The Rape of Nanking Begins, December 13, 1937

Today in 1937, the city of Nanking in China fell to the Japanese Imperial Army. The next six weeks were marked by incredible brutality against the civilian population of the area. This period of time has come to be known as the Rape of Nanking. It has few equals in the annals of human history.

Japan first invaded Manchuria, China in 1931. At that time, the Chinese Civil War was underway. The Communists and Nationalists showed little interest in putting up a united front against the foreign invaders until 1937, when the two sides agreed to fight the Japanese. The Chinese Army, though possibly the largest in the world at that time, was no match for the well-equipped and trained Imperial Army. The Japanese quickly captured most of the major Chinese cities in the northeastern part of the country.

In August of 1937, the Japanese Army took heavy casualties during the fight for Shanghai. Before this battle, it was thought that China could be conquered in three months. But it was not until mid-November that the city was securely in Japanese hands. On December 1st, the Japanese Central China Area Army and their 10th Army were ordered to capture Nanking.

Much of what we know about the six weeks following the capture of Nanking has come to us from the few Westerners who remained in the city in hopes of protecting the civilian population. Some of them created what they called the Nanking Safety Zone, an area near the American embassy that was to remain demilitarized. The Zone was about the size of Central Park in New York City and, at first, the Japanese agreed to leave the area alone as long no weapons were found there. They soon broke that promise, however, in their zeal to find Chinese soldiers hiding among the civilian population of the city.

The hunt for soldiers dressed in civilian clothes was used as an excuse by the Japanese to commit all kinds of inhumane acts. Women were publicly raped while their families were forced to watch; thousands of young men were shot along the banks of the Yangtze River where their bodies would flow downstream to Shanghai. Dozens of books have been written about other horrendous things that went on in the city and surrounding area. I will not recount them here.
(http://mattstodayinhistory.blogspot.com)

Liberty ship

SS John W. Brown, one of two surviving operational Liberty ships
Class overview
Name:	Liberty ship
Builders:	18 shipyards in the USA
Planned:	2,751
Completed:	2,710
Preserved:	2
General characteristics
Class and type:	Cargo ship
Displacement:	14,245 tons[1]
Length:	135 m (441 ft 6 in)
Beam:	17.3 m (56 ft 10.75 in)
Draft:	8.5 m (27 ft 9.25 in)
Propulsion:	Two oil-fired boilers, triple-expansion steam engine, single screw, 2,500 horsepower (1,864 kW)
Speed:	11 to 11.5 knots (20 to 21 km/h)
Range:	23,000 miles (37,000 km)
Capacity:	10,856 metric tons deadweight (DWT)[1]
Complement:	41 men
Armament:	Stern-mounted 4-in (102 mm) deck gun for use against surfaced submarines, variety of anti-aircraft guns

Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by German U-boats, they were purchased for the U.S. fleet and for lend-lease provision to Britain. Eighteen American shipyards built 2,751 Liberties between 1941 and 1945, easily the largest number of ships produced to a single design.

The production of these vessels mirrored, on a much larger scale, the manufacture of the Hog Islander ship and similar standardized types during World War I. The immense effort to build Liberty ships, the sheer number of ships built, and the fact that some of the ships survived far longer than the original design life of five years, make them the subject of much study.

History

In 1936, the American Merchant Marine Act was passed to subsidize the annual construction of 50 commercial merchant vessels to be used in wartime by the United States Navy as naval auxiliaries. The number was doubled in 1939 and again in 1940 to 200 ships a year. Ship types included a tanker and three types of merchant vessel, all to be powered by steam turbines. Limited industrial capacity, especially for turbine construction, meant that relatively few of these ships were built.

In 1940, the British government ordered 60 tramp steamships from American yards to replace war losses and boost the merchant fleet. These Ocean class ships were simple but fairly large (for the time) with a single steam, 2,500 horsepower (1,864 kW) reciprocating engine of obsolete but reliable design. Britain specified coal fired plants because it had plenty of coal mines but no indigenous oil fields. The predecessor designs, including the Northeast Coast, Open Shelter Deck Steamer, were based on a simple ship originally produced in Sunderland by J.L. Thompson & Sons (see Silver Line) from 1879, and widely manufactured up to the SS Dorrington Court, which was built in 1938. The order specified an 18-inch (457 mm) increase in draught to boost displacement by 800 tons to 10,100 tons. The accommodation, bridge and main engine of these vessels were located amidships, with a long tunnel to connect the main engine shaft to its aft extension to the propeller. The first Ocean-class ship, Ocean Vanguard, was launched on 16 August 1941.

The design was modified by the United States Maritime Commission to conform to American construction practices and to make it even quicker and cheaper to build. The U.S. version was designated 'EC2-S-C1': 'EC' for Emergency Cargo, '2' for a ship between 400 and 450 feet (140 m) long (Load Waterline Length), 'S' for steam engines, and 'C1' for design C1. The new design replaced much riveting, which accounted for one-third of the labor costs, with welding, and featured oil-fired boilers. The order was given to a conglomerate of West Coast engineering and construction companies known as the Six Companies, headed by Henry J. Kaiser, and was also adopted as the Merchant Marine Act design.

On 27 March 1941, the number of lend-lease ships was increased to 200 by the Defense Aid Supplemental Appropriations Act, and increased again in April to 306, of which 117 would be Liberty ships.

The ships were constructed of sections that were welded together. This is similar to the technique used by Palmer's at Jarrow but substitutes welding for riveting. Riveted ships took several months to construct. The work force was newly trained—no one previously built welded ships. As America entered the war, the shipbuilding yards employed women to replace men who were enlisting in the armed forces.

Any group which raised war bonds worth $2 million could propose a name. Most were named for deceased people. The only living namesake was Francis J. O'Gara, the purser of the SS Jean Nicolet, who was thought to have been killed in a submarine attack but in fact survived the war in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. Other exceptions to the naming rule were the SS Stage Door Canteen, named for the USO club in New York, and the SS U.S.O., named after the organization itself.^[2]

Another notable Liberty ship was SS Stephen Hopkins, which sank the German commerce raider Stier in a ship-to-ship gun battle in 1942 and became the first American ship to sink a German surface combatant.

SS Richard Montgomery is also notable, though in a less positive way; the wreck of the ship lies off the coast of Kent with 1,500 tons of explosives still on board, enough to match a small nuclear weapon should they ever go off. One Liberty ship that did explode was the SS E. A. Bryan which detonated with the power of 2,000 tons of TNT in July 1944 as it was being loaded, killing 320 sailors and civilians in what was called the Port Chicago disaster.

Six Liberty ships were converted at Point Clear, Alabama, by the United States Army Air Forces into floating aircraft repair depots, operated by the Army Transport Service, starting in April 1944. The secret project, dubbed "Project Ivory Soap", provided mobile depot support for B-29 Superfortress and P-51 Mustangs based on Guam, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa beginning in December 1944. The six ARU(F)s (Aircraft Repair Unit, Floating), however, were also fitted with landing platforms to accommodate four R-4 helicopters, creating the first seagoing helicopter-equipped ships, and provided medical evacuation of combat casualties in both the Philippines and Okinawa.^[3]

The last Liberty ship constructed was the SS Albert M. Boe, launched on 26 September 1945 and delivered on 30 October 1945. She was named after the chief engineer of a United States Army freighter who had stayed below decks to shut down his engines after a 13 April 1945 explosion, an act that won him a posthumous Merchant Marine Distinguished Service Medal.^[4]

TRIBUTE VIDEOS FOR "THE FEW"

This reel talks about some "Battle of Britain" pilots 20 years ago

Polish Pilot Aces of WW2

Polish aces

Name	Victories
Stanislaw Skalski	22
Witold Urbanowicz	18
Eugeniusz Horbaczewski+	16
Boleslaw Gladych	14
Jan Zumbach	12
Marian Pisarek+	11

88mm German Flak Gun

German 88mm gun is probably the best known artillery piece of World War II. First time 88mm saw combat was in Spain during the Civil War in 1936, where it proved itself to be not only excellent anti-aircraft gun but also ideal tank killer due to its high muzzle velocity and efficient heavy projectile.

It again proved to be an excellent anti-tank gun in France in 1940, especially against heavily armored French Char B1-bis heavy tanks and British Mk.II Matilda infantry tanks. By the time when it arrived in North Africa it was a feared tank killer, which could knock any Allied tank at distances well over 1000 meters.

It again proved its reputation in Russia, where it was the only gun capable of dealing with Soviet T-34/76 medium tanks and KW-1 heavy tanks, before the arrival of heavier German tanks. 88mm Flak guns were also used as field artillery - e.g. during the Battle of the Bulge. The only problem with 88mm Flak series was its height and weight, which forced it in action to rely on its power and range rather than concealment.

During the war 88mm Flak series guns were used aside of the German Army by Italy and captured examples were often used by the Allies including US Army in late 1944 in Western Europe. After the war many 88mm Flak series guns were used by many countries including former Yugoslavia and Denmark.

RHINE CROSSING, OPERATION VARSITY 1945

Operation Varsity (24 March 1945) was a joint American–British airborne operation that took place toward the end of World War II. Involving more than 16,000 paratroopers and several thousand aircraft, it was the largest single airborne operation in history to be conducted on a single day and in one location.[5]

Part of Operation Plunder, the effort by 21st Army Group under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery to cross the river and from there enter Northern Germany, Varsity was meant to help the British 21st Army Group to secure a foothold across the River Rhine in western Germany by landing two airborne divisions on the eastern bank of the Rhine near the towns of Hamminkeln and Wesel.

The plans called for dropping two airborne divisions by parachute and glider behind German lines near Wesel. Drawn from US XVIII Airborne Corps, they were instructed to capture key territory and to generally disrupt German defenses to aid the advance of Allied ground forces.

The British 6th Airborne Division was ordered to capture the towns of Schnappenberg and Hamminkeln, clear part of the Diersfordter Wald (Diersfordt Forest) of German forces, and secure three bridges over the River Issel. The U.S. 17th Airborne Division was to capture the town of Diersfordt and clear the rest of the Diersfordter Wald of any remaining German forces. The two divisions would then hold the territory they had captured until relieved by advancing units of 21st Army Group, and then join in the general advance into northern Germany.

The airborne forces made several mistakes, most notably when pilot error caused paratroopers from the 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment, a regiment in the US 17th Airborne Division, to miss their drop zone and land on a British drop zone instead. However, the operation was a success, with both divisions capturing Rhine bridges and securing towns that could have been used by Germany to delay the advance of the British ground forces. The two divisions incurred more than 2,000 casualties, but captured about 3,000 German soldiers. The operation was the last large-scale Allied airborne operation of World War II


ROBERT CAPA, LIFE Magazine April 1945, Rhine Crossing

On the 24th March 1945 Robert Capa was dropped by parachute, along with the men of the 513th PIR, 17th Airborne Division, who spearheaded Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine.

"The forty seconds to earth were like hours on my grandfather clock, and I had plenty of time to unstrap my cameras. On the ground I kept clicking my shutter. We lay flat on the earth and no one wanted to get up. The first fear was over and we were all reluctant to begin the second".

WW2 INTERESTING FACT

• The first German serviceman killed in the war was killed by the Japanese (China, 1937)
• The first American serviceman killed was killed by the Russians (Finland 1940).
• 80% of Soviet males born in 1923 didn't survive World War 2
• The highest ranking American killed was Lt. Gen. Lesley McNair, killed by the US Army Air Corps.
• Between 1939 and 1945 the Allies dropped 3.4 million tons of bombs, An average of about 27,700 tons of bombs each month.
• 12,000 heavy bombers were shot down in World War 2
• 2/3 of Allied bomber crews were lost for each plane destroyed
• 3 or 4 ground men were wounded for each killed
• 6 bomber crewmen were killed for each one wounded
• Over 100,000 Allied bomber crewmen were killed over Europe
• There were 433 Medals of Honor awarded during World War 2, 219 of them were given after the receipiant's death
• From 6 June 1944 to 8 May 1945 in Europe the Allies had 200,000 dead and 550,000 wounded
• The youngest US serviceman was 12 year old Calvin Graham, USN. He was wounded in combat and given a Dishonorable Discharge for lying about his age. (His benefits were later restored by act of Congress).
• At the time of Pearl Harbor, the top US Navy command was called CINCUS (pronounced “sink us”), the shoulder patch of the US Army’s 45th Infantry division was the swastika, and Hitler’s private train was named “Amerika”. All three were soon changed for PR purposes.
• Germany lost 110 Division Commanders in combat
• 40,000 men served on U-Boats during World War 2; 30,000 never returned
• More US servicemen died in the Air Corps that the Marine Corps. While completing the required 30 missions, your chance of being killed was 71%. Not that bombers were helpless. A B-17 carried 4 tons of bombs and 1.5 tons of machine gun ammo. The US 8th Air Force shot down 6,098 fighter planes, 1 for every 12,700 shots fired.

(Flying Dutchman)