SECOND WORLD WAR

October 1944

(Liberation of Europe)

Beginning on the 12^th September 1944, the Battle of Aachen was fought by U.S. and German soldiers. The battle ended on the 21^st October 1944 when the Germans surrendered. The city, on German’s western border had been incorporated in the German Siegfried Line. Defended by 13,000 Soldiers the Germans were facing 100,000 U.S. First Army troops attacking the city from north and south. With the eventual German surrender on the 21^st October 1944 both sides had suffered heavy casualties. The Allied plans for the advance into the industrialised Ruhr Basin had been significantly disrupted by the tenacious German defence. Aachen was the first German city to be occupied by the Allies, and was one of the largest and toughest urban battles of the war.

(Germany)

Following German Field Marshall Erwin Rommel’s wounding in Normandy on the 17^th July 1944, he was taken to hospital suffering from face wounds and fractures to his skull. He made sufficient recovery whereby he was transferred to a rented house in Herrlingen, Germany on the 8^th August 1944. His doctors objected to the move but did accompany him on his move. With the assistance of his caring wife he quickly recovered his health. However, he was implicated in the 20 July Plot to assassinate Fuhrer Adolf Hitler. He was under constant observation from the Nazi SS and Hitler decided on an extrajudicial execution. Rommel was given the choice to take poison or appear before the “Peoples Tribunal” and branded a traitor and face the public outcry that might cause. He chose poison knowing his family wold be looked after by the State and a pension provided. On the 11^th October 1944 Rommel left the house in full dress and his Marshalls baton, climbed into a car followed by two Nazi generals. Having entered a forest Rommel bit into a cyanide capsule and died instantly. The same evening German radio stations broadcast that Rommel had died from the repercussions of the head wounds he received in Normandy. He was given the State Funeral befitting a national hero. On the 21^st October 1944 Rommel’s body was cremated and the urn containing his ashes was buried in the rural cemetery in Herrlingen.

Announcing on the 16^th October 1944 Hitler ordered the conscription of all males, aged 16 to 60 years, who were not already in some military unit. The German army did not have enough men to resist the Soviet Union onslaught. On the 18^th October 1944 Volkssturm (“people’s storm”) was established. The figure of six million men required for Volkssturm was never attainable.

(Eastern Front)

In Poland, the occupying Nazi Germans forced the Warsaw Uprising participants to capitulate on the 2^nd October 1944. All fighting stopped and finally the Warsaw Home Army surrendered on the 5^th October 1944. Beginning on the 1^st August 1944, the 63 day uprising was timed to coincide with the German retreat from Poland, due to the Soviet advance. 20,000 to 49,000 Polish resistance and Warsaw Home Army faced approximately 20,000 Germans. Both sides sustained heavy casualties.  One of the reasons why the Warsaw Uprising failed was the lack of assistance from the Allies. It is questionable whether the Soviet Union was prepared to assist in the uprising. Their aim was to replace German occupation with Russian occupation and embrace Poland into the Soviet Empire.              

On the 1^st October 1944 Hungarian delegates arrived in Moscow to discuss an armistice with the Soviet Union.In consequence the Red Army entered Hungary on the 5^th October 1944. On the 15^th October 1944, an enraged Hitler received word that Hungary’s Regent, Admiral Miklos Horthy was secretly negotiating an armistice with the Soviet Union. He immediately ordered the introduction of Operation Panzerfaust. Hungary had been a German ally since November 1940, and Hitler was fearful that with the surrender it would expose his southern flank. During March 1944, German troops occupied Hungary as Rumania had recently joined forces with the S.U. On the 15^th October 1944 Horthy was handed a statement announcing he was renouncing the armistice and abdicating. He signed the statement because he had been told his son’s life was at stake. Horthy and his son both survived the war. He later explained that he never resigned or abdicated, and stated – “A signature wrung from a man at machine gun point can have little legality”.

On the west coast of Estonia in the East Baltic Sea, the Red Army captured the Estonian Hiiumaa Island on the 3^rd October 1944. The Germans had occupied Estonia since 1941.

In Poland, Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp was the largest Jewish extermination facility built by the Nazis. Construction of the camp was completed by March 1942. Immediately upon completion the Nazis began deporting Jews to the camp. By June 1943, four gas chambers and Crematorium had been added, allowing for the murder and burning of 4,000 people per day. The grizzly tasks were conducted by approximately 1,000 segregated Jews, who were called Sonderkammandos (Special Work Force). These workers received better living and food conditions but routinely were killed and new prisoners brought in. Several resistance groups formed in the camp’s early days. An overall resistance was formed in preparation for the general revolt. The Sonderkammandos planned to blow up the crematoria with explosives brought in by women delivering food. On the 7^th October 1944 the revolt began when one crematorium was blown up. The revolt was suppressed and three German were killed as were 452 members of the Sonderkammandos. Following the revolt, Auschwitz did not return to its former operation.

From the 9^th to the 19^th October 1944 the forth Moscow Conference was conducted. Present were the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and delegates from the London based Polish government-in-exile and the communist Polish Committee of National Liberation. American delegates were in attendance as observers. There is unconfirmed evidence that Stalin agreed to enter the war against Japan. There is also no evidence the British agreed to return all former Soviet liberated citizens to the Soviet Union.

On the 10^th October 1944 Soviet troops had reached the German border of East Prussia. They continued their advance and on the 16^th October 1944 the Red Army was on the German territory of East Prussia.

German occupation of Greece began in April 1941. On the 14^th October 1944, with the Allies advancing the Germans evacuated Greece and Athens was liberated when the British arrived.

In Yugoslavia the Red Army and Yugoslav partisans liberated the capital city of Belgrade on the 20^th October 1944. The whole of Yugoslavia was liberated from the Axis powers by the Red Army and Yugoslav partisans on the 25^th October 1944.  

(Pacific)

The five day Formosa Air Battle began on the 12^th October 1944 and ended on the 16^th October 1944. The battle was a series of aerial engagements by the U.S. Navy Carrier Task Force against the land based Japanese army and moored naval aircraft carriers. During the day, Japanese military installations and infrastructure on Formosa (Taiwan) were attacked by fighters from the U.S. aircraft carriers. At night the Japanese conducted air raids against U.S. ships. From over 1,500 aircraft the Japanese launched against the U.S. fleet, in the region of 300 to 550 were lost. These figures are only estimates. Formosa suffered heavy damage to military installations and infrastructure. U.S. casualties were 89 lost out of 1,000 aircraft, one cruiser severely damaged, one destroyer and two light cruisers slightly damaged. Despite Japanese propaganda that the Formosa Air Battle was a victory, they were forced to review their options. The false sense of victory resulted in the Japanese officers ordering an all-out pursuit of the U.S. fleet, which ended in another huge loss of aircraft. For the on-coming Battle of Leyte Gulf, organised kamikaze attacks were proposed.   

In the Philippines the Battle of Leyte was an amphibious landing by American forces against the Imperial Japanese Army. On the 20^th October 1944 U.S. General Douglas MacArthur led the landing troops onto the beaches. In February 1942 when the Japanese were over-running the Philippines, MacArthur was ordered by U.S. President Roosevelt to relocate to Australia. Upon arriving at Australia, his comment was “I came through and I shall return”. With the successful landing MacArthur had honoured his statement that he would return. The Battle of Leyte ended on the 26^th December 1944 and was a U.S. victory.

The four day Battle of Leyte Gulf began on the 23^rd October 1944 and ended on the 26^th October 1944. The battle was the largest naval battle of the Second World War. The Americans had approximately 300 ships of all descriptions and the Japanese had 67 available ships. The Americans had about 1,500 carrier-based planes for combat with the Japanese total of 300 carrier and land based planes. Japanese organised kamikaze attacks were in operation for the first time. Kamikaze attacks were pilot suicide missions who flew their aircraft into the U.S. warships. The overall aim was to sink or destroy the warships. The Japanese committed their ships into three separate areas in an effort to lure the U.S. fleet away from the Battle of Leyte. On the 25^th October 1944, aircraft of the northern, central and southern forces of the Japanese fleet fought with U.S. aircraft on three separate air engagements. The result was the defeat of the Japanese navy whose casualties were 17 ships damaged, 11 destroyers sunk and the loss of all 300 plus aircraft. They also had 12,000 naval personnel killed or wounded. The U.S. had 3,000 naval personnel killed or wounded, ten ships damaged, two destroyers sunk and 255 aircraft lost. On the 26^th October 1944 the remaining Japanese fleet retreated to their bases in Japan and the result was the loss of the Philippines.

From June to August 1944, six airfields were under construction during the Mariana Islands campaign. The Japanese-held islands of Guan, Saipan and Tinian had been captured by the U.S. army. By the 23^rd October 1944 Tinian airfield was ready to receive Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers. Tinian Island, 1,500 miles (2,400 km) south of Tokyo, allowed the B-29s to attack the home islands of Japan and return without refuelling. With hundreds of B-29s based at the airfield, systematic bombing of Japan began.

————————————————————————

SECOND WORLD WAR

October 1944

(Liberation of Europe)

Beginning on the 12^th September 1944, the Battle of Aachen was fought by U.S. and German soldiers. The battle ended on the 21^st October 1944 when the Germans surrendered. The city, on German’s western border had been incorporated in the German Siegfried Line. Defended by 13,000 Soldiers the Germans were facing 100,000 U.S. First Army troops attacking the city from north and south. With the eventual German surrender on the 21^st October 1944 both sides had suffered heavy casualties. The Allied plans for the advance into the industrialised Ruhr Basin had been significantly disrupted by the tenacious German defence. Aachen was the first German city to be occupied by the Allies, and was one of the largest and toughest urban battles of the war.

(Germany)

Following German Field Marshall Erwin Rommel’s wounding in Normandy on the 17^th July 1944, he was taken to hospital suffering from face wounds and fractures to his skull. He made sufficient recovery whereby he was transferred to a rented house in Herrlingen, Germany on the 8^th August 1944. His doctors objected to the move but did accompany him on his move. With the assistance of his caring wife he quickly recovered his health. However, he was implicated in the 20 July Plot to assassinate Fuhrer Adolf Hitler. He was under constant observation from the Nazi SS and Hitler decided on an extrajudicial execution. Rommel was given the choice to take poison or appear before the “Peoples Tribunal” and branded a traitor and face the public outcry that might cause. He chose poison knowing his family wold be looked after by the State and a pension provided. On the 11^th October 1944 Rommel left the house in full dress and his Marshalls baton, climbed into a car followed by two Nazi generals. Having entered a forest Rommel bit into a cyanide capsule and died instantly. The same evening German radio stations broadcast that Rommel had died from the repercussions of the head wounds he received in Normandy. He was given the State Funeral befitting a national hero. On the 21^st October 1944 Rommel’s body was cremated and the urn containing his ashes was buried in the rural cemetery in Herrlingen.

Announcing on the 16^th October 1944 Hitler ordered the conscription of all males, aged 16 to 60 years, who were not already in some military unit. The German army did not have enough men to resist the Soviet Union onslaught. On the 18^th October 1944 Volkssturm (“people’s storm”) was established. The figure of six million men required for Volkssturm was never attainable.

(Eastern Front)

In Poland, the occupying Nazi Germans forced the Warsaw Uprising participants to capitulate on the 2^nd October 1944. All fighting stopped and finally the Warsaw Home Army surrendered on the 5^th October 1944. Beginning on the 1^st August 1944, the 63 day uprising was timed to coincide with the German retreat from Poland, due to the Soviet advance. 20,000 to 49,000 Polish resistance and Warsaw Home Army faced approximately 20,000 Germans. Both sides sustained heavy casualties.  One of the reasons why the Warsaw Uprising failed was the lack of assistance from the Allies. It is questionable whether the Soviet Union was prepared to assist in the uprising. Their aim was to replace German occupation with Russian occupation and embrace Poland into the Soviet Empire.              

On the 1^st October 1944 Hungarian delegates arrived in Moscow to discuss an armistice with the Soviet Union.In consequence the Red Army entered Hungary on the 5^th October 1944. On the 15^th October 1944, an enraged Hitler received word that Hungary’s Regent, Admiral Miklos Horthy was secretly negotiating an armistice with the Soviet Union. He immediately ordered the introduction of Operation Panzerfaust. Hungary had been a German ally since November 1940, and Hitler was fearful that with the surrender it would expose his southern flank. During March 1944, German troops occupied Hungary as Rumania had recently joined forces with the S.U. On the 15^th October 1944 Horthy was handed a statement announcing he was renouncing the armistice and abdicating. He signed the statement because he had been told his son’s life was at stake. Horthy and his son both survived the war. He later explained that he never resigned or abdicated, and stated – “A signature wrung from a man at machine gun point can have little legality”.

On the west coast of Estonia in the East Baltic Sea, the Red Army captured the Estonian Hiiumaa Island on the 3^rd October 1944. The Germans had occupied Estonia since 1941.

In Poland, Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp was the largest Jewish extermination facility built by the Nazis. Construction of the camp was completed by March 1942. Immediately upon completion the Nazis began deporting Jews to the camp. By June 1943, four gas chambers and Crematorium had been added, allowing for the murder and burning of 4,000 people per day. The grizzly tasks were conducted by approximately 1,000 segregated Jews, who were called Sonderkammandos (Special Work Force). These workers received better living and food conditions but routinely were killed and new prisoners brought in. Several resistance groups formed in the camp’s early days. An overall resistance was formed in preparation for the general revolt. The Sonderkammandos planned to blow up the crematoria with explosives brought in by women delivering food. On the 7^th October 1944 the revolt began when one crematorium was blown up. The revolt was suppressed and three German were killed as were 452 members of the Sonderkammandos. Following the revolt, Auschwitz did not return to its former operation.

From the 9^th to the 19^th October 1944 the forth Moscow Conference was conducted. Present were the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and delegates from the London based Polish government-in-exile and the communist Polish Committee of National Liberation. American delegates were in attendance as observers. There is unconfirmed evidence that Stalin agreed to enter the war against Japan. There is also no evidence the British agreed to return all former Soviet liberated citizens to the Soviet Union.

On the 10^th October 1944 Soviet troops had reached the German border of East Prussia. They continued their advance and on the 16^th October 1944 the Red Army was on the German territory of East Prussia.

German occupation of Greece began in April 1941. On the 14^th October 1944, with the Allies advancing the Germans evacuated Greece and Athens was liberated when the British arrived.

In Yugoslavia the Red Army and Yugoslav partisans liberated the capital city of Belgrade on the 20^th October 1944. The whole of Yugoslavia was liberated from the Axis powers by the Red Army and Yugoslav partisans on the 25^th October 1944.  

(Pacific)

The five day Formosa Air Battle began on the 12^th October 1944 and ended on the 16^th October 1944. The battle was a series of aerial engagements by the U.S. Navy Carrier Task Force against the land based Japanese army and moored naval aircraft carriers. During the day, Japanese military installations and infrastructure on Formosa (Taiwan) were attacked by fighters from the U.S. aircraft carriers. At night the Japanese conducted air raids against U.S. ships. From over 1,500 aircraft the Japanese launched against the U.S. fleet, in the region of 300 to 550 were lost. These figures are only estimates. Formosa suffered heavy damage to military installations and infrastructure. U.S. casualties were 89 lost out of 1,000 aircraft, one cruiser severely damaged, one destroyer and two light cruisers slightly damaged. Despite Japanese propaganda that the Formosa Air Battle was a victory, they were forced to review their options. The false sense of victory resulted in the Japanese officers ordering an all-out pursuit of the U.S. fleet, which ended in another huge loss of aircraft. For the on-coming Battle of Leyte Gulf, organised kamikaze attacks were proposed.   

In the Philippines the Battle of Leyte was an amphibious landing by American forces against the Imperial Japanese Army. On the 20^th October 1944 U.S. General Douglas MacArthur led the landing troops onto the beaches. In February 1942 when the Japanese were over-running the Philippines, MacArthur was ordered by U.S. President Roosevelt to relocate to Australia. Upon arriving at Australia, his comment was “I came through and I shall return”. With the successful landing MacArthur had honoured his statement that he would return. The Battle of Leyte ended on the 26^th December 1944 and was a U.S. victory.

The four day Battle of Leyte Gulf began on the 23^rd October 1944 and ended on the 26^th October 1944. The battle was the largest naval battle of the Second World War. The Americans had approximately 300 ships of all descriptions and the Japanese had 67 available ships. The Americans had about 1,500 carrier-based planes for combat with the Japanese total of 300 carrier and land based planes. Japanese organised kamikaze attacks were in operation for the first time. Kamikaze attacks were pilot suicide missions who flew their aircraft into the U.S. warships. The overall aim was to sink or destroy the warships. The Japanese committed their ships into three separate areas in an effort to lure the U.S. fleet away from the Battle of Leyte. On the 25^th October 1944, aircraft of the northern, central and southern forces of the Japanese fleet fought with U.S. aircraft on three separate air engagements. The result was the defeat of the Japanese navy whose casualties were 17 ships damaged, 11 destroyers sunk and the loss of all 300 plus aircraft. They also had 12,000 naval personnel killed or wounded. The U.S. had 3,000 naval personnel killed or wounded, ten ships damaged, two destroyers sunk and 255 aircraft lost. On the 26^th October 1944 the remaining Japanese fleet retreated to their bases in Japan and the result was the loss of the Philippines.

From June to August 1944, six airfields were under construction during the Mariana Islands campaign. The Japanese-held islands of Guan, Saipan and Tinian had been captured by the U.S. army. By the 23^rd October 1944 Tinian airfield was ready to receive Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers. Tinian Island, 1,500 miles (2,400 km) south of Tokyo, allowed the B-29s to attack the home islands of Japan and return without refuelling. With hundreds of B-29s based at the airfield, systematic bombing of Japan began.

————————————————————————

NO. 3642 14 OCT 1914

NOTES ON ARTILLERY IN THE PRESENT WAR.

Positions occupied. – With a few exceptions positions are completely covered and, not only from view at the target end, but from possible air observation. The enemy possess large scale maps believed to be as large as 6-inch, and, as soon as guns are located by them, a severe fire is brought to bear immediately. It is on this account important to avoid always conspicuous or easily-identified points on the map.  Ranging, as we understand it, is as often as not dispensed with altogether.  Open and semi-covered positions possess no advantage over covered positions.  They would only be occupied on emergency and with the knowledge that the battery would probably be destroyed sooner or later.

Positions of readiness are only to be considered if well concealed, but guns not required in action are better placed safe out of range.

Observing stations. – In the open position the choice appears to make little difference.  If, however, occupied in the dark and the battery completely dug in, the battery commander is better on a flank clear of blast and smoke of enemy’s high explosive shell.  In covered positions the battery commander almost invariably observes from in front no matter what nature of gun.  The distance, from 500 yards up to 1,000 and more, according to nature of operation and ground.  Communication always by telephone.  This, indeed, is the only possible means and endeavour is made to dig in the wire, perhaps with a plough.

In the event of wire being broken, recourse must be had to chain of orderlies.  Megaphones are useful.

Obtaining the Line. – Two aiming posts seem to have been sometimes, but seldom, used.  A battery angle is sent if battery commander can see the battery; but far more often line is given roughly in a quick series or by compass or map in a deliberate series.  Trial shots are fired and correction made as required.  With heavy guns the method employed is either the compass or direction given by a reference to a map placed on a plane table, the latter the most popular.  Where possible, as in the operations on the Aisne, the 18-pr. gun may be used to range for the 60-pr. to save ammunition.  There are many casualties to directors.  The hand angle of sight is a good deal used.  Plotters never used and may be dispensed with.

Battery headquarters is too large.  Signallers and lookout men are not wanted as a rule.  Patrols and ground-scouts never – i.e., as part of the battery headquarters.  The battery commander has battery serjeant-major and a telephonist with him, and perhaps a director man who will take a few notes as penciller.  The range-finder would be separately dug in, if used at all, and two or three men possibly dug in at intervals to pass orders on in emergency.  The ranging officer with the battery is dug in, probably under a limber in rear of line of guns, with telephone man.  Section commanders are dug in close behind wagon bodies.  The consensus of opinion of battery commanders seems to be decidedly against observation vehicles.  They could only be used on certain occasions and are difficult to drag into position without being seen.  Moreover, a battery commander does not feel secure perched up on such a vehicle.  He prefers a tree or stack or building of some kind, or else to be dug right in.  Climbing irons or dogs, rope ladders, &c., would be of great use.  German observatories are never seen now; they are effectually concealed if used.

Ranging. – The keynote is simplicity.  Section ranging with percussion – according to information at present available – is the method always used.  It is not known if collective has ever been used or not.

Objectives. – More information is necessary before a full report can be made under this heading.  Most batteries have never seen any such target as troops in the open or guns in any sort of position.  There are exceptions, however, and guns have had to deal with infantry columns crossing the front, infantry advancing in large bodies – crowds – and the rush of an infantry counter attack.  In such cases the 18-pr. shrapnel is admitted on all sides as being most efficient.  Time is certainly not the important factor that it is at practice.  At the open pitched battles as at Mons, Cambrai, situations appear to have been considerably confused, and battery commanders were practically independent except those close to their own brigade headquarters.  Telephone communication broke down at once owing to the wires being cut, and any orders that reached battery commanders came by mounted messenger.  There appears to have been no visual signalling.

Gun targets. – At the battles just referred to there were cases of guns being located and even being knocked out by shrapnel, but these seem to have been rare cases.  The covered position is the one adopted and retained to the last.  It must be clearly understood that the artillery duel is very much “en evidence.”  All arms and all ranks agree that the artillery dominates the situation on either side.  Its effect is devastating where a target is visible, and infantry, where the strengths approximate to an equality, are quite unable to face it.  All efforts are consequently made to establish a superiority in artillery.  On the battlefield there is no sign of battle bar the few bursting shell and a few strips of newly-turned earth, which mark the infantry trenches.  Not a man or a gun is visible unless some effort be made to test the strength of some corner of the field; even then it will be invisible to nine-tenths of the front.  The chief effort on either side is to locate the big guns by any means.  We employ aeroplanes, but the enemy apparently employ an amazingly efficient secret service in addition.  The aircraft are always at a height of about 6,000 feet if up at all, and there they appear to be immune from fire.  The big gun positions are frequently changed – not less than every two or three days, but ours, however well concealed, are located to a yard by the hostile gunners, and 6-inch or 8-inch high explosive shell dropped right on the guns or in the pits.  It is important that these big guns have alternative emplacements always ready for occupation at short notice, after dark, and these should always be irregularly placed with big intervals up to 100 yards, and at varying ranges of 50 yards or so.  Inside a wood is often a suitable position.  A megaphone in a wood carries well and assists section commanders in these difficult circumstances.  Searchlights are hardly used at all.  German balloons are always aloft, but our authorities are not in favour of these aids to observation, for reasons which have been thoroughly discussed.

The shooting of the German artillery can only be described as “uncanny.”  Occasionally great waste of ammunition takes place from ,no doubt, faulty information, but parties of troops, whether gun teams, ammunition columns, bivouacs, billets and even headquarters of brigades and divisions have to make constant changes of their position or incur the penalty of having a dozen of the large shells dropped right into them without warning and when least expected.  Dummy batteries, observation posts, &c., to deceive hostile aeroplanes, have proved valuable.

Seventy per cent. of our casualties are said to be due to artillery fire, and most of them to the high explosive shell.  The “error of the gun” appears to be nearly non-existent, and it is quite common to see four high-explosive heavy shells dropped within 2 or 3 yards of each other.  It is difficult to find any explanation for this, possibly the design of shell had much to do with it.  The enemy’s time fuzes are also astonishingly accurate,. Particularly those of the field howitzers.  Their shrapnel is far inferior to that of the 18-pr.  This is admitted by all. There appear to be very few cases of shields having been hit by bullets.  Casualties generally result from the backward effect of the high explosive shell.  These will quickly destroy a battery when located, but shrapnel from frontal fire never will.

Laying. – There is no direct laying.  Our methods have well answered the test of war.

Methods of fire. – Gun fire is evidently very rare, battery fire is the usual method.  The largest number of rounds fired by a battery in a day, according to present information, amounts to 1,152 for an 18-pr. battery, but the total number in the war is not double this for the same battery.

Control of fire. – Voice control has been employed in some of the somewhat confused actions referred to above.  A Howitzer Battery on one occasion was engaged with infantry at 600 yards, firing shrapnel full charge; voice control was employed.  Another battery, the day after disembarkation from the train, has to cover a front of over 180 degrees.  It was shot at later from in rear also.  Voice control was naturally used but, in the normal action it would never be considered for a minute.

Ammunition supply. – No very definite system had been evolved as being the best.  As much cover as possible must be gained both from overhead and from behind if possible.  Sometimes both wagons may conveniently be up, or wagon one side and limber the other side of the gun.  Replenishment of ammunition is normally by carriers, but may be effected by wagons at night, &c.  Limber supply does not appear to have been ordered, but the limber ammunition has often been used up.

Corrector. – Officers do not sufficiently use the table on page 164, Field Artillery Training.  The cardinal fault of our shooting would appear to be bursting shrapnel too short; the same applies to that of the enemy.

4.5-inch Q.F. Howitzers. – Never used in brigade at all, often by sections.  Time, shrapnel ranging with the howitzer is believed not to have been used at all.

60-pr. B.L. has been invaluable.  Economy of ammunition is of first importance.  It can sometimes be attained by making use of the 18-pr. for ranging purposes.

Entrenching. – Types in “Field Artillery Training” of pits, &c., are not sufficient.  Pits for men must be at least 4 feet deep and narrow, but many battery commanders prefer the gun to be in a deep pit.  It depends partly on the weather.  It is desirable to have a parapet in rear as well as in front on account of the high explosive shell.  Solid overhead cover is also desirable as far as possible.  The width, 13 feet, is not excessive in bad ground or wet weather.

Map reading. – Map reading forms a very important detail in the daily work of officers and non-commissioned officers, and any work out in the open after dark, and should, therefore, be practiced as much as possible.

Signalling. – The amount of work and time devoted to visual signalling have not borne fruit in this war, but the more practice men have with the telephones and the buzzer the better.  An enormous amount is dependent on the telephones.  Heavy batteries go in for flag signalling with the Observation Officers.

On the whole peace training is proved to have been on the right lines, but from what has been seen much more might be done with the advanced artillery officer.  The Germans are said to use him to a great extent.  Much has also to be learnt by artillery in their work in conjunction with aircraft.  Some notes on this subject will form a heading in a later communication.

HEADQUARTERS,

BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE.

2^nd October, 1914.

SECOND WORLD WAR

October 1944

(Liberation of Europe)

Beginning on the 12^th September 1944, the Battle of Aachen was fought by U.S. and German soldiers. The battle ended on the 21^st October 1944 when the Germans surrendered. The city, on German’s western border had been incorporated in the German Siegfried Line. Defended by 13,000 Soldiers the Germans were facing 100,000 U.S. First Army troops attacking the city from north and south. With the eventual German surrender on the 21^st October 1944 both sides had suffered heavy casualties. The Allied plans for the advance into the industrialised Ruhr Basin had been significantly disrupted by the tenacious German defence. Aachen was the first German city to be occupied by the Allies, and was one of the largest and toughest urban battles of the war.

(Germany)

Following German Field Marshall Erwin Rommel’s wounding in Normandy on the 17^th July 1944, he was taken to hospital suffering from face wounds and fractures to his skull. He made sufficient recovery whereby he was transferred to a rented house in Herrlingen, Germany on the 8^th August 1944. His doctors objected to the move but did accompany him on his move. With the assistance of his caring wife he quickly recovered his health. However, he was implicated in the 20 July Plot to assassinate Fuhrer Adolf Hitler. He was under constant observation from the Nazi SS and Hitler decided on an extrajudicial execution. Rommel was given the choice to take poison or appear before the “Peoples Tribunal” and branded a traitor and face the public outcry that might cause. He chose poison knowing his family wold be looked after by the State and a pension provided. On the 11^th October 1944 Rommel left the house in full dress and his Marshalls baton, climbed into a car followed by two Nazi generals. Having entered a forest Rommel bit into a cyanide capsule and died instantly. The same evening German radio stations broadcast that Rommel had died from the repercussions of the head wounds he received in Normandy. He was given the State Funeral befitting a national hero. On the 21^st October 1944 Rommel’s body was cremated and the urn containing his ashes was buried in the rural cemetery in Herrlingen.

Announcing on the 16^th October 1944 Hitler ordered the conscription of all males, aged 16 to 60 years, who were not already in some military unit. The German army did not have enough men to resist the Soviet Union onslaught. On the 18^th October 1944 Volkssturm (“people’s storm”) was established. The figure of six million men required for Volkssturm was never attainable.

(Eastern Front)

In Poland, the occupying Nazi Germans forced the Warsaw Uprising participants to capitulate on the 2^nd October 1944. All fighting stopped and finally the Warsaw Home Army surrendered on the 5^th October 1944. Beginning on the 1^st August 1944, the 63 day uprising was timed to coincide with the German retreat from Poland, due to the Soviet advance. 20,000 to 49,000 Polish resistance and Warsaw Home Army faced approximately 20,000 Germans. Both sides sustained heavy casualties.  One of the reasons why the Warsaw Uprising failed was the lack of assistance from the Allies. It is questionable whether the Soviet Union was prepared to assist in the uprising. Their aim was to replace German occupation with Russian occupation and embrace Poland into the Soviet Empire.              

On the 1^st October 1944 Hungarian delegates arrived in Moscow to discuss an armistice with the Soviet Union.In consequence the Red Army entered Hungary on the 5^th October 1944. On the 15^th October 1944, an enraged Hitler received word that Hungary’s Regent, Admiral Miklos Horthy was secretly negotiating an armistice with the Soviet Union. He immediately ordered the introduction of Operation Panzerfaust. Hungary had been a German ally since November 1940, and Hitler was fearful that with the surrender it would expose his southern flank. During March 1944, German troops occupied Hungary as Rumania had recently joined forces with the S.U. On the 15^th October 1944 Horthy was handed a statement announcing he was renouncing the armistice and abdicating. He signed the statement because he had been told his son’s life was at stake. Horthy and his son both survived the war. He later explained that he never resigned or abdicated, and stated – “A signature wrung from a man at machine gun point can have little legality”.

On the west coast of Estonia in the East Baltic Sea, the Red Army captured the Estonian Hiiumaa Island on the 3^rd October 1944. The Germans had occupied Estonia since 1941.

In Poland, Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp was the largest Jewish extermination facility built by the Nazis. Construction of the camp was completed by March 1942. Immediately upon completion the Nazis began deporting Jews to the camp. By June 1943, four gas chambers and Crematorium had been added, allowing for the murder and burning of 4,000 people per day. The grizzly tasks were conducted by approximately 1,000 segregated Jews, who were called Sonderkammandos (Special Work Force). These workers received better living and food conditions but routinely were killed and new prisoners brought in. Several resistance groups formed in the camp’s early days. An overall resistance was formed in preparation for the general revolt. The Sonderkammandos planned to blow up the crematoria with explosives brought in by women delivering food. On the 7^th October 1944 the revolt began when one crematorium was blown up. The revolt was suppressed and three German were killed as were 452 members of the Sonderkammandos. Following the revolt, Auschwitz did not return to its former operation.

From the 9^th to the 19^th October 1944 the forth Moscow Conference was conducted. Present were the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and delegates from the London based Polish government-in-exile and the communist Polish Committee of National Liberation. American delegates were in attendance as observers. There is unconfirmed evidence that Stalin agreed to enter the war against Japan. There is also no evidence the British agreed to return all former Soviet liberated citizens to the Soviet Union.

On the 10^th October 1944 Soviet troops had reached the German border of East Prussia. They continued their advance and on the 16^th October 1944 the Red Army was on the German territory of East Prussia.

German occupation of Greece began in April 1941. On the 14^th October 1944, with the Allies advancing the Germans evacuated Greece and Athens was liberated when the British arrived.

In Yugoslavia the Red Army and Yugoslav partisans liberated the capital city of Belgrade on the 20^th October 1944. The whole of Yugoslavia was liberated from the Axis powers by the Red Army and Yugoslav partisans on the 25^th October 1944.  

(Pacific)

The five day Formosa Air Battle began on the 12^th October 1944 and ended on the 16^th October 1944. The battle was a series of aerial engagements by the U.S. Navy Carrier Task Force against the land based Japanese army and moored naval aircraft carriers. During the day, Japanese military installations and infrastructure on Formosa (Taiwan) were attacked by fighters from the U.S. aircraft carriers. At night the Japanese conducted air raids against U.S. ships. From over 1,500 aircraft the Japanese launched against the U.S. fleet, in the region of 300 to 550 were lost. These figures are only estimates. Formosa suffered heavy damage to military installations and infrastructure. U.S. casualties were 89 lost out of 1,000 aircraft, one cruiser severely damaged, one destroyer and two light cruisers slightly damaged. Despite Japanese propaganda that the Formosa Air Battle was a victory, they were forced to review their options. The false sense of victory resulted in the Japanese officers ordering an all-out pursuit of the U.S. fleet, which ended in another huge loss of aircraft. For the on-coming Battle of Leyte Gulf, organised kamikaze attacks were proposed.   

In the Philippines the Battle of Leyte was an amphibious landing by American forces against the Imperial Japanese Army. On the 20^th October 1944 U.S. General Douglas MacArthur led the landing troops onto the beaches. In February 1942 when the Japanese were over-running the Philippines, MacArthur was ordered by U.S. President Roosevelt to relocate to Australia. Upon arriving at Australia, his comment was “I came through and I shall return”. With the successful landing MacArthur had honoured his statement that he would return. The Battle of Leyte ended on the 26^th December 1944 and was a U.S. victory.

The four day Battle of Leyte Gulf began on the 23^rd October 1944 and ended on the 26^th October 1944. The battle was the largest naval battle of the Second World War. The Americans had approximately 300 ships of all descriptions and the Japanese had 67 available ships. The Americans had about 1,500 carrier-based planes for combat with the Japanese total of 300 carrier and land based planes. Japanese organised kamikaze attacks were in operation for the first time. Kamikaze attacks were pilot suicide missions who flew their aircraft into the U.S. warships. The overall aim was to sink or destroy the warships. The Japanese committed their ships into three separate areas in an effort to lure the U.S. fleet away from the Battle of Leyte. On the 25^th October 1944, aircraft of the northern, central and southern forces of the Japanese fleet fought with U.S. aircraft on three separate air engagements. The result was the defeat of the Japanese navy whose casualties were 17 ships damaged, 11 destroyers sunk and the loss of all 300 plus aircraft. They also had 12,000 naval personnel killed or wounded. The U.S. had 3,000 naval personnel killed or wounded, ten ships damaged, two destroyers sunk and 255 aircraft lost. On the 26^th October 1944 the remaining Japanese fleet retreated to their bases in Japan and the result was the loss of the Philippines.

From June to August 1944, six airfields were under construction during the Mariana Islands campaign. The Japanese-held islands of Guan, Saipan and Tinian had been captured by the U.S. army. By the 23^rd October 1944 Tinian airfield was ready to receive Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers. Tinian Island, 1,500 miles (2,400 km) south of Tokyo, allowed the B-29s to attack the home islands of Japan and return without refuelling. With hundreds of B-29s based at the airfield, systematic bombing of Japan began.

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