Mission Dafoe

Mission Dafoe was a World War II Special Operations Executive (SOE) medical and military expedition to Yugoslav Partisans in Eastern Bosnia. The group was led by Major Colin Scott Dafoe, a Canadian-born surgeon, and included two young British sergeants; Frank, a trained operating-room orderly and Chris, an anaesthetist "with limited experience". Code named "Toffee" the mission left Bari airfield on 12 May 1944. and the trio was parachuted to their destination, the village of Čanići, where the Partisans, joined by Captain Wilson the local commander of the British Mission and the British Liaison Officer (BLO), were eagerly waiting.
Background.
As the Allies continued their advancement in southern Italy, it became logistically easier to assist anti-Axis fighters throughout the Balkans. By this time, Yugoslav Partisans led by Marshall Tito made significant wins and territory gains against both Italian and German war machines. The partisan warfare demanded agility and near-constant movement of troops which made medical provisioning very difficult. At the same time - frostbite, typhoid, scurvy, serious shrapnel and gunshot wounds required surgery, patient isolation and periods of hospitalisation, almost impossible to provide in such a volatile situation and affecting the soldiers' spirit.
British Government eventually approved the sending of RAMC officers to help. One of the first ones in the field was Major Ian Mackenzie (RAMC), an experienced surgeon, who parachuted to Petrovo Polje on 15 August 1943. Three months later, he was followed by a New Zealand surgeon, Major Lindsey Rogers and his team - Sergeants William (Bill) Gillanders (RAMC) and Ian McGregor (RAF).
Dafoe knew Rogers as the two men were posted together in Tunisia in 1943. The fate would bring them together again, this time in a small village of Castellana, south of Bari, in April 1944, as both were preparing to go to the Balkans, Rogers for the second stint.
Arrival.
After two failed attempts, caused by the bad weather, Major Dafoe, his assistants and their canisters with supplies finally landed. Once gathered, they were joined by Corporal Ernest Lincoln who took them to the Partisan 3rd Corps HQ in Dukići near Jadar. There they met Captain Wilson's interpreter, a Canadian miner called George Diklić who arrived in April 1943 as part of Operation Hoathley 1. The following day Dafoe realised that his carefully selected and packed medical supplies were being opened and distributed by the Partisans before he had a chance to assemble them into a functioning hospital. Furious, he asked to see the Partisan commander and protest. Assisted by Diklić, he was received immediately by the Generals Kosta Nađ and Jovan Vukotić, as well as their political commissar Vladimir Popović. The commanders apologised and instructed their Medical Officer, Doctor Moni Levi, to return the supplies. On his return, Dafoe met Mehmed Ramovic "Miki", a twenty-year-old student Partisan with good command of English, who became his local guide and interpreter.
The first hospital.
Dafoe was assigned to a large field hospital at the nearby village of Mihajlovići. Dr Levi took him there and introduced him Dr Ivo Baboselac, the elderly colonel in charge. He saw the wounded partisans malnourished and suffering from avitaminosis, lying on the floor in several peasant huts. He realised that most required urgent surgical attention and noted in his diary:
The answer to his outrage was that "There is no medical materiel!".
Assisted by the local commissar, Marko Ivić, the group prepared their camp and built the tents and the fire pit. They were provided with horses and were able to visit nearby locations, including underground storage and shelter where the patients and nurses would be hidden during the enemy offensives. Dafoe was shocked with "the darkness, the damp, the shortage of food and potable water, the dismal sanitary conditions and the mental strain". There was a lot of work to be done. He instructed Marko to clean up the grounds, dig a latrine and cut a ditch to redirect a small stream that made the place muddy and attracted the wallowing pigs. He and his team, in the meantime, thoroughly cleaned up and disinfected the two operating rooms - floors, walls and ceilings. They started operating immediately after. The hospital by now had 150 beds, and a constant stream of new patients with fresh or long-neglected wounds often in need of amputation. They were joined by Jordana Herlinger "Jordy", the daughter of a famous surgeon Dr Ivo Herlinger who helped set up the hospital. Her mother Zlatka and sister Mira also came to visit, thanking Dafoe for taking Jordana "under his wing". Additional staff joined nurses as well as co-ordination commissars, including Milutin Đurasković "Đura". One day, , a famous artist introduced himself. Dafoe was glad that the two man could converse in French. The British medics quickly became well-known and were interviewed by J H C Talbot, a Reuters war correspondent who came to visit them. They were also invited to village fetes and gatherings. Here, Dafoe met Pop Savo Savić an Orthodox priest in charge of the nearby Lovnica church, as well as HQ's own priest Pop Blažo Marković.
New hospital.
Dafoe soon realised that the existing hospital was too cramped and dirty and that he would need to build a new one. The group selected a nearby plum orchard in which wooden beams and old parachutes were used to make two well-camouflaged new wards. There was an improvised "disinfection centre" outside where "heads were shaved, dirty clothes put through a disinfector, and patients bathed before being carried away to the orchard". One day, a US Flying Fortress crashed nearby. The pilots baled out, and the aircraft was soon stripped of anything useful. Even the surviving Perspex windows were repurposed for the new ward.
In late-June 1944, Dafoe and the team were visited by Ian McGregor, who left Rogers's mission and was now looking to secure an airfield nearby for the evacuation of wounded to southern Italy. It was quickly built near the village of Osmaci and Dafoe was told to triage the patients and move those ready to leave accompanied by Dr Baboselac. On the first night, eight DC-3s landed and took around 300 patients, on the second night more wounded fighters were evacuated, together with McGregor who had to continue his work elsewhere in the region. On the third night, three out of six air-planes turned back, but the remaining ones made it, and after much haggling managed to evacuate around 100 wounded, rather than 72 which was the original limit for the three aircraft.
Visit to Lovnica and the first shoot-out.
One morning, Miki took Dafoe to the old church in Lovnica, which had been damaged by enemy action, and an outbuilding which was turned into a makeshift Partisan hospital. Pop Savo welcomed the visitors to the church and showed them the frescoes, the damaged library and the visitors' book which among others had an entry by King Peter II of Yugoslavia. The priest also introduced his son, Brano Savić, who was a local Partisan commander. The word got around quickly, and the local villagers gathered and started dancing, now joined with Frank and Chris.
On a warm July day, a courier came over and warned Dafoe that a group of Chetniks was approaching the hospital and that they would need to evacuate. Sure enough, as the packing started and patients were prepared for the move, the enemy gunfire got much closer. Jordy and other nurses picked up the precious medical instruments and run into the hills, while other Partisans carried away the patients in their stretcher-beds to the underground shelter. Some patients were able to hobble away on their own. Dafoe came under fire himself and managed to shoot a few rounds from his Marlin pistol in response. Both Miki and he soon realised that their situation was hopeless and withdrew into the hills. Luckily, a brigade from the 3rd Corps HQ arrived and chased away the Chetniks. The following morning, the ransacked hospital was visited by Vladimir Popović who promised that it would be returned to function as soon as possible. True enough, Jordy and the nurses restored the site by the end of the day. Sadly, not long after due to enemy action, the whole area had to be abandoned again, and Dafoe and the team had to move into the mountains, leaving her and the patients in the underground shelter.
On the run.
Dafoe was soon getting used to the word "Pokret! (Get going!)" with which Partisans ordered the move of their troops, civilians, wounded and stockpiles. "It was a word that typified the Partisan organisation - always moving, seeking some way by movement out of their difficulties...ready to keep moving, if necessary, until the enemy dropped from exhaustion trying to follow them." The following weeks were spent wandering around in the directions of Kladanj and Vlasenica, under frequent enemy fire. Captain Wilson maintained radio-link with Bari and was able to arrange for a few DC-3 drops of food and materiel. Additional people arrived also, including Captain Gerrald Holmes, a new BLO for the Partisan 12th Corps. Sadly, his wireless operator, Corporal Straw died after his parachute got caught on the top of tall spruce. He was buried locally, with the service led by Pop Blažo Marković, and replaced later by Jeffrey Eden. As they continued to move, bad news came from the old hospital. The underground shelter had been discovered and all the patients and medical staff were mercilessly killed.
The risks were huge and at one point the column passed so close to the German troops that they had to move in silence - "wrapping the animal's hooves with shreds of clothing". Eventually, they were able to circle back towards Mihajlovići and visit the site of the ransacked hospital. Frank and Chris went with horses to look for instruments and material that was strewn around but could be salvaged. In the meantime, Dafoe agreed to assist the doctors Đorđe Dragić and Vlatko Ajzensteter who were running the 38th Division's hospital nearby. After performing some initial operations, dr Dragić invited him to meet the Division commanders - Majors Milos Zekić and Husein Krupić, Captain Zvonko Grakalić and their political commissar Vladimir Rolović. On one of the visits to the 3rd Corps HQ, Dafoe was introduced to their chief wireless operator Salom Šuica. The team was then told to move back to Čanići, the village they landed in May, sadly now burnt-out and "virtually unrecognisable".
Wireless schedules continued and Holmes and Eden reported that "the enemy was evidently moving toward the Adriatic" - expecting an Allied invasion. On 23 August, huge amount of gunfire and shouts of jubilation could be heard. The news broke that Romania had capitulated and that the Soviet troops are likely to march towards Belgrade. The enemy action continued and Dafoe's team together with the 38th Division and 3rd Corps moved to the high plateau of Milan Mountain.
Onto Tuzla.
The following few weeks were spent on a constant move, meandering between enemy troops and occasionally settling-down in small villages for the night. Medical work continued unabated and the team was told that they were going towards Tuzla. On 13 September, in the village of Tarovo, Dafoe gifted his silk-printed maps to his Partisan hosts, who greatly appreciated the gesture. They were now joined by the 27th Division and 11th Division who fought their way across Bosnia on their push towards Belgrade. After reaching the village of Skugrići, they were hoping to arrange an airlift of the wounded from a nearby plateau, but unfortunately, they ended up surrounded with Chetnik and German troops and had to break out once again. The City of Tuzla was liberated on 17 September. Doctor Dragić, whose family still lived there, insisted on escorting Dafoe into the city. The doctor was recognised by the local crowds who started gathering around the new arrivals. Finally, they managed to reach his old house, where his mother, wife and son were waiting to greet them. Dafoe and Grakalić spent the night there while looking for a more formal accommodation.
As the situation stabilised, a new 200-bed hospital has been prepared, and Dafoe was expected to run it. Unfortunately, he was recalled back to Italy and flew out of Osmaci in mid-October. Before he left, Vladimir Popović presented him with a medal, "The Order of Service to the People" set against a silver wreath.
Epilogue.
Dafoe had not forgotten his initial shock at the first Partisan field hospital he had seen. Speaking on the CBC on 13 August 1945 he added:
Sources.


Battle of Drumclog

The Battle of Drumclog was fought on 1 June 1679, between a group of Covenanters and the forces of John Graham of Claverhouse, at Drumclog, in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.
The battle.
Following the assassination of Archbishop James Sharp on Magus Muir and the "Declaration of Rutherglen", the Covenanters were on the verge of open rebellion. A large conventicle was planned to take place at Loudoun Hill, on the boundary of Ayrshire and Lanarkshire, in defiance of government persecution of the Covenanters. On the morning of Sunday 1 June, the Rev. Thomas Douglas allegedly broke off his sermon with the words "Ye have got the theory, now for the practice", when it was reported that the dragoons of Claverhouse were heading to the area. Claverhouse, better known to his enemies as 'Bluidy Clavers', had recently been appointed captain, with a mission to disperse conventicles in south west Scotland.
A group of around 200 armed Covenanters moved east, to a boggy moor near the farm of Drumclog. With about 40 mounted men, and armed with muskets and pitchforks, the Covenanter force was no rabble. Commanded by Robert Hamilton, the army took up a strong position behind a bog, or 'stank'. Claverhouse's force arrived, but were unable to engage the enemy directly due to the ground conditions. For some time groups of skirmishers exchanged fire across the stank, and Claverhouse felt he was gaining the upper hand. However, he was still unable to get his troops close to the Covenanters without becoming bogged down.
At this point, the Covenanters decided to press the attack. William Cleland led a force around the stank, and advanced rapidly. Despite heavy fire from the government troops, the attack was entirely successful. The line of Claverhouse's force broke, and the dragoons were soon routed from the battlefield, leaving 36 dead.
The victory was a huge success for the rebellious Covenanters, although euphoria was short lived. Just three weeks later Claverhouse, under the leadership of the Duke of Monmouth, helped to crush the rebellion at the Battle of Bothwell Brig.
A dubious account of the battle, attributed to the Laird of Torfoot allegedly written by Thomas Brownlee of the Covenanter army, was published in 1822. This followed a fictionalised version which appeared in Sir Walter Scott's novel "Old Mortality" in 1816. The battle is also remembered in a Child Ballad "Loudoun Hill, or Drumclog". Claverhouse himself also left an account of the battle.
Memorials to the battle.
The Battle of Drumclog is celebrated by some in Scotland as a victory for religious freedom. In 1839 a monument was erected on the site of the battle, and in 1859 a school house was erected nearby. The battlefield has been inventoried and protected by Historic Scotland under the Scottish Historical Environment Policy of 2009.
The Boston Church in Duns, in the Scottish Borders, had a bell named in memory of the battle. The church was demolished in the 1950s, but the bell is preserved on the site.
In 1905 the Darvel and Strathaven Railway opened, with a station at Drumclog, 1.2 mi (2 km) south west of the battle site. By 1912 the village which had grown up here required a church, and the Drumclog Memorial Kirk was constructed. Inside the kirk, located on the A71 Edinburgh to Kilmarnock road, is a stained glass window depicting the Covenanters, and a painting of the Covenanters' army standard. The kirk holds an annual memorial service on the first Sunday in June, at the Drumclog Monument.
The Covenanters' flag from this battle at Drumclog now resides in a museum in Scotland. Under a Scottish thistle the flag says, "For Reformation of Religion In Church And State According To The Word Of God And Our Sworn Covenants."
See also.
More Brownlee versions:


Lom prisoner of war camp

Lom prisoner of war camp () was a facility used by the Norwegian 2nd Division to hold German prisoners-of-war during the 1940 Norwegian Campaign of the Second World War. The camp, which operated from 20 to 27 April 1940, also held Norwegians accused of collaborating with the Germans or the Norwegians fascists led by Vidkun Quisling.
In the morning of 27 April 1940, the camp was evacuated due to German forces advancing in the area, and the prisoners were marched westwards across the mountains to Sogn. By the time the prisoners and guards reached Sogn after an exhausting march, the resistance in South Norway was collapsing. The prisoners were soon abandoned and left to themselves by the Norwegian guards.
Establishment.
Nazi Germany invaded the neutral country of Norway on 9 April 1940. Fighting ensued across large areas of the country, and German military personnel started falling into Norwegian hands. This led to a need for facilities behind the front lines to contain the prisoners. In Eastern Norway the prisoners taken by the Norwegian 2nd Division were initially placed in the auxiliary prison at Sel in Oppland. Due to capacity issues this initial solution to the prisoner situation soon proved inadequate.
The task of establishing a more permanent facility for German prisoners-of-war in Eastern Norway was given to the 66-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Lars Dannevig. Dannevig had been in the Norwegian capital of Oslo when the Germans invaded on 9 April 1940, and had made his way out of the city to take part in the fighting to delay the German advance until Allied help arrived. The lieutenant colonel had made his way to still neutral Sweden and then northwards by car and train until recrossing the border at Nybergsund on 13 April. After organizing the defences in the Trysil area, and initially being given the task of leading Danish and Swedish volunteer troops in action, Dannevig was ordered by Colonel Hans Sommerfeldt Hiorth to set up a prisoner-of-war camp for up to 200 German captives. He was at the same time made commandant of the Otta Valley. After Dannevig's first choice, the agricultural school in Vågå, became unavailable because the Norwegian Army High Command wanted to use it as a hospital, Loar School in the village of Fossbergom in Lom was chosen.
Operation.
Using local volunteers and conscripts, Lieutenant Colonel Dannevig had the school fitted out as a prison camp and trenches dug in the vicinity. Barbed wire fences surrounded the school and fighting positions and shrapnel shelters were built from timber at the site of the camp. Dannevig also organized local militia units in the surrounding areas. Lom prisoner of war camp sorted under the Norwegian 2nd Division, led by General Jacob Hvinden Haug. The first German prisoners arrived at the camp on 20 April 1940. A few arrested members of the Norwegian fascist party Nasjonal Samling (NS) came in together with the Germans. The prisoners were housed in the school's gym. Food was cooked and the camp population fed in the main school building. On 21 April Dannevig and the local police officer in Lom interrogated the imprisoned Nasjonal Samling members. After it had been determined that the NS men posed no security risk, they were released and allowed to join the local militia unit.
As "Luftwaffe" air attack posed a constant risk drills were held in manning the trenches at the camp and in shooting at aircraft. On 22 April a minor air attack occurred, with the Norwegians firing at the bombers in an effort to force them to attack from higher altitudes. The next day, 23 April, a much heavier attack on Lom occurred. Several houses in the area were hit and one soldier and three civilians wounded. One bomb hit the prisoner-of-war camp, but failed to explode. Among the buildings damaged in the raid was the post office and a local business building. The target of the bombing raid was believed by the Norwegians to have been a nearby bridge.
The second and last consignment of prisoners arrived at Lom on 25 April 1940. With the latest additions to the camp population it consisted of six officers, 100 soldiers, four female personnel, 35 German prisoners-of-war and five Norwegian prisoners. The German prisoners at Lom included infantrymen, artillerymen, "Luftwaffe" personnel and "Fallschirmjäger" soldiers. One of the first Germans to have been captured during the Norwegian Campaign had been taken prisoner at Bøn, south of Eidsvoll on 11 April. In a short skirmish between Norwegian troops and a German patrol, two "Gebirgsjäger" had been killed and the "Leutnant" in command of the patrol captured. After initial confusion over what to do with the officer, he had been first placed in Sel Auxiliary Prison and later transferred to Lom. Most of the prisoners had been captured in fighting east of Lake Mjøsa, including at Strandlykkja.
During the 14–17 April battle of Strandlykkja a German bus had accidentally driven into the forward Norwegian positions on 16 April and had been shot up by Colt M/29 heavy machine guns. Nine German artillerymen were captured. When the Norwegian forces retreated from the Morskogen/Strandlykkja region east of Mjøsa they brought with them 21 prisoners of war, all of whom were sent to the camp at Lom via the Riding House complex at Hamar and Sel Auxiliary Prison. The "Fallschirmjäger" prisoners held at Lom had been captured after having been shot down by Norwegian ground fire en route to attacking the rail road junction of Dombås on 14 April 1940. Included amongst the prisoners were three officers; one "Hauptmann" and two "Leutnants". Two other German prisoners held at Lom were the pilot "Unteroffizier" Helmut Mütschele and his navigator, Karl Lorey. The Messerschmitt Bf 110 flown by Mütschele had been shot down by the Gloster Gladiator fighter aircraft flown by Norwegian Army Air Service Sergeant Kristian Fredrik Schye during air battles near Oslo on 9 April 1940.
Among the Norwegian prisoners held at Lom was the commander of the Norwegian Army Air Service's air school at Kjeller, "Rittmester" Harald Normann. Normann was held after having been arrested on 16 April 1940 on suspicion of collaborating with the fascist coup led by Vidkun Quisling. The suspicion was founded in that he as the only Norwegian commander had brought his air unit away from its regular base and to a safer secondary base shortly before the German invasion. Normann's decision on 15 April to evacuate the aircraft under his command to neutral Sweden furthered the suspicions against him and led to his arrest. He was imprisoned for a total of 10 days on the orders of the Norwegian Army High Command, before he was released. After his release Normann assumed command of an infantry unit fighting the Germans in Sør-Trøndelag, before making his way through Sweden to Northern Norway and taking command of Banak Air Station in Finnmark. Both the Military Investigative Commission of 1946 and later investigations in 1975 cleared Normann of the charges relating to his actions in April 1940.
Before arriving at Lom, Normann and several other Norwegian and German prisoners had been held and interrogated at Sel Auxiliary Prison. The prison was under the command of Major Peter Krohn, while the main interrogators were the chief of the Norwegian military police Eivind Rognlien and his second in command, police chief Jonas Lie. Rognlien and Lie both interrogated "Rittmester" Normann, Lie coming to the conclusion that Normann was innocent, but being overruled by Rognlien.
Dissolution.
On 26 April 1940 Lieutenant Colonel Dannevig was informed that the Germans were about to capture the town of Otta, cutting off the Otta Valley. The commander of the 2nd Division, General Jacob Hvinden Haug, authorized Dannevig to do as he saw best with the forces at his command. Dannevig decided to evacuate the camp and march his troops and prisoners over the mountains to join the Norwegian 4th Division in Sogn. All the prisoners were taken along, while about half of the Norwegian soldiers were dismissed because of insufficient skiing skills. The march westwards began at 1000hrs on 27 April, the German prisoners dragging ski sleds across the snow-clad mountains. The first night was spent at Krosbu. Many prisoners soon suffered from snow blindness and exhaustion, some having to be left behind at the hotel Turtagrø, where the column spent the second night, to be retrieved later by snow sleds. Over several days the prisoners were brought by boat to Vadheim in Sogn. By the time the prisoners reached Vadheim resistance in the southern parts of Norway was ending and the Germans were left to themselves. Dannevig's militia unit was disbanded on 1 May 1940.
The commander of Lom prisoner of war camp, Lars Dannevig, joined the Norwegian resistance movement after the end of the Norwegian Campaign. After a failed attempt at escaping across the North Sea to the United Kingdom, Dannevig was arrested by the Gestapo in 1942 and killed during interrogation in Trondheim.


Operation Lumberjack

Operation Lumberjack was a military operation with the goal of capturing the west bank of the Rhine River and seizing key German cities, near the end of World War II. The First United States Army launched the operation in March 1945 to capture strategic cities in Nazi Germany and to give the Allies a foothold along the Rhine.
One unexpected outcome was the capture of the Ludendorff bridge, a strategic railroad bridge across the Rhine, in the Battle of Remagen. Despite German attempts to destroy the bridge, Allied forces captured it intact and were able to use it for ten days to establish a bridgehead on the far side, before it finally collapsed at 3:00 PM on 17 March 1945 after months of aircraft bombing, direct artillery hits, near misses, and demolition attempts.
Background.
The Germans had repeatedly frustrated Allied efforts to cross the Rhine. With the 21st Army Group firmly established along the Rhine, U.S. General of the Army Omar Bradley's 12th Army Group prepared to execute Operation Lumberjack. Bradley’s plan called for the U.S. First Army to attack southeastward toward the juncture of the Ahr and Rhine Rivers and then swing south to meet Lieutenant General George Patton, whose U. S. Third Army would simultaneously drive northeastward through the Eifel. If successful, Lumberjack would capture Cologne, secure the Koblenz sector, and bring the 12th Army Group to the Rhine in the entire area north of the Moselle River. The 12th Army Group also hoped to capture a large number of Germans.
Following Lumberjack, the Allies had planned for a pause along the Rhine while Montgomery's 21st Army Group began Operation Plunder, a large, carefully planned movement across the Rhine near Düsseldorf and the Dutch border. Montgomery would then capture the Ruhr, the industrial heartland of Germany.
Allied forces.
During the operation, the U.S. First Army controlled
During Operation Lumberjack, the U.S. Army's 9th Armored Division was tasked with mopping up elements of the German Army trapped on the west bank of the Rhine and to prevent a counterattack against the Ninth Army's flank. They were to secure the region between Mosel and the Duren-Cologne and to destroy the German army's capability to fight in that area. The First Army was to seize the entire region west of the Rhine. After capturing Cologne, the First Army was to wheel southeast and join up with Patton's Third Army. Patton was supposed to capture the Eifel Mountains and then the Mosel Valley, trapping the remainder of the German Seventh Army in the Eifel area.
German forces.
From north to south, the attacking U.S. forces were confronted by
Over 75,000 German troops were on the western banks of the bridge. Their only escape route was across the Ludendorff bridge.
Written permission was required to destroy the bridge because on 14–15 October 1944, an American bomb had struck the Mulheim Bridge in Cologne and hit the chamber containing the demolition charges, prematurely destroying the bridge. Hitler was angered by this incident and ordered those "responsible" for the destruction of the Mulheim Bridge to be court-martialed. He also ordered that demolition explosives should not be laid in place until the very last moment, when the Allies were within of the bridge. The bridges should only be demolished following an order in writing from the officer in charge, and only as a last resort and at the last possible moment. This order left officers responsible for destroying bridges nervous about both the consequences if they blew up the bridge too soon and if they failed to blow it up at all.
Battle.
Bradley launched Lumberjack on 1 March. In the north, the First Army rapidly exploited bridgeheads over the Erft River, entering Euskirchen on 4 March and Cologne on the fifth. Cologne was in U.S. Army control by the 7th. The First Army then pushed towards the Ahr River valley, the likely point of retreat for what was left of the German Army's LXVI and LXVII Korps.
The U.S. Third Army met some resistance along the Siegfried Line and the Prüm and Kyll Rivers. On 4 March at Bitburg, the 5th Infantry Division cut through the German lines. Taking advantage of the breach, the Fourth Armored Division struck out on a drive to the Rhine in less than five days. While losing only 100 casualties, they cost the Germans 5,700 killed and wounded. The Fourth Armored barely missed the chance to capture a bridge at Urmitz.
While moving towards the Ahr, the U.S. 9th Armored Division on the right flank of the First Army had moved swiftly towards the Rhine. The closer the division got to the Rhine, the more quickly it advanced. The speed of their movement towards the Rhine surprised the Germans. About upstream from Bonn, they unexpectedly found the Ludendorff railroad bridge still standing.
Battle of Remagen.
During Operation Lumberjack, on 7 March 1945, when troops of the U.S. Army's 9th Armored Division Combat Command B, 9th Armored Engineer Battalion reached the river, they were very surprised to see that the railroad bridge was still standing. It was one of the two damaged but usable bridges over the Rhine (the other being the Wesel Railway Bridge). U.S. forces were able to capture the bridge. The Rhine was the last natural line of defense that the Germans hoped could be used to substantially resist the Western Allied advance. Up to then, crossings had been limited to small infantry reconnaissance patrols by boat.
When word that the bridge was still standing reached General William Hoge, commander of Combat Command B, he ordered the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion to advance into Remagen with support from the 14th Tank Battalion. After German demolition charges failed to destroy the bridge, the U.S. troops captured the bridge and in the next ten days 25,000 troops comprising six divisions established a wide beachhead on the eastern side of the Rhine.
Impact on war plans.
The capture of the bridge convinced the Allied high command in Western Europe that they could envelop the German industrial area of the Ruhr as opposed to focusing primarily on General Bernard Montgomery's plan, Operation Plunder, which would bring the British 21st Army Group across the Rhine into northern Germany.
The unexpected availability of the first major crossing of the Rhine, Germany's last major natural barrier and line of defense, caused Allied high commander Dwight Eisenhower to alter his plans to end the war. The ability to quickly establish a bridgehead on the eastern side of the Rhine and to get forces into Germany allowed the U.S. forces to envelop the German industrial area of the Ruhr. The Allies were able to get six divisions across the Rhine before the Ludendorff Bridge collapsed ten days after it was captured on 17 March. Twenty-five soldiers were killed or went missing and three died later from injuries; 63 others were injured. Before it collapsed, five U.S. divisions had already used it and two adjacent tactical bridges to cross into Germany, creating a well-established bridgehead almost long, extending from Bonn in the north almost to Koblenz in the south, and deep.
The bridge was not rebuilt after the war. However, the bridge towers remain and in 1980 a peace museum was opened to the public.
Aftermath.
Operation Lumberjack succeeded in clearing the Rhine north of Mosel of effective German forces. The Allies destroyed four corps of the German 15th and 7th Armies. The capture of the bridge at Remagen was an unexpected bonus that advanced the timetable for crossing the Rhine. Patton and Bradley were able to move up their scheduled crossings of the Rhine.
General Albert Kesselring described the battle as the "Crime of Remagen. It broke the front along the Rhine." Hermann Göring said that the capture of the bridge "made a long defense impossible." Major General Carl Wagener, chief of staff to Field Marshall Walter Model, said that capturing the bridge signaled the end of the war for the Germans:
In popular culture.
The battle was depicted in the novel "The Bridge at Remagen" by Ken Hechler, which was later adapted into the film of the same name.


Fort Glenn Army Air Base

Cape Air Force Base also known as Fort Glenn Army Air Base, is a site significant for its role in World War II fighting, operating alongside Naval Air Facility Otter Point.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987 as Cape Field at Fort Glenn.
History.
Origins.
Because of the perceived vulnerability of Alaska immediately following the Pearl Harbor Attack, additional Army Air Corps units were authorized by General Henry H. Arnold for Alaska and plans were made to send modern aircraft to the Territory to replace the obsolete aircraft assigned. However, the Alaskan Air Force had few airfields to accommodate the additional aircraft and units being assigned.
Along with new airfields on the mainland and Southwest Alaska, new air bases were planned for the air defense of the Aleutians to Dutch Harbor. Construction of the new bases on Umnak and Cold Bay began in January 1942 in secret, with construction reportedly disguised as a cannery. Originally, the equipment was supposed to construct McGrath Army Airbase, but the ground had frozen by the time that the equipment arrived. The first United States Army engineers landed at what would become Fort Glenn Army Air Base on 17 January and construction began by the end of the month. A Naval airfield, Naval Air Facility Otter Point, was adjacent to the Army Airbase. The 807th Engineering Battalion (Aviation) was brought in from Yukat to perform the construction along with a detachment of the Navy Seabee 8th Construction Battalion.
Plans called for three hard-surfaced runways (four were eventually built), but time was of the essence in the construction of the base, as the air defense of Dutch Harbor was dependent on them. Instead of a hard surface, engineers chose to use a new material, pierced steel planking (PSP), which could be laid down quickly over a compressed gravel subsurface to provide the airfield with an all-weather capability. 80,000 pieces of matting needed to be barged to the island. Construction crews worked in three shifts, 24 hours a day laying down the runways and constructing a rudimentary support station, water and sewer lines, an electrical grid, communications, fuel and munitions storage sites and all the other necessities to convert a remote island site into an operational airfield capable of supporting heavy bombers. A PSP runway was completed on 5 April although a C-53 was the first plane to land on the field, on 31 March. The main runway was officially opened on 23 May. Fort Glenn's first runway was then the U.S. Army's most westerly airfield in the Aleutian Islands."
The first operational unit, the 11th Fighter Squadron, moved into Fort Glenn with P-40 Warhawk fighters on 26 May from Elmendorf Field. Additional construction continued throughout 1942 with four × runways were completed (06/24, 07/35), two of which (03/21, 04/22) were situated only 10 degrees apart. All runways had four layers of asphalt laid down over the PSP. Two additional emergency landing fields were built, one on the north coast of the island (North Shore) , 9.4 miles north; the other 7.7 miles to the west-southwest of the base near the Tullk Volcano (Pacifier) .
Morrison-Knudsen Construction Company built hundreds of Quonset hut structures on the base, replacing the temporary tents which exposed the construction crews to the sudden storms which swept the island frequently. Housing and messing facilities for 119 officers and 359 men were constructed as well as recreational and service buildings. Storage facilities consisted of 6,975 square feet for general stores and a 150-cubic-foot freezer. Buildings for aircraft included a kodiak-type hangar, x , a squadron warehouse, and a terminal for air transport service. Administration offices were housed in five buildings with a total floor space of 3,850 square feet. Radio facilities included a transmitting station, a direction-finder station, and a radar station, all with separate power houses, and with housing and messing provisions for personnel. The hospital, located in one small building, contained eight beds. The maintenance force of the station was installed in seven buildings. Electric power was provided by three diesel-electric generators.
Aleutian Islands campaign.
On 3 June 1942 the Imperial Japanese Navy launched two aircraft carrier raids on the United States Army barracks and the US Navy base at Dutch Harbor on nearby Amaknak Island. The attack was a surprise, but the base been on alert for an attack for many days, although there was no specific warning of the attack before the Japanese planes arrived over Dutch Harbor. The attack signaled the beginning of the Aleutian Islands campaign. In response, the P-40s of the 11th Fighter Squadron from Fort Glenn AAB along with Naval land-based fighters attacked the Japanese aircraft. Eleventh Air Force also dispatched aircraft from Elmendorf Field. In the ensuring battle, the United States Navy lost four PBYs, and Eleventh AF lost one B-17, two B-26s and one LB-30 (B-24A) bombers and two P-40 fighters. The Japanese lost two A6M "Zero" fighters, and possibly a third due to ground anti-aircraft fire. One A6M "Zero", three D3A "Val" dive bombers and one E8N "Dave"reconnaissance seaplane were shot down in aerial combat.
Eleventh Air Force also dispatched B-26 Marauder medium bombers of the 77th Bombardment Squadron. They arrived at about noon to locate the Japanese aircraft carriers and counterattack; however, they landed at Fort Glenn about 1:30pm due to fog and low visibility. The Marauders were carrying airborne torpedoes, rather than contact bombs which they were designed to carry. In addition to the Dutch Harbor attack, Japanese forces landed on Kiska Island on 6 June; Attu Island on 7 June, seizing both.
The Japanese attacks on Dutch Harbor, however, inflicted only minor damage on the base, which were quickly repaired. The mission of Fort Glen Army Air Base was changed to serve as the initial forward base to launch bombing attacks against the Japanese forces in the Aleutians. Known Air Force units deployed to Fort Glenn were:
By the close of 1942, Fort Glenn AAB had 10,579 personnel assigned, but its role as an advanced air base had been supplanted by new air bases on Adak and Amchitka Islands in early 1943 farther to the west. By the end of the year, the base had become a backwater; its mission to provide housing and rations for transient personnel and the servicing of transient aircraft.
Closure.
After the war ended, Fort Glenn remained open as a refueling stop for transient aircraft in the Aleutians along with Military Air Transport Service flights using the Great Circle Route from Japan to the United States. The main runway, however, was extended to to accommodate large, long range aircraft. By 1946, the base was manned only by skeleton staff due to the rapid demobilization of the Air Force.
The last Air Force personnel were withdrawn by 30 September 1947, and the base was put on inactive status and was effectively abandoned. It was decommissioned in 1950 and the site was excessed between 1952-55 to the Bureau of Land Management. It was later transferred to numerous owners (Native corporations and the State of Alaska). Today hundreds of buildings, runways, and World War II artillery emplacements remain in various states of deterioration."
In 1987, the site was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Cape Field at Fort Glenn. The remains of the base are "the most comprehensive and intact World War II base in the Aleutian Islands" It is located on Umnak Island in the Aleutian Islands.
Today Fort Glenn AAF is a virtual ghost town—except for a family of cattle ranchers who have renovated several World War II buildings and who call the base home. The expanse and undisturbed quality of the resource make Fort Glenn AAF an outstanding conceptual model for landscape preservation. In 1991, National Park Service historians visited the site to review the World War II-related construction, infrastructure, landscape, and objects.
It was determined that any environmental cleanup should be designed to remove loose cables, transformers, hazardous material, toxic waste, and ordnance. Nontoxic World War II-related objects such as empty barrels could be left in place; full barrels would be, of course, another issue. All other buildings, structures, and infrastructure—no matter how "unsightly"—would be left intact and preserved: in this case preservation can simply mean avoidance and the acceptance that the buildings and structures have a definite place within the landscape.
On Saturday July 12, 2008, nearby Mount Okmok, erupted, sending ash 50,000 feet in the air and forcing the evacuation of the residents of the ranch. The eruption obliterated all remains of the South Pacifier Emergency landing strip, although some evidence of remains still are visible in aerial imagery.


Kassel Mission

The Kassel Mission on 27 September 1944 was also known as the "air battle over the Seulingswald". The mission aimed to destroy the factories in Kassel of the engineering works of Henschel & Sohn which built tracked armoured vehicles (the "Tiger" and "Panther" tanks) and their associated infrastructure. "See bombing of Kassel in World War II."
Main battle.
For this mission the 8th Air Force dispatched 283 B-24 Liberator bombers of the 2nd Combat Bombardment Wing and, as escorts, 198 P-51 Mustang fighters.
As the result of a navigation error, the lead ship of the 445th Bombardment Group turned almost due east instead of east-southeast and its 35 bombers bypassed Kassel, deciding instead to bomb the railway facilities in the town of Göttingen. The marshalling yard and the repair shop were, however, missed. Instead, 25 buildings in the village of Rosdorf, on the SW edge of Göttingen, were damaged and three people injured. The villagers there counted a total of 103 bomb craters. As a result of the change of course, the bombers lost their fighter escort on the return flight. Around 11:00 am they turned west over the Seulingswald forest between Bad Hersfeld and Eisenach and were almost immediately attacked by 150 fighters of the German Jagdgeschwader squadrons, numbers 3 (Udet), 4 and 300. These fighter wings had Bf 109s and Fw 190 which had been specially adapted and equipped with extra armour and 20 and 30 mm cannon for attacking bomber formations. The air battle only lasted for a few minutes "but it was a horrendous attack" and 25 bombers were shot down across an area 15 miles (24 km) across and went down over the Seulingswald. Total losses were avoided by the late arrival of the "361st Fighter Group". In addition, six additional bombers crashed on the return flight to their home base at Tibenham in Norfolk, England; only four bombers made it home unscathed.
American losses were 31 B-24 Liberator bombers and one P-51 Mustang. 118 Americans were killed, of whom 11 were murdered after parachuting to safety. 121 Americans ended up in German POW camps and survived.
German losses came to 29 fighters and 18 pilots killed. In addition, seven people died when a German aeroplane crashed on a German medical base
This air battle was one of the largest confrontations between the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) and the Luftwaffe which was barely still active at this time.
Follow-up operations.
In the days after the battle, USAAF aircraft dropped leaflets over the suspected landing zones to try and protect crews that had parachuted to safety from being lynched. Near the town limits of Bad Hersfeld carpet bombing was carried out to create fear of the American air force.
Memorial site.
On 1 August 1990, an airmen's memorial was unveiled at the crash site of the lead ship of the US bomber group in the Seulingswald near Ludwigsau-Friedlos to commemorate the fallen and as a gesture of reconciliation.


Kiska

Kiska (, ) is an island in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. It is about long and varies in width from . It is part of Aleutian Islands Wilderness and as such, special permissions are required to visit it. The island has no permanent population.
History.
European Discovery (1741).
In 1741 while returning from his second voyage at sea during the Great Northern Expedition, Danish-born Russian explorer Vitus Bering made the first European discovery of most of the Aleutian Islands, including Kiska. Georg Wilhelm Steller, a naturalist-physician aboard Bering's ship, wrote:
"On 25 October 1741 we had very clear weather and sunshine, but even so it hailed at various times in the afternoon. We were surprised in the morning to discover a large tall island at 51° to the north of us."
Prior to European contact, Kiska Island had been densely populated by native peoples for thousands of years.
After Discovery (1741–1939).
Kiska, and the other Rat Islands, were reached by independent Russian traders in the 1750s. After the initial exploitation of the sea otter population, Russians rarely visited the island as interest shifted further east. Years would frequently pass without a single ship landing.
Starting in 1775, Kiska, the Aleutian Islands, and mainland Alaska became fur trading outposts for the Russian-American Company managed by Grigory Shelekhov.
In 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward negotiated the purchase of Alaska with the Russian Empire. Kiska was included in the purchase.
World War II (1939–1945).
As one of the only two invasions of North America during World War II, the Japanese No. 3 Special Landing Party and 500 marines went ashore at Kiska on June 6, 1942 as a separate campaign concurrent with the Japanese plan for the Battle of Midway. The Japanese captured the sole inhabitants of the island: a small United States Navy Weather Detachment consisting of ten men, including a lieutenant, along with their dog. (One member of the detachment escaped for 50 days. Starving, thin, and extremely cold, he eventually surrendered to the Japanese.) The next day the Japanese captured Attu Island.
The military importance of this frozen, difficult-to-supply island was questionable, but the psychological impact upon the Americans of losing U.S. soil to a foreign enemy for the first time since the War of 1812 was tangible. During the winter of 1942–43, the Japanese reinforced and fortified the islands—not necessarily to prepare for an island-hopping operation across the Aleutians, but to prevent a U.S. operation across the Kuril Islands. The U.S. Navy began operations to deny Kiska supply which would lead to the Battle of the Komandorski Islands. During October 1942, American forces undertook seven bombing missions over Kiska, though two were aborted due to inclement weather. Following the winter, Attu was recaptured, and bombing of Kiska resumed for over two months, until a larger American force was allocated to defeat the expected Japanese garrison of 5,200 men.
The Japanese, aware of the loss of Attu and the impending arrival of the larger Allied force, successfully removed their troops on July 28 under the cover of severe fog, without being detected by the Allies.
On August 15, 1943, an invasion force consisting of 34,426 Allied troops, including elements of the 7th Infantry Division, 4th Infantry Regiment, 87th Mountain Infantry Regiment, 5,300 Canadians (mainly the 13th Canadian Infantry Brigade from the 6th Infantry Division, with supporting units including two artillery units from the 7th Infantry Division), 95 ships including three battleships and a heavy cruiser, and 168 aircraft landed on Kiska, only to find the island completely abandoned.
Allied casualties during this invasion nevertheless numbered close to 200, all either from friendly fire, booby traps set out by the Japanese to inflict damage on the invading allied forces, or weather-related ailments. As a result of the brief engagement between U.S. and Canadian forces, there were 28 American and four Canadian dead. There were an additional 130 casualties from trench foot alone. The destroyer USS "Abner Read" hit a mine, resulting in 87 casualties.
That night the Imperial Japanese Navy warships, thinking they were engaged by Americans, shelled and attempted to torpedo the island of Little Kiska and the Japanese soldiers waiting to embark. Admiral Ernest King reported to the secretary of the Navy, Frank Knox, that the only things that remained on the island were dogs and freshly brewed coffee. Knox asked for an explanation and King responded, "The Japanese are very clever. Their dogs can brew coffee."
Present-day (1945–present).
The Japanese occupation site on the island is now a National Historic Landmark and part of Aleutian Islands World War II National Monument. The island is also a part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge (AMNWR) and contains the largest colony of least auklets (over 1,160,000 birds) and crested auklets. Research biologists from Memorial University of Newfoundland have been studying the impact of introduced Norway rats on the seabirds of Kiska since 2001.
Much of the aftermath of World War II is still evident in Kiska. The slow erosion processes on the tundra have had little effect on the bomb craters still visible both from the ground and in satellite images on the hills surrounding the harbor. Numerous equipment dumps, tunnels (some concrete-lined), Japanese gun emplacements, shipwrecks, and other war relics can be found, all untouched since 1943.
In 1983, a memorial plaque was placed on Kiska by the 87th Mountain Infantry Regiment, inscribed:
To the men of Amphibious Task Force 9 who fell here August 1943 placed here August 1983 by 87th Mountain Infantry Regiment.
On August 22, 2007, the submarine , which disappeared with a crew of 70 during World War II, was found in of water off Kiska.
In fiction.
Renamed "Skira", the island was used as the setting for the Codemasters video game "". The fictionalized version of the island is relocated closer to Russia and China, but the island's topography is replicated near-exactly, with elements of the game designed around it, instead of vice versa.
Kiska Volcano.
Kiska Volcano (Qisxan Kamgii in Aleut) is an active stratovolcano, in diameter at its base and high, located on the northern end of Kiska Island.
On January 24, 1962, an explosive eruption occurred, accompanied by lava extrusion and the construction of a cinder cone about high at Sirius Point on the north flank of Kiska Volcano, from the summit of the main cone ("Anchorage Daily News", January 30, 1962). A second eruption that produced a lava flow was reported to have occurred on March 18, 1964 ("Bulletin of Volcanic Eruptions", 1964).
Since then, the volcano has emitted steam and ash plumes, as well as smaller lava flows.


David D. Barrett

David Dean Barrett (August 6, 1892 – February 3, 1977) was an American soldier, a diplomat, and an old Army China hand. Barrett served more than 35 years in the U.S. Army, almost entirely in China. Barrett was part of the American military experience in China, and played a critical role in the first official contact between the Communist Party of China and the United States government. He commanded the 1944 U.S. Army Observation Group, also known as the Dixie Mission, to Yan'an, China. However, his involvement in the Dixie Mission cost him promotion to general, when Presidential Envoy Patrick Hurley falsely accused Barrett of undermining his mission to unite the Communists and Nationalists.
Early life.
David Dean Barrett was born in Central City, Colorado. He enlisted in the United States Army in 1909 and served for three years. He then entered the University of Colorado, graduated when he was 23. He taught high school English for the next two years, but when the United States entered the First World War, he reenlisted, earning a commission as a second lieutenant. However, he spent the war serving in the United States.
He chose to make the military a career and volunteered to take part in the American expedition to Siberia to fight the Bolsheviks in 1920. Instead, his troopship was sent to the Philippines, where he spent the next four years. Barrett learned of an army program to train officers in foreign languages and signed up in hopes of traveling to Japan and learning its language. Disappointed once again, he was instead ordered to Beijing, China.
Pre-war life in China.
Barrett arrived in Peking in 1924 and assumed the post of Assistant Military Attaché for Language Study. He mastered the Peking dialect through five hours of practice with Mandarin teachers each day, followed by two hours of personal study. Barrett recalled this time as a joy and said the dialect spoken in the former imperial capital was "the most beautiful Chinese in the world."
Part of Barrett's education involved the study of the Chinese Classics, such as the Confucian Analects, and I Ching. Later in life, he impressed the Chinese by his ability to quote passages from the Classics. Barrett also made trips to the countryside to practice conversation with rural Chinese. In 1927, he was transferred to the Fifteenth Infantry Regiment headquarters in Tientsin. The executive officer of the regiment at the time was Lieutenant Colonel George C. Marshall, the future Secretary of State. Battalion commander of one of the two battalions stationed in Tientsin was then Major Joseph Stilwell. Barrett encountered the two again a year later at the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia.
The three years he spent at the school and in the United States was an anomaly in a career that was spent almost entirely in China. By 1931, he was permanently assigned at the Fifteenth Infantry in Tientsin as a regimental intelligence staff officer. From that position, he watched the Kuomintang suppression of the Chinese Communists, who, in Barrett's opinion, were irresponsibly and wrongly designated as bandits by the KMT.
Barrett's tour of duty in Tientsin ended in 1934. Two years later, he was assigned to be an Assistant Military Attaché to the American Legation in Peking. His executive officer in Peking and acting Military Attaché, was Joseph Stilwell, then a full colonel.
Stationed in Tientsin and then Beijing, Barrett had a front-row seat to watch the growing Japanese encroachment on China. The most notable event that Barrett personally witnessed was the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937. On the day after the start of the conflict, July 8, Barrett was among the first foreign observers on the scene. Later the same day, Barrett returned with Stilwell, where both men were fired upon by Japanese troops. It was, Barrett noted, the first and last time he ever heard a shot pass him in anger.
Due to his position in the American Legation in Peking, Barrett moved with the Nationalist government as it fled the approach of the Japanese, first to Hankow, where Barrett often drove out to the front line to observe the fighting between the Chinese and Japanese forces. By 1938, Hankow fell and the Nationalists again retreated, this time to Chungking. It was in Chungking that Barrett remained until 1943.
Second World War career.
Barrett remained in the capacity of Assistant Military Attaché until May 1942, when he assumed the post of chief attaché inherited from General John Magruder. However, any sense of accomplishment for the post was stymied by the build-up of a major American military presence in China. It was because the position of attaché was attached to the embassy, and so Barrett was removed from much of the military planning and operations executed by the regular American military, whose presence was constantly growing in the capital. Another problem was the habit of Nationalist officials to bypass Barrett and communicate directly with the American military personnel.
Barrett remained in the position through the summer of 1943. Under the belief that he would never gain promotion to general officer, he requested a transfer out of the embassy detail. His wishes were granted and he found himself assigned to assist in the American creation of a Chinese field army at Kweilin in the Kwangsi Province in southern China. Due to supply failures and political entanglements, the army never advanced beyond the establishment of a headquarters. It was from that post that Barrett was plucked out and sent to command the observer group to Yan'an.
Command of the Dixie Mission.
On March 24, Barrett received an order to proceed to Chungking for temporary duty, unaware of the plans for the observer group to Yan'an. Not until he met John Service four days after his arrival in Chungking, did he learn he was to assume command of the mission. At the time, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek had not yet provided his consent to the mission and Barrett waited a month in Chungking before being ordered back to Kweilin. He remained there until the start of July, when the success of Vice-President Henry Wallace's mission to Chungking signaled a green light for the mission.
Col. Barrett, Maj. Ray Cromley, Maj. Melvin Casbert, Capt. John Colling, Capt. Charles Stelle, Capt. Paul Domke, 1st Lt. Henry Wittlesey, Staff Sgt Anton Remeneh, US Embassy 2nd Secretary John S. Service and political attaché Raymond Ludden arrived in Yenan on July 22, 1944. While Service handled political discussions, Barrett was in charge of working out a cooperative military strategy.
Barrett remained in command of the Dixie Mission until November 1944, when he was removed to help Ambassador Patrick Hurley in negotiations to unify the Nationalists and Communists, as well as help plan potential American-Communist cooperative plans at the theater headquarters of General Albert C. Wedemeyer. While serving as a courier and representative for Wedemeyer's chief of staff, General Robert B. McClure, Barrett was sent on two missions to Yan'an to speak with Communist leadership. The last discussion involved the possibility of a joint Communist-American military mission involving several thousands of American troops. As this plan, developed by McClure, hurt Hurley's attempts to bring the Communists into a joint-government plan, Hurley accused Barrett of sabotaging his negotiations. Hurley stopped a promotion in motion to make Barrett a Brigadier General and had him removed to a small corner of the China theater for the rest of the war.
Post-war life.
From 1950 to 1953, he served as the first Army attaché in Taiwan when the U.S. Embassy to the R.O.C. re-opened in the Taiwanese capital of Taipei, working along with Rear Admiral Harry B. Jarrett (Defense attaché) and Colonel LeRoy Heston (Air attaché). This was his last post before retiring from the U.S. Army.
As a civilian, Barrett served as a professor at the University of Colorado. He was instrumental in establishing a modern Chinese language course there and lectured in the modern history of China and occasionally in Shakespearean studies.
See also.
In 2013, the story of the Dixie Mission served as the historical basis for a new World War II novel called "Two Sons of China", by Andrew Lam. Colonel Barrett is portrayed as a prominent historical figure in the book. It was released by Bondfire Books in December 2013.


Jerry C. Begay

Jerry ClasChee Begay Sr. (December 8, 1924 – May 26, 2008) was an American World War II veteran and a member of the Navajo Code Talkers.
Life.
Begay was born on December 8, 1924, in Sheep Springs, New Mexico. His parents were Clauschee Begay and . He was a member of the clan and was born for the . Begay attended Toadlena Boarding School and Fort Wingate High School.
He enlisted in the United States Marines when he was 17 years old while he was still a student at Fort Wingate High School. He served in the Second Marine division, 297th Platoon, as a Navajo Code Talker during World War II. Among the battles in which he served was the American invasion of the island of Tarawa, in present-day Kiribati. Begay was wounded during World War II and was awarded the Purple Heart. Begay was also awarded the Sharpshooters Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the Presidential Unit Citation and the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal with Bronze Star for his service. Begay received an honorable discharge and left the U.S. Marines in 1945.
Begay began working at the Phelps Dodge Copper Mining Company in Morenci, Arizona, shortly after the end of World War II. He remained at the company for 33 years until his retirement in 1982. He also worked in community service, including at the Tsaile Health Center, in the towns of Tsaile and Lukachukai.
Throughout his life, Begay remained active in the Navajo Code Talkers Association and the Disabled American Veterans. He was awarded the Congressional Silver Medal of Honor in November 2001 for his service as a code talker, alongside fellow veteran code talkers such as Frank Tsosie Thompson.
Jerry C. Begay died on Memorial Day on May 26, 2008, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the age of 83. His funeral and burial took place at St. Mary's Catholic Church and Memory Gardens in Farmington, New Mexico. Begay, who was a resident of Lukachukai, Arizona, was survived by his wife, Ella Sorrelman Begay, and his children: Jerry C. Begay Jr., Daniel C. Begay, Priscilla Begay Coutu and Verna Begay Lopez. He was preceded in death by one daughter, Evangeline Begay Alvarez.


Convoy SC 42

Convoy SC 42 was the 42nd of the numbered series of World War II Slow Convoys of merchant ships from Sydney, Cape Breton Island to Liverpool. SC 42 was attacked over a three night period in September 1941, losing 16 ships sunk and 4 damaged. This was the worst Allied loss following the attack on convoy SC 7 the previous year. Two attacking U-boats were destroyed.
Background.
Sixty-five ships departed Sydney (Nova Scotia) on 30 August 1941 under local escort, bound for Liverpool. The convoy commodore was Rear Admiral WB Mackenzie in "Everleigh". A week later, they were met just east of the Strait of Belle Isle by the Canadian 24th Escort Group consisting of the (Lt Cdr JC Hibbard, senior officer) with s , , and . Corvettes and were conducting training exercises in the convoy path at the direction of Commander James D. Prentice, RCN, and were prepared to reinforce the escort as the convoy entered an area where U-boats were known to be waiting.
Ranged against them was the "Markgraf" wolf pack, a group of 14 U-boats in a patrol line southeast of Greenland.
Action.
Early on 9 September sighted the convoy near Cape Farewell, Greenland, and made an unsuccessful torpedo attack. She then commenced shadowing, while other "Markgraf" boats moved in. The moon rose on the southern side on the convoy that night, and torpedoed the silhouetted 5229-GRT British freighter "Muneric". "Muneric" and her cargo of 7000 tons of iron ore sank rapidly with all 63 of her crew. "Kenogami" commenced firing on a surfaced U-boat without benefit of star shell or flashless powder, and quickly lost contact as the crew lost their night-vision in the flash of gunfire.
The convoy made two emergency turns over the next half-hour as ships in convoy reported sighting three more surfaced U-boats. Another emergency convoy turn ninety minutes later caught "Skeena" pursuing a contact at speed. While maneuvering to avoid collision, "Skeena" passed a surfaced U-boat on a reciprocal course, being fired upon by ships in convoy so closely that "Skeena"s guns could not be depressed to bear. torpedoed "Baron Pentland" and "Tahchee" during the excitement. The tanker "Tahchee" was towed back to port by "Orillia" but the 3410-GRT British freighter "Baron Pentland" sank with 1512 standards of lumber and two of her crew.
Another emergency turn by the convoy brought two hours of suspenseful quiet while "Orillia" aided "Tahchee" and searched for survivors astern of the convoy. Then "U-432" torpedoed the 3205-GRT Dutch freighter "Winterswijk" and the 1113-GRT Norwegian freighter "Stargard". The freighter "Regin" stopped to rescue "Starguard"s survivors and opened fire on a surfaced U-boat. While "Skeena" and "Kenogami" searched for U-boats around stricken "Winterswijk" and "Stargard", torpedoed the 3252-GRT British freighter "Sally Maersk", and the convoy made another emergency turn to avoid a surfaced U-boat. torpedoed the 7465-GRT British CAM ship "Empire Hudson" less than two hours after "Skeena" regained station ahead of the convoy.
Daylight on 10 September brought several periscope sightings and emergency turns by the convoy before "U-85" torpedoed the 4748-GRT British freighter "Thistleglen". "Skeena" and "Alberni" counterattacked and damaged "U-85" with depth charges. "Thistleglen" sank with 5200 tons of steel, 2400 tons of pig iron, and 3 of her crew.
"U-82" torpedoed the 7519-GRT British tanker "Bulysses" that evening. "U-82" then torpedoed the 3915-GRT British freighter "Gypsum Queen" shortly after the convoy ordered an emergency turn. "Gypsum Queen" sank quickly with 5500 tons of sulfur and ten of her crew. "Bulysses" sank with 9300 tons of gas oil and 4 of her crew. Other ships in convoy rescued the survivors. The corvettes "Chambly" and "Moose Jaw" observed the fireworks of these attacks and surprised while steaming to reinforce the escort. "U-501" was first depth-charged by "Chambly" then rammed by "Moose Jaw" as the damaged submarine surfaced. The captain of "U-501" jumped from the conning tower to "Moose Jaw"s deck; and "Moose Jaw" sent a boarding party to enter the submarine. Eleven Germans and one of the Canadian boarding party (Stoker William Brown) were lost when "U-501" sank. "U-501" was the first U-boat sunk by Canadian escorts.
Just after midnight on 10/11 September torpedoed the 4924-GRT British freighter "Berury" and the 4815-GRT British freighter "Stonepool", while "Chambly" and "Moose Jaw" were attacking "U-501". Then "U-432" torpedoed the 1231-GRT Swedish freighter "Garm" and "U-82" torpedoed the 5463-GRT British freighter "Empire Crossbill" and the 1980-GRT Swedish freighter "Scania" two hours later while "Alberni", "Kenogami" and "Moose Jaw" were rescuing survivors of "Berury" and "Stonepool". launched torpedoes unsuccessfully, damaged the Norwegian 2200-GRT freighter "Bestum", sank the crippled "Scania", while sank the Panamanian-flagged straggler "Montana".
On 11 September, the escort was reinforced by the naval trawler "Buttermere" and Flower-class corvettes , HMCS "Mimosa", and from convoy HX 147 and by the 2nd Escort Group consisting of the Admiralty type flotilla leader (Commander WE Banks senior officer), the , the V and W-class destroyer and S-class destroyers and HMS "Saladin". "Leamington" and "Veteran" dropped 21 depth charges on the afternoon of 11 September while investigating an RAF Coastal Command aircraft report of a U-boat ahead of the convoy. Postwar analysis indicated their attacks probably destroyed "U-207".
Aftermath.
With the arrival of these reinforcements further attacks by "Markgraf" were stifled. Though the group continued to shadow, it was unable to mount any further assaults.
The arrival on 12 September of the naval trawler "Windermere" and Town-class destroyers from convoy SC 41 and from convoy HX 147 allowed the remaining original escorts "Skeena", "Alberni", and "Kenogami" to leave for refuelling . On 13 September destroyers of the 2nd Escort Group departed for refuelling following the arrival of American destroyers , and . The last incident of the voyage took place three days later when torpedoed the 4392-ton British freighter "Jedmore" as the convoy approached North Channel on the late afternoon of 16 September.
Convoy SC 42 arrived in Liverpool on 20 September 1941. Sixteen ships totalling 68,259 GRT had been sunk and four ships (14,132 GRT) damaged. One ship had turned back. Forty four ships arrived safely and unharmed, and two U-boats had been destroyed, though one of these sinkings was not confirmed until after the war.


Bombing of Kure

The Japanese city of Kure, Hiroshima was attacked repeatedly by Allied aircraft during World War II. These raids targeted the major naval base located at the city, ships moored at this base or nearby, industrial facilities, and the city's urban area itself.
The following major attacks were conducted on Kure and the nearby region: