9/44-11/44
Even the Dead Can Strike Back, September 1944
As the German war effort collapsed towards the end of 1943, the Luftwaffe left behind prototypes and design work on a jet-powered bomber known then as the Arado Ar 234A. Able to fly faster than any Allied fighter (at least until the Gloster Meteor’s introduction in late 1944), the design would be almost impossible to intercept, while equipping it with drop tanks would give it a range of just over 2000 km, placing much of Europe within bombing range for the first time since Germany’s defeat.
When Germany fell, Stalin had the NKVD and the VVS seize as much of the Luftwaffe’s research and development as could be obtained, and bring it into the USSR (while advanced designs that could not be saved, such as the little-known ‘Komet’ interceptor, were destroyed). The Ar 234 was handed over to Ilyushin, where after slight modifications (especially the conversion of armaments to similar Soviet standards), it entered production as the Il-14.
The first use of the Il-14 in combat was as part of an old German plan to strike at the British east coast from southern Norway, which had been shelved owing to a lack of long-range escort fighters. 40 Il-14s took part in a bombing raid aimed at the port of Hull, hoping to impair British attempts to supply their forces on the continent. Two bombers were lost to engine failures and a third shot down by British anti-air, and only minor damage was inflicted on the port, but the Il-14 proved itself as a fearsome bomber. Three more raids would be launched against the British coast before the British assembled enough defences for unescorted bombing raids to be considered too risky by Stalin.
A Permanent Intervention, October 1944
Under siege from all sides, the defenders of Vladivostock were demoralised and led by an incompetent general. Many of the soldiers in the city were conscripts who cared little for the communist cause, and although formidable fortifications to the north of the city would make a direct Japanese assault extremely costly, the siege meant that the battle of Vladivostock did not have to be decided by force of arms.
Ever since the beginning of war in 1939, the Japanese Navy had blockaded every Soviet Pacific port. What few ships the Red Fleet could call on in the Far East were quickly destroyed, and Soviet civilian craft, in particular fishing trawlers, were targeted in their place. Before the war, Vladivostock’s economy had been heavily based off a thriving fishing industry, and grain had had to be imported from other parts of the USSR in order to feed the 200,000 inhabitants of the city. The immense strain placed on the Trans-Siberian Railroad by the demands of the Far Eastern Front had meant that only the barest minimum of food supplies reached the city, and with the Japanese Army encamped where the tracks had once stood, the city began to starve.
After six weeks under siege, and with no reinforcements on their way from Moscow, Budyonny and the twelve divisions tied up in Vladivostock surrendered. The Japanese occupation that followed quickly proved that despite all of the new government’s efforts to purge fanatics and extremists from the Army, many of the old ways still remained. The Soviets forces that were taken prisoner were widely considered to have dishonoured themselves, receiving harsh treatment in camps similar to the nearby gulags, while fires and looting broke out in the captured city. President Roosevelt sent a strongly worded letter to the Japanese, which prompted Prime Minister Saito to order the commanders responsible for the incident to be stripped of their rank.
A Change In Leadership, November 1944
As the next presidential election approached, Franklin Roosevelt’s health was visibly fading, and in early June 1944 the President announced that he would not be seeking a fourth term in office. During the Democratic National Convention, it was decided that Senator Harry Truman (who would have been Roosevelt’s running mate) would be the new Democratic presidential candidate, with Senator John Bankhead as his running mate. Vice President Henry Wallace campaigned to be both a presidential and vice-presidential candidate, but his support for peace with the USSR had made him unpopular during Roosevelt’s third term, with some going so far as to suggest he was a communist sympathiser.
With a public endorsement from a popular president, Truman’s victory at the polls was never in doubt. Most Americans were convinced that the war would be best won with minimal disruption caused by a change in leadership, and with victory over the USSR still a distant prospect, the public wanted to give the war effort all the help it could get.
Truman’s election marked a shift in strategic thinking among the US High Command. Roosevelt’s policy towards the USSR had been one of ending the war as quickly as possible on favourable terms, thinking that careful diplomacy would be enough to turn Stalin away from the policies of aggression that he had pursued since 1939. Truman, as early as 1941, had described Stalin as “a brute” and “someone who only understands the diplomacy of a long, hard stick”. As long as the Allies were willing and capable of continuing the fight, Truman was determined to make sure not only that Stalin lost the war, but that he damn well knew that he had lost too.
- BNC
As the German war effort collapsed towards the end of 1943, the Luftwaffe left behind prototypes and design work on a jet-powered bomber known then as the Arado Ar 234A. Able to fly faster than any Allied fighter (at least until the Gloster Meteor’s introduction in late 1944), the design would be almost impossible to intercept, while equipping it with drop tanks would give it a range of just over 2000 km, placing much of Europe within bombing range for the first time since Germany’s defeat.
When Germany fell, Stalin had the NKVD and the VVS seize as much of the Luftwaffe’s research and development as could be obtained, and bring it into the USSR (while advanced designs that could not be saved, such as the little-known ‘Komet’ interceptor, were destroyed). The Ar 234 was handed over to Ilyushin, where after slight modifications (especially the conversion of armaments to similar Soviet standards), it entered production as the Il-14.
The first use of the Il-14 in combat was as part of an old German plan to strike at the British east coast from southern Norway, which had been shelved owing to a lack of long-range escort fighters. 40 Il-14s took part in a bombing raid aimed at the port of Hull, hoping to impair British attempts to supply their forces on the continent. Two bombers were lost to engine failures and a third shot down by British anti-air, and only minor damage was inflicted on the port, but the Il-14 proved itself as a fearsome bomber. Three more raids would be launched against the British coast before the British assembled enough defences for unescorted bombing raids to be considered too risky by Stalin.
A Permanent Intervention, October 1944
Under siege from all sides, the defenders of Vladivostock were demoralised and led by an incompetent general. Many of the soldiers in the city were conscripts who cared little for the communist cause, and although formidable fortifications to the north of the city would make a direct Japanese assault extremely costly, the siege meant that the battle of Vladivostock did not have to be decided by force of arms.
Ever since the beginning of war in 1939, the Japanese Navy had blockaded every Soviet Pacific port. What few ships the Red Fleet could call on in the Far East were quickly destroyed, and Soviet civilian craft, in particular fishing trawlers, were targeted in their place. Before the war, Vladivostock’s economy had been heavily based off a thriving fishing industry, and grain had had to be imported from other parts of the USSR in order to feed the 200,000 inhabitants of the city. The immense strain placed on the Trans-Siberian Railroad by the demands of the Far Eastern Front had meant that only the barest minimum of food supplies reached the city, and with the Japanese Army encamped where the tracks had once stood, the city began to starve.
After six weeks under siege, and with no reinforcements on their way from Moscow, Budyonny and the twelve divisions tied up in Vladivostock surrendered. The Japanese occupation that followed quickly proved that despite all of the new government’s efforts to purge fanatics and extremists from the Army, many of the old ways still remained. The Soviets forces that were taken prisoner were widely considered to have dishonoured themselves, receiving harsh treatment in camps similar to the nearby gulags, while fires and looting broke out in the captured city. President Roosevelt sent a strongly worded letter to the Japanese, which prompted Prime Minister Saito to order the commanders responsible for the incident to be stripped of their rank.
A Change In Leadership, November 1944
As the next presidential election approached, Franklin Roosevelt’s health was visibly fading, and in early June 1944 the President announced that he would not be seeking a fourth term in office. During the Democratic National Convention, it was decided that Senator Harry Truman (who would have been Roosevelt’s running mate) would be the new Democratic presidential candidate, with Senator John Bankhead as his running mate. Vice President Henry Wallace campaigned to be both a presidential and vice-presidential candidate, but his support for peace with the USSR had made him unpopular during Roosevelt’s third term, with some going so far as to suggest he was a communist sympathiser.
With a public endorsement from a popular president, Truman’s victory at the polls was never in doubt. Most Americans were convinced that the war would be best won with minimal disruption caused by a change in leadership, and with victory over the USSR still a distant prospect, the public wanted to give the war effort all the help it could get.
Truman’s election marked a shift in strategic thinking among the US High Command. Roosevelt’s policy towards the USSR had been one of ending the war as quickly as possible on favourable terms, thinking that careful diplomacy would be enough to turn Stalin away from the policies of aggression that he had pursued since 1939. Truman, as early as 1941, had described Stalin as “a brute” and “someone who only understands the diplomacy of a long, hard stick”. As long as the Allies were willing and capable of continuing the fight, Truman was determined to make sure not only that Stalin lost the war, but that he damn well knew that he had lost too.
- BNC
