World War II

On This Date, in1941, Operation Barbarossa, Germany Invades USSR

“When the attack on Russia starts, the world will hold its breath” Hitler

In June of 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa. The Germans had the largest invasion force in history with about 4 million men in the attacking force. They attacked along a 2900 mile front, with about 600,000 vehicles and another 600,000 horses.

The initially obliterated the unprepared Soviet Red Army and took nearly 5,000,000 prisoners, most of whom never lived thru captivity. Nearly 3.3 million Russian prisoners died in captivity under the German rule, who regarded them as lesser human beings.

And when the Germans did attack, Josef Stalin was in a quandary of his own making. He had purged the Red Army in the late 1930s of nearly every effective leader in the military. Between 1937-39, Stalin obliterated his own High Command to preserve his own hold on power. The Soviet High Command did not owe their positions of power to Stalin, therefore they must be removed. And that he did. Three out of five Marshals, 11 deputy commissars of defense, 13 of 15 Army commanders and every military district commander including all of the naval and air force commanders were shot or disappeared without a trace.

Combined with a modernization program that wasn’t yet completed, the Soviet Union couldn’t have been more unprepared for war with Germany as she was in June 1941. The old cavalry officers ran the army, they had aligned themselves with Stalin during the Revolution and now enjoyed favored status. Discipline was rigid, harsh and based on fear. So, the key of any military force, initiative, suffered mightily. Absolute adherence to orders was the rule of the day.

Yet the Red Army was massive. In June of 1941, they had 151 rifle divisions, 32 cavalry divisions, 38 mechanized brigades and a fleet of 12,000 aircraft. The navy consisted of four fleets and three flotillas.

One area that Red Army was quickly modernizing in was their armament industries. They had the year before begun fielding, albeit in very few numbers the very good KV-1 and the outstanding T-34. Both fielded 76mm guns and were easily a match for anything the Germans would throw at them in the summer of 1941. In the air, the Soviets began building the excellent ground-attack aircraft, the IL-2, the “Sturmovik”.

For the Germans, the pact with the Soviets was always seen as temporary and one of convenience. Hitler had never wavered from his belief that the “Russians would have to be dealt with” when discussing it with his generals. The summer of 1940, the time was ripe but for the holdout of Great Britain,

The German blitzkrieg has smashed the armies of the French, Belgians, and Dutch as well as the British Expeditionary Force. But instead of suing for peace, Britain was fiercely holding out and that would throw his plans into a holding pattern. But the plans, which took many months were finalized and the troops slowly eased into position for the attack which was to begin at 0300 on Sunday, June 22, 1941.

Barbarossa: June 22, the longest day of the year, where the Germans attacked from the Baltic to the Carpathians and absolutely stunned the Russians who were taken completely by surprise. The German troops consisted of three major army groups. Army Group North under Field Marshal Ritter von Leeb, Army Group Center under Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, and Army Group South Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt.

In the German Army Group Center, progress was very quick. The Russians had no cohesion or organized defenses. Most of the bridges over the Bug River were captured intact. The Germans were surprised by the lack of the Russian preparedness.

The massive fortress at Brest Litovsk was taken by June 26. The Luftwaffe, conducted early air raids of the Russian airfields inflicted horrible losses on the Red air force and had air superiority over the battlefield.

The Germans had surrounded a huge pocket of Soviet troops around Minsk. It took until July 9 to clear the pocket but by then, Army Group Center had destroyed 22 infantry divisions, 3 cavalry divisions, seven armored divisions and six motorized brigades. The Germans also captured 2500 tanks, 1400 guns, 250 aircraft and 300,000 men.

The Russian bombers far from the frontier had escaped the early German raids and in accordance with their rigid doctrine took off for the front where they were savaged by the German fighters. Over 500 were shot down. In the first two days of fighting, the Russians lost 2000 aircraft.

In Army Group North, the Germans moved around Leningrad and determined to take it to stop the Soviet fleet, they were stopped and were forced to lay siege to it. It would prove to be a very long and bloody one on both sides.

Drive to Kiev, Army Group South’s Offensive in Ukraine: As the German armies smashed across the endless steppes, Hitler switched the focus from the drive on Moscow, despite the insistence of his generals, to the wheatfields and industries of Ukraine. The battle of Kiev was the largest disaster in the history of the Red Army and yet when the battle was over, the Red Army was still intact and remarkably getting stronger.

With half of Army Group Center swinging around Kiev, Army Group Center moved out from their bridgehead across the Dniepr. It took until September 16 to encircle the Red Army forces around Kiev, but once they did, they hammered the Russians with tanks, artillery, and air attacks.

The vicious fighting left the Soviet troop concentrations smashed. The Germans took nearly a quarter of a million prisoners. Total losses for the Red Army were 452,720 men and 3,867 artillery pieces. After Kiev, the Germans moved into the Crimea where the Soviets counter-attacked with the 9th and 18th Armies. The Germans encircled them and annihilated both. The Red Army lost another 106,332 men captured, 212 tanks destroyed or captured in the pocket alone as well as 766 artillery pieces of all types. The death or capture of two-thirds of all Southern Front troops in four days caused the collapse of the Soviet left flank. This allowed the Germans to capture Kharkov on October 24.

Germans Close on Moscow: Despite the horrendous losses, the Russians still had 83 divisions in the defense of Moscow. But only about a quarter of them were effective fighting forces.

The Germans once again encircled four Soviet armies around Vyazma, the 19th, 20th, 24th and 32nd Armies. And the disastrous results continued. Another 500,000 men taken prisoner. This left Stalin with just 90,000 men and 150 tanks to defend Moscow.

But the Russian weather began to smile on them, in October the rains came and turned the roads into seas of mud. The German tanks with their narrow tracks had trouble navigating the morass but the wider tracked T-34s were able to maneuver easily. This coupled with the German supply lines, stretched to the limit across the vast areas of the Soviet Union was slowing down the advance.

This caused the Germans to halt the advance in order to reorganize. This brief respite was a welcome one to the Soviets. Their intelligence confirmed that the Soviets had nothing to fear from the Japanese on their eastern borders, so they shipped 30 fresh divisions from Siberia to the defense of Moscow. They also added 1000 tanks and 1000 aircraft.

When the ground hardened due to the arrival of cold weather in November, the Germans renewed their attack. They crossed the Moscow canal in an attempt to encircle the city. German reconnaissance elements got within 15 miles of Moscow where they claimed they could see the spires of the Kremlin in the distance.

Another German advance recon unit captured Khimki and a bridge over the Moscow-Volga Canal, just 5 miles from the city. That would be as close as the Germans would get. The first blizzards then hit. The Germans were ill-prepared for winter, the bad weather grounded the Luftwaffe and the stretched supply lines limited any offensive action the Wehrmacht attempted.

Fresh troops poured into the Soviet sector from the east. Their troop strength had swelled to 500,000 men. They launched a massive counter-attack during the Soviet Winter Counter-Offensive. The combination of the winter weather,, stretched supply lines and the fresh troops which it seemed the Red Army had an endless supply, turned the tide. The Red Army pushed the Germans back 100-250 km back from Moscow. The Battle for Moscow was a Soviet victory.

The hope for a quick victory over the Soviet Union was dashed. The Germans lost 830,000 men since the invasion. They were now locked in a battle of attrition with a foe with a seemingly limitless supply of men and material.

Hitler then committed a complete blunder by declaring war on the United States shortly after Pearl Harbor. Now America’s industrial might would be facing the Germans on the Western Front while the Soviets would push them from the east. It was a battle they could not win, as time would play it out.

Photos: Wikipedia

For a detailed account of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, I highly recommend the book, “Barbarossa, The Russian-German Conflict, 1941-1945” by Alan Clark

On This Day, June 19,1944, The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot

The United States awesome industrial might was on full display during the summer of 1944. On June 6th, the U.S. along with British and French vessels attacked the French coast from bases in England with over 5000 vessels of all sizes. Less than two weeks later on the other side of the world, the United States was readying an attack on Saipan with 500 ships, including seven large fleet aircraft carriers and eight light carriers containing 956 aircraft.

Saipan was part of the Marianas Chain and located just east of the Philippines in the Philippine Sea. The fleet arrived on the 15th of June but the Japanese were to use their remaining aircraft carrier strength in the Pacific, (five large fleet carriers and four light carriers) as well as land-based aircraft on Guam to attack the U.S. fleet to try to inflict heavy damage and turn back the invasion. The Japanese could muster 756 aircraft for the attack.

The resultant battle which took place over June 19-20 was a decisive loss for the Japanese and destroyed their last remaining hope for offensive capability in the Pacific. The cream of the Japanese air arm which had carried them to huge victories in the Pacific early in the war was long gone. Losses in the Coral Sea, Midway and the resultant combat had stripped Japan of nearly all of her best-experienced pilots.

The U.S., on the other hand, had a very experienced aircraft force and their planes, the newer F6F Hellcats were bigger, faster, better protected and carried more firepower than anything the Japanese could muster. The Americans also had radar which warned them of any impending attack while the Japanese were still far away, giving them plenty of time to scramble fighter cover.

The Americans also had numerous submarine patrols and they would relay the Japanese fleet locations as well as take their toll on the carriers with torpedos. The American fleet named the 5th Fleet was comprised of Task Force 58, which comprised the fast carrier attack force, Task Group 58.7 which comprised seven fast battleships, and eight heavy cruisers. Task Group 58.4 of one fleet carrier and two light carriers. Just to the east, in a line running north to south, were three groups, each containing two fleet carriers and two light carriers: Task Group 58.1, Task Group 58.2, Task Group 58.3 These ships were supported by 13 light cruisers, 68 destroyers, and 28 submarines.

After the Americans began going ashore in the Marianas, the Japanese were taken by surprise, thinking the attack would be farther south. Realizing that B-29 bombers could reach Japan from the Marianas, they decided to attack with everything they could muster.

Opening Moves: A Japanese search plane found the American fleet at 0550 in the morning. They readied land-based planes on Guam for their first strike. US radars picked them up immediately. The U.S. sortied 30 Hellcats from the USS Belleau Wood. Hellcats began arriving while Japanese planes were taking off. A melee ensued over Guam, where the Americans shot down 35 planes without a loss of their own. By 1000 hrs, the Americans recalled their fighters over Guam back to the ships where a series of Japanese attacks were beginning.

Because of the American radar, there would be no sneak attacks and the Japanese were normally intercepted anywhere between 45-60 miles from the American carriers. The Americans would launch their Hellcats and then send their torpedo and dive bombers out far to the east where if a bomb did hit a carrier, there would be no secondary explosions due to closely parked aircraft with fuel and bombs.

Hellcat fighters decimated the inexperienced Japanese pilots.

The lack of training for the newer Japanese pilots was plain to see, the skies far from the carriers was awash with plumes of smoke and fire as most of the Japanese pilots met their end without ever seeing the targets. Of the first 69 planes launched on the first raid, 42 were shot down by the Hellcats. Not one could break thru the hail of anti-aircraft fire from the support ships.

The next wave of Japanese aircraft, 128 in all were detected and 100 of them were intercepted. Only about 20 were able to break thru to the massed fires of the support ships. Only a few reached the carriers did minor damage to the carriers Bunker Hill and Wasp. By noontime, it was over and only 30 Japanese aircraft limped back to their bases, the inexperienced pilots vastly inflating the damage they did to the American carrier force.

Worse for the Japanese, two of their carriers had been hit by torpedoes from submarines. The Taiho was hit by the USS Albacore early in the day, and while the torpedo’s impact should have been overcome, mistakes made by the crew would doom the ship. The fuel system had been ruptured. And with fumes gathering, the order was given to turn on the ventilation system. That spread fumes everywhere. Not long afterward, those fumes ignited into a huge explosion which tore open the hull and the ship was a lost cause.

Only 500 of the crew of over 2100 had been evacuated when another explosion rocked Taiho. She quickly capsized and sank to the bottom.

At 1220, the Shokaku was staggered with three torpedo hits by the USS Cavalla who reported the movings of the Japanese fleet and followed. When Shokaku turned into the wind to recover her aircraft, she struck.

Japanese destroyers dropped 105 depth charges on Cavalla, and she survived, meanwhile fires raged on Shokaku, And any attempts to put the fires out were dashed when fuel fumes, which permeated the ship, caught fire and exploded.

The other Japanese air attacks fared badly as well, one group was sent too far north with most of the aircraft, finding nothing and returning. Of the 47 aircraft, a few carried out ineffective bombing attacks, seven were shot down.

A force of 89 aircraft from the Zuikaku and a few of the light carriers were sent too far south to find the Americans. Less than half also made an ineffective raid on the American carriers. The remaining 49 made for Guam. There they were set upon by Hellcats and 30 of them were smoked into either the sea or the airfield.

Back on board the USS Lexington, as the pilots were being debriefed before their next mission, one pilot remarked, “Hell, this is like an old-time turkey shoot!” One American pilot, Lt. Alexander Vraciu downed six Japanese dive bombers in a single mission, he ended up with a career 19 enemy aircraft shot down and another 21 destroyed on the ground.

Lt. Alexander Vraciu downed six Japanese dive bombers in a single mission,

By nightfall, the sky above America’s carriers had been swept clear of Japanese aircraft. Of the 430 aircraft that were available to the Japanese carriers, only 102 could answer the call. Another 50 planes from land bases in Guam were shot down. The losses were crippling. Never again would the Japanese navy have the planes to equip and man an effective carrier force. American losses were 23 aircraft with another six damaged beyond repair.

As the day was turning into night, Admiral Spruance wanted to close the distance between him and the Japanese fleet and they turned west at 24 knots. An American scout plane found the Japanese fleet the next day at 1615. The attacking raid force could still hit the Japanese in the fading daylight but would have to return in the dark. American pilots had not been trained in night landings.

The risked it all, sending a force of 54 torpedo bombers, 77 dive bombers and 85 Hellcats flying escort in a hunt for the Japanese. They first came across six tankers and a section of dive bombers attacked, the remaining aircraft bore in on the Japanese fleet, spread in an arc, was arrayed beneath them.

The overhead cover of Zeros was not nearly enough and they were quickly swept aside. The torpedo and dive bombers aligned to attack the Japanese carriers. After 20 minutes of hellacious combat, 14 American planes had been shot down. But they did terrible damage to the Japanese fleet. The carrier Hiyo had been torpedoed and was sinking. Several bombs had struck Zuikaku and fires were blazing all over her. The carrier Chiyoda was also ablaze and her flight deck was a mess of mangled steel. Also damaged was the battleship Haruna and the cruiser Moya.

Of the 102 planes available to the Japanese on the morning of the 20th, only 35 remained. Admiral Ozawa knew his defeat had been total and during the night, the fleet hightailed it for Okinawa.

The Americans broke every rule during the night. With the planes flying in on fumes and untrained in night landings, the Americans disregarded all risk from Japanese bombers or submarines and turned on every conceivable illumination to get the flight crews back safely on board ships.

Despite this, 80 aircraft either crashed on the deck or ditched in the sea as their fuel ran out. But rescue efforts were outstanding. Only 16 pilots and 33 aircrews were missing after the air raid on the Japanese fleet.

The battle was over and it was a complete American victory. Officially the battle was known as the Battle of the Philippine Sea. The Japanese still had several carriers left, but the inexperienced pilots were decimated and now there was no one left to fill the void. The value of the carrier is for the aircraft and aircrews that operate on them. The Japanese Navy, just a two and half years before, the most powerful force in the Pacific was reduced to a shell of its former self.

With America knocking on the door, there was no time to train replacement aircrews to defend the homeland. There remained one final option. The kamikaze or suicide attack planes. As an offensive fighting force, the Japanese Navy ceased to exist after June 19-20, 1944.

Photos: US Archives

The OSS (Office of Strategic Services) Was Formed on This Day 1942

On June 13, 1942, the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) was formed. The OSS was a wartime intelligence agency of the United States during World War II and a predecessor of the modern Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branches of the United States Armed Forces. Other OSS functions included the use of propaganda, subversion, guerrilla warfare and post-war planning.

With the U.S. entry into World War II, President Roosevelt was worried about the state of the United States Intelligence services, which were non-existent or operated under an ad hoc basis, there was no overall direction or leadership. All counterespionage activities were under the auspices of the FBI and J.Edgar Hoover who tried to quash the talk of a military Intelligence service.

Nevertheless, FDR appointed William Donovan to draft a plan on creating a service similar to that of the British MI-6. Donovan was the perfect man for the job and done intelligence gathering for FDR despite the two being political opposites before the war.

On July 11, 1941, Donovan was appointed as the chief of the new organization known as the office of the Coordinator of Information (COI). The British provided great assistance; while Donovan had responsibilities but no actual powers and the existing US agencies were hostile especially Hoover and the FBI.

President Roosevelt liked the idea of moving COI to the Joint Chiefs. FDR however, wanted to keep COI’s Foreign Information Service (which conducted radio broadcasting) out of the military’s control. It was then decided that the “black” and “white” propaganda missions be separated giving FIS the official side of the business. FIS and half of COI’s staff were sent it to the new Office of War Information.

The remainder of COI were then earmarked for what was to become OSS. Donovan chose the name that reflected his sense of the “strategic” importance of intelligence and special operations.

The Office of Strategic Services was born by a Presidential military order issued by President Roosevelt on June 13, 1942, to collect and analyze strategic information required by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and to conduct special operations not assigned to other agencies.

But Donovan’s fledgling agency already had others fighting over the turf of intelligence. From the CIA’s OSS history, the State Department cut OSS out of one of the biggest Intelligence realms right away.

The Department of State and the armed services arranged a Presidential decree that effectively banned OSS and several other agencies from acquiring and decoding the war’s most important intelligence source: intercepted Axis communications. Donovan protested, but his complaints fell on deaf ears. The result was that OSS had no access to intercepts on Japan (codenamed MAGIC) and could read only certain types of German intercepts (called ULTRA by the Allies). Other edicts also limited OSS’s scope and effectiveness. The FBI, G-2 and ONI, for instance, stood together to protect their monopoly on domestic counterintelligence work. OSS eventually developed a capable counterintelligence apparatus of its own overseas—the X-2 Branch—but it had no authority to operate in the Western Hemisphere, which was reserved for the FBI and Nelson Rockefeller’s office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs.

Under the expert leadership of Donovan and a crash course of intelligence from the British, OSS expanded quickly and just a few short months after being formed was instrumental in providing excellent and timely intelligence for the Operation Torch landings in North Africa in November of 1942.

Donovan had already provided the State Department with desperately needed French-speaking officers in French-held North Africa the fall before to act as “vice consuls” and won OSS grudging respect from State. With Donovan’s leadership and outstanding training by the British, OSS began to quickly build a worldwide clandestine intelligence capability.

The first COI/OSS officers arrived in Britain in November 1941 before the US was even in the war. They leaned heavily on the British for their training, expertise, experience, and information to get off the ground. The British, used to operating on more of a shoestring budget were happy to share the seemingly endless resources given to the new American unit.

The relationship was slow to blossom but in the end was a marriage that would be extremely beneficial to both sides and laid the groundwork for the close cooperation and trust the two countries still enjoy. However, the Brits were cautious at first, worried that the neophyte Americans could compromise their hard-earned operatives in Occupied Europe. Despite this, the two sides grew interdependent on one another by war’s end.

At the peak of war operations in late 1944, OSS had grown to over 13,000 personnel.CIA history pages break down OSS personnel as follows:

General Donovan employed thousands of officers and enlisted men seconded from the armed services, and he also found military slots for many of the people who came to OSS as civilians. US Army (and Army Air Forces) personnel comprised about two-thirds of its strength, with civilians from all walks of life making up another quarter; the remainder were from the Navy, Marines, or Coast Guard. About 7,500 OSS employees served overseas, and about 4,500 were women (with 900 of them serving in overseas postings). In Fiscal Year 1945, the office spent $43 million, bringing its total spending over its four-year life to around $135 million (almost $1.1 billion in today’s dollars)

The Special Operations Branch was patterned after the British SOE (Special Operations Executive) and did their training at the British facility at Milton Hall. Together the two armies combined to make the famous “Jedburgh” teams that parachuted into Occupied France prior to the D-Day invasion. They comprised 93 teams that had two officers and an enlisted radio operator. William Colby, the future Director of CIA was a Jedburgh in WWII but perhaps the most famous of the Special Operations Branch was Virginia Hall, the famous “Limping Lady of OSS” .

General Donovan recruited an eclectic group of volunteers that he described as “Glorious Amateurs”, but after a few years in service, they were a professional organization that formed the backbone of CIA and later the US Army Special Forces. Donovan described the perfect OSS men as “PHDs who can win a bar fight. OSS wanted smart, self-starters who could think on their feet.

William J. Casey, who was OSS in World War II and later DCI from 1981 to
1987 in the Reagan administration remembered, “You didn’t wait six months for a feasibility study to prove that an idea could work. You gambled that it might work. You
didn’t tie up the organization with red tape designed mostly to cover somebody’s ass. You took the initiative and the responsibility. You went around end; you went over somebody’s head if you had to. But you acted. That’s what drove the regular military and the State Department chair-warmers crazy about the OSS.”

When the war ended, the handwriting was on the wall for OSS. President Truman who took over when FDR died in early 1945, disliked Donovan and the OSS. Donovan’s plan to keep a peacetime intelligence service was filed away but ignored. OSS was disbanded on October 1, 1945.

Two years later Truman approved the new organization called the Central Intelligence Group (CIG) until the National Security Act of 1947 turned CIG into the Central Intelligence Agency, to perform many of the missions that General Donovan had advocated for his proposed peacetime intelligence service. CIA became what General Donovan had initially proposed.

But the modern-day CIA and the US Special Operations Command owe a great deal of their legacy to OSS and to General Donovan. They still employ some “PHDs that can win a bar fight”

</iframPhotos: US Army

Photos: US Army, CIA

June 4, 1942, Five Minutes at the Battle of Midway Turned the Tide

In early 1942, the Japanese Empire was riding high, after the lightning strike at the sleeping U.S.fleet at Pearl Harbor in December 1941, they swept across the Pacific is a series of victories. They swept across Southeast Asia, had taken the Philippines and were moving toward Port Moresby.

But two events had set back their plans and caused them some concern. The Battle of the Coral Sea, while technically a draw, had stopped the Japanese invasion from heading to Port Moresby. But more disconcerting to a Japanese perspective was the Doolittle Raid by land-based B-25 bombers on Tokyo and other major cities. The raid caused very little damage but shocked the Japanese, who believed their homeland impregnable.

But what followed in early June 1942 turned out to be one of the most decisive battles of the war. The outnumbered American fleet, with courage, tenacity and no shortage of luck in the space of just a five-minute window, delivered a cataclysmic blow, wiped out the aura of invincibility of the Japanese fleet. The Japanese lost half of their carrier strength, but more importantly, they lost the cream of their aircrews. Those would prove to be irreplaceable.

Admiral Yamamoto, the architect of the Pearl Harbor attack knew the industrial might of America and knew the Japanese had to strike quickly in the war and then get the U.S. to the peace table. He had a run of stunning victories that shocked the world. In five minutes this all came to an end. From this point forward the Japanese would be on the defensive for the rest of the war. The Rising Sun had already begun to set.

The Plan: The Japanese plan was to take the tiny atoll about 1100 miles west-northwest of Hawaii, under the guise of attacking the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. The Japanese would try to lure the American fleet toward Alaska by beginning the attack there and then striking a blow at Midway.

It was believed that holding those two major points in the Pacific would halt any further attempts at the Japanese homeland and give them enough warning. The Japanese were under the impression that the US fleet would be at Pearl Harbor until they received news of the attack on Midway and would then sail toward it. Then the American fleet could be destroyed.

But the Americans had intercepted and broken the Japanese code and knew of their plans. They thought the target was Midway but decided to bait the Japanese into revealing their plans. In the open, the HQs at Midway sent message traffic that they were having issues with their fresh water condenser. Sure enough the Japanese in their next coded message stated that their objective, code-named “AF” was short of fresh water.

As a result, the American carrier force consisting of the carriers Enterprise, Hornet and the band-aid patched Yorktown were already well on their way to meeting the Japanese northeast of Midway.

The Order of Battle for both fleets can be found here:

The Battle Begins: Both fleet sent out scout planes in an attempt to find one another. The Japanese reconnaissance was very thin, without enough help, they didn’t allocate enough resources to do the job, especially to the northeast. One cruiser, the Tone, had trouble launching its scout plane and it was delayed. It would prove to be a very costly delay.

At 0430 Admiral Nagumo launched his air attack on Midway consisting of 36 Aichi “Val” dive bombers and 36 “Kate” B5N torpedo bombers, escorted by 36 Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters.

At 0520 on the morning of June 4, a flying boat, a PBY Catalina had spotted the Japanese fleet. The Yorktown recalled her scouting aircraft while the rest of the fleet steamed at 25 knots in a southwesterly direction in search of the Japanese fleet.

At 0553, the Marine fighters on Midway took off to engage the Japanese air attack. The Americans had 26 fighters but 20 were the obsolete Brewster Buffaloes which were no match for the Japanese Zeros. At 0616, the Americans attacked but were blown right thru by the Japanese. A total of 17 fighters were shot down and seve so heavily damaged that they never flew again.

Right then six of the new Avenger torpedo planes and four B-26 Marauders took off for the Japanese fleet. They attacked with no fighter protection and were annihilated. Only one Avenger and two B-26s made it back to Midway. They achieved no hits.

But the first air attack on Midway did not achieve the results needed to knock out the defenses. The air commander Lt. Tomonaga radioed that a second strike was necessary. Nagumo then ordered the torpedo bombers back into the hangar decks to change from torpedos to bombs. This occurred at 0710 and took precious time.

At 0728 Nagumo finally heard from the Tone’s scout plane and the report threw him into indecision. The scout reported 10 ships bearing 010 degrees, 240 miles from Midway moving at 20 knots course 150.

Nagumo kept waiting for confirmation, while the minutes ticked by. At 0758 the scout plane reported the American ships consisted of destroyers and cruisers. It was then that the first American air attack happened. Nagumo had to wait for the Zeros to be recalled and refueled and rearmed before escorting the next attack on Midway. Then compounding his dilemma he got the report that he dreaded. The American ships appeared to include an aircraft carrier. This was at 0820.

Nagumo then had to clear his flight deck again as Tomonaga’s planes were returning dangerously short on fuel. This wasn’t completed until 0918. With the sighting of the American carrier, Nagumo then changed his orders again. All four carriers in the strike force, the Kaga, Hiryu, Akagi, and Soryu now had to change back from bombs to torpedos. It was the most vulnerable time for the Japanese carriers. It was exactly then that Japanese lookouts signaled an approaching swarm of American aircraft.

The Hornet’s slow, lumbering Devastator torpedo bombers, without fighter protection were lining up for the attack. Fifty Japanese Zeros launched into them and chewed them to pieces. Most were shot down before ever getting close enough to launch. The few that did all missed. Only one member of the entire squadron, Ensign George Gay survived the devastation and clung to a rubber seat cushion before he would risk inflating his life raft. Gay would have a front row seat for the entire battle.

The Enterprise’s 14 Devastator torpedo bombers with just six F4F Wildcat fighters met a similar fate. Only two planes survived and the Japanese suffered no torpedo hits. The Zeros were flitting about at sea-level chewing up the easy pickings but above them, there was no air cover. Everything had gone in the Japanese favor…until now.

The Battle Turns in Minutes: Two groups of American dive bombers undetected lurked above. Lieutenant-Commander Maxwell Leslie from the Enterprise had 17 Dauntless Dive Bombers and Lieutenant-Commander Wade McClusky from the Yorktown had 18. Like birds of prey, they plummeted straight out of the sky.

Below, the Japanese had finally rearmed and refueled their entire aircrews. The flight decks were full of planes, fully armed, fueled and the carriers were turning into the wind to launch.

A Japanese lookout screamed out that enemy dive bombers were attacking just as the crews on the ships heard the high-pitched whine of the Dauntless dive bombers in their near vertical dives. Japanese survivors recalled watching transfixed as the dots from the planes grew bigger as the 1000-pound bombs screamed in. One bomb hit the Akagi (Nagumo’s flagship) amidships opposite the bridge and pierced the aircraft lift before exploding in the hangar deck stacked with torpedoes. It destroyed the lift and set off several secondary explosions.

Another 1000-pounder hit squarely among the Kate dive bombers awaiting takeoff. They were all immediately engulfed in a maelstrom that consumed the entire flight deck. In just seconds, Nagumo’s proud flagship had been reduced to a flaming wreck. Adding to the devastation, fuel, bombs, and torpedoes stored below ignited in a series of huge explosions. Nagumo then transferred his flag to the light cruiser Nagara.

Dauntless dive bombers circle over smoking Japanese ships

Only three dive bombers attacked Akagi, the remainder lined up on Kaga and Soryu. Kaga was hit with four bombs in quick succession. The first hit just forward of the superstructure, igniting a fuel truck which exploded into a sheet of flame which killed everyone on the bridge in a flash. The other three bombs fell among the planes crowded on the flight deck awaiting take-off and started the same chain of events as on Akagi. In seconds Kaga was a flaming wreck. The Emperor’s portrait was immediately transferred to a waiting destroyer signaling the ship was doomed.

At the same time, Max Leslie’s dive bombers from the Yorktown, veterans of the Coral Sea and the most experienced combat pilots in the Navy at that point, attacked in three separate waves. Of their bombs, three hit the target. One bomb penetrated the hangar deck and destroyed the lift, pinning it to the bridge. The remaining two bombs lit among the parked aircraft warming up, just like Akagi and Kaga. The Soryu was engulfed in flames. Soryu was doomed. Captain Yanaginoto ordered the crew to abandon ship less than 20 minutes later.

In the space of just five minutes, the entire scope of the war changed. Japan’s massive superiority in aircraft carriers, as well as their best, most experienced pilots, were gone. The carrier force was shattered and only the Hiryu, some miles away was untouched.

A Japanese survivor of the battle, Mitsuo Fuchida wrote about the horrifying events after the war:

“At 1024 the order to start launching came from the bridge by voice-tube. The Air Officer flapped a white flag, and the first Zero fighter gathered speed and whizzed off the deck. At that instant a lookout screamed: ‘Hell-divers!’ I looked up to see three black enemy planes plummeting toward our ship. Some of our machine guns managed to fire a few frantic bursts at them, but it was too late. The plump silhouettes of the American ‘Dauntless’ dive-bombers quickly grew larger, and then a number of black objects suddenly floated eerily from their wings. Bombs! Down they came straight toward me! I fell intuitively to the deck and crawled behind a command post mantelet [rolled mattresses providing protection from shrapnel].

The terrifying scream of the dive-bombers reached me first, followed by the crashing explosion of a direct hit. There was a blinding flash and then a second explosion, much louder than the first. I was shaken by a weird blast of warm air. There was still another shock, but less severe, apparently a near miss. Then followed a startling quiet as the barking of guns suddenly ceased. I got up and looked at the sky. The enemy planes were already gone from sight.

The attackers had gotten in unimpeded because our fighters, which had engaged the preceding wave of torpedo planes only a few moments earlier, had not yet had time to regain altitude.

Consequently, it may be said that the American dive-bombers’ success was made possible by the earlier martyrdom of their torpedo planes. Also, our carriers had no time to evade because clouds hid the enemy’s approach until he dove down to the attack. We had been caught flat footed in the most vulnerable condition possible – decks loaded with planes armed and fueled for attack.

Looking about, I was horrified at the destruction that had been wrought in a matter of seconds. There was a huge hole in the flight deck just behind the amidship elevator. The elevator itself, twisted like molten glass, was drooping into the hangar. Deck plates reeled upward in grotesque configurations. Planes stood tail up, belching livid flame and jet-black smoke. Reluctant tears streamed down my cheeks as I watched the fires spread, and I was terrified at the prospect of induced explosions which would surely doom the ship.”

Hiryu and Yorktown Sunk: Hiryu had launched her attack group consisting of 18 dive bombers and six fighters commanded by Michio Kobayashi and they linked up with ten torpedo bombers and six more Zeros. They followed at a distance, American planes heading back to Yorktown.

American Wildcat fighters defending the ship jumped all over the Vals and shot down 10, anti-aircraft fire downed another two. The six survivors lined up for their own attack. Three bombs struck Yorktown, knocking out all of her boilers and forcing the carrier into a stop. One bomb started a huge fire on the flight deck and a third penetrated to the fourth deck and ignited a fire that threatened the forward magazines and fuel tanks.

Yorktown set afire in the first Japanese attack.

Admiral Fletcher was forced to move his flagship to the cruiser Astoria. But the American damage control parties worked magic. They put the fires out, got the ship restarted and made 20 knots. They refueled their Wildcats and launched eight as the second Japanese air strikes began. The Americans already had four in the air and a dozen fighters couldn’t break thru the cordon of fighters and the torpedo bombers hit Yorktown with two torpedoes. They penetrated the fuel tanks and caused massive flooding. That caused the ship to list at 26 degrees to port. All power was lost, so counterflooding was impossible. Captain Buckmaster ordered the crew to abandon ship at 1500.

While this was on-going, Admiral Spruance had launched an attack looking for Hiryu. The Americans arrived with 24 Dauntless dive bombers just as Hiryu was recovering her planes from the Yorktown attack. The Dauntless dive bombers incinerated the Hiryu with four bomb hits which set her ablaze just like the other three carriers. By 2123, all of her engines stopped and the order to abandon ship came at 0230 the next morning.

Yamamoto ordered the general retirement of Japanese forces the next day. The four heavy cruisers which were to provide heavy bombardment in the invasion of Midway, which included the Kumano, Suzuya, Mikuma, and Mogami were closest to the island. They were sighted by an American submarine, the Tambor, which in turn was sighted by the Japanese. As the ships turned, the Mogami continued straight ahead and collided with Mikuma. The Japanese left the Mikuma and two destroyers to escort the heavily damaged Mogami while the rest of the task force steamed off.

Marine dive bombers attacked but they all missed their target. One plane, however, piloted by Captain Richard Fleming crashed into the after turret of the Mikuma. Fuel fumes were sucked down the intake of the starboard engine room and exploded killing everyone in the engine room.

Mikuma is a flaming wreck after US dive bombers pound it.

The next day, Spruance launched an air attack and the Mikuma was blown from the water and sunk. Miraculously, Mogami survived and made it to Truk Harbor. Meanwhile, the Yorktown was still afloat. Salvage parties began work and the ship was going to be towed when a Japanese submarine, I-168 penetrated her destroyer screen and put two torpedoes into her. Yorktown finally sunk on June 7th at 0600. The Battle of Midway was over.

Midway has been justifiably characterized as the turning point in the Pacific War. While the U.S. didn’t actually get the newer Essex class of aircraft carriers until the end of 1942, the strategic initiative had been lost by Japan. Later that year, the United States invaded Guadalcanal, something that would’ve been impossible had the U.S. lost the battle.

It marked the beginning of a long, difficult and bloody island-hopping campaign that swallowed up the Japanese empire until the United States arrived in Tokyo Bay in September 1945.

Photos: US Archives

US Tells China They Have Experience Taking Down Small Islands

The war of words between the United States and China has been amped up even more when on Thursday a Pentagon official stated while the US will seek common ground with China on North Korea and other issues, they will continue to protect their interests.

And the message was clear on what the United States claims are clear provocations by the Chinese in the South Pacific, especially in areas of the South China Sea.

“We continue to seek areas to cooperate with China where we can, but where we can’t we’re prepared to certainly protect both U.S. and allied interest in the region,” Director of the Joint Staff Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie told reporters at the Pentagon.
“I would just tell you that the United States military has had a lot of experience in the Western Pacific taking down small islands,” McKenzie said, when asked if the United States has the ability to “blow apart” one of China’s disputed, man-made islands in the South China Sea.
He later clarified that he was referring to U.S. military operations during World War II.
“It’s just a fact we had a lot of experience in the Second World War taking down small islands that are isolated, so that’s a core competency of the U.S. military that we’ve done before. [You] shouldn’t read anything more into that than a simple statement of historical fact,” he said.
U.S. warships on Sunday cruised by disputed islands in the South China Sea in a planned exercise. The United States claims the area is considered international waters, while China asserts its right to the islands and saw the move as a threat.

The US Navy conducts what it terms “freedom of navigation” exercises in the disputed areas that Washington claims as international waters. The Chinese however, claim these as their own.

To read the entire article from The Hill, click here:

Photo: Wikipedia

On This Date in 1962, Nazi War Criminal Adolf Eichmann Hanged in Israel

Adolf Eichmann was a member of the Nazi Party, the SS, and the SD during Hitler’s reign of terror during the 1930s and 1940s. He was an SS-Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel) and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust. He was tasked by SS-Obergruppenführer (Lieutenant General) Reinhard Heydrich with facilitating and managing the logistics involved in the mass deportation of Jews to ghettos and extermination camps in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe during World War II.

After the war, Eichmann escaped prosecution and fled to Argentina where he lived until 1960. There, he was discovered by members of the Israeli Mossad and arrested and smuggled out of the country to Israel where he stood trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity in 1961. He was found guilty and was hanged in an Israeli prison on May 30, 1962.

Eichmann was born in Solingen, Germany on March 19, 1906, and soon afterward moved to Austria. He was an indifferent student and never finished his studies. He drifted from job to job in the late 20s and early 1930s before he joined the Nazi Party and shortly after the SS.

In 1934, with the rank of SS-Scharführer (Sergeant) Eichmann joined the Security Service Main Office (Sicherheitsdienst (SD) working on surveillance of Jewish organizations. In 1937, he took an inspection trip to Palestine and Egypt for the purposes of facilitating a Zionist emigration of German Jews to Palestine.

He personally oversaw the forced emigration of Austrian Jews after Hitler took over. His system was deemed so “worthy” by the Nazi hierarchy that it was deemed a template for the Nazis to use elsewhere. Once Germany overtook Czechoslovakia, Eichmann oversaw the forced deportation of Jews in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and created a further Central Office for Jewish Emigration in Prague, on the pattern of his Viennese model.

Once World War II began Eichmann began to not only continue with the forced emigration of Jews from Germany and occupied territories, but the forced movement of Jews to the death camps. Eichmann during this time was responsible for the movement of nearly 1.5 million Jews to the death camps located in Poland and later parts of the occupied Soviet Union.

By the autumn of 1941, Eichmann had been promoted SS-Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel) and the chief of Reich Security Office (RSHA) which, took part in the planning of the annihilation of the European Jews. Since Eichmann was to be in charge of transporting Jews from all over Europe to the death camps, RSHA chief Reinhard Heydrich asked Eichmann to prepare a presentation for the Wannsee Conference. At the conference, RSHA officials advised the appropriate government and Nazi Party agencies on the implementation of the “Final Solution” to what the Nazis called the “Jewish Question.” Eichmann also relayed these plans to his network of officials who would help him to carry out deportation efforts in German-occupied areas and in Germany’s Axis allies in the murder of the Jews.

Eichmann and his underlings organized the deportation of Jews from Slovakia, the Netherlands, France, and Belgium. In 1943 and 1944 they deported the Jews of Greece, northern Italy, and Hungary. It was in Hungary where Eichmann involved himself directly in the deportation of the Jews. From late April 1944, six weeks after Germany occupied Hungary, until early July, Eichmann and his aides deported some 440,000 Hungarian Jews. Of these 75-90 percent were murdered in the gas chambers immediately after arriving in the death camps.

At the end of World War II, Eichmann changed his name to “Otto Eckmann” and had forged papers as such to avoid detection. He was captured by the Americans but when they found out his true identity, he escaped and with the help of the Catholic Church eventually made his way to Argentina.

But Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal learned he along with the notorious Dr. Josef Mengele were in the South American country. The Israelis dispatched intelligence gathering teams from the Mossad and Shin Bet intelligence services and they confirmed Eichmann’s location. Under the supervision of Mossad agent Isser Harel, the Mossad kidnapped Eichmann and smuggled him out of Buenos Aires to Israel to stand trial. Harel’s tale was eventually written into a fine book on the capture, “The House on Garibaldi Street” which is highly recommended.

The Mossad knew his routine and planned on abducting him when he passed an open field near his home after getting off a bus in his town. As he approached the field, a Mossad agent spoke to him in Spanish but Eichmann sensed danger and quickly two other Mossad agents jumped him as a well and the three subdued him as the agents whisked him to a Mossad safe house where he was held for nine days until they snuck him out via a flight from Buenos Aires to Jerusalem via Dakar, Senegal.

Eichmann protested his innocence and used the well-worn “following orders” alibi which was discounted at the Nuremberg Trials. “There is a need to draw a line between the leaders responsible and the people like me forced to serve as mere instruments in the hands of the leaders”, Eichmann said. “I was not a responsible leader, and as such do not feel myself guilty.”

Eichmann’s trial before a special tribunal of the Jerusalem District Court began on April 11, 1961. The legal basis of the charges against Eichmann was the 1950 Nazi and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law, under which he was indicted on 15 criminal charges, including crimes against humanity, war crimes, crimes against the Jewish people, and membership in a criminal organization.

The Nazis were meticulous in their record keeping and this was part of the reason that so many Nazis were found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Eichmann was no exception to this rule. His own words were the most-damning toward his case when the prosecution brought forth a statement he made in 1945 that the Nazis had been responsible for over 5 million dead Jews. “I will leap into my grave laughing because the feeling that I have five million human beings on my conscience is for me a source of extraordinary satisfaction”

Any hope the defense had of receiving clemency from the Israeli courts were quickly extinguished over this statement. Eichmann tried to say that he was speaking about the Russians and enemies of the Reich but later admitted that he was speaking about the Jews.

The verdict was read on December 12, 1961. The judges declared him not guilty of personally killing anyone and not guilty of overseeing and controlling the activities of the Einsatzgruppen (SS Mobile Extermination Units). He was found responsible for the deplorable conditions on board the deportation trains on which the Jews were transported to the death camps. He was found guilty of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes against not only the Jews but the Poles, Slovenes, and Gypsies. He was also found guilty of membership in three organizations that had been deemed criminal at the Nuremberg trials: the Gestapo, the SD, and the SS.

When considering the sentence, the judges concluded that Eichmann hadn’t been just following orders, but believed in the Nazi cause wholeheartedly and had been a key perpetrator of the genocide of the Jewish people. On 15 December 1961, Eichmann was sentenced to death by hanging.

Eichmann appealed his sentence but on May 31, 1962, the judges rejected his appeal. He was put to death several hours later around midnight on May 31-June 1, 1962.

His final words were about one would expect:

Long live Germany. Long live Argentina. Long live Austria. These are the three countries with which I have been most connected and which I will not forget. I greet my wife, my family and my friends. I am ready. We’ll meet again soon, as is the fate of all men. I die believing in God.

After his death, his body was immediately cremated and his ashes were scattered in the Mediterranean outside of Israel’s territorial waters.

Photos: Wikipedia

Robin Sage Begins June 9th, Time For the SF Students to Step Up

The Special Forces rite of passage is about to begin for the next class of SF candidates. The final training in Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC) for prospective SF soldiers is the Unconventional Warfare (UW) exercise “Robin Sage”, which we went over in detail in an earlier post, that you can read here:

The prospective Green Berets put all their training together and infiltrate into the fictional country of Pineland via an airborne operation. The SF candidates must raise and train a guerrilla force that will fight the enemy government troops and attempt to restore the friendly Pineland government.

The exercise’s notional country of Pineland encompasses Alamance, Anson, Cabarrus, Chatham, Cumberland, Davidson, Davie Guilford, Hoke, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, Randolph, Richmond, Robeson, Rowan, Scotland, Stanly, and Union counties. Throughout the exercise, Special Forces candidates and Robin Sage role-players not only conduct training missions such as controlled assaults and key-leader engagements but also live, eat and sleep in these civilian areas.

Robin Sage, derives its name from the town of Robbins, N.C., a central area of operations for the exercise, and former Army Colonel Jerry Sage, a World War II veteran and an Office of Strategic Services, or OSS officer who taught unconventional warfare tactics. Steve McQueen’s character Hilts in the film “The Great Escape” was based off Sage.

This current version of the UW exercise has been in use with only slight changes since 1974. To succeed, the prospective SF troops need to accomplish a few key tasks.

Build Popular Support with the Civilian Populace
Make Rapport with the target audience (Guerrilla Force)
Be an effective teacher and train the resistance force

Building Popular Support with the Civilian Populace: What makes Robin Sage so realistic? The civilian community in “Pineland” is nearly totally immersed in the operation. Not only have the citizens of the operational area given their support for the exercise, they’ve become deeply involved.

Many of the role players have been involved with the course for several years and they pass along to their children the drive to carry on and to take over the role of underground or auxiliary in the exercise. And they have proven time and again just how important having popular support in the UW area of operations is to mission success.

These role players help to ferry supplies and equipment, move troops in covered trailers around the operational area as well as provide an early warning network for the guerrilla force. As it is with all people who live in the country, nothing happens out there without all of them knowing about it and they invariably warned the good guys.

And make no mistake, the Special Forces students are the “good guys” in this exercise. It strikes home how important having popular support is when either helping or countering a resistance movement. It is a lesson all SF troops need to learn. No one can make a move in the operational area without the civilians knowing about it. And if they are for you, they will prove invaluable. If the team loses popular support, they are likely done.

Make Rapport With the G-Force: Building rapport with the locals that the SF team will train with, by and through is, among the most important tasks they will encounter. The ability to build rapport both with their foreign partners and with their team members is essentially the difference between Special Forces and all of the others. Alone, an SF team is just 12 men, but working with their foreign partners, they become force multipliers.

SF candidates will quickly learn that learning to communicate and respect the ways of the target audience, obeying their social graces as it is imperative. That is just the first step. Learning to make rapport with the local forces isn’t easy to teach and it is even harder to learn. Some guys are naturals at it and should always be out front, especially during the early “feeling out” process.

The ability to build a solid base of trust is one of the key skills learned by Special Forces troops in complex, austere environments. It can’t be massed produced or pushed thru a shake and bake course. Having troops just show up on the doorstep in the middle of a third world country and have them fall at your feet isn’t realistic and doesn’t happen.

Rapport building begins with checking your ego at the door and operating instinctively. Many times there won’t be a right or wrong answer and frequently the SF candidates will be forced to make difficult and complex decisions. The hallmarks of a successful Special Forces soldier is a mature, versatile and flexible operator in any environment. Being able to adapt to cultures other than our own is the true mark of building trust and reliability that our by, with and through the local forces that will mark a successful operation.

The interaction with host nation troops, both soldiers and leaders require a need for tact and diplomacy. Hammering home the message to the lower rank and file of the guerrilla force is quite different than that to a Colonel or politician/tribal elder that you’ll encounter. A career diplomat once told me the art of diplomacy is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in a way that they’ll enjoy the trip.

One of the best team sergeants I ever knew and a man I consider a tremendous mentor said, the best way to make rapport sometimes is to just shut up and listen. For the SF candidates, there is a time for talking and a time for listening. And when it is time to listen, they need to do so as if their collective lives depend on it. Because they do.

Be An Effective Teacher, Training the G-Force: As we’ve said here numerous times, teaching is an art in Special Forces. Unfortunately teaching and training a guerrilla force isn’t as sexy as taking down a target on a DA (Direct Action) mission and no one wants to see that…right? People want to see a video of guys “doing operator shit” with plenty of cool toys complete with heavy metal music overdubbed while the bad guys bite the dust.

While DA missions are linear and much easier to judge the success or failure of, the true art of a Special Forces A-team lies in their ability to teach an allied soldier or guerrilla fighter to do those same Direct Action missions. Setting up intelligence early warning networks or leading a dedicated guerrilla force to succeed in the Unconventional Warfare (UW) environment isn’t as tangible, nor as sexy. But it is the difference between winning and losing in the UW environment.

We all remember our time in Robin Sage as it was the final test before joining the Regiment, where the real learning begins in earnest. And my primary instructor at Robin Sage, Paul W. not only knew his subject matter extremely well, he knew the operational area as well as the locals and we as a team soaked up his lessons like a sponge. He would always answer questions framed around a question of his own and said frequently that “this is a thinking man’s game.” At the time, we didn’t completely get it but he was right.

And everything centered around the three primary tasks listed above. They were all interdependent on one another. Of course, there are several other things that the students will have to accomplish, but these three are keys to getting a successful operation conducted in Robin Sage and walking across the stage and becoming part of the best Regiment in the military.

Photo: US Army

Ian Fleming, Creator of James Bond Was Born Today in 1908

You only live twice:
Once when you are born
And once when you look death in the face

I’ve always been a James Bond fan since as far back as my memory goes. I remember being enthralled by the derring-do of Bond since I sat quiet (for once) and was mesmerized by Goldfinger. After that, I couldn’t get enough of Bond and can’t wait until “Bond 25” hits the theaters. James Bond was the creation of British author and intelligence operative Ian Fleming, who based the character off of some spies he met as well as himself during World War II.

Fleming was almost as colorful as his Bond character. He was born in England on May 28, 1908. His father Valentine was an MP (Minister of Parliament) for Henley. Fleming was enrolled in the prestigious preparatory Durnford School in Dorset in 1914. He hated it, and although the headmaster Tom Pellat encouraged individuality in the boys, there were regular beatings, frequent bullying as well as spartan conditions and bad food.

When World War I broke out, his father was commissioned as a Captain in the Queen’s Own Hussars and was promoted to Major just four months later. In May of 1917, the Queen’s Hussars were opposite the Hindenburg Line near St. Quentin. During an artillery barrage, Valentine was hit and killed instantly. Winston Churchill wrote his obituary for “The Times” and Ian kept a copy of it in his bedroom for his entire life.

Valentine Fleming, (top row, far right) in the Queen’s Hussars. Winston Churchill is in the center.

In 1921, Fleming entered Eton College. While not a brilliant scholar, he was an accomplished athlete, twice being named Victor Ludorum (“Winner of the Games”) for two years between 1925 and 1927. He also edited the school magazine, The Wyvern and published his first short story, “The Ordeal of Caryl St. George.”

Fleming was already living the life of a James Bond character, with a penchant for fast cars and faster women. The headmaster and his mother agreed that he’d leave school a semester early to prepare for the military academy at Sandhurst. He remained there for only a year and left without a commission after contracting a sexually transmitted disease.

His mother was trying to get him a posting in the British Foreign Office and sent him to mainland Europe to study languages and he lived in Austria, Munich, and Geneva, working on his German and French languages. His reputation as a womanizer was already well deserved until he met a Swiss woman named Monique Panchaud de Bottomes. The duo was briefly engaged but his mother, disapproving of the match forced him to break it off.

Fleming may have carried a torch for her as his James Bond character would have a Swiss mother named Monique in his writings. Failing his Foreign Office examinations, his mother got him a job with Reuters as a sub-editor and writer and spent time in Moscow. There he asked for an interview with Josef Stalin and received a handwritten note from the dictator apologizing for not being able to make it. He later went into banking and also as a stockbroker. Neither of which he was particularly interested in nor very good at.

World War II Service: Once the war broke out in 1939, Fleming was recruited by Rear Admiral John Godfrey, Director of Naval Intelligence of the Royal Navy, to become his personal assistant. Despite being untrained, Fleming had found his niche. He was given the rank of Lieutenant but quickly was promoted to Commander. Godfrey had to coordinate with all of the British intelligence sections including MI-6 and it was here, he used Fleming to great effect.

Again, the character of “M” in the Bond books was reportedly based on Godfrey. Fleming also met with OSS chief William Donovan and sent the Americans some ideas on how to set up their own fledgling intelligence agency.

Enroute to his US visit, Godfrey and Fleming stopped in neutral Portugal and took in the Casino Estoril and after observing the eclectic mix of characters there, it proved to once again provide the basis of James Bond’s Casino Royale.

Fleming was behind the plan for “Operation Mincemeat”, which was a disinformation operation to throw the Germans off of the main Allied plan to invade Sicily. The British would drop a corpse off the coast of Spain with fake plans to invade Sardinia and Greece. So completely did the Germans fall for it, Churchill was sent a memo, stating, “Mincemeat swallowed, rod, line, and sinker. Godfrey also put Fleming in charge of “Operation Goldeneye” in Spain, another Bond reference.

While visiting Jamaica during the war, Fleming fell in love with the place and wrote his friends who already lived there, “when we have won this blasted war, I am going to just live in Jamaica and write books and swim in the sea.”

Post War Years: Once the war was over, Fleming was good to his word and purchased a property in Jamaica which he promptly named “Goldeneye” and would prove to be where he did all of his writing. After carrying on a long-time affair with Ann Charteris, the two were married in 1952 after it was learned that she was pregnant with his child.

During this time, Fleming wrote his first James Bond novel “Casino Royale” and this became a ritual. Fleming every January would begin a two-month timeframe to write about the next Bond story. He described Bond looking like a cross between himself and the singer Hoagy Carmichael.

After writing three Bond thrillers, “Casino Royale”, “Live and Let Die”, and “Diamonds Are Forever”, Fleming had grown tired of his character Bond, but the stories were proving to be immensely popular. He decided to go thru with a fourth title, “From Russia With Love” in 1961 and then the American media quoted new President John F. Kennedy that the book was the President’s favorite. Fleming’s decision in retrospect to continue with Bond was a sound one.

He followed those up with “Dr. No”, “Goldfinger”, and “For Your Eyes Only.” However, it was his next novel that he hoped would bring his books to the screen, “Thunderball.”

Fleming continued on with James Bond in the critically panned “The Spy Who Loved Me” and then suffered a major heart attack. His health had suffered from a lifetime of drinking and smoking and it was finally catching up to him. He and his wife were both unfaithful and carried on numerous affairs.

While recovering in the hospital, he was denied a typewriter so that he could rest but wrote with a pen and paper the children’s book, “Chitty-Chitty, Bang-Bang” He then returned to James Bond with a book lauded as one of his best, “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”.

It was during this time that Fleming finally saw his character Bond transformed into the silver screen and it proved to be the most durable and profitable series ever. The first Bond film was “Dr. No” and it starred Sean Connery as James Bond. Fleming would see “From Russia With Love” released and was involved in “Goldfinger” but didn’t live to see the film released. His last work published before his death was “You Only Live Twice”.

Daniel Craig as James Bond in *Casino Royale*.

He suffered another massive heart attack on August 11, 1964, and died the next day at the age of 56. He left two other works that were published after his death, “The Man with the Golden Gun” and the short stories, “Octopussy” and “The Living Daylights”

Fleming was buried in the churchyard of Sevenhampton, near Swindon

Fleming was one of the most influential writers of his generation and his character, James Bond has endured and flourished thru 24 films with the 25th already in the planning stages. James Bond will live on.

Photos: Wikipedia

Remembering Robert G. Cole, MOH In Normandy On Memorial Day

We’ve been focusing on Memorial Day in the past week, writing about some of the heroes of past conflicts who despite all odds persevered and made it thru the horrors of war and were awarded the Nation’s highest award. Today on Memorial Day, we remember a hero who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his incredible courage during the D-Day Normandy invasion and survived the battle but was tragically killed during the invasion of Holland a few months later.

Robert G. Cole was an airborne battalion commander in the 101st Airborne Division leading the 3rd Bn, of the 502nd Parachute Infantry into D-Day landing outside of Carentan. He led his battalion on an assault on German positions and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions.

Cole was born at Ft. Sam Houston, TX in March of 1915, his father was an Army doctor. He joined the Army on July 1, 1934, and a year later was granted a discharge so that he could attend the US Military Academy at West Point.

Cole graduated as a 2LT of Infantry in 1939 and joined the paratroopers in 1941, earning his wings in March 1941. As the airborne forces were being rapidly expanded, he quickly attained rank and just three years later, Cole was commanding a battalion in the 502nd.

Cole was a tall, muscular Texan with a booming voice that he seldom lowered, he reigned over a tough, wild battalion of paratroopers with an iron hand. And his men respected and feared him as much as they did the Germans. One trooper, Ralph Kelly remembered, “I was more afraid of Cole than I ever was of the Germans.”

On D-Day, the entire 101st Airborne was spread all over Normandy in their first combat jump. Units were separated and small groups with troops from several different commands would link up and conduct assigned missions. So by midday on June 6, Cole had only 75 men with him but he was still able to effect linkup with the 4th Infantry Division behind Utah Beach by capturing Exit 3 at Saint-Martin-de-Varreville.

The battalion had the assigned mission of being in reserve in the initial invasion. But by June 10, Cole’s battalion had reorganized into 400 men. And he would need every one of them during the next assault.

With the 101st assigned the mission of taking Carentan, the men of Cole’s battalion were assigned to taking the narrow causeway leading up to the town. The causeway was very narrow and totally exposed on either side where there were marshes with no cover. Cole’s troops would be in the sights of the German paratroopers who were guarding the town. The causeway was called Purple Heart Lane by the troops.

The German troops were dug in well on one side behind a hedgerow and at the far end of the causeway was a bridge over the Douve River that Cole’s troops were to take after moving down the causeway. Past the bridge was Carentan.

As Cole moved his troops up, they were hit with accurate devastating fire from German mortars, artillery, and machine-gun fire. The troops huddled against the side of the causeway bank after taking horrendous casualties. They decided to take up defensive positions for the night.

The darkness offered the 502nd little respite. The Germans continued to hit them with concentrated artillery and mortar fire, including strafing from German aircraft. This cause even more casualties and completely knocked out one of Cole’s companies right out of the fight.

By morning, Cole had 265 men left for an assault. Cole decided to call for smoke and would personally lead a bayonet charge into the German positions. His attack gained momentum and they finally advanced thru the hedgerow and a farm behind it, driving the Germans out and killing and wounding a large amount of them in the fighting and then cutting the German paratroopers down as they attempted to flee.

The attack was costly, with 130 of his 265 becoming casualties. Both Cole’s 3rd Battalion and the 1st Battalion suffered high casualties and after taking the bridge, couldn’t advance inside the town of Carentan. The German paratroopers of the 6th Parachute Regiment (Fallschrimjaeger) counter-attacked and tried to drive the Americans back. During the night, the American artillery turned the tables on the Germans and pounded the Nazi paratroopers and broke up their attacks.

The Germans decided that they couldn’t hold Carentan as their ammunition was running out and pulled out, leaving just small, blocking forces inside the town. The 506th Parachute Infantry made famous in the “Band of Brothers” book and television series would be tasked with taking the town just after dawn on June 12th.

On the 7oth anniversary of the battle, the French citizens of Carentan erected a monument to the courage of “Cole’s Charge” as it had been called. The Stars and Stripes of the United States float on the monument beside the Tricolour,” said a French administrator.

Cole was recommended for the Medal of Honor but tragically would not live to see it. Just a few months later during the invasion of Holland in Operation Market-Garden, Cole’s battalion was contacted by American P-47s and was asked to place orange marker panels in front of his unit’s position. The Thunderbolts had been trying to strafe German positions and were hitting some American ones as well.

Cole, rather than task a subordinate to it, decided to do it himself. As soon as Cole laid down the panel, the P-47s began putting devastating fire on the German positions and the amount of fire being received from them slackened perceptibly. Cole, standing in the open and shielding his eyes against the sun, he raised his head to catch a glimpse of the plane. A German sniper about 100 yards away in a farmhouse saw this and shot Cole in the temple killing him instantly.

Later, the Americans saw a German try to hightail it from the farmhouse, a .30 caliber machine-gun cut him down before he got far. The word passed quickly thru the battalion that the men had gotten the German that killed Cole and they all felt much better about it.

Grave of Robert G. Cole in the Netherlands. (US Army)

Just two weeks later, his Medal of Honor was awarded to his mother, wife, and son at Ft. Sam Houston. Cole was buried with his troops in the American military cemetery in Margraten, the Netherlands.

Medal of Honor Citation:

For gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his own life, above and beyond the call of duty on 11 June 1944, in France. Lt. Col. Cole was personally leading his battalion in forcing the last 4 bridges on the road to Carentan when his entire unit was suddenly pinned to the ground by intense and withering enemy rifle, machine gun, mortar, and artillery fire placed upon them from well-prepared and heavily fortified positions within 150 yards of the foremost elements.

After the devastating and unceasing enemy fire had for over 1 hour prevented any move and inflicted numerous casualties, Lt. Col. Cole, observing this almost hopeless situation, courageously issued orders to assault the enemy positions with fixed bayonets.

With utter disregard for his own safety and completely ignoring the enemy fire, he rose to his feet in front of his battalion and with drawn pistol shouted to his men to follow him in the assault. Catching up a fallen man’s rifle and bayonet, he charged on and led the remnants of his battalion across the bullet-swept open ground and into the enemy position. His heroic and valiant action in so inspiring his men resulted in the complete establishment of our bridgehead across the Douve River.

The cool fearlessness, personal bravery, and outstanding leadership displayed by Lieutenant Colonel Cole reflect great credit upon himself and are worthy of the highest praise in the military service.

Photos: US Army of General Eisenhower talking to LTC Robert Coe just prior to the D-Day invasion.

USS Arizona Memorial Closed Indefinitely Due to Structural Concerns

The USS Arizona Memorial is one of the most visited places for visitors going to Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately, especially with the Memorial Day weekend in full swing, those visitors won’t be able to visit the battleship memorial for quite some time.

Access to the USS Arizona memorial will remain closed for an unknown period of time after the damage was deemed “more significant than originally anticipated,” Hawaii News Now reported.
Boat transportation to the site was suspended May 6 after one of the vessel operators noticed a crack in the supporting structure for the visitor loading ramp, and the Pearl Harbor official visitors website is noting the historic site’s change of plans until further notice.
The memorial marks the final resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors and Marines killed on the USS Arizona battleship during the surprise attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. The attack was the opening salvo in the United States’ involvement in World War II.
Visitors with tickets to the area will be able to view a documentary, and participate in a narrated harbor tour surrounding the memorial, but will not be allowed to disembark.
Tourists were initially allowed to disembark at the memorial after crews completed interim repairs. But the cracks reappeared hours later, indicating a more serious issue.
“There is a brow or an edge where the visitor ramp meets the memorial, and at that point, there’s been some fissures located on the exterior,” said Jay Blount, a spokesman for the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument. “After further investigation on the interior, it was determined that the structure is not supporting the loading ramp the way that we need.”
Engineers are working to figure out possible long-term solutions.
“The amount of time needed to implement the repairs is unknown, but the (National Park Service) will continue to provide information to the public as our team of specialists works together to restore access as soon as possible,” memorial staff said Friday in a news release.

Access to other museums in Pearl Harbor, such as the Battleship Missouri Memorial, the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park, and the Pacific Aviation Museum will not be affected by the closure.

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Photo courtesy Wikipedia