Western front-interesting bits of information

Raid on Oslo, 25 September 1942

The Oslo raid of 25 September 1942 was the first of a series of daring daytime raids that used the de Havilland Mosquito to bomb individual buildings in occupied Europe. This particular raid targeted the Gestapo Headquarters in Oslo, and was mounted at the request of the Norwegian government in exile. The aim was to destroy Gestapo records about the Norwegian resistance.

Despite crossing the north sea at under 100 ft, the Mosquitoes were still intercepted by two Fw 190s. One Mosquito was shot down, crashing in a Norwegian lake. A low level chase followed, only ending when the remaining German fighter hit a tree.

The remaining three aircraft reached Oslo, and found their target. Four bombs hit the Gestapo Headquarters. Unfortunately, of those four bombs three bounced out of the building before exploding, and the one bomb to remain inside the building failed to explode.

Although the raid had failed to achieve its main objective, it was considered dramatic enough to be used to reveal the existence of the Mosquito to the British public during a BBC Home Service broadcast the following day.

 

10th May 1940 for the Allied Air Forces....

" ...the hours of the morning dragged on, and still no order came to unleash the Allied bombers. In the joint headquarters at Chauny, Air marshal Barratt, commanding the BANFF, and General d´Astier de la Vigerie, commanding the Zone d´Operations Aeriennes Nord,paced up and down in frustration as they awaited the necessary signal from the French GHQ. Their anger mounted when, at 08.00 , they received a signal restricting Allied air operations to fighter and reconnaissance activity. At that very moment the enemy columns were highly vulnerable to air attack; and yet, because of the general Gamelin´s irrational hope that a bombing war might somehow be avoided, the opportunity to hit the invaders hard was being thrown away.

It was not until 11.00 that GHQ finally relented - and even then its orders only added to the frustration of the Allied air commanders. The ZOAN was authorized to attack enemy columns as first priority and Luftwaffe air fields as second priority, but built-up areas were to be avoided at all costs.

In addition , the Allied bombers were strictly forbidden to attack enemy industrial areas or centres of communication- an order that directly contravened the operational plans so carefully formulated by the French and British Air Staffs during the tortuous discussions of the previous year.

In the end the French day-bomber force, totally confused by the ambiguity of it all, simply stayed on the ground while General d´Astier begged GHQ for further orders that might clarify the position.

From "Air war over France 1930-40" by Robert Jackson

 

Sounds like they were lead by the same idiots that ran Viet Nam and Iraq.

 

Farman (SNCAC) NC 223.4 "Jules Verne"

...was the first Allied bomber to raid Berlin, on the night of 7 June 1940.

The French Bomb Berlin - Blinkynet

 

Post-1940 in France....

 

Italian Do 217 nightfighters

2007 October 15 « War and Game

The Regia Aeronautica Dornier Do.217J were 15, of which 7 J-1 and 8 J-2 ( Lichtenstein radar equipped).

The only kill was by Captain Aramis Ammannato from the 235. squadron during the night of 16.-17. July 1943 when a 207. Squadron Lancaster III was shot down.

Also on "German night fighter aces" by Scutts

 

The loss of equipment in France ( in 1940 ) by the RAF, excluding aircraft, was estimated by the Air Officer Commanding Maintenance Command, to amount to the equivalent of four complete Aircraft Parks, or the value of £1,000,000 at that date. This excluded the equipment and spares held by the squadrons.

Blitzed by Victor Bingham

 

On 12 May 1940, five Hawks surprised a formation of Ju-87 Stukas dive-bombing a French motorized column in the Ardennes and shot down no fewer than sixteen of them in the space of a few minutes.

From " Air war over France 1939-40 " By Robert Jackson

Cannot say Göring did not get a warning before BoB...

 

I was reading about the Italian Do-17's but found the story on the Heyford more interesting. Can you think of how the crews felt flying that buzzard in 1939 and not knowing if they have to go to war in it and die ?

 

Monty :

On the other hand, in a moment of cynical disgust over army routine, Monty was heard to remark that the damned war would have to end by 1948, because all the paper in the world would be used up.

Usually affable in conversation Monty has a way of passing brutal judgments on officers who have failed to measure up. He dismissed one subordinate with a curt: "You are a good officer—but you are not good enough for me." Of a high-ranking British general who bungled one phase of the Africa show, Monty rasped: "He's not a general, he's a cook—a good, plain cook who won't burn the toast but cannot make very good coffee." He has even offered his opinion that there are only six good generals in the British Army (but even Monty was too tactful to name his six).



TIME.com - Meeting in Normandy -- The War: A film by Ken Burns - Sponsored by PBS

 

" At the end of April 1944, a bomber attack to Friedrichshafen revealed the German tank industry´s vulnerability. Factories in Friedrichshafen produced 40 to 50% of the drive gear assemblies for the Pz III,IV and V tanks; 40% of motors for Pz V´s and VI´s. The works, badly damaged by the attack took at least two to three months to disperse to other factories. Thus, there was a production shortfall of at least 30% for May and June 1944.

Luftwaffe 1933-45 By Williamson Murray

 

Bombing of the Renault Motor Works, Paris

YouTube - Bombing of the Renault Motor Works, Paris, March 3/4 1942


Operation "Oyster"

YouTube - Operation "Oyster", attack on Philips Radio Works, Holland

 

March 10, 1940

Sumner Welles makes a "peace proposal".

On this day, U.S. Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles, after a meeting with Adolf Hitler in Berlin, visits London to discuss a peacemaking proposal with Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to prevent a widening of the European war.

Welles left Berlin and arrived in London on March 10. He briefed British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain on Hitler's intransigence, arguing that the only hope for a lasting peace was the progressive disarmament of the belligerents, primarily Germany. Chamberlain's foreign ministers were less than impressed with the suggestion, believing that even a "disarmed" Germany could still invade a smaller, weaker nation. In short, Welles' trip accomplished nothing.


This Day in History 1940: Sumner Welles makes a "peace proposal"

Welles Report, 1940: Sumner Welles was Assistant and under secretary ofstate, and ambassador to Cuba-(2 parts). - Part I Index

 

Chamberlain was correct. This was similar to the pact/treaty that limited the size of the signing countries navy to be equivelent which was to Germany's favor because it allowed her navy to grow while limited the larger Royal Navy to stay the same. Here, Hitler would be asking for all parties to disarm bring them down to Hitler's armament level. It was a fruitless mission

 

In late 1944 a team of American scientist, known as the "Alsos" team, was sent to western Europe to search for evidence of a German atomic bomb project. When Allied troops reached the Rhine River, the team filled several bottles with river water and sent them to Washington to be analyzed for radioactivity with the thought that there might be a German nuclear facility somewhere up stream. As a joke, they included a bottle of French wine with a note attached saying that it tasted funny and should be analyses too. Ironically, the water tested negative, but the wine had a small trace of radioactivity.

Source: Heisenberg's War

World War Trivia and Cartoons - Riebel-Roque Publishing Company

 

http://www.transchool.eustis.army.mil/MUSEUM/THEOTHEREXPRESSROUTES.htm

THE OTHER EXPRESS ROUTES

White Ball Express

The first of the express lines established after Red Ball was the White Ball Express, launched 6 October 1944. The White Ball's function was to transport material from the ports of Le Havre and Rouen to depots and rail transfer points around Paris.

During the three months of its existence, trucks carried some 140,486 tons of supplies, with an average daily haul of 1,614 tons. The average length of a White Ball trip was 113 miles.

Green Diamond Express

Established 14 October 1944 to move supplies from the Normandy depots to rail loading points at Avranches and Dol-de-Bretagne. The Green Diamond lasted only three weeks, until 1 November.

Red Lion Express

Established to haul British gasoline and American supplies from Bayeux in Normandy to the 21st Army Group railhead in Brussels, Belgium. These supplies were in support of the airborne operations in Holland during Operation Market Garden. Red Lion operated for 27 days from 16 September to 12 October 1944.

XYZ Express

The last and largest of the long-haul truck lines in the ETO was the XYZ Express.

The XYZ began operations on 25 Mar 1945, seven months from the date the Red Ball was inaugurated. The four XYZ routes extended eastward into Germany from four points: Liege, Belgium; Duren, Germany; Luxembourg; and Nancy, France.

These drivers supported four American armies - the 9th, 1st, 3rd and 7th Armies, as they advanced into the Reich.

 

On 31 May 1939, Ribbentrop, on behalf of Germany, signed a non-aggression pact with Denmark which provided that:

"The German Reich and the Kingdom of Denmark will under no circumstances go to war or employ force of any other kind against one another."

Joachim von Ribbentrop

 

Propaganda leaflets on V1-´s

V1 Rocket Propaganda Leaflets

 

The German Army Group Upper Rhine (German: Heeresgruppe Oberrhein) was a short-lived command of the German Armed Forces (Wehrmacht) during late 1944 and early 1945 on the Western Front in World War II. Army Group Upper Rhine was formed on 26 November 1944 and was inactivated on 25 January 1945. Its one commander was Heinrich Himmler.

Army Group Oberrhein (Germany - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

 

That's understandable, Himmler was busy elsewhere, he took over Army Group Vistula in 28th Jan '45. To what results it's another matter, but...