|
|
Post by Werebeaver on Aug 25, 2024 19:23:40 GMT -8
After more than four years of Nazi occupation, Paris is liberated by the French 2nd Armored Division and the U.S. 4th Infantry Division.
|
|
|
|
Post by lebaneaver on Aug 26, 2024 11:38:35 GMT -8
Can you imagine THAT party?!?!
|
|
|
|
Post by wilkyisdashiznit on Aug 26, 2024 15:01:05 GMT -8
The Nazis, who left Paris, took as much food as possible in their retreat, so there was very little food for about 10 days after liberation. Certainly a big day for the Allies and a sign of better days ahead for the Parisians.
|
|
|
|
Post by wilkyisdashiznit on Aug 26, 2024 15:43:38 GMT -8
On August 26, 1944, Toulon was liberated.
Also, there was a parade through mostly-liberated Paris. Charles de Gaulle relit the Arc de Triomphe, marched along the Champs-Élysées, and attended mass at Notre Dame. Sniper fire rang out while the troops marched along the Champs-Élysées.
In Germany, the Rüsselsheim massacre occurred. Nine members of a B-24 bailed out on August 24, 1944. All nine were captured. The most injured member, Sergeant Forrest W. Brininstool, top turret gunner and flight engineer, was placed in a German hospital. The other eight walked through the streets of Rüsselsheim from one train station to another, the day after a Canadian night bombing raid. Despite the Americans stating in German that they were American and not Canadian and had not participated in the bombing, the German crowd beat and then shot six of the eight flyers to death with only Sergeant William A. Adams, nose gunner, and Sergeant Sidney E. Brown, tail gunner, escaping. (Air Raid Warden, Josef Hartgen, had shot the other six in the head.) Adams and Brown were recaptured four days later, trying to reach the Rhine River, and spent the remainder of the war in Camp Oberursel.
The six airmen killed were Lieutenant Norman J. Rogers, Jr., pilot; Lieutenant John N. Sekul, copilot; Flight officer Haigus Tufenkjian, navigator and bombardier; Sergeant Thomas D. Williams Jr., radio operator; Sergeant William A. Dumont, belly gunner; and Sergeant Elmore L. Auston, waist gunner.
After the War, six Germans were executed for the violations of the Geneva Convention and murders, including Hartgen. Five others were sentenced to more than eight years of hard labor each.
In the Pacific, the USS Batfish torpedoed 五月雨, the Samidare ("early summer rain"). The 五月雨 was the ninth of the 10 白露-class, Shiratsuyu ("white dew"), destroyers to be destroyed. The final 白露-class destroyer, the 時雨, the Shigure ("autumn shower"), was torpedoed by the USS Blackfin in the Gulf of Siam and sank.
|
|
|
|
Post by Werebeaver on Aug 26, 2024 17:06:04 GMT -8
The celebration was memorable and joyous. But the 4th had months of intense fighting ahead of them before VE Day, including the Battle of the Bulge in Dec/Jan 44/45.  |
|
|
|
Post by wilkyisdashiznit on Aug 27, 2024 14:47:40 GMT -8
On August 26, 1944, Toulon was liberated. Also, there was a parade through mostly-liberated Paris. Charles de Gaulle relit the Arc de Triomphe, marched along the Champs-Élysées, and attended mass at Notre Dame. Sniper fire rang out while the troops marched along the Champs-Élysées. In Germany, the Rüsselsheim massacre occurred. Nine members of a B-24 bailed out on August 24, 1944. All nine were captured. The most injured member, Sergeant Forrest W. Brininstool, top turret gunner and flight engineer, was placed in a German hospital. The other eight walked through the streets of Rüsselsheim from one train station to another, the day after a Canadian night bombing raid. Despite the Americans stating in German that they were American and not Canadian and had not participated in the bombing, the German crowd beat and then shot six of the eight flyers to death with only Sergeant William A. Adams, nose gunner, and Sergeant Sidney E. Brown, tail gunner, escaping. (Air Raid Warden, Josef Hartgen, had shot the other six in the head.) Adams and Brown were recaptured four days later, trying to reach the Rhine River, and spent the remainder of the war in Camp Oberursel. The six airmen killed were Lieutenant Norman J. Rogers, Jr., pilot; Lieutenant John N. Sekul, copilot; Flight officer Haigus Tufenkjian, navigator and bombardier; Sergeant Thomas D. Williams Jr., radio operator; Sergeant William A. Dumont, belly gunner; and Sergeant Elmore L. Auston, waist gunner. After the War, six Germans were executed for the violations of the Geneva Convention and murders, including Hartgen. Five others were sentenced to more than eight years of hard labor each. In the Pacific, the USS Batfish torpedoed 五月雨, the Samidare ("early summer rain"). The 五月雨 was the ninth of the 10 白露-class, Shiratsuyu ("white dew"), destroyers to be destroyed. The final 白露-class destroyer, the 時雨, the Shigure ("autumn shower"), was torpedoed by the USS Blackfin in the Gulf of Siam and sank. I guess that I should have also mentioned that Bulgaria, following Romania's lead and in light of the impending Soviet invasion joined the Allies on August 26, 1944. Without Bulgaria and Romania, Nazi Germany lost access to its last major supply of oil in Romania and its access to its last major supply of chrome in Turkey. Without both, the writing was on the wall. Germany could only win at that point, if the United Kingdom or United States could successfully be knocked out of the war, which led to the Battle of the Bulge. |
|
