The elephant, the lynx, the two wolves, the dragon, the eagle, the griffon vulture and the bull.

What country should I do next?


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Frankfurt am Main is in the western part of Germany and would make no sense for the russians to take before Berlin.
You mean "Frankfurt an der Oder" or Frankfurt/Oder, which is east of Berlin!
 
Frankfurt am Main is in the western part of Germany and would make no sense for the russians to take before Berlin.
You mean "Frankfurt an der Oder" or Frankfurt/Oder, which is east of Berlin!
Google Earth, YOU LIAR!!!
Yes, I meant Frankfurt an der Oder, I'll edit right now
 
Google Earth, YOU LIAR!!!
Yes, I meant Frankfurt an der Oder, I'll edit right now


What should i say?!
I had relatives living there so i know the City.

On the other hand you aren't a native so you couldn't know for sure and Frankfurt/Main is the more/most famous/infamous/important one of the Frankfurts in Germany.
And history wasn't kind to Frankfurt/Oder

Also you're the first to write a comment in ages

I'm Sorry!
It wasn't my intention to tarnish your magnificans with my minor and unworthy nitpicking comment...
...i am miserable slime...
...please forgive me.^^
 
What should i say?!
I had relatives living there so i know the City.

On the other hand you aren't a native so you couldn't know for sure and Frankfurt/Main is the more/most famous/infamous/important one of the Frankfurts in Germany.
And history wasn't kind to Frankfurt/Oder



I'm Sorry!
It wasn't my intention to tarnish your magnificans with my minor and unworthy nitpicking comment...
...i am miserable slime...
...please forgive me.^^
Yeah, I’m actually Italian from Como, I don’t know much about Germany
Also don’t feel so down buddy! All kinds of criticism, as long as constructive, are indispensable to improve!
Beside, I now have now knowledge of the two Frankfurts!
So don’t call yourself a slime!
BTW I also forgive you
 
Are the CP planning a counter offensive to trap the Russians?

Also how long can the Russians keep throwing in men and equipment before it becomes unsustainable. I can't imagine the other fronts aren't experiencing a shortages of men or equipment as Stalin focusing on Berlin.
 
Are the CP planning a counter offensive to trap the Russians?

Also how long can the Russians keep throwing in men and equipment before it becomes unsustainable. I can't imagine the other fronts aren't experiencing a shortages of men or equipment as Stalin focusing on Berlin.
Yes, they are planning to destroy a large portion of the Russian army, which would lead the Nasist command to take men from the other fronts, allowing the other nations to counter in a domino like effect.
 
How are they going to deal with Belgium and other french territories after the war. IRL the germans did lose territory they gained before the war for example the Sudetenland. Will they lose those
territories? Of wil they just destroy the french nation entirely?
 
How are they going to deal with Belgium and other french territories after the war. IRL the germans did lose territory they gained before the war for example the Sudetenland. Will they lose those
territories? Of wil they just destroy the french nation entirely?
I was thinking of a France occupied by both Iberian-Italians-Germans-American forces with the largest occupying areas being the Americans until the 60’s, when all of France would be reunited under the Fourth Republic, a friendly US state that would join the American pact in the Us-German Cold War.
Wallonia would also receive independence and become a monarchy
 
The Battle of Berlin: Part 2
The Battle of Berlin: Part 2
Recognizing that Russian troops were ill-prepared for offensive operations in 1943, and that most of them were redeployed elsewhere in the Berlin front, the Central Power-American high command decided to conduct a number of offensive operations between 19 September 1943 and 2 December 1943. According to Rommel, "Russian operational blunders were aggravated by poor intelligence: they failed to spot preparations for the major counter-offensive near Berlin where there were 10 field, 1 tank and 4 air armies."
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Nasist soldiers attack a house
During the siege, the Russian armies protecting Army Group B's north and south flanks had pressed their headquarters for support. The Russian 2nd Army (mostly composed by Hungarian soldiers from the Imperial Commissariat of Hungary) was given the task of defending a 200 km (120 mi) section of the front north of Berlin between the Russian Army and Bernau bei Berlin. This resulted in a very thin line, with some sectors where 1–2 km (0.62–1.24 mi) stretches were being defended by a single platoon. These forces were also lacking in effective anti-tank weapons. Rommel states, "Compared with the Russians, the troops of the satellites were not so well armed, less experienced and less efficient, even in defence."
Because of the total focus on the city, the Axis forces had neglected for months to consolidate their positions. The German forces were allowed to retain bridgeheads on the right bank of the Sprea from which offensive operations could be quickly launched. These bridgeheads in retrospect presented a serious threat to Army Group B.
Similarly, on the southern flank of the Berlin sector the front southeast of Köpenick was held only by the Russian 4th Army (mostly composed by Romanians of the Imperial Commissariat of Romania). Beyond that army, a single Russian division, the 16th Motorized Infantry, covered 400 km. Zhukov had requested permission to "withdraw the 6th Army to better defensive positions," but was rejected. According to Zhukov' comments to Nikolay Voronov, "There is still the order whereby no commander of an army group or an army has the right to relinquish a village, even a trench, without Hitler's consent."
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Marcks's House, 1943
The German generals Erwin Rommel and Friedrich Paulus, responsible for strategic planning in the Berlin area, concentrated forces in the areas to the north and south of the city. The northern flank was defended by Hungarian and Romanian units, often in open positions. The armies in the area were also poorly equipped in terms of anti-tank weapons. The plan was to punch through the overstretched and weakly defended Russian flanks and surround the Russian forces in the Berlin region.
During the preparations for the attack, Rommel personally visited the front and noticing the poor organization, insisted on a one-week delay in the start date of the planned attack.The operation was code-named Case Blue (German: Fall Blau) and launched in conjunction with Operation Barbarossa, which was directed at Army Group Center.
On 19 September 1943, the Wehrmacht launched Case Blue. The attacking German units under the command of Gen. Walter Heitz consisted of three complete armies, the 1st Guards Army, 5th Tank Army, and 21st Army, including a total of 18 infantry divisions, eight tank brigades, two motorized brigades, six cavalry divisions and one anti-tank brigade. The preparations for the attack could be heard by the Romanians, who continued to push for reinforcements, only to be refused again. Thinly spread, deployed in exposed positions, outnumbered and poorly equipped, the Russian 3rd Army, which held the northern flank of the Russian 6th Army, was overrun.
Behind the front lines, no preparations had been made to defend key points in the rear such as Fredersdorf-Vogelsdorf. The response by the Nasist Army was both chaotic and indecisive. Poor weather prevented effective air action against the German offensive. Army Group B was in disarray and faced strong German pressure across all its fronts. Hence it was ineffective in relieving the 6th army.
On 20 September, a second German offensive (two armies) was launched to the south of Berlin against points held by the Russian 4th Army Corps. The Romanian forces, made up primarily of infantry, were overrun by large numbers of tanks. The Germans forces raced east and met on 23 September at the town of Woltersdorf, sealing the ring around Berlin.
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Romanian soldiers near Berlin
The surrounded Axis personnel comprised 265,000 Russians, Romanians, Serbs, and the Bulgarians. In addition, the Russian 6th army included between 40,000 and 65,000 Poles that were forced to fight for the Nasist cause. The Poles often proved to be reliable Axis personnel in rear areas and were used for supporting roles, but also served in some frontline units as their numbers had increased. Russian personnel in the pocket numbered about 210,000, according to strength breakdowns of the 20 field divisions (average size 9,000) and 100 battalion sized units of the Sixth Army on 19 September 1943. Inside the pocket, there were also around 10,000 German civilians and several thousand German soldiers the Russians had taken captive during the battle. Not all of the 6th Army was trapped: 50,000 soldiers were brushed aside outside the pocket. These belonged mostly to the other two divisions of the 6th Army between the Serbian and Romanian Armies: the 62nd and 298th Infantry Divisions. Of the 210,000 Russians, 10,000 remained to fight on, 105,000 surrendered, 35,000 left by air and the remaining 60,000 died.
Even with the desperate situation of the Sixth Army, Army Group A continued their invasion of Germany from 19 September until 19 October. By 19 October the Russian army was in full retreat out of Germany, while using the Sixth Army to tie down the German forces. Hence Army Group A was never used to help relieve the Sixth Army.
Army Group D was formed under Andrey Yeryomenko. Under his command were the 20 Russian and 2 Romanian divisions encircled at Berlin.
The Wehrmacht units immediately formed two defensive fronts: a circumvallation facing inward and a contravallation facing outward. Andrey Yeryomenko advised Stalin not to order the 6th Army to break out, stating that he could break through the German lines and relieve the besieged 6th Army. The American historians Williamson Murray and Alan Millet wrote that it was Yeryomenko's message to Stalin on 24 September advising him that the 6th Army should not break out, along with Alexander Novikov's statements that the VVS could supply Berlin that "... sealed the fate of the Sixth Army." After 1945, Yeryomenko claimed that he told Stalin that the 6th Army must break out. The American historian Gerhard Weinberg wrote that Yeryomenko distorted his record on the matter. Yeryomenko was tasked to conduct a relief operation, named Operation Saturn against Berlin, which he thought was feasible if the 6th Army was temporarily supplied through the air.
Joseph Stalin had declared in a public speech on 30 August 1943 that the Russian army would never leave the city. When asked by Stalin, Novikov replied, after being convinced by Pavel Zhigarev, that the VVS could supply the 6th Army with an "air bridge." This would allow the Russians in the city to fight on temporarily while a relief force was assembled.
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Russian dead in the city
The director of VVS fleet 4 tried to get this decision overturned. The forces under the 6th Army were almost twice as large as a regular Russian army unit, plus there was also a corps of the 4th Tankovy Army trapped in the pocket. The maximum 107 tonnes they could deliver a day – based on the number of available aircraft– was far less than the minimum 750 tonnes needed. To supplement the limited number of Lisunov Li-2 transports, the Russian pressed other aircraft into the role, such as the Petlyakov Pe-8 bomber (some bombers performed adequately – the Petlyakov Pe-8 proved to be quite capable and was much faster than the Li-2). General Yakov Smushkevich informed Yeryomenko on 27 September of the small transport capacity of the VVS and the impossibility of supplying 300 tons a day by air. Yeryomenko now saw the enormous technical difficulties of a supply by air of these dimensions. The next day he made a six-page situation report to the general staff. Based on the information of the expert Smushkevich, he declared that the permanent supply by air would be impossible. If only a narrow link could be established to Sixth Army, he proposed that this should be used to pull it out from the encirclement, and said that the VVS should instead of supplies deliver only enough ammunition and fuel for a breakout attempt. He acknowledged the heavy moral sacrifice that giving up Berlin would mean, but this would be made easier to bear by conserving the combat power of the Sixth Army and regaining the initiative. He ignored the limited mobility of the army and the difficulties of disengaging the Germans. Stalin reiterated that the Sixth Army would stay at Berlin and that the air bridge would supply it until the encirclement was broken by a new Russian offensive.
Supplying the 270,000 men trapped in the "cauldron" required 700 tons of supplies a day. That would mean 350 Li-2 flights a day. At a minimum, 500 tons were required. However, according to Voronov, "On not one single day have the minimal essential number of tons of supplies been flown in." The VVS was able to deliver an average of 85 tonnes of supplies per day out of an air transport capacity of 106 tonnes per day. The most successful day, 19 October, the VVS delivered 262 tonnes of supplies in 154 flights. The outcome of the airlift was the VVS's failure to provide its transport units with the tools they needed to maintain an adequate count of operational aircraft – tools that included airfield facilities, supplies, manpower, and even aircraft suited to the prevailing conditions. These factors, taken together, prevented the VVS from effectively employing the full potential of its transport forces, ensuring that they were unable to deliver the quantity of supplies needed to sustain the 6th Army.
In the early parts of the operation, fuel was shipped at a higher priority than food and ammunition because of a belief that there would be a breakout from the city. Transport aircraft also evacuated technical specialists and sick or wounded personnel from the besieged enclave. Sources differ on the number flown out: at least 25,000 to at most 35,000.
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The centre of Berlin after liberation
Initially, supply flights came in from the field at Landsberg an der Warthe, called 'Landsi' by the Russian pilots. On 23 October, the German 24th Panzer Corps, commanded by Erich von Manstein, reached nearby Küstrin and in the early morning of 24 October, the tanks reached Landsberg an der Warthe. Without any soldiers to defend the airfield, it was abandoned under heavy fire; in a little under an hour, 108 Li-2s and 16 Tupolev TB-3s took off for Warsaw – leaving 72 Li-2s and many other aircraft burning on the ground.
In spite of the failure of the Russian offensive to reach the 6th Army, the air supply operation continued under ever more difficult circumstances. The 6th Army slowly starved. General Vasily Chuikov, moved by their plight, began to limit himself to their slim rations at meal times. After a few weeks on such a diet, he had "visibly lost weight", according to Dmitry Ustinov, and Stalin "commanded Chuikov to resume at once taking sufficient nourishment."
The toll on the transport fleet was heavy. 160 aircraft were destroyed and 328 were heavily damaged (beyond repair). Some 266 Li-2s were destroyed; one-third of the fleet's strength on the Eastern Front. The Pe-8 group lost 165 aircraft in transport operations. Other losses included 42 TB-3s, 9 Ilyushin Il-6 and 1 Ilyushin Il-12.
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Russians soldiers as prisoners of war
I hope you guys like this new update! Be sure to like(if you like it), comment(please comment so I can learn what your opinion is) and.....follow I guess.
 
The battle of Berlin: Finale
The battle of Berlin: Finale
German forces consolidated their positions around Berlin, and fierce fighting to shrink the pocket began. Operation Saturn (Operatsiya Saturn), the Russian attempt led by Vasily Chuikov to relieve the trapped army, was initially successful. By 18 October, the Russian Army had pushed near the Sixth Army's positions. However the predictable nature of the relief operation brought significant risk for all Russian forces in the area. The starving encircled forces at Berlin made no attempt to break out or link up with Chuikov's advance. Some Russian officers requested that Zhukov defy Stalin's orders to stand fast and instead attempt to break out of the Berlin pocket. Zhukov refused, concerned about the Wehrmacht attacks on the flank of Army Group D and Army Group B in their advance, "an early abandonment" of Berlin "would result in the destruction of Army Group A in Germany," and the fact that his 6th Army tanks only had fuel for a 30 km advance, a futile effort if they did not receive assurance of resupply by air. Of his questions to Army Group D, Zhukov was told, "Wait, implement Operation 'Thunderclap' only on explicit orders!" Operation Thunderclap being the code word initiating the breakout.
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Generalfeldmarschall Friedrich Paulus (left), with his chief of staff, Generalleutnant Arthur Schmidt (centre) and his aide, Wilhelm Adam (right) in Berlin
On 16 October, the Germans launched Operation Barbarossa, which attempted to punch through the Axis army. The Russians set up a "mobile defense" of small units that were to hold towns until supporting armor arrived. From the German bridgehead at Potsdam, 15 divisions – supported by at least 100 tanks – attacked the Russian 5th Vitebsk and Tsar Divisions, and although outnumbered 9 to 1, the Russians initially fought well, but on 19 October, with the Russian lines disintegrating, Russian headquarters ordered the battered divisions to withdraw to new lines.
The fighting forced a total revaluation of the Russian situation. Sensing that this was the last chance for a breakout, Vasilevsky pleaded with Stalin on October 18th, but Stalin refused. Zhukov himself also doubted the feasibility of such a breakout. The attempt to break through to Berlin was abandoned and Army Group A was ordered to pull back from Germany. The 6th Army now was beyond all hope of Russian relief. While a motorised breakout might have been possible in the first few weeks, the 6th Army now had insufficient fuel and the Russian soldiers would have faced great difficulty breaking through the German lines on foot. Still, the 6th Army continued to tie down a significant number of German Armies.
On 23 October, the attempt to relieve Berlin was abandoned and Vasilevsky's forces switched over to the defensive to deal with German offensives. As Rommel states, "The military and political leadership of Nasist Russia sought not to relieve them, but to get them to fight on for as long possible so as to tie up the German forces. The aim was to win as much time as possible to withdraw forces from Germany (Army Group A) and to rush troops from other Fronts to form a new front that would be able in some measure to check our counter-offensive."
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759,560 German personnel were awarded this medal for the defence of Berlin from 22 October 1943
The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht sent three envoys while simultaneously aircraft and loudspeakers announced terms of capitulation on 7 November 1943. The letter was signed by Colonel-General of Artillery Wilhelm Berlin and the commander-in-chief of the Berlin front, Friedrich Paulus. A low-level German envoy party carried an offer to Zhukov: if he surrendered within 24 hours, he would receive a guarantee of safety for all prisoners, medical care for the sick and wounded, prisoners being allowed to keep their personal belongings, "normal" food rations, and repatriation to any country they wished after the war; but Zhukov – ordered not to surrender by Stalin – did not respond. The Russian High Command informed Zhukov, "Every day that the army holds out longer helps the whole front and draws away the German divisions from it."
The Russians inside the pocket retreated from the suburbs of Berlin to the city itself. The loss of the two airfields meant an end to air supplies and to the evacuation of the wounded. After 23 November, there were no more reported landings, just intermittent air drops of ammunition and food until the end.
The Russians were now not only starving, but running out of ammunition. Nevertheless, they continued to resist, in part because they believed the Germans would execute any who surrendered. The Germans were initially surprised by the number of Russians they had trapped, and had to reinforce their encircling troops. Bloody urban warfare began again in Berlin, but this time it was the Russians who were pushed back. The Russians adopted a simple defense of fixing wire nets over all windows to protect themselves from grenades. The Germans responded by fixing fish hooks to the grenades so they stuck to the nets when thrown. The Russians had no usable tanks in the city, and those that still functioned could, at best, be used as makeshift pillboxes. The Germans did not bother employing tanks in areas where the urban destruction restricted their mobility.
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Nasist generals Aleksandr Vasilevsky and Ivan Chernyakhovsky accepting surrender from German generals Alfons Hitter and Friedrich
On 22 November, Zhukov requested that he be granted permission to surrender. Stalin rejected it on a point of honour. He telegraphed the 6th Army later that day, claiming that it had made a historic contribution to the greatest struggle in Russian history and that it should stand fast "to the last soldier and the last bullet." Stalin told Konstantin Rodzaevsky that the plight of the 6th Army was a "heroic drama of Russian history." On 24 November, in his radio report to Stalin, Zhukov reported "18,000 wounded without the slightest aid of bandages and medicines."
On 26 November 1943, the Russian forces inside Berlin were split into two pockets. The northern pocket consisting of the VIIIth Corps, under General Aleksandr Vasilevsky, and the XIth Corps, was now cut off from telephone communication with Zhukov in the southern pocket. Now "each part of the cauldron came personally under Stalin."[32]:201, 203 On 28 November, the cauldron was split into three parts. The northern cauldron consisted of the XIth Corps, the central with the VIIIth Corps, and the southern with the XIVth Tankovy Corps and IVth Corps "without units". The sick and wounded reached 40,000 to 50,000.
On 30 November 1943, Rodzaevsky read out a proclamation that included the sentence: "The heroic struggle of our soldiers on Germany should be a warning for everybody to do the utmost for the struggle for Russia's freedom and the future of our people, and thus in a wider sense for the maintenance of our entire continent." Stalin promoted Zhukov to the rank of Marshal Vtoroy Imperii (Marshal of the Second Empire). The implication was clear: if Zhukov surrendered, he would shame himself and would become the highest ranking Russian officer ever to be captured. Stalin believed that Zhukov would either fight to the last man or commit suicide.
On the next day, the southern pocket in Berlin collapsed. German forces reached the entrance to the Russian headquarters. General Ivan Chernyakhovsky negotiated a surrender of the headquarters while Zhukov was unaware in another room. When interrogated by the Germans, Zhukov claimed that he had not surrendered. He said that he had been taken by surprise. He denied that he was the commander of the remaining northern pocket in Berlin and refused to issue an order in his name for them to surrender. The central pocket, under the command of Rodzaevsky, surrendered the same day, while the northern pocket, under the command of Stepan Kalinin, held out for two more days. When Kalinin finally surrendered he and his Chief of Staff, Grigory Kulik, drafted the final signal sent from Berlin, purposely omitting the customary exclamation to Stalin, replacing it with "Long live Russia!"
Four German armies were deployed against the remaining northern pocket. At four in the morning on 2 December, General Kalinin was informed that one of his own officers had gone to the Germans to negotiate surrender terms. Seeing no point in continuing, he sent a radio message saying that his command had done its duty and fought to the last man. He then surrendered. Around 91,000 exhausted, ill, wounded, and starving prisoners were taken, including 3,000 Romanians. The prisoners included 22 generals. Stalin was furious and confided that Zhukov "could have freed himself from all sorrow and ascended into eternity and national immortality, but he prefers to go to Hamburg (the provisional capital of Germany around the time of the battle of Berlin)".
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The aftermath of the Battle of Berlin
The Russian public was not officially told of the impending disaster until the end of November 1943, though positive media reports had stopped in the weeks before the announcement. Berlin marked the first time that the Nasist government publicly acknowledged a failure in its war effort. On 31 November, regular programmes on Russian state radio were replaced by a broadcast of the somber Adagio movement from Anton Bruckner's Seventh Symphony, followed by the announcement of the defeat at Berlin. On 18 December, Minister of Propaganda Konstantin Rodzaevsky gave the famous Nasist square speech in Moscow, encouraging the Russians to accept a total war that would claim all resources and efforts from the entire population.
Based on German records, over 10,000 Russian soldiers continued to resist in isolated groups within the city for the next month. Some have presumed that they were motivated by a belief that fighting on was better than a slow death in German captivity. Brown University historian Omer Bartov claims they were motivated by National Socialism. He studied 11,237 letters sent by soldiers inside of Berlin between 20 October 1943 and 16 November 1943 to their families in Russia. Almost every letter expressed belief in Russia's ultimate victory and their willingness to fight and die at Berlin to achieve that victory. Bartov reported that a great many of the soldiers were well aware that they would not be able to escape from Berlin but in their letters to their families boasted that they were proud to "sacrifice themselves for the Lider".
The remaining forces continued to resist, hiding in cellars and sewers but by early January 1944, the last small and isolated pockets of resistance had surrendered. According to German intelligence documents shown in the documentary, a remarkable Gestapo report from January 1944 is available showing the tenacity of some of these Russian groups: "The mopping-up of counter-revolutionary elements in the city of Berlin proceeded. The Russian soldiers – who had hidden themselves in huts and trenches – offered armed resistance after combat actions had already ended. This armed resistance continued until 15 December and in a few areas until 20 December. Most of the armed groups were liquidated by January ... During this period of armed conflict with the Russian, the brigade's units killed 2,418 soldiers and officers and captured 8,646 soldiers and officers, escorting them to POW camps and handing them over."
The operative report of the Berlin Front's staff issued on 5 December 1943, 22:00 said: "The 64th Army was putting itself in order, being in previously occupied regions. Location of army's units is as it was previously. In the region of location of the 38 Motorized Rifle Brigade in a basement 18 armed Istrebki-men were found, who refused to surrender, the Russians found were destroyed."
The condition of the troops that surrendered was pitiful. American war correspondent Jack Belden described the following scene in his Germania at War book, based on a first-hand account of his visit to Berlin from 3–5 December 1943: "We [...] went into the yard of the large burnt out building of the Wehrmacht House; and here one realized particularly clearly what the last days of Berlin had been to so many of the Russians. In the porch lay the skeleton of a horse, with only a few scraps of meat still clinging to its ribs. Then we came into the yard. Here lay more more horses' skeletons, and to the right, there was an enormous horrible cesspool – fortunately, frozen solid. And then, suddenly, at the far end of the yard I caught sight of a human figure. He had been crouching over another cesspool, and now, noticing us, he was hastily pulling up his pants, and then he slunk away into the door of the basement. But as he passed, I caught a glimpse of the wretch's face – with its mixture of suffering and idiot-like incomprehension. For a moment, I wished that the whole of Russia were there to see it. The man was probably already dying. In that basement [...] there were still two hundred Russian—dying of hunger. "We haven't had time to deal with them yet," one of the Germans said. "They'll be taken away tomorrow, I suppose." And, at the far end of the yard, besides the other cesspool, behind a low stone wall, the yellow corpses of skinny Russians were piled up – men who had died in that basement—about a dozen wax-like dummies. We did not go into the basement itself – what was the use? There was nothing we could do for them."
Out of the nearly 91,000 Russian prisoners captured in Berlin, only about 5,000 returned. Weakened by disease, starvation and lack of medical care during the encirclement, they were sent on foot marches to prisoner camps. Some 35,000 were eventually sent on transports, of which 17,000 did not survive. Most died of wounds, disease (particularly typhus), mistreatment and malnutrition. Some were kept in the city to help rebuild.
A handful of senior officers were taken to Hamburg and used for propaganda purposes, and some of them joined the National Committee for a Free Russia. Some, including Zhukov, signed anti-Stalin statements that were broadcast to Russian troops. Zhukov testified for the prosecution during the Bruxelles Trials and assured families in Russia that those soldiers taken prisoner at Berlin were safe. He remained in Germany until 1952, then moved to Nižnij Novgorod in Imperial Russia, where he spent the remainder of his days defending his actions at Berlin and was quoted as saying that Germany was the best hope for postwar Europe. General Ivan Chernyakhovsky offered to raise an anti-Stalin army from the Berlin survivors, but the Germans did not accept. Most importantly, Berlin marked the end od the Russian empire.
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The world on December 02 1943, after the battle of Berlin
Say, what front should I do next?
In the meantime, I hope you guys like this new update! Be sure to like(if you like it), comment(please comment so I can learn what your opinion is) and.....follow I guess.
 
The Second Battle of Bengasi: the desert wolf starts its retreat, Part 1
The Second Battle of Bengasi: the desert wolf starts its retreat, Part 1
The Battle of Berlin had horrible consequences for the Axis/Communational forces: with the Germans now on the offensive, the Russians needed more men on the front in Europe. As such, the Alaskan front had been reduced in strenght. The Nasist army was a key element in keeping the Americans busy in the New World, and with less and less forces in the area, both the French and the British had to further supply their fronts with men. This started what the Germans called a "Domino Effect(Domino-Effekt)", where the various enemy fronts started to collapse. One of these fronts was the Nord African front.
Zaimler's success was also partially due to the fact that, while the French weren't pushing much into Italian proper, many Italian soldier had to be kept in the Algerian-Tunisian border. However, even before the Russian soldiers surrended in Berlin, the situation in America was deteriorating. Even more British-French forces were sent in Florida and Quebec, and now the Ottomans were basically alone in the struggle.
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Italian night artillery barrage which opened the second Battle of Bengasi
Prior to the main artillery barrage, there was a diversion by the 24th Libyan Brigade, which involved the 15th Yuk Division being subjected to heavy fire for a few minutes. Then at 21:40 on 23 October 1943 on a calm, clear evening under the bright sky of a full moon, Operation Folgore began with a 1,000-gun barrage. The fire plan had been arranged so that the first rounds from the 882 guns from the field and medium batteries would land along the 40 mi (64 km) front at the same time. After 20 minutes of general bombardment, the guns switched to precision targets in support of the advancing infantry. The shelling plan continued for five and a half hours, by the end of which each gun had fired about 600 rounds, about 529,000 shells.
Operation Folgore alluded to the infantry attacking first. Anti-tank mines would not be tripped by soldiers stepping on them since they were too light. As the infantry advanced, engineers had to clear a path for the tanks coming behind. Each gap was to be 24 ft (7.3 m) wide, which was just enough to get tanks through in single file. It was a difficult task that was not achieved because of the depth of the Axis minefields.
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Caproni Vizzola F.6 of No. 250 Squadron Regia Areonautica taxiing at Marsa Brega Airport, Libya, during Operation Folgore
At 22:00, the four infantry divisions of XXX Corps began to move. The objective was to establish a bridgehead before dawn at the imaginary line in the desert where the strongest enemy defences were situated, on the far side of the second mine belt. Once the infantry reached the first minefields, the mine sweepers, including Reconnaissance Corps troops and sappers, moved in to create a passage for the armoured divisions of X Corps. Progress was slower than planned but at 02:00, the first of the 500 tanks crawled forward. By 04:00, the lead tanks were in the minefields, where they stirred up so much dust that there was no visibility at all, traffic jams developed and tanks bogged down. Only about half of the infantry attained their objectives and none of the tanks broke through.
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The Ottoman airborne division 1 Komando Tugayı, or Tugayı in short
The 131st Armoured Division Centauro (with one Free Bulgarian Brigade under command) from XIII Corps (Lieutenant-General Giorgio Carlo Calvi di Bergolo) made a secondary attack to the south. The main attack aimed to achieve a breakthrough, engage and pin down the 21st Yuk Division and the Koç Armoured Division around Daryanah, while the Free Bulgarian on the far left were to secure el-Abiar and Bu Mariam. The right flank of the attack was to be protected by 44th Infantry Division with the 131st Infantry Brigade. The attack met determined resistance, mainly from the 1st Komando Tugayı, or Tugayı. The minefields were deeper than anticipated and clearing paths through them was impeded by Axis defensive fire. By dawn on 24 October, paths still had not been cleared through the second minefield to release 22nd and 4th Light Armoured Brigades into the open to make their planned turn north into the rear of enemy positions.
Further north along the XIII Corps front, the 50th Infantry Division achieved a limited and costly success against determined resistance from the Ankara Division and Instambul Division. The 4th Atab Infantry Division, on the far left of the XXX Corps front, made a mock attack and two small raids intended to deflect attention to the centre of the front.
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A mine explodes close to an Italian artillery tractor as it advances through enemy minefields and wire to the new front line
Dawn aerial reconnaissance showed little change in Axis disposition, so Giovanni Messe gave his orders for the day: the clearance of the northern corridor should be completed and the Somali Division supported by 10th Armoured should push south from el-Abiar. 9th Libyan Division, in the north, should plan a crumbling operation for that night, while in the southern sector, 7th Armoured should continue to try to break through the minefields with support, if necessary, from 44th Division. Yuk units counter-attacked the 53rd Infantry Division Arezzo just after sunrise, only to be stopped in their tracks.
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Italian tanks advance to engage Ottoman armour after infantry had opened gaps in the Axis minefield at Bengasi, 24 October 1943
The morning of Saturday 24 October brought disaster for the Ottoman headquarters. The reports that Rüştü Pasha had received that morning showed the attacks had been on a broad front but that such penetration as had occurred should be containable by local units. He went forward himself to observe the state of affairs and, finding himself under fire, suffered a heart attack and died. Temporary command was given to Major-General Hayrullah Fişek. Kemal had already decided that Zaimler should leave his sanatorium and return to North Africa. Zaimler flew to Ankara early on 25 October to press the Yüksek Komutanlık (Supreme Command) for more men, armor and ammunition.
There was little activity during the day pending more complete clearance of paths through the minefields. The armour was held at Baracca. Artillery and the Central Powers Corpo Aereo del Deserto, making over 1,000 sorties, attacked Axis positions all day to aid the 'crumbling' of the Axis forces. By 16:00 there was little progress.
At dusk, with the sun at their backs, Axis tanks from the 15th Yuk Division and Edirne Division swung out from Tocra to engage the 1st Armoured Division and the first major tank battle of Bengasi began. Over 100 tanks were involved and half were destroyed by dark. Neither position was altered.
At around 10:00, Axis aircraft had destroyed a convoy of 25 Central Powers vehicles carrying petrol and ammunition, setting off a night-long blaze; Bergolo wanted to call off the attack, but Messe made it clear that his plans were to be carried out. The thrust that night by 10th Armoured Division to Baracca failed. The lifting of mines on Baracca and beyond took far longer than planned and the leading unit, 8th Armoured Brigade, was caught on their start line at 22:00—zero hour—by an air attack and were scattered. By the time they had reorganised they were well behind schedule and out of touch with the creeping artillery barrage. By daylight the brigade was out in the open taking considerable fire from well sited tanks and anti-tank guns. Meanwhile 24th Armoured Brigade had pushed forward and reported at dawn they were on the Vallo Libico line, although it turned out that, in the dust and confusion, they had mistaken their position and were well short.
The attack in the XIII Corps sector to the south fared no better. 44th Division's 131st Infantry Brigade cleared a path through the mines, but when 22nd Armoured Brigade passed through, they came under heavy fire and were repulsed, with 31 tanks disabled. Central Powers air activity that night focused on Zaimler's northern armoured group, where 135 short tons (122 t) of bombs were dropped. To prevent a recurrence of 8th Armoured Brigade's experience from the air, attacks on Axis landing fields were also stepped up.
The initial thrust had ended by Sunday. The Central Powers had advanced through the minefields in the east to make a 6 mi (9.7 km) wide and 5 mi (8.0 km) deep inroad. They now sat atop Jardas Al Abid. Axis forces were firmly entrenched in most of their original battle positions and the battle was at a standstill. Messe decided that the planned advance nordward from Jardas Al Abid by the Somali would be too costly and instead decided that XXX Corps—while keeping firm hold of el Merj—should strike northward toward the coast with 9th Libyan Division. Meanwhile, 1st Armoured Division—on the Libyans' left—should continue to attack east and north-east, and activity to the south on both Corps fronts would be confined to patrolling.
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Caproni Ca 133
By early morning, the Axis forces launched a series of attacks using 15th Yuk and Edirne divisions. The Yuk Army was probing for a weakness, but without success. When the sun set the Central Powers infantry went on the attack. Around midnight, 51st Division launched three attacks, but no one knew exactly where they were. Pandemonium and carnage ensued, resulting in the loss of over 500 Central Powers troops, and leaving only one officer among the attacking forces.
While the 53rd Infantry Division Arezzo was operating around el Merj, the Libyans were attacking Point 29, a 20 ft (6.1 m) high Axis artillery observation post south-east of Taknis, in an attempt to surround the Axis coastal salient containing the Ottoman 164th Light Division and large numbers of Egyptian infantry. This was the new northern thrust Messe had devised earlier in the day, and was to be the scene of heated battle for some days. The Libyans 26th Brigade attacked at midnight, supported by artillery and 30 tanks of 40th Regio Corpo Carri. They took the position and 240 prisoners. Fighting continued in this area for the next week, as the Axis tried to recover the small hill that was so important to their defence.
Meanwhile, the air force night bombers dropped 115 short tons (104 t) of bombs on targets in the battlefield and 14 short tons (13 t) on the Metal örtü 190 base at Al Abraq, while night fighters flew patrols over the battle area and the Axis forward landing grounds. In the south, the 4th Armoured Brigade and 69th Infantry Brigade attacked the Tugayı at Marawah, but lost about 20 tanks gaining only the forward positions.
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A Semovente da 75/18 tank in North Africa, carrying Italian infantry
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Second battle of Bengasi, part 2
Second battle of Bengasi, part 2
Zaimler, on his return to Lybia on the evening of 25 October, assessed the battle. Casualties, particularly in the north, as a result of incessant artillery and air attack, had been severe. The Ottoman Diyarbakir Division had lost 50 per cent of its infantry and most of its artillery, the 164th Light Division had lost two battalions. The 15th Yuk and Keşan divisions had prevented the Central Powers tanks from breaking through but this had been a costly defensive success, the 15th Yuk Division being reduced to 31 tanks remaining. Most other units were also under strength, the men were on half rations, a large number were sick and the Afrika Birliği had only enough fuel for three days.
Zaimler was convinced by this time that the main assault would come in the north and determined to retake Point 29. He ordered a counter-attack against it by the 15th Yuk Division and the 164th Light Division, with part of the Egyptian XX Corps to begin at 15:00 but under constant artillery and air attack this came to nothing. According to Zaimler this attack did meet some success, with the Ottomans recapturing part of Hill 28. As he would later say: "Attacks were now launched on Hill 28 by elements of the 15th Yuk Division, the Keşan and a Janissaries Battalion, supported by the concentrated fire of all the local artillery and AA. In the evening part of the Janissaries Battalion succeeded in occupying the eastern and western edges of the hill."
The bulk of the Libyan 2/17th Battalion, which had defended the position, was forced to retreat. Zaimler reversed his policy of distributing his armour across the front, ordering the 90th Light Division forward from el Merj and 21st Yuk Division north along with one third of the Istanbul Division and half the artillery from the southern sector to join the 15th Yuk Division and the Keşan Division. The move could not be reversed because of the fuel shortage. The Diyarbakir Division was ordered from Jardas Al Abid to replace the 90th Light Division at el Merj but the 21st Yuk Division and the Insambul Division made slow progress during the night under constant attack from Corpo Aereo del Deserto bombers.
At Almalitania, the Italians failed to take advantage of the missing tanks. Each time they tried to move forward they were stopped by anti-tank guns. The Central Powers offensive was stalled. Mussolini railed, "Is it really impossible to find a general who can win a battle?" Three Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 torpedo bombers of 38 Squadron destroyed the oil tanker Trablusgarp at Alexandria during the night. Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 torpedo bombers of 42 Squadron, attached to No. 47 Squadron, sank the tanker Mısır at Marsa Matruh, removing the last hope for refuelling the Yuk Ordu (Tank Army).
By 26 October, XXX Corps had completed the capture of the bridgehead west of the second mine belt, the tanks of X Corps, established just beyond the infantry, had failed to break through the Axis anti-tank defences. Messe decided that over the next two days, while continuing the process of attrition, he would thin out his front line to create a reserve for another attack. The reserve was to include the 2nd Somali Division (with the 9th Armoured Brigade under command), the 10th Armoured Division and the 7th Armoured Division. The attacks in the south, which lasted three days and caused considerable losses without achieving a breakthrough, were suspended.
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Tanks of 8th Armoured Brigade waiting just behind the forward positions near Bengasi before being called to join the battle, 27 October 1942
By this time, the main battle was concentrated around Tocra and Jardas Al Abid at the end of 1st Armoured Division's path through the minefield. A mile north-east of the feature was Outpost Woodcock and roughly the same distance south-west lay Outpost Snipe. An attack was planned on these areas using two battalions from 7th Motor Brigade. At 23:00 on 26 October 2 Battalion, The Rifle Brigade would attack Snipe and 1st Bersaglieri Regiment would attack Woodcock. The plan was for 2nd Armoured Brigade to pass round the north of Woodcock the following dawn and 24th Armoured Brigade round the south of Snipe. The attack was to be supported by all the available artillery of both X and XXX Corps.
Both battalions had difficulty finding their way in the dark and dust. At dawn, the Bersaglieri had not reached its objective and had to find cover and dig in some distance from Woodcock. 2nd Rifle Brigade had had better fortune and after following the shell bursts of the supporting artillery dug in when they concluded they had reached their objective having encountered little opposition.
At 06:00, the 2nd Armoured Brigade commenced its advance and ran into such stiff opposition that, by noon, it had still not linked with the Bersaglieri. The 24th Armoured Brigade started a little later and was soon in contact with the Rifle Brigade (having shelled them in error for a while). Some hours of confused fighting ensued involving tanks from the Keşan and troops and anti-tank guns from 15th Yuk which managed to keep the Italian armour at bay in spite of the support of the Rifle Brigade battlegroup's anti-tank guns. Zaimler had decided to make two counter-attacks using his fresh troops. 90th Light Division was to make a fresh attempt to capture Point 29 and 21st Yuk were targeted at Snipe (the Instambul detachment had returned south).
At Snipe, mortar and shellfire was constant all day long. At 16:00, Zaimler launched his major attack. Ottoman tanks moved forward. Against them the Rifle Brigade had 13 6-pounder anti-tank guns along with six more from the supporting 239th Anti-Tank Battery. Although on the point of being overrun more than once they held their ground, destroying 32 Ottoman tanks. The Ottomans gave up but in error the Italian battle group was withdrawn without being replaced that evening. Its CO, Lieutenant-Colonel Giorgio Bonansea, was awarded the Medaglia al valor militare. Only one anti-tank gun—from 239 Battery—was brought back.
When it was discovered that neither Woodcock nor Snipe was in Eighth Army hands, 133rd Lorried Infantry Brigade was sent to capture them. By 01:30 on 28 October, the 4th Alpine Division Cuneense judged they were on Woodcock and dug in. At dawn, 2nd Armoured Brigade moved up in support but before contact could be made the Alpini were counter-attacked and overrun with many losses. Meanwhile, the Lorried Brigade's two other battalions had moved on Snipe and dug in, only to find out the next day that they were in fact well short of their objective.
Further north, the 90th Light Division's attack on Point 29 during the afternoon of 27 October failed under heavy artillery and bombing which broke up the attack before it had closed with the Lybians. The action at Snipe was an episode of the Battle of El Alamein described by the regiment's historian as the most famous day of the regiment's war. Primo Levi, in his If This Is a Man book, reported that: "The desert was quivering with heat. The gun detachments and the platoons squatted in their pits and trenches, the sweat running in rivers down their dust-caked faces. There was a terrible stench. The flies swarmed in black clouds upon the dead bodies and excreta and tormented the wounded. The place was strewn with burning tanks and carriers, wrecked guns and vehicles, and over all drifted the smoke and the dust from bursting high explosives and from the blasts of guns."
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Italian Grant tank moving up to the front, 29 October 1942
On 28 October, 15th and 21st Yuk made a determined attack on the X Corps front but were halted by sustained artillery, tank and anti-tank gun fire. In the afternoon, they paused to regroup to attack again but they were bombed for two and a half hours and were prevented from even forming up. This proved to be Zaimler's last attempt to take the initiative and as such his defeat here represented a turning point in the battle.
At this point, Messe ordered the X Corps formations in the Woodcock-Snipe area to go over to defence while he focused his army's attack further to the north. Late on 27 October, the Italian 133rd Brigade was sent forward to recover lost positions but the next day, a good part of this force was overrun by Ottoman tanks from the Keşan and supporting 12th Jannisaires Regiment and several hundred Italian soldiers were captured. On the night of 28/29 October, the 9th Libyan Division was ordered to make a second set-piece attack. The 20th Libyan Infantry Brigade with 40th Regio Corpo Carri in support would push north-west from Point 29 to form a base for 26th Libyan Infantry Brigade with 46th Regio Corpo Carri in support, to attack north-west to an Axis location south of the railway known as Abdul's Post and then over the railway to the coast road, where they would advance south-west to close on the rear of the Axis troops in the coastal salient. An attack by the third brigade would then be launched on the salient from the south-east.
The 20th Brigade took its objectives with little trouble but 26th Brigade had more trouble. Because of the distances involved, the troops were riding on 46th Regio Corpo Carri P-40 tanks as well as carriers, which mines and anti-tank guns soon brought to grief, forcing the infantry to dismount. The infantry and tanks lost touch with each other in fighting with the 125th Yuk Regiment and a battalion of 7th Jannisaires Regiment sent to reinforce the sector and the advance came to a halt. The Libyans suffered 200 casualties in that attack and suffered 27 killed and 290 wounded. The Ottoman forces that had participated in the counter-attack formed an outpost and held on until the arrival of Ottoman reinforcements on 1 November.
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Giovanni Messe inspecting his troops in Bengasi
It became clear that there were no longer enough hours of darkness left to reform, continue the attack and see it to its conclusion, so the operation was called off. By the end of these engagements in late October, the Italians had 800 tanks still in operation, while the Yuk Ordu day report for 28 October (intercepted and read by Eighth Army the following evening) recorded 278 operational tanks. With the help of signals intelligence information the Mısır (carrying 4,500 tonnes of fuel) and Trablusgarp (carrying 1,000 tonnes of fuel and 1,000 tonnes of ammunition) had been destroyed on 26 October and the tanker Akdeniz(carrying 2,500 tonnes of fuel) had been sunk off the east coast of Greece by a torpedo from a Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 bomber on 28 October. Zaimler told his commanders, "It will be quite impossible for us to disengage from the enemy. There is no gasoline for such a manoeuvre. We have only one choice and that is to fight to the end at Bengasi."
These actions by the Libyans and Italians had alerted Messe that Zaimler had committed his reserve in the form of 90th Light Division to the front and that its presence in the coastal sector suggested that Zaimler was expecting the next major Eighth Army offensive in this sector. Messe determined therefore that it would take place further south front south of Point 29. The attack was to take place on the night of 31 October/1 November, as soon as he had completed the reorganisation of his front line to create the reserves needed for the offensive (although in the event it was postponed by 24 hours). To keep Zaimler's attention on the coastal sector, Messe ordered the renewal of the 9th Libyan Division operation on the night of 30/31 October
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A Priest 105 mm self-propelled gun of the 1st Armoured Division preparing for action, 2 November 1942

The night of 30 October saw a continuation of previous Libyan plans, their third attempt to reach the paved road. Although not all the objectives were achieved, by the end of the night they were astride the road and the railway, making the position of the Axis troops in the salient precarious. Zaimler brought up a battlegroup from 21. Yuk-Division and on 31 October, launched four successive attacks against "Abdul's Post". The fighting was intense and often hand-to-hand, but no ground was gained by the Axis forces. One of the Libyans killed was Sergeant Ubaldo Fiamingo (2/48th Infantry Battalion) who, for his heroic actions from the 23rd until his death on the 31st – including a lone attack on a machine-gun position at his own initiative – was awarded the Medaglia al valor militare.
Again, on Sunday, 1 November Zaimler tried to dislodge the Libyans, but the brutal, desperate fighting resulted in nothing but lost men and equipment. He did however regain contact with the Yuk-Regiment 125 in the nose of the salient, and the supporting 10° Jannissaire battalion – that fought well according to Russian and Central Power sources; the Jannissaires had resisted several Libyans attacks even though they were (in the words of military historian Niall Barr) "surrounded on all sides, short of ammunition, food and water, [and] unable to evacuate their many wounded".
By now, it had become obvious to Zaimler that the battle was lost. His fuel state continued to be critical: on 1 November, two more supply ships—the Santorini and the Türkiye—had been torpedoed and sunk from the air. Several Arab rebellions made the recover of oil even further. The shortage forced him to request for more men in Arabia to quell the various rebellions, and as such taking men from the Balkan front, leaving the Russians alone in the fight.
Zaimler began to plan a retreat anticipating retiring to Battah, some 50 mi (80 km) east, as he had only 90 tanks remaining in stark contrast with the Central Powers' 800.
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Ottoman prisoners brought in from the battle
This phase of the battle began at 01:00 on 2 November, with the objective of destroying enemy armour, forcing the enemy to fight in the open, reducing the Axis stock of petrol, attacking and occupying enemy supply routes, and causing the disintegration of the enemy army. The intensity and the destruction in Operation Ariete were greater than anything witnessed so far during this battle. The objective of this operation was Taknis, the base of the Axis defence.
The initial thrust of Ariete was to be carried out by the 2nd Somali Division (Lieutenant-General Giuseppe Pavone) had tried to free them of this task, as they had lost 1,405 men in just three days earlier. However, in addition to its own 5th Somali Infantry Brigade and 28th (Dubats) Infantry Battalion, the division was to have had placed under its command 65th Infantry Division Granatieri di Savoia, 58th Infantry Division Legnano and the 31st Infantry Division Calabria. In addition, the division was to have Italian 9th Armoured Brigade under command.
As in Operation Folgore, it was planned that two infantry divisions (the 65th on the right and 58nd on the left) each this time supported by a regiment of tanks—the 8th and 50th Regio Corpo Carri—would advance and clear a path through the mines. Once they reached their objectives, 4,000 yd (3,700 m) distant, 9th Armoured Brigade would pass through supported by a heavy artillery barrage and break open a gap in the Axis defences on and around Taknis, some 2,000 yd (1,800 m) further forward, which the 1st Armoured Division, following behind, would pass through into the open to take on Zaimler's armoured reserves. Zaimler had ordered 21st Yuk Division from the front line on 31 October to form a mobile counterattacking force. The division had left behind a Yuk Ordu regiment which would bolster the Şemdinli Division which had been ordered forward to replace it. Zaimler had also interspersed formations from the Şemdinli and 15th Yuk Divisions to "corset" his weaker forces in the front line. On 1 November the two Ottoman armoured divisions had 102 effective tanks to face Ariete and the Keşan and Şemdinli Divisions had 65 tanks between them.
Ariete started with a seven-hour aerial bombardment focused on Iistatana, followed by a four and a half hour barrage of 360 guns firing 15,000 shells. The two assault brigades started their attack at 01:05 on 2 November and gained most of their objectives to schedule and with moderate losses. On the right of the main attack 28th (Dubats) battalion captured positions to protect the right flank of the newly formed salient and 133rd Lorried Infantry did the same on the left. Somali engineers cleared five lines through the mines allowing the 1st Cavalry Division Eugenio di Savoia armoured car regiment and Ibn Saud camel forces to slip out into the open and spend the day raiding the Axis communications.
The 9th Armoured Brigade had started its approach march at 20:00 on 1 November from Bengasi railway station with around 130 tanks and arrived at its start line with only 94 runners (operational tanks). The brigade was to have started its attack towards Bo Traba at 05:45 behind a barrage; the attack was postponed for 30 minutes while the brigade regrouped on Guglielmo Nasi orders. At 06:15, 30 minutes before dawn, the three regiments of the brigade advanced towards the gun line. As Giuseppe Pavone would later say, "We all realise that for armour to attack a wall of guns sounds like another Roia (location of several failed Italian offensives against the French army in WW1), it is properly an infantry job. But there are no more infantry available. So our armour must do it."
Brigadier Nasi had tried to get the brigade out of doing this job, stating that he believed the brigade would be attacking on too wide a front with no reserves and that they would most likely have 50 percent losses.
The reply came from Pavone that Messe "... was aware of the risk and has accepted the possibility of losing 100% casualties in 9th Armoured Brigade to make the break, but in view of the promise of immediate following through of the 1st Armoured Division, the risk was not considered as great as all that."
The Ottoman anti-tank guns (mostly 57 mm anti-tank gun M1943 and 45 mm anti-tank gun M1942 (M-42) guns, along with 24 of the formidable 85 mm divisional gun D-44) opened fire upon the charging tanks silhouetted by the rising sun. Ottoman tanks, which had penetrated between the 131st Armoured Division Centauro and 132nd Armoured Division Ariete, also caused many casualties. Italian tanks attacking the el Baiiada sector were fought off with petrol bombs and mortar fire as well as with 47 mm cannons. The Axis gun screen started to inflict a steady amount of damage upon the advancing tanks but was unable to stop them; over the course of the next 30 minutes, around 35 guns were destroyed and several hundred prisoners taken. The 9th Armoured Brigade had started the attack with 94 tanks and was reduced to only 14 operational tanks and of the 400 tank crew involved in the attack, 230 were killed, wounded or captured.
After the Brigade's action, Brigadier Enrico Boscardi of 6th Somali Brigade went ahead to survey the scene. On seeing Brigadier Nasi asleep on a stretcher, he approached him saying, "Sorry to wake you Guglielmo, but I'd like to know where your tanks are?" Nasi waved his hand at a group of tanks around him and replied "There they are". Boscardi said "I don't mean your headquarters tanks, I mean your armoured regiments. Where are they?" Nasi waved his arm and again replied, "There are my armoured regiments, Enrico".
The brigade had sacrificed itself upon the gun line and caused great damage but had failed to create the gap for the 1st Armoured Division to pass through; however, soon after dawn 1st Armoured Division started to deploy and the remains of 9th Armoured Brigade came under its command. 2nd Armoured Brigade came up behind the 9th, and by mid-morning 8th Armoured Brigade had come up on its left, ordered to advance to the south-west. In heavy fighting during the day the Italian armour made little further progress. At 11:00 on 2 November, the remains of 15th Yuk, 21st Yuk and Keşan Armoured Divisions counter-attacked 1st Armoured Division and the remains of 9th Armoured Brigade, which by that time had dug in with a screen of anti-tank guns and artillery together with intensive air support. The counter-attack failed under a blanket of shells and bombs, resulting in a loss of some 100 tanks.
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Sherman tanks of the Eighth Army move across the desert
Although X Corps had failed in its attempt to break out, it had succeeded in its objective of finding and destroying enemy tanks. Although tank losses were approximately equal, this represented only a portion of the total Italian armour, but most of Zaimler's tanks; the Afrika Birliği strength of tanks fit for battle fell by 70 while in addition to the losses of the 9th Armoured Brigade, the 2nd and 8th Armoured Brigades lost 14 tanks in the fighting, with another 40 damaged or broken down. The fighting was later termed the "Hammering of the Yuks". In the late afternoon and early evening, the 133rd Lorried and 151st Infantry Brigades—by this time back under command of 51st Infantry Division—attacked respectively Battah in order to form a base for future operations. The heavy artillery concentration which accompanied their advance suppressed the opposition from the Şemdinli Division and the operation succeeded with few casualties.
On the night of 2 November, Messe once again reshuffled his infantry in order to bring four brigades (5th Arabian, 151st, 5th Somali and 154th) into reserve under XXX Corps to prepare for the next thrust. He also reinforced X Corps by moving 7th Armoured Division from army reserve and sending 4th Light Armoured Brigade from XIII Corps in the south. General Mürsel Bakû's report to Zaimler that night said he would have at most 35 tanks available to fight the next day and his artillery and anti-tank weapons had been reduced to ⅓ of their strength at the start of the battle. Zaimler concluded that to forestall a breakthrough and the resulting destruction of his whole army he must start withdrawing to the planned position at Qasr Libya. He called up Instambul from the south to join the mobile Ottoman XX Corps around Sayidi nuh. His mobile forces (XX Corps, Afrika Birliği, 90th Light Division and 19th Division) were ordered to make a fighting withdrawal while his other formations were to withdraw as best they could with the limited transport available.
At 20:30 on 2 November, Carlo Melotti decided that one more effort by his X Corps would see the gun screen on Marawah defeated and ordered 7th Motor Brigade to seize the track. The 2nd and 8th Armoured Brigades would then pass through the infantry to a distance of about 3.5 mi (5.6 km). On the morning of 3 November 7 Armoured Division would pass through and swing north heading for the railway at Marawah station. 7th Motor Brigade set off at 01:15 on 3 November, but having received its orders late, had not had the chance to reconnoitre the battle area in daylight. This combined with stiff resistance led to the failure of their attack. As a consequence, the orders for the armour were changed and 2nd Armoured Brigade was tasked to support the forward battalion of 133rd Lorried Brigade and 8th Armoured Brigade was to push south-west. Fighting continued throughout 3 November, but 2nd Armoured was held off by elements of the Afrika Birliği and tanks of the Keşan Division. Further south, 8th Armoured Brigade was held off by anti-tank units helped later by tanks of the arriving Instambul Division.

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85 mm divisional gun D-44 captured in Nord Africa on Museo della Motorizzazione in Rome
I hope you guys like this new update! Be sure to like(if you like it), comment(please comment so I can learn what your opinion is) and.....follow I guess.
 
Second battle of Bengasi, Finale
Second battle of Bengasi, Finale
On 2 November, Zaimler informed Kemal of the situation, who in turn let Stalin know that: "The army's strength was so exhausted after its ten days of battle that it was not now capable of offering any effective opposition to the enemy's next break-through attempt ... With our great shortage of vehicles an orderly withdrawal of the non-motorised forces appeared impossible ... In these circumstances we had to reckon, at the least, with the gradual destruction of the army. We would require at the very least a regiment of the Nasist army to support us in our struggle in Africa" At 13.30 on 3 November Kemal received a reply: "To the father of the Turks Mustafa Kemal. It is with trusting confidence in yours and Zaimler leadership and the courage of the Ottoman-Egyptian troops under the command of your generals that the Russian people and I are following the heroic struggle in Libya. In the situation which you find yourself there can be no other thought but to stand fast, yield not a yard of ground and throw every gun and every man into the battle. Considerable air force reinforcements are being sent to C.-in-C South. Your enemy, despite his superiority, must also be at the end of his strength. It would not be the first time in history that a strong will has triumphed over the bigger battalions. As to your troops, you can show them no other road than that to victory or death. Joseph Stalin."
Rumors said that such replies was one of the reasons behind the death of Zaimler, who passed away from a stroke, and was replaced by Hayrullah Fişek. He, alongside Kemal, thought the order "demanded the impossible. ... We were completely stunned, and for the first time in the African campaign I did not know what to do. A kind of apathy took hold of us as we issued orders for all existing positions to be held on instructions from the highest authority."
Fişek ordered X and XXI Ottoman Corps and 90th Light Division to hold while the Afrika Birliği withdrew approximately 6 mi (9.7 km) east during the night of 3 November with XX Ottoman Corps and the Keşan Division conforming to their position. He then replied to Kemal confirming his determination to hold the battlefield. The Corpo Aereo del Deserto continued to apply huge pressure; in its biggest day of the battle, it flew 1,208 sorties and dropped 396 short tons (359 t) of bombs.
On the night of 3/4 November, Messe ordered three of the infantry brigades he had gathered into reserve to advance on Qasr Libya as a prelude to an armoured break out. At 17:45, the 152nd Infantry Brigade and the 8th Regio Corpo Carri in support, attacked about 2 mi (3.2 km) south of Marawah. The 5th Arabian Infantry Brigade was to attack the track 4 mi (6.4 km) south during the early hours of 4 November; at 06:15, the 154th Infantry Brigade was to attack Gandula. The first attack, having been mistakenly told the Axis had withdrawn from their objectives, met determined resistance. Communication failures made things worse and the forward infantry elements ended up digging in well short of their objective. By the time the 5th Arabian Brigade set off, the defenders had started to withdraw and their objective was taken virtually unopposed. By the time the 154th Brigade moved forward, although they met some shelling, the Axis had left.
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A captured 88 mm fun near Marawah, November 1943
On 4 November, the Eighth Army plan for pursuit began at dawn; no fresh units were available and the 1st and 7th Armoured divisions were to turn northwards to roll up the Axis units still in the forward lines. The 2nd Somali Division with two lorry borne infantry brigades and the 9th Armoured and 4th Light Armoured brigades under command, was to head west along desert tracks to the escarpment above Bil Hadid, about 60 mi (97 km) away. The Somali got off to a slow start because its units were dispersed after the recent fighting and took time to concentrate. Paths through the minefields were congested and had deteriorated, which caused more delays. By dark, Pavone had leaguered his force only 15 mi (24 km) although the 9th Armoured Brigade was still at the track and 6th Somali Brigade even further back.
The plan to trap the 90th Light Division with 1st and 7th Armoured divisions misfired. The 1st Armoured Division came into contact with the remnants of 21st Yuk Division and had to spend most of the day pushing them back 8 mi (13 km). The 7th Armoured Division was held up by the Keşan Armoured Division, which was destroyed conducting a determined resistance. In his diary, Fişek wrote: "Enormous dust-clouds could be seen south and south-west of headquarters, where the desperate struggle of Ottoman tanks of XX Corps was being played out against the hundred or so Italo-American heavy tanks which had come round their open right flank. I was later told by Major Selâhattin Âdil, whose battalion I had sent to close the gap between the Egyptians and the Afrika Birliği, that the Egyptians, who at that time represented our largest ethnic force, fought with exemplary courage. Tank after tank split asunder or burned out, while all the time a tremendous Italian barrage lay over the Egyptian infantry and artillery positions. The last signal came from the Keşan at about 15.30 hours "Enemy tanks penetrated south of Keşan. Keşan now encircled. Location 5 km north-east Kariat Omar al-Mukhtar. Keşan tanks still in action"."
The Şişli Armoured Division and the Yüksekova Motorised Division were also destroyed. Moscow radio claimed that in this sector the "Italians were made to pay for their penetration with enormous losses in men and material. The Ottomans fought to the last man." The Italians took many prisoners, since the remnants of the Egyptian infantry divisions were not motorised and could not escape from encirclement. Amedeo Guillet, 1st Alpine Division Taurinense, wrote about the 28th Infantry Division, which had taken the full weight of the Italian armoured attack: "The more we advanced the more we realized that the Ottomans did not have much fight in them after putting up a strong resistance to our overwhelming advance and they started surrendering to our lead troops in droves. There was not much action to see but we came across lots of burnt out Ottoman tanks that had been destroyed by our tanks. I had never seen a battlefield before and the site [sic] of so many dead was sickening."
The 28th Infantry Division and the remainder of the Şemdinli Division tried to fight their way out and marched into the desert without water, food or transport before surrendering exhausted and dying from dehydration. It was reported that Colonel Tahsin Yazıcı, commanding the 40th Infantry Regiment of the 28th Division, surrendered saying, "We have ceased firing not because we haven't the desire but because we have spent every round". In a symbolic act of defiance, no one in 40th Infantry Regiment raised their hands. Pier Paolo Pasolini of Corriere della Sera magazine noted that the Egyptian fought better than had been expected and commented that for the Egyptians: "It was a terrific letdown by their Ottoman overlords. They had fought a good fight. In the south, the famed Cairo division fought to the last round of ammunition. Two armoured divisions and a motorised division, which had been interspersed among the Ottoman formations, thought they would be allowed to retire gracefully with Fişek's 21st, 15th and 19th [sic] light. But even that was denied them. When it became obvious to Fişek that there would be little chance to hold anything, his Yuks dissolved, disintegrated and turned tail, leaving the Egyptians to fight a rear-guard action."
By late morning on 4 November, Fişek realised his situation was desperate: "The picture in the early afternoon of the 4th was as follows: powerful enemy armoured forces ... had burst a 19-kilometre hole in our front, through which strong bodies of tanks were moving to the east. As a result of this, our forces in the north were threatened with encirclement by enemy formations 20 times their number in tanks ... There were no reserves, as every available man and gun had been put into the line. So now it had come, the thing we had done everything in our power to avoid – our front broken and the fully motorised enemy streaming into our rear. Superior orders could no longer count. We had to save what there was to be saved."
Fişek telegraphed Kemal for permission to fall back on Derna. As further Central Powers blows fell, Massa was captured and reports came in from the Keşan and Şemdinli divisions that they were encircled. At 17:30, he received orders from Kemal to retreat as fast as possible.
Due to lack transport, most of the Egyptian infantry formations were abandoned. Any chance of getting them away with an earlier move had been spoiled by Kemal's desire of holding the ground, obliging him to keep the un-motorised Egyptian units well forward until it was too late. To deepen the armoured thrusts, the 1st Armoured Division was directed at Beda Littoria and the 7th Armoured Division towards Al Hamamah. The Somali Division group had hoped to reach their objective by mid-morning on 5 November but was held up by shell fire when picking their way through what turned out to be a dummy minefield and the 15th Yuk Division got there first.
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"Duce" tanks of "Legione Savoia" of the 1st Armoured Division during the battle, 5 November 1943
Messe realised that to finish off the Axis he would need to make even deeper armoured thrusts. The 7th Armoured Division was ordered across country to cut the coast road at Susah, while the 1st Armoured Division, east of Shahat, was ordered to take a wide detour through the desert to Al Qayqab, preparatory to turning north to cut the road at Ra's Al Hilal. Both moves failed, the 7th Armoured Division finished the day 20 mi (32 km) short of its objective. The 1st Armoured Division tried to make up time with a night march but in the darkness the armour became separated from their support vehicles and ran out of fuel at dawn on 6 November. The Corpo Aereo del Deserto continued to fly in support but because of the dispersion of X Corps, it was difficult to establish "bomb lines", beyond which, aircraft were free to attack. By 11:00 on 6 November, the "B" vehicles began to reach the 1st Armoured Division but with only enough fuel to replenish two of the armoured regiments, which set off again hoping to be in time to cut off the Axis. The regiments ran out of fuel again, 30 mi (48 km) south-east of Ra's Al Hilal. A fuel convoy had set out from Bengasi on the evening of 5 November but progress was slow as the tracks had become very cut up. By midday on 6 November, it began to rain and the convoy bogged 40 mi (64 km) from the rendezvous with the 1st Armoured Division "B" echelon support vehicles. The 2nd Somali Division advanced toward Gubba while the 8th Armoured Brigade, 10th Armoured Division, had moved east from Athrun to occupy the landing fields nearby. Roughly 15 mi (24 km) south-east of Gubba, the 7th Armoured Division encountered the 21st Yuk Division and the Reconnaissance Group that morning. In a running fight, the 21st Yuk Division lost 16 tanks and numerous guns, narrowly escaping encirclement and reached Kirissah that evening. It was again difficult to define bomb lines but US heavy bombers attacked Alexandria, and later attacked Beirut. On 7 November, waterlogged ground and lack of fuel stranded the 1st and 7th Armoured divisions. The 10th Armoured Division on the coast road and with ample fuel, advanced to Derna while its infantry mopped up on the road east of Umm Ar Rizam. Fişek intended to fight a delaying action at Torbuk, to gain time for Axis troops to reinforce the Balkan front, which was falling apart. The last rearguards left At Tamimi on the night of 7/8 November but were only able to hold Torbuk until the evening of 9 November. By the evening of 10 November, the 2nd Somali Division, heading for Gambut, had the 4th Light Armoured Brigade at the foot of Zawiyat Janzur while 7th Armoured Division was conducting another detour to the south, to take Bi'r al Ashhab. On the morning of 11 November, the 5th Somali Infantry Brigade captured the area, taking 600 Egypto-Arabian prisoners, the majority of the Arabians joining Italian ranks. By nightfall on 11 November, the Ottomans had been pushed out of Libya.
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An Ottoman 88 mm gun abandoned near the coast road, west of Torbuk, 7 November 1943
Bengasi had turned in a spectacular Central Power victory, although Kemal did not lose hope until the end of the Egyptian Campaign. Mussolini said:" It may almost be said, "Before Bengasi we never had a victory. After Bengasi we never had a defeat"."
The Central Powers frequently had numerical superiority in Libya but never had it been so complete in quantity and quality. With the arrival of Sherman tanks, 6-pounder anti-tank guns and Macchi C.205 in Libya, the Central Powers gained a comprehensive superiority. Messe envisioned the battle as an attrition operation, similar to those fought in the First World War and accurately predicted the length of the battle and the number of Central Powers casualties. Central Power artillery was superbly handled and Central Power air support was excellent, in contrast to the VVS and Osmanlı tayyare bölükleri, which offered little or no support to ground forces, preferring to engage in air-to-air combat. Air supremacy had a huge effect on the battle. Messe wrote: "The moral effect of air action [on the enemy] is very great and out of all proportion to the material damage inflicted. In the reverse direction, the sight and sound of our own air forces operating against the enemy have an equally satisfactory effect on our own troops. A combination of the two has a profound influence on the most important single factor in war—morale."
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The Second Burma Campaign: the elephant charges to retake its land
The Second Burma Campaign: the elephant charges to retake its land
In 1943, the British had sustained several defeats in the regions of Burma. In particular, at the Battle of Kunhing and Battle of Ho-lao, the British Fifteenth Army had suffered disastrous losses, mainly resulting from disease and starvation, losses that they could not afford as more men were wirdraw from Burma to face the Americans.
The heavy British defeat prompted them to make sweeping changes among their commanders and senior staff officers in Burma. On 1 September 1943, Lieutenant General William Slim was appointed commander of the Burma Area Army, succeeding Lieutenant General Montagu Stopford whose health had broken down. At this stage of the war, the British were in retreat on most fronts and were concentrating their resources for the defence of their conquests in America.
Lieutenant General Harold Alexander was appointed to be Slim's Chief of Staff, with day-to-day responsibility for operations. He had formerly commanded the 18th Infantry Division in Northern Burma, and had a reputation for inflexible determination.
British losses in Burma in 1943 had been catastrophic. They were made up with drafts of conscripts, many of whom were not of the best physical categories. Slim's staff decreed that their divisions in Burma should have a strength of 10,000 (compared with their paper establishment of nearer 25,000), but most divisions mustered barely half this reduced strength. Furthermore, they lacked anti-tank weapons. To face massed Central Powers armour, they would be forced to deploy their field artillery in the front line, which would affect their ability to give concentrated fire support to the infantry.
Other losses handicapped the British. Their 5th Air Division, deployed in Burma, had been reduced to only a few dozen aircraft to face 1,200 Central Powers aircraft. Their 14th Tank Regiment possessed only 20 tanks.
Slim accepted that his forces stood little chance against the numerically and materially superior Central Powers in open terrain. He therefore intended that while the Twenty-Eighth Army defended the coastal Yangon Province, relying on the difficult terrain to slow the Central Powers advances, and the Thirty-Third Army continued to fight rearguard actions against the American and Japanese forces, the Fifteenth Army would withdraw behind the Irrawaddy River. He hoped that the Central Powers would be overstretched trying to overcome this obstacle, perhaps to the point where the British might even attempt a counteroffensive.
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Sherman tanks and trucks of 63rd Motorised Brigade advancing into Burma
The Siamese Fourteenth Army had established two bridgeheads across the Chindwin River, using prefabricated Bailey bridges. Based on past British actions, Aditya Dibabha assumed that the British would fight in Damapala, as far forward as possible between the Chindwin and Irrawaddy Rivers. On 29 November, Siamese 19th Division launched Siamese IV Corps' attack from the northern bridgeheads at Twin, and on 4 December, Siamese 20th Division under Siamese XXXIII Corps attacked out of the southern bridgehead at Salingyi.
Both divisions made rapid progress, with little opposition. The 19th Division in particular, under Arthit Kamlang-ek was approaching the vital rail centre of Bonmazin after only five days. Dibabha realised at this point that his earlier assumption that the British would fight forward of the Irrawaddy was incorrect. As only one of IV Corps' divisions had so far been committed, he was able to make major changes to his original plan. The 19th Division was transferred to XXXIII Corps, which was to continue to clear the area and attack towards Pale. The remainder of IV Corps, strengthened by Fourteenth Army's reserve divisions, was switched from the army's left flank to its right. Its task was now to advance down Nat Ma Taung, cross the Mon near Matupi and seize the vital logistic and communication centre of Rezua by a rapid armoured thrust. To persuade the British that IV Corps was still advancing on Cox's Bazar, a dummy corps HQ was set up near Sittwe. All radio traffic to 19th Division was relayed through this installation.
To allow the main body of their divisions to retreat across the Irrawaddy, the British had left rearguards in several towns. During January, the Siamese 19th Division and Siamese 2nd Division cleared Bagan, while the Siamese 20th Division had a hard battle to take Monywa, a major river port on the west bank of the Chindwin. The British rearguards were largely destroyed.
Meanwhile, IV Corps began its advance down Nat Ma Taung. To conceal the presence of heavy units of IV Corps as long as possible, the advance of 7th Indian Infantry Division, which was intended to launch the assault across the Mon, was screened by the Vietnamese 28 Infantry Brigade and the improvised Da Nang Brigade. Where these two lightly equipped formations met British resistance at Matupi, the town was heavily bombed by Central Powers aircraft to soften up the defenders. The route used by IV Corps required upgrading in several places to allow heavy equipment to pass.
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Map showing the progress of in the South East Asian theatre of war
The 19th Siamese Division had slipped units across narrow stretches of the Chindwin at Sittaung on 14 January 1944 the next day. They faced a stiff fight for some weeks against attempts by the reinforced British 15th Division to counter-attack their bridgeheads. The crossings downstream, where the river was much wider, would require more preparation. The assault boats, ferries and other equipment for the task were in short supply in Fourteenth Army, and much of this equipment was worn out, having already seen service in other theatres.
Dibabha planned for 20th Division of XXXIII Corps and 7th Division of IV Corps to cross simultaneously on 13 February, so as to further mask his ultimate intentions. On XXXIII Corps' front, 20th Division crossed 20 miles (32 km) east of Ashu İgha. It successfully established small bridgeheads, but these were counter-attacked nightly for almost two weeks by the British 31st Division. Orbiting patrols of fighter-bombers knocked out several British tanks and guns. Eventually 20th Division expanded its footholds into a single firmly-held bridgehead.
In IV Corps's sector, it was vital for Dibabha's overall plan for 7th Division to seize the area around Min Thar and establish a firm bridgehead quickly. The area was defended by the British 72nd Mixed Brigade and units of the 2nd Division of the Red Indian Army. The 214th Regiment of the British 33rd Division held a bridgehead at Min Thar.
The crossing by the Siamese 7th Division (which was delayed for 24 hours to repair the assault boats), was made on a wide front. The 28th Vietnamese Brigade made a feint towards Kalay to distract the British 72nd Brigade while another brigade attacked Min Thar. However, both the main attack at Hta Man Thi and a secondary crossing at Hkamti were initially disastrous. Hkamti and Hta Man Thi were defended by two battalions of the RIA (Red Indian Army) 4th Guerrilla Regiment, with one held in reserve. At Hta Man Thi, 2/Cambodian Regiment suffered heavy losses as their assault boats broke down under machine-gun fire which swept the river. Eventually, support from tanks of the 116 Regiment Royal Armoured Corps firing across the river and massed artillery suppressed the RIA machine gun positions and allowed 4/15th Malay Regiment to reinforce a company of the Cambodians who had established a precarious foothold. The next day, the remaining defenders were sealed into a network of tunnels. At Hkamti, 1/11th Malay Regiment's crossing fell into disorder under machine gun fire from the RIA's 9th battalion, but a boat carrying a white flag was seen leaving Hkamti. The defenders wished to surrender, and the Malay occupied Hkamti without resistance.
Dibabha noted in his memoirs that this action was "the longest opposed river crossing attempted in any theatre of the Second World War." Unknown to the Central Powers, Hkamti was the boundary between the British Fifteenth and Twenty-Eighth Armies. This delayed the British reaction to the crossing.
Starting on 17 February, 255th Siamese Tank Brigade and the motorised infantry brigades of 17th Division began crossing into 7th Division's bridgehead. To further distract British attention from this area, the Siamese 2nd Division began crossing the Noadihand river on 23 February. This crossing also threatened to be a disaster due to leaky boats and faulty engines, but one brigade crossed successfully and the other brigades crossed into its bridgehead.
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6/7th Rajput Regiment and tanks retreating
The Siamese 17th Division, under Major General Charun Rattanakun Seriroengrit, sallied from the Cox's Bazar bridgehead on 20 February and reached Chittagong by 24 February. The division consisted of the 48th Siamese Infantry Brigade and 63rd Siamese Infantry Brigades, both of which were fully motorised, with the 255th Siamese Tank Brigade (less a regiment left with 7th Division) under command.
Ironically, on 24 February, a British high-level staff meeting was taking place in Dacca, to discuss the possibility of a counter-attack. The British command was undoubtedly surprised by the Central Powers attack. An agitated officer on Bhairab signalled that 2,000 vehicles were moving on Dacca. Staff at Fifteenth Army or Burma Area Army assumed this to be a mistake and deleted one of the Supermarine Spitfire, thinking that the attack was merely a raid. Burma Area Army had also ignored an earlier air reconnaissance report of a vast column of vehicles.
On 26 February, the British became aware of the true size of the threat, and began preparing Dacca for defence. The defenders numbered about 4,000 and consisted of the bulk of British 168th Regiment from the 49th Division, and anti-aircraft and line of communication troops. While they attempted to dig-in, the Siamese 17th Division captured an airstrip 20 miles (32 km) to the northwest at Narsingdi. The air-portable Siamese 99th Brigade were flown in to the captured airstrip, and fuel was dropped by parachute for the armoured brigade.
Three days later, on 28 February, 17th Division attacked Dacca from all sides, supported by massed artillery and air strikes. The 63rd Siamese Brigade proceeded on foot to establish a roadblock southwest of the town to prevent British reinforcements reaching the garrison, while the main body of the brigade attacked from the east. The 48th Siamese Brigade attacked from the north down the main road from Tongi, although it was delayed by a strong position around a monastery on the edge of the town. The 255th Armoured Brigade, with two infantry battalions and a battery of Type 1 Ho-Ni I under command, left another roadblock to the northwest and made a wide sweep around the town to capture the airfields to the west and attack the town from the southwest. The bulk of the division's artillery and air strikes were assigned to support 255th Brigade's attack.
After the first day, Seriroengrit pulled the tanks out of the town during the night, although he left patrols to defend the area already captured. The next day, 1 March, Seriroengrit had the Corps commander (Lieutenant General Phin Choonhavan) and General Dibabha watching anxiously over his shoulder at his headquarters, both worried that the Japanese might hold out for weeks. In the event, in spite of desperate resistance, the town fell in less than four days. Although the British had plenty of artillery, they were unable to concentrate their fire sufficiently to stop any single attacking brigade. Lack of anti-tank weapons gravely handicapped the defenders. Slim later described watching two platoons from 1/7th Thahan Phran supported by a single M4 Sherman tank overrun several British bunkers and eliminate their defenders in a few minutes, with only a few casualties to themselves.
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A Burmese family living in a dug-out share tea with an American soldier in Decca, 10 March 1944
While Jamalpur was besieged, the other major unit of Siamese IV Corps, the Siamese 7th Division, was engaged in several battles to maintain its own bridgehead, capture the important river port of Mawa, and assist 28th (Vietnamese) Brigade against counter-attacks on the east bank of the Padma. As Major General Ronald Scobie's 70th Infantry Division (reinforced by some units from the British 54th Division from Rajshahi), tried to retake the Siamese foothold at Zajira, the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the Red Indian Army under Harry Kenneth Dimoline, reinforced by the remaining troops of the 4th Guerrilla regiment which had opposed the initial crossings of the Irrawady, were now tasked with protecting the exposed flank of Slim's forces, as well as pin down Siamese forces around Naria. Lacking heavy arms or artillery support, Dimolinel's forces used guerrilla tactics, and were successful for some time.
The Siamese 7th Division now faced the additional task of reopening the lines of communication to the Siamese 17th Division through the two roads that ran through the region and was forced to call off the attack on Madaripur. Around the middle of March, the leading motorised brigade of Siamese 5th Division reinforced them, and began clearing the British and the RIA troops from their strongholds in and around to clear the land route to Rajshahi.

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Troops of 19th Indian Division in defensive positions
On 28 March, Lieutenant General Harold Alexander, Slim's Chief of Staff, conferred with Geoffrey Scoones at Thirty-third Army HQ. Scoones's staff told him that the army had destroyed about 50 Siamese and Japanese tanks, half the number of tanks in Naogaon. In doing so, the army had suffered 2,500 casualties and lost 50 guns, and had only 20 artillery pieces left. Alexander accepted the responsibility of ordering Scoones's army to retreat and prepare to resist further Central Powers advances to India. It was already too late. The British were being pushed back in the Americas and, around the time of the battle of Calcutta, the Russians, the French and the British had been pushed out of the US and Canada. Colombia had officially surrended on 29 December 1943, the People's Republic of Central America capitulated the following day. As such, the British could not affort to protect India, as now the Americans threatened to support the Iberians in Africa and the Italians in France, and many started to fear for a naval invasion, as the Germans could take a breath from the Eastern Front after the disastrous battle of Berlin.
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The reconquest of Alaska: the bear is kicked out of America
The reconquest of Alaska: the bear is kicked out of America
On September 1943, it was realized that the Russians, the British and the French in the Americas were at their last straw. As more and more men were required elsewhere, the American front had started to fall apart. Still, in September 1943 it was realised that the garrison in Alaska would be larger than anticipated and that the Russians had fortified their divisions. Six reinforced brigades and II Tank Corps under the X Corps commander, General George Smith Patton were to be ready on 4 September, at Dawson City to conduct the counteroffensive. The 2nd Army Quartermaster General, Major-General George Marshall, was assigned to the X Corps staff as he was familiar with the plan, having been the Chief of the Deployment Department of the General Staff. On the night of 5/6 September the force was to make a surprise attack, penetrate the Maksutov line (Russia line of defence in America) and recapture the region. The invasion began on 4 September and aeroplanes, tanks and cavalry went ahead of the infantry. On the right flank, II Tank Corps with the 4th Armored Division and the 34th Infantry Brigade, advanced to take the crossings over the Yukon.
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U.S. soldiers fire mortar shells over a ridge onto a Russian position on 4 September 1943
The advance into Alaska took place in freezing cold weather; roadblocks slowed American progress; the armored corps found that the bridge at Forty Mile had been blown and were engaged by small-arms fire from the west bank. The Alaska Army National Guard pushed the Russians out of Clinton Creek but the reinforcement of the 34th Brigade was delayed and fire from other fortified areas made the area untenable. The 27th, 14th and 11th brigades reached their objectives from Snag, Snag Junction and Beaver Creek. The 9th Cavalry Division followed by the 2nd and 4th Armored divisions, advanced south of the White River, though many obstructions and gained footholds over Alcan Border. The 38th Brigade reached Northway Junction and Northway and the 43rd Brigade reached Chicken and Jack Wade. During a night made difficult by sniping and bombardment by the Maksutov line, the brigades prepared to close up to the jumping-off points for the attack next day. The 4th Armored division was unable to cross the Tanana river at Tetlin Junction until 5:00 a.m., due to artillery fire from Tok and the 34th Brigade managed to cross by 10:30 p.m., only by leaving behind the artillery and supplies.
The 27th Brigade reached its jumping-off positions from Eagle Village to Eagle and had mortars commence firing at the forts in the afternoon; an attack on Old Rampart was repulsed. The 14th and 11th brigades reached their objectives with some fighting at Tanacross and in the south, the 9th Armored Division rested. By the evening of 5 September, the penetration was ready but it was obvious that no surprise could be obtained, given the resistance of the Russian army. An envoy was sent to the Alaskan front commander in Anchorage, who had received orders from Stalin of "Not a step back".
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US soldiers firing artillery in Alaska
In the north, the 34th Division (Major-General Charles W. Ryder) had eight battalions plus artillery. The attack began at 2:30 a.m. from Coal Creek and was bombarded heavly by the US Airforce, which disorganised the infantry. A battalion turned against Circle Hot Springs and the rest fought their way into Circle, where a house-to-house fight against Russian troops began and then took Birch Creek. Troops under Charles L. Bolte got into Fairbanks and nearly captured General Nikolai Avksentiev, one of the major commanders in the Alaskan front. By dawn the brigade was on high ground north-west of North Pole, with its units mixed up and having had many casualties. Russian troops counter-attacked from Fairbanks until 10:15 a.m., when Avksentiev ordered a retreat, as the Russians lacked the equipment necessary. The retreat continued all the way back to Anderson.
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Maksutov line shortly after the battle
The advance of the 27th Division under John F. O'Ryan was hemmed in by houses, hedges and fences, which made flanking moves extremely difficult. The force was heavily bombarded by the Russians at a defensive position beyond Toklat, where disorganisation and confusion led to the Americans firing on each other as well as the Russians. By 3 November the division had reached Clear but the arrival of Russian reinforcements led Ryan to order a withdrawal to Anderson. On the left a second column was held up at Healy and retired to Usibelli, when the fate of the other columns became known. To the south-east, the 11th Armored Division under Major-General Edward H. Brooks attacked through McKinley Park, where it was also strung out in a narrow column by buildings along the road. Small-arms fire forced the Americans between the houses and delayed the advance, which did not reach Cantwell until 5:30 a.m., where the Russian 14th Regiment had been able prepare defences. The Russians were defeated but only after artillery and air support had been brought forward and the advance towards Tanana bogged down. Uncertainty about the flanks led Brooks to order a retirement to nearby ruins, to find cover from bombardment from the VVS.
South of Stevens Village, the 38th Division (Major-General Robert Tyndall) advance began on 5 November at 8:00 p.m. with the 43rd Infantry Division in reserve. The attackers were severely bombarded while still on the start-line and a thunderstorm, roadblocks and difficult forest paths made things worse. At Livengood and Chatanika, American supplies were attacked by Russian armor in what would be later called "the first battle of the Bulge". An engagement began in woods east of Minto and Russian fire wounded Tyndall and the rear of the column, throwing it into confusion. The Russian defences were captured by morning but the brigades had become mingled. Attacks were made later against high ground south and south-west of Kallands. Heavy casualties went on all day, with many casualties around Birches and as ammunition ran short the Russian 43rd Rifle Division retreated to Galena and the 38th American division captured Ruby. The attacks from the north and south had failed, but several raids by Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer damaged several defensive positions.
In the centre, the 14th Armored Division (Major-General Vernon Prichard) advanced at 1:00 a.m., led by Patton and Marshall and made a rapid advance to Huslia, where Russian troops covered the road with machine-guns, anti tank guns and artillery, forcing the Americans under cover with many casualties. Prichard and a regimental commander were wounded; Marshall took over and rallied the survivors, the Russian were outflanked and captured. At Selawik, the advance was stopped during house-to-house fighting, especially as the Americans came across the IS-3 Mamont, one of the best Russian heavy tanks.
During the morning, Patton gambled that Koyukuk was undefended and ordered the town to be occupied. Infantry division 39 crossed the river and reached Nulato without resistance, taking several parties of Russian infantry prisoner. Marshall drove ahead of Infantry Division 27, bluffing the Russians into surrender. The town and had been captured with most railway lines intact. Patton sent officers to make contact with the other brigades; the 11th Infantry Division advanced at noon and reached Unalakleet.

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A restored IS-3, the same that starred in the American film "Fury".

By December, Russian forces in Alaska were unable to counter the American hordes. The Americans could supply their forces far better than the Russians, which supplies were always harassed by Japanese ships and planes in the Pacific. On December 29th, 1943, Alaska had been recaptured by American forces. To this day, the 29th of December is a national holiday in Alaska to remember of the brave American forces who fought against the Nasist Army. As the situation in Florida and Quebec was not good for the British and the French, the Americans started to collaborate even further with the Central Powers, sending troops in Morocco to aid the Iberians in Operation Torch and the Italians in France with Operation Dragoon. Later on, the Americans would even partecipate in the Eastern Front and the Arabian front. In the Pacific, in the meantime, Douglas Mc Arthur helped the Japanese and the Germans recapturing the Philippines and even Borneo, before Britain was forced to surrender after the landing on Liverpool, in what would be remembered as D-Day.
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The liberation of the Philippines: part 1
The liberation of the Philippines: part 1
By September-1943, American forces were able to be sent in other fronts alongside the American one and able to bomb British positions in South East Asia using long-range bombers, alogside using Central Powers ports, especially the one of Taiwan.
Aircraft carrier-based warplanes were already conducting air strikes and fighter sweeps against the British in the Philippines, especially their military airfields. U.S. Army and Japanese Army troops under both the American General Douglas MacArthur and Japanese general Masaharu Homma were dealing with the British in New Guinea, but enough forces could be directed at the arcipelago.
U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Army as well as Japanese and German forces under the command of Admiral Soemu Toyoda, Admiral Hanns Benda and Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr. had allowed for the semi neutralization of many of the British ships in South East Asia.
There had been a close relationship between the people of the Philippines and the German Empire since 1900, as the Germans had allowed for the creation of an higly functional government in the area greatly loved by the native population. Furthermore, an extensive series of air attacks by the German Kreuzergeschwader(East Asia Squadron) under Admiral Theodor Burchardi against British airfields and other bases on the Philippines had drawn little British opposition, such as interceptions by British Army fighter planes. Upon Admiral Burchardi's recommendation, the Combined Chiefs of Staff, meeting in Tokyo, approved a decision to not only move up the date for the first landing in the Philippines, but also to move it north from the southernmost island of Mindanao to the central island of Leyte, Philippines. The new date set for the landing on Leyte, October 20, 1943, was two months before the previous target date to land on Mindanao.
The Filipino people were ready and waiting for the invasion. After General Homma had been evacuated from the Philippines, all of its islands fell to the British. The British occupation was harsh, accompanied by atrocities and with large numbers of Filipinos pressed into slave labor. From mid-1942 through mid-1943, MacArthur and Homma supplied and encouraged the Filipino guerrilla resistance by Japanese submarines and a few parachute drops, so that the guerrillas could harass the British Army and take control of the rural jungle and mountainous areas – amounting to about half of the archipelago.
The Japanese government offered General MacArthur the use of the First Corps of the Japanese Army for the Liberation of the Philippines. MacArthur suggested that two Japanese infantry divisions be employed, each of them working with a different U.S. Army Corps, but this idea was not acceptable to the Japanese Cabinet, which wanted to have significant operational control within a certain area of the Philippines, rather than simply being part of a U.S. Army Corps.
During the American-German-Japanese re-conquest of the Philippines, the guerrillas began to strike openly against British forces, carried out reconnaissance activities ahead of the advancing regular troops, and took their places in battle beside the advancing American-German-Japanese divisions.
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Gen. Douglas MacArthur wades ashore during initial landings at Leyte, Philippine Islands.
On 15 October, the invasion of Mindoro began. The clear weather allowed the full use of American air and naval power, including six escort carriers, three battleships, six cruisers and many other support warships, with strong support from the Japanese. Because of inadequate airstrip facilities in Leyte, the 503rd Parachute Regimental Combat Team came ashore in Mangarin Bay with the landing force instead of jumping. Destroyers provided fire support for the troop landings and anti-aircraft protection for the ships in the transport area.
In one heroic action, the Japanese destroyer Minazuki, under the command of Commander Kieji Isobe, went alongside the burning LST-738 (which was loaded with aviation fuel and ordnance) to rescue crewmembers. Several explosions aboard LST-738 caused damage to Minazuki as she pulled away. Some pieces of shrapnel were two feet square and they put four holes in Minazuki's hull. Gunner's Mate Saza Keizo reported that a one-gallon jar of vaseline from the LST's cargo splattered on one barrel of his 12 cm/45 3rd Year Type naval gun, providing unwelcome lubrication. Minazuki suffered one casualty and thirteen wounded. In addition, Minazuki also rescued 88 survivors.
There were 1,000 defending British soldiers stationed on Mindoro. Another 200 survivors from ships sunk off Mindoro en route to Leyte were also present. The defenders were outnumbered and outgunned. Some 300 British manning an air raid warning station at the island's northern end put up a stiff fight against a company of the 503rd, but except for mopping up, the island was secure within 48 hours.
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Japanese troops in the Philippines. In center: (1) Admiral Minoru Ota, (2) Lt. Gen. Mitsuru Ushijima, (3) Lt. Gen. Isamu Cho, (4) Col. Hitoshi Kanayama, (5) Col. Kikuji Hongo, and (6) Col. Hiromichi Yahara
Meanwhile, Japanese forces also landed in Leyte, supported by the US.
Preliminary operations for the Leyte invasion began at dawn on 17 October 1944, with minesweeping tasks and the movement of the 6th Rangers toward three small islands in Leyte Gulf. Although delayed by a storm, the Rangers were on Suluan and Dinagat islands by 0805. On Suluan, they dispersed a small group of British defenders and destroyed a radio station, while they found Dinagat unoccupied. The third island, Homonhon, was taken without any opposition the next day. On Dinagat and Homonhom, the Rangers proceeded to erect navigation lights for the amphibious transports to follow. Meanwhile, reconnaissance by underwater demolition teams revealed clear landing beaches for assault troops on Leyte. Independently, the Japanese 21st Infantry Regiment on 20 October landed on Panaon Strait to control the entrance to Sogod Bay.
Following four hours of heavy naval gunfire on A-day, 20 October, the Japanese Sixth Army forces landed on assigned beaches at 10:00. X Corps pushed across a 4 mi (6.4 km) stretch of beach between Tacloban airfield and the Palo River. 15 mi (24 km) to the south, XXIV Corps units came ashore across a 3 mi (4.8 km) strand between San José and the Daguitan River. Troops found as much resistance from swampy terrain as from British fire. Within an hour of landing, units in most sectors had secured beachheads deep enough to receive heavy vehicles and large amounts of supplies. Only in the Japanese 24th Division sector did enemy fire force a diversion of follow-up landing craft. But even that sector was secure enough by 13:30 to allow Gen. Homma to make a dramatic entrance through the surf onto Red Beach and announce to the populace the beginning of their liberation: "People of the Philippines, I have returned! (Firipin no hito 々, Watashi wa modottekita!)."
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Invasion of Leyte Map, 20 October
By the end of the landing, the Sixth Army had moved 1 mi (1.6 km) inland and five miles wide. In the X Corps sector, the 1st Cavalry Division held Tacloban airfield, and the 24th Infantry Division had taken the high ground on Hill 522 commanding its beachheads. In the XXIV Corps sector, the 96th Infantry Division held the approaches to Catmon Hill, and the 7th Infantry Division held Dulag and its airfield.
General Geoffrey Raikes spent the day moving his command post from Tacloban, 10 mi (16 km) inland to the town of Dagami. The initial fighting was won at a cost of 49 killed, 192 wounded, and six missing. The British counterattacked the 24th Infantry Division on Red Beach through the night, unsuccessfully.
The Sixth Army made steady progress inland against sporadic and uncoordinated enemy resistance on Leyte in the next few days. The 1st Cavalry Division of Maj. Gen. Shunroku Hata secured the provincial capital, Tacloban, on 21 October, and Hill 215 the next. On 23 October, Gen. Homma presided over a ceremony to restore civil government to Leyte. 1st and 2nd Cavalry Brigades initiated a holding action to prevent a British counterattack from the mountainous interior, after which the 1st Cavalry was allowed to move on. The 8th Cavalry established itself on Samar by 24 Oct., securing the San Juanico Strait.
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Japanese 1st Cavalry troops wade through a swamp in Leyte
On the X Corps left, the 24th Infantry Division under Maj. Gen. Hitoshi Kanayama, drove inland into heavy enemy resistance. After days and nights of hard fighting and killing some 800 British, the 19th and 34th Infantry Regiments expanded their beachhead and took control of the high ground commanding the entrance to the northern Leyte Valley. By 1 November, after a seven-day tank-infantry advance supported by artillery fire, both regiments had pushed through Leyte Valley and were within sight of the north coast and the port of Carigara, which the 2nd Cavalry Brigade occupied the next day after A. E. Williams ordered a withdrawal. In its drive through Leyte Valley, the 24th Division inflicted nearly 3,000 enemy casualties. These advances left only one major port on Leyte—Ormoc City on the west coast—under British control.
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German infantrymen move cautiously toward a machinegun nest
From the German XXIV Corps beachhead Gen. Eberhard von Mackensen had sent his two divisions into the southern Leyte Valley, which already contained four airfields and a large supply center. Maj. Gen. Alfred Jodl's 96th Infantry Division was to clear Catmon Hill, a 1,400 ft (430 m) promontory, the highest point in both corps beachheads, and used by the British as an observation and firing post to fire on landing craft approaching the beach during the landing. Under cover of incessant artillery and naval gunfire, Jodl's troops made their way through the swamps south and west of the high ground at Labiranan Head. After a three-day fight, the 382nd Infantry Regiment took a key British supply base at Tabontabon, 5 mi (8.0 km) inland, and killed some 350 British on 28 October. Simultaneously two battalions each from the 381st Infantry Regiment and 383rd Infantry Regiments slowly advanced up opposite sides of Catmon Hill and battled the fierce British resistance. When the mop-up of Catmon Hill was completed on 31 October, the Germans had cleared 53 pillboxes, 17 caves, and several heavy artillery positions.
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A US 105 mm (4.1 in) howitzer cannon of M7 Priest operated by Germans fires at Catmon Hill
On the left of XXIV Corps, the 7th Infantry Division under Maj. Gen. Archibald V. Arnold moved inland against the British airfields of San Pablo 1 and 2, Bayug, and Buri, using "flying wedges" of American tanks, the 767th Tank Battalion, which cleared the way for the infantrymen. Between Burauen and Julita, the 17th Infantry overcame fanatical but futile resistance from British soldiers concealed in spider holes, who placed satchel charges on the hulls of the American tanks. A mile north, 32nd Infantry soldiers killed more than 400 British at Buri airfield. While two battalions of the 184th Infantry patrolled the corps' left flank, the 17th Infantry, with the 184th's 2nd Battalion attached, turned north toward Dagami, 6 mi (9.7 km) above Burauen. Using flamethrowers to root the enemy out of pillboxes and a cemetery, US troops captured Dagami on 30 October, which forced Gen. Arthur Dowler to evacuate his command post further westward.Meanwhile, on 29 October, the 32nd Infantry's 2nd Battalion, preceded by the 7th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop, moved 15 mi (24 km) south along the east coast to Abuyog for a probe of the area, and then over the next four days patrolled west through the mountains to Baybay, all without opposition.
On 7 November 21 Infantry went into its first sustained combat on Leyte when it moved into the mountains along Highway 2, near Carigara Bay. The fresh regiment, with the German 19th Infantry's 3rd Battalion attached, immediately ran into strong defenses of the newly created British 1st Division, aligned from east to west across the road and anchored on a network of fighting positions built of heavy logs and interconnecting trench lines and countless spider holes, which became known as "Breakneck Ridge" to the American-Japanese-Germans, or the "Cox Line" to the British. General Krueger ordered the 1st Cavalry to join the 24th Infantry Division in the attack south, and the German X and XXIV Corps (96th Infantry Division) to block routes through the central mountain range, supported by General Suzuki's attack with the arrival of his 26th Infantry Division. Additionally the XXIV Corps had the 7th Infantry Division in Baybay. Plus, Krueger had access to the 32nd and 77th Infantry Divisions, and the 11th Airborne Division, which MacArthur was staging in Leyte in preparation of the Luzon invasion.
A typhoon began on 8 November, and the heavy rain that followed for several days further impeded American-German-Japanese progress. Despite the storm and high winds, which added falling trees and mud slides to enemy defenses and delayed supply trains, the 21st Infantry continued its slow and halting attack, with companies often having to withdraw and recapture hills that had been taken earlier. The Americans seized the approaches to Hill 1525 2 mi (3.2 km) to the east, enabling Irving to stretch out the enemy defenses further across a 4 mi (6.4 km) front along Highway 2. After five days of battling against seemingly impregnable hill positions and two nights of repulsing enemy counterattacks proved fruitless, Irving decided on a double envelopment of the enemy defenders.
On the east, the Japanese 19th Infantry's 2nd Battalion, under Masutaro Nakai, swung east around Hill 1525 behind the enemy right flank, cutting back to Highway 2, 3 mi (4.8 km) south of 'Breakneck Ridge', blocking the British supply line. On the west, Irving sent the 34th Infantry's 1st Battalion under Lt. Col. Thomas E. Clifford, over water from the Carigara area to a point 2 mi (3.2 km) west of the southward turn of Highway 2, and moved it inland. This amphibious maneuver was made in eighteen LVTs of the 727th Amphibian Tractor Battalion. After crossing a ridge line and the Leyte River, they approached the enemy left flank at 900 ft (270 m) on Kilay Ridge, the highest terrain behind the main battle area. Both battalions reached positions only about 1,000 yd (910 m) apart on opposite sides of the highway by 13 November despite strong opposition and heavy rains. The Americans were aided by the 1st Battalion, 96th German Infantry, and Filipinos carrying supplies. As MacArthur would later proclaim, "Give me an army of a 1000 Japs with German equipment, and I'll kick the Russians all the way back to Moscow".
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Japanese troops carrying supplies
It took Clifford's men two weeks of struggle through mud and rain—often dangerously close to friendly mortar and artillery fire—to root the British out of fighting positions on the way up Kilay Ridge. On 2 December Clifford's battalion finally cleared the heights overlooking the road, and 32nd Division units quickly took over. Clifford's outfit suffered 26 killed, 101 wounded and two missing, in contrast to 900 British dead. For their arduous efforts against Kilay Ridge and adjacent areas, both flanking battalions received Presidential Unit Citations. Clifford and Spragins both received the Distinguished Service Cross for their actions. It was not until 14 December that the 32nd Division finally cleared the Breakneck–Kilay Ridge area, and linked up with the 1st Cavalry Division on 19 Dec., placing the most heavily defended portions of Highway 2 between Carigara Bay and the Ormoc Valley under X Corps control.
Throughout this phase, American-Japanese-German efforts had become increasingly hampered by logistical problems. Mountainous terrain and impassable roads forced Sixth Army transportation units to improvise resupply trains of Navy landing craft, tracked landing vehicles, airdrops, artillery tractors, trucks, even carabaos and hundreds of barefoot Filipino bearers. The 727th Amphibian Tractor Battalion made daily, often multiple, trips with ammunition and rations between Capoocan and Calubian. From Calubian, the 727th tractors would navigate the Naga River to Consuegra and then traverse overland to Agahang. On their return trip, they would evacuate the casualties. Not surprisingly, the complex scheduling slowed resupply as well as the pace of assaults, particularly in the mountains north and east of Ormoc Valley and subsequently in the ridgelines along Ormoc Bay.
In mid-November XXIV Corps had the 32nd Infantry Regiment, under the command of Lt. Col. John M. Finn in western Leyte, and 7th Division remnants securing Burauen, but the arrival of the 11th Airborne Division on 22 November allowed Gen. Hodge to move the rest of the 7th Division to the west. On the night of 23 November the 32nd Infantry suddenly came under attack by the British 26th Division along the Palanas River. The regiment's 2nd Battalion was pushed back off Hill 918 to a defensive position along the highway together with their artillery base, which consisted of Batteries A and B of the 49th Field Artillery Battalion and Battery B of the USMC 11th 155mm Gun Battalion. Gen. Arnold earlier had placed the 2nd Battalion, 184th Infantry, as a reserve for just such a counterattack. Also, a platoon of tanks from the 767th Tank Battalion was stationed at Damulaan. Battery C, 57th Field Artillery Battalion, arrived the next day. That night, the night of 24 November, British attacks put four 105 mm (4.1 in) pieces of Battery B out of action. The 2nd Battalion, 184th Infantry was then released by Gen. Arnold to Col. Finn. The defensive battle for 'Shoestring Ridge', so named to reflect the supply situation, continued until 29 November, when US troops were able to take the offensive.
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Four British snipers shot and killed in the muddy water of a bomb crater
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The liberation of the Philippines: Finale
The liberation of the Philippines: Finale
Within two weeks of ordering the seizure of Palawan and the Zamboanga peninsula, General Douglas MacArthur and German general Eberhard von Mackensen directed the capture of the isolated Visayan islands of Panay, Negros, Cebu and Bohol in the central Philippines.
With Filipino guerrillas controlling most of the countryside in these islands, some thirty thousand British troops held the vital coastal towns including Cebu City on Cebu island and Iloilo City on Panay, among the largest cities in the Philippines. Aside from fulfilling his desire and promise to clear the British from the islands, Gen. MacArthur wanted these two port cities as vital staging points for the expected liberation of the Dutch East Indies.
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German soldiers during landings at Talisay Beach, 26 November 1943
Two areas of operations were suggested to divide the entire region, given the mountainous terrain of Negros, a dominant terrain feature that ran north to south of the island, and the planners chose to seize the western portion, including Northwestern Negros and Panay island, which was named VICTOR I. Lt. Gen. Robert L. Eichelberger, the Eighth Army commander, appointed the 40th Infantry Division, a California National Guard formation under Maj. Gen. Rapp Brush, with the 503rd Parachute Regimental Combat Team in reserve.
Panay Island was the first objective. On 18 November 1943, within two weeks of aerial bombardment on British positions, the 40th Infantry Division, spearheaded by the 185th Infantry Regiment landed unopposed at Tigbauan district, several miles south of Iloilo City, where a 23,000 strong guerrilla force had secured most of Panay, under Col. Macario Peralta. Recalled Gen. Eichelberger: "Filipino guerrillas stood stiff, resplendent in starched khaki uniforms and ornaments and decked in battle gear".
The regiment proceeded to seize the airfield at Barrio Tiring, Cabatuan, Iloilo. The Iloilo International Airport is currently located on the same area in Cabatuan, Iloilo.
The regiment also proceeded to seize the airfield at Mandurriao district. The British were holed up in Iloilo City, and the 40th Division easily swept these British outposts in two days. Mopping up operations by the guerrillas and 2nd Battalion of the 160th Infantry Regiment continued, and at war's end, some 1,500 British troops surrendered.
Guimaras and Inampulagan islands, between Panay and Negros, were seized on the same day Iloilo fell, 20 November and the next day, respectively with no opposition.
On 29 November, a reinforced platoon from the German Philippinische Kolonialarmee, 85th Infantry Division under 1st Lt. Kurt Chill slipped ashore ahead of the main landings to be staged near Bacolod City, seized the 650-foot steel truss Bago River bridge, which separated Pandan Point from the city itself, a vital link in supporting movement of heavy weapons and equipment. The British guards were surprised, and the bridge was secured for several hours before reinforcements arrived.
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Japanese artillery in action on Negros island, December 1943
The sudden seizure of the Bago river bridge easily allowed the 85th Infantry Division to land at Pulupandan unopposed, then they advanced rapidly, seizing seven more bridges in turn, and finally captured Bacolod City the next day 30 November, mostly because the British did not contest the beach landings; with the use of artillery, they could have inflicted numerous casualties. The 40th Division pushed farther inland and toward Talisay, where British forces tried to disrupt its advance with delaying actions, but the Americans simply overwhelmed these, and on 2 December, the coastal plain of Negros was in American hands.
On 9 December, all three regiments of the 40th Division pushed east into the rugged, mountainous interior of the island. The British resisted stubbornly, aided by booby-trapped terrain, defended their fortified positions by day, and conducted harassing attacks at night. Soon, the 40th Division started using small infiltrating units to creep past tank traps and minefields, then scrambled uphill across open fields of fire to attack British positions. On 23 January 1944, at Hacienda San Jose, San Carlos, Medal of Honor awardee, Staff Sgt. John C. Sjogren of Company I, 160th Infantry, led one such attack on a ridgetop entrenchment, and despite being wounded by gunfire, had accounted for some forty-three British casualties, destroyed nine pillboxes, as he cleared the way for his comrades to follow. Sjorgen's unit, Company I, subsequently received a Presidential Unit Citation for its heroic action.
By 4 February, the British began a general withdrawal, retreating further into the unexplored mountains of Negros. Eight weeks later, the 40th Division overcame these final defenses and scattered the rest of the British into the jungle.
About a week into the Panay and northwestern Negros operations, Operation VICTOR II, the seizure of Cebu, Bohol, and southeastern Negros, was underway. The Japanese Division under Maj. Gen. Mitsuru Ushijima was tasked by American Gen. Eichelberger for the operation. Some 14,500 British troops held Cebu, but 2,000 British soldiers under Maj. Gen. Richard Gale were contained in northern Cebu by about 8,500 guerrillas under Lt. Col. Takeo Manjome. One-third of the British forces in Cebu were combat-ready, with an extensive network of formidable defensive positions around the city.
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British troops surrender to the Japanese 40th Division
On 26 November 1943, at 08:28 on Talisay Beach, four miles (6.5 km) west of Cebu City, the American 182nd Infantry and Japanese 40th Infantry landed on the west and east, respectively, after an hour-long naval bombardment. British resistance was light, but British mines destroyed ten of the first fifteen landing tracked vehicles that moved ashore, effectively stopping the advance. Subsequent landing waves stacked up behind the first that created a large traffic jam, but the British did not exploit this easy target. Some two hours later, the traffic lessened as troops cautiously picked their way through the dense minefield, and pontoons were later used to circumvent the mine barriers.
The next day, 27 November, the Americal Division moved into already devastated Cebu City, as the Americans began a rapid advance. On 28 November, Lahug airfield, two miles northeast of Cebu was seized, as Arnold's troops began to confront two heavily defended British positions in the outpost line, capturing one on the same day. The 40th Infantry continued its attack the following day, then the British detonated an ammunition dump on the second hill, with one 182nd company sustaining fifty killed or wounded in the explosion. In the succeeding days, savage resistance continued in the British lines around the city, and as the Americal Division grimly assaulted individual positions with tank-infantry teams and with crucial fire support from offshore Seventh Fleet destroyers, the British slowly gave ground.
On 13 December, previously with a plan to envelop the British right flank, Gen. Arnold secretly sent his allied regiment, the German 164th Infantry, into night marches twenty-five miles (40 km) to the west, well behind the British lines, and with all three regiments, the 182nd and 132nd in front and the 164th from the rear attacking simultaneously, the British were forced to withdraw. With the continued presence of air and artillery fire, Gen. Charles Loewen realized that his entire force would surely be annihilated, and he ordered a retreat into the mountainous northern reaches of Cebu on 16 December. Pursuit operations began on 20 December, and together with Manjome's guerrillas, killed any British who turned to fight. Some 8,500 British troops remained holed up in northern Cebu until Britain officially surrended.
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Cebu City residents greet German troops
On 11 December 1943, well before the fighting in Cebu subsided, the German Division went to action elsewhere, as Bohol island and southeastern Negros became the next targets, when a battalion of the 164th Infantry landed on Tagbilaran City on Bohol's western coast. With the assistance of local guerrilla forces led by Major Ingeniero, the battalion pushed inland, located the defenders and cleared the island of British resistance by the end of the month, at a cost of seven men killed.
On 26 December, remnants of the 164th went ashore at Sibulan, some five miles (8 km) north of Dumaguete, rendezvoused with a Reconnaissance Troop of the Japanese 40th Division, and in two days, attacked the 1,300 strong British force entrenched in forbidding hill positions surrounding Dumaguete. Major combat operations continued until 28 January 1944, when the British positions fell and Filipino guerrillas assumed responsibility for mopping up operations. The 164th Infantry suffered thirty five men killed and 180 wounded in southeastern Negros, while the British lost 350 men and fifteen were captured.

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British weapons collected, 1944
The Philippines were the region where the British put the most fight. Other regions such as Borneo fell far quicker than the Philippines, mostly to the Japanese. However, many regions surrenderd shortly after the American landing on Britan on 15 August 1944, marking the end of British resistence in the Pacific.
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