide until help arrived. The radioman told Roddenberry that he had received a faint reply before they crashed, so hopefully they wouldn’t wait for long. As it was a Coastwatcher station had picked up their Maydays and forwarded it onto their HQ. An Australian submarine was dispatched, but it took a week to get there and both wounded men died.
When Roddenberry and his crew returned to their base and were debriefed, no one believed that they had sunk a U-boat, but they were credited with sinking a Japanese sub.
Roddenberry after a brief liberty, returned to flying Catalinas out of Darwin.
SUPREME HEADQUARTERS ALLIED FORCES EUROPE
MEETING
July 21, 1941
Attending:
General George C. Marshall, US Army Chief of Staff
General Sir Alan Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff
General Dwight Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander Europe
Air Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, RAF, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander
General Jacob Devers, USA, Allied Land Forces Commander
Admiral Sir Bernard Ramsey, Acting Allied Naval Forces Commander (2)
Air Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, RAF, Allied Air Forces Commander
Brigadier Sir Francis de Guingand, SACEUR Chief of Staff
Marshall: Gentlemen thank you for being here today. I spent most of yesterday afternoon in discussion with Sir Alan and the Prime Minister. What follows is classified Top Secret Ultra. As far as you are concerned, this is as secret as what is going on over at Bletchley Park, and this will also explain why the French and Russian liaison officers are inspecting landing craft in Portsmouth today.
This is going to seem harsh and cruel, but we cannot change the facts.
1. The Russians are our allies in name only. They are demanding a lot from us and not offering much in return, and based on what they did to Volgograd, I wouldn’t want them as allies.
2. We estimate that in 4-6 months, based on the current speed of the German advance, Moscow will fall.
3. We need to keep the Russians fighting for as long as possible, so we will send supplies to the Russians.
General Eisenhower, your staff has plans for the invasion of Europe in the works. That is to change. The majority of the German Army is in Russia and the Balkans and getting them back to France in a hurry will be difficult for them. Once Moscow falls, your forces should be prepared to make a landing in Europe. Once a beachhead is established, you are to push your forces through. I want a basic plan drawn up within the next three weeks and forces ready to land in France less than two weeks after the fall of Moscow.
General Eisenhower: Sir, with all due respect, this seems rushed. Aside for General Brooke and Prime Minister Churchill, have any of the other Allied leaders been briefed?
Brooke: Ike, if you and your people aren’t up to the job, let us know, and we can replace you. General Marshall briefed me, the Prime Minister, and His Majesty yesterday and we all gave our blessings.
Brigadier de Guingand: Pardon me sir, but why isn’t Colonel St. Pierre here today?
Marshall: Brigadier, he is not here because I didn’t want him reporting back to his superiors before I could discuss this with them. Besides, after the murder of Admiral Darlan, the French aren’t exactly happy with us. When I spoke with Admiral Darlan before his murder, he indicated that the French Army was not prepared to land in France until the summer of 1942. Admiral Ramsey and Air Marshal Leigh-Mallory, I haven’t worked with you gentlemen before, but I have heard great things about you and you have my utmost confidence in you.
Eisenhower: Sir, if I may, what are you going to tell the French?
Marshall: Ike, the basic plan we worked out in Washington was this:
1. American troops will land on Sardinia, at the same time; French troops will land on Corsica
2. Two days later, American and British troops will land in Sicily.
3. All of this activity will draw German reinforcements to the Mediterranean and away from the Russians.
4. After we have Corsica and Sardinia; Ike, your forces will launch diversionary attacks in Norway and the Low Countries. In the event that these diversionary attacks are even moderately successful, we will pour troops and material into the region.
5. By this time, we hope Hitler will be totally confused. We then land on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of France within 30 days, with an invasion of Italy occurring at the same time or shortly thereafter.
Now we have ramped up production of landing craft and we are diverting resources from the Pacific.
Air Marshal Tedder: Begging your pardon sir, what if the French refuse and say that they need more time?
Marshall: we have considered that Sir Arthur. In the event that they refuse, we ignore Sardinia and Corsica and we go after the Italians. And we cut the flow of supplies to the French by one third; those supplies are needed for men who will fight.
Now gentlemen, if you will excuse us, Sir Alan and I are having lunch with the King and Queen
Excerpt from
CHAPTER XII – INDIA
SCOTTISH WARRIOR: THE LIFE OF
FIELD MARSHAL JAN NIEMCZYK,
1ST VISCOUNT NIEMCZYK OF CARACAS, KBE,
DSO AND 2 BARS, LEGION OF MERIT
BY
COLONEL SIR DAVID MILLER, KCMG, MC
In the early morning hours of July 22, 1941, Niemczyk’s battalion received a detachment of Royal Engineers who had brought along chemical mortars and mustard gas shells (the anthrax shells would arrive later in the day). The detachment commander informed Niemczyk that his orders were to fire the gas shells at 0300 July 23 and then follow up with an infantry charge. Having heard all the horror stories about gas attacks during the Great War, no one in the battalion was comfortable with this and but they had our orders. They would be supported by divisional artillery and would have air support at first light.
Several hours later, Niemczyk received a report from his scouts that the Japanese were digging in and fortifying their positions. From what they were telling him, it looked like the Japanese were planning on staying in India, at least for now.
Just before noon, disaster struck. Niemczyk had ordered his to keep their gas masks handy and fortunately most of them listened to him. The Japanese, after having been quiet for a few days, launched a massive artillery barrage at 1145. At first they were hitting in front of the British positions but then the artillery fire shifted on to the battalion’s positions. As he huddled in his foxhole, Niemczyk prayed that the Japanese wouldn’t hit any of the “special” ammunition. His prayers were not answered.
At 1156, Niemczyk heard a shell land near the RE positions and seconds later heard the hissing of escaping gas and the cries of “Gas!” “Gas!” Wasting no time, he put on his mask on and ran over to the RE detachment to see what he could do. What a mess! The RE detachment commander was dead (killed by shrapnel), most of the canisters had been destroyed and the area was deep in Mustard Gas. Worse yet, his outposts were reporting that the enemy was advancing! Ordering B Company to stand to, he ordered his runner to the battalion HQ to order the rest of the unit to stand to and to ask for artillery support.
Niemczyk heard his Bren guns opening up on the advancing enemy, when he heard airplane engines. Looking up, he saw at least six multi-engine aircraft fly overhead before dropping their bombs on the Japanese positions (but missing the majority of the approaching Japanese troops). (3)
The Japanese, seeing what was happening behind them charged headlong into the British positions. Unfortunately for them, they also charged headlong (and unprotected) into an expanding cloud of Mustard Gas. Those that were not killed by the Mustard Gas were killed by the defending troops.
Lt. Colonel Niemczyk’s 6th Battalion lost 62 dead (mainly from the Mustard Gas) and 157 wounded, including Colonel Niemczyk who had to be evacuated (over his protests) to the rear. However, his wounds, including shrapnel to his face and chest, a bayonet gash to his left leg and a broken right leg, were serious enough that to merit his evacuation.
As they were recovering from the Japanese attack, a runner from Division HQ arrived with orders to cancel the gas attacks!
CLASSIFIED MEMORANDUM TO
FIELD MARSHAL THOMAS BLAMEY
To: Field Marshal Blamey
From: Commander, Station Hydra
Date: July 23, 1941
Subject: Japanese military
cc: Admiral Mountbatten, C-in-C SEA
Admiral Nimitz, C-in-C CPTO
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, C-in-C CTO
1. Japanese Army High Command has ordered 2 Pioneer Battalions to the islands of Tulagi and Guadalcanal. All islands with a garrison of battalion sized and larger are to make a study (to be completed within 30 days) on the feasibility of constructing air fields on their islands.
2. Imperial Japanese Navy High Command has ordered the following:
a. Expedite the construction of new aircraft carriers
b. Has ordered the top 10% of all aircrews in all IJN land based squadrons to be transferred back to Japan for conversion to carrier air crew
c. The IJN has also indicated that the Germans are in the process of transferring up to two dozen U-boats to the Pacific, including their two U-Boat Cruisers. As this command has no information on such ships, we can not provide any specifications. However, the IJN Ordnance Department has been tasked with providing 8 inch shells for resupply purposes (The Germans would provide the specifications for the shells).
We feel that in the short term, until the Japanese get more carriers into service, they will use island airfields instead.
ABWHER INTELLIGENCE REPORT
NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA
JULY 23, 1941
North America:
Intelligence gathering is still relatively easy to accomplish in Canada and the US. Assassination of prominent political figures is difficult at best. Since the assassination of the American Vice President, all top politicians travel with armed escorts. The Canadians have taken similar measures.
Our decoy operations in the Boeing B-17 plants have been closed down due to FBI counter-intelligence operations. The good news is that the Americans are convinced this was due to the Communists and are conducting massive anti-communist operations.
Enlistments among Blacks and Latinos are quite high.
Central America:
Mexico:
Again, intelligence gathering operations are still possible; however we have few assets in the region. Those are deep cover assets and cannot be compromised unless vitally necessary. The few remaining Mexican resistance groups have been completely infiltrated by the Americans.
There is, however, a bright light. Agent Blackbird has managed to get a job in the Mexican oil fields and believes he can sabotage some of the wells, if not destroy them outright. Agent Blackbird has NOT, repeat, NOT been compromised by the enemy.
South America:
Our operations in Venezuela, Peru and Uruguay continue on schedule and with little hindrance from the Americans and British.
We have a report from Agent Starling that President Roosevelt may be traveling to Mexico, Brazil and Argentina in the near future.
ARMY CHIEF OF STAFF
ARRIVES IN NORTH AFRICA
Stars & Stripes
July 24, 1941
General George C. Marshall, Army Chief of Staff arrived today in Casablanca from Gibraltar. He was met by French General Weygand and General Gerow. General Marshall is on an inspection tour of US forces in the European and Mediterranean Theatres. Enjoy your time in the sun General and don’t drink the water!
MARSHALL MEDITERRANEAN THEATRE COMMAND
BRIEFING
July 25, 1941
Attending:
General Marshal
General Weygand – French Defense Minister & Commander-in-Chief, French Army
General Pierre Duchesne, French Army-Supreme Allied Commander
General Sir Richard O’Connor, British Army – Deputy Supreme Allied Commander
General Henri Closterman, French Air Force - Air Forces Commander
General Leonard Gerow, USA - Land Forces Commander & Commander, US Army Mediterranean
Admiral Royal Ingersoll, USN – Naval Forces Commander & Commander, US Navy Forces, Mediterranean
General Marshall: Gentlemen thank you for coming. I want to brief you on future operations. The German invasion of Russia has opened up very good opportunities. We feel that Moscow will fall in 4-6 months based on their current advancement. We need to keep the Russians fighting for as long as possible, so we will send supplies to the Russians.
The War Department War Plans Division came up with this idea after St. Petersburg fell. They brought it to me; I took it to President Roosevelt. Once I had the President’s approval, I flew to London and briefed Prime Minster Churchill, General Brooke and the King. All three gave their blessings and so now I am here. The majority of the German Army is in Russia and the Balkans and getting them back to Western Europe in a hurry will be difficult for them.
General Weygand: What magnificent idea is this and why did you not bring this to the attention of the French liaison officers in Washington and London?
Marshall: General, I didn’t inform your liaison officers because I wanted you to hear it from me. General the plan is after Moscow falls:
1. American troops will land on Sardinia, at the same time; French troops will land on Corsica
2. Two days later, American and British troops will land in Sicily.
3. All of this activity will draw German reinforcements to this region and away from the Russians.
4. After we have Corsica and Sardinia, General Eisenhower’s forces will launch diversionary attacks in Norway and the Low Countries. In the event that these diversionary attacks are even moderately successful, we will pour troops and material into the region.
5. By this time, we hope Hitler will be totally confused. We then land on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of France within 30 days, with an invasion of Italy occurring at the same time or shortly thereafter.
Now we have ramped up production of landing craft and we are diverting resources from the Pacific.
General Duchesne: Not possible! Our forces will not be ready for at least 9 months, we would prefer a year.
Marshall: General O’Connor, can your forces be ready?
General O’Connor: They are ready to go and kill some more of the enemy sir.
Marshall: General Gerow, your forces?
General Gerow: Ready to go sir.
General Duchesne: It does not matter General Marshall, our forces will not be ready before spring 1942.
Marshall: General Weygand, do you concur with General Duchesne’s opinion?
General Weygand: I do not sir, but he is partially correct. We have enough combat ready forces to take Corsica, but not enough to invade our homeland with any reasonable chance of success. I would suggest holding off an invasion of Southern France until next spring.
Marshall: General, your forces helped to push the Italians out of North Africa. Surely sir you are joking, your forces performed admirably. By next spring, your country will have been liberated and all you will have to do is come in after us. What would you need to land in Southern France this year?
Weygand: General Marshall, our forces were fighting the Italians, not the Germans. We require two fully equipped armies, with follow up American and British troops and a lot more supplies. Of course, General Duchesne or I will command all of the Allied forces in France.
Marshall: I cannot guarantee all that you are asking for, but I will try to get you what you need. As for the Supreme Commander’s position, General Duchesne is still the Supreme Commander here in this theatre. Once the Allied Armies join up in France, the Supreme Commander will be determined by one simple criterion. The country with the most troops on the ground will also nominate the Supreme Commander.
Duchesne: French honor demands that the Supreme Commander be French!
Marshall: General, with all due respect and French honor aside; you got kicked out of your homeland and require our help to get it back. The majority of your artillery, heavier weapons and vehicles are coming from American factories. You are not in a position to demand anything.
(At this point Major David Niven, junior aide to General O’Connor, entered the conference room and passed a message to General O’Connor.)
O’Connor: Pardon me General Marshall, but I have message from General Brooke. His Majesty is dead!
1. [FONT="]Lukin was arrested two days later and charged with incompetence and cowardice and was executed.
2. [/FONT][FONT="]Admiral Stark was in the US on emergency leave; his wife had died the week before. Stark would retire and Admiral Ramsey would take over as Allied Naval Commander at Eisenhower’s insistence (and over Admiral King’s objections).
3. [/FONT][FONT="]These were Bristol Beauforts from No. 15 Squadron, RAAF[/FONT]