Second by Second

This week in the War, 1–7 November 1943: Kiev is liberated by the Soviets

Posted on November 1, 2015 by secondbysecond

Soviet infantry march along a street in Kiev, November 1943 [Public domain via Wikimedia Commons]

This week in the war, the Soviet’s 3rd Guards Tank Army entered Kiev—the Soviet Union’s third largest city. One day later, on 6 November 1943, the city fell to the Soviet Army. By that time the Germans had withdrawn after destroying many of Kiev’s ancient buildings.

Jewish survivors who had been in hiding in Kiev described how tens of thousands of the city’s Jewish citizens had been murdered by the Nazis.

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This week in the War, 25–31 October 1943: Austrian-born actor & director Max Reinhardt dies in New York City

Posted on October 26, 2015 by secondbysecond

A scene from Max Reinhardt’s 1935 movie, A Midsummer Night’s Dream [Public domain]

Austrian-born actor and director Max Reinhardt died this week in the war, on 30 October 1943.

During his early years as a stage director in Austria-Hungary and later in Berlin he was considered one of the most original and innovative figures in European theatre. His plays were sometimes staged in circuses, cathedrals or amphitheatres and made use of contrasting light and shade to bring out an element of fantasy.

Being Jewish, Reinhardt left Germany in 1933, when the Nazis came to power. Eventually, he settled in the United States.

His one Hollywood movie was his 1935 film version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The cast of stars included James Cagney (in the role of Bottom), Mickey Rooney (as Puck), and Olivia de Havilland (as the beautiful Hermia). She is on the right in the scene above. Four years later, she would star as Melanie in the blockbuster Gone with the Wind.

Posted in World War II | Tagged A Midsummer Night's Dream, Max Reinhardt | Comments Off

This week in the War, 18–24 October 1943: The Moscow Conference

Posted on October 23, 2015 by secondbysecond

British Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, talks with US Secretary of State, Cordell Hull [Public domain]

This week in the war, the Moscow conference of foreign ministers began on 18 October 1943.

British Foreign minister, Anthony Eden, and US Secretary of state, Cordell Hull, met with their Soviet counterpart, Vyacheslav Molotov.

By the time the conference had ended, it had been agreed that a ‘European Advisory Commission’ be established and that Austria would once again become an independent country (i.e. independent from Germany). The principle of unconditional surrender (for Germany) was confirmed.

Posted in World War II | Tagged Anthony Eden, Cordell Hull, Molotov, Moscow | Comments Off

This week in the War, 11-17 October 1943: Italy changes sides

Posted on October 16, 2015 by secondbysecond

A Sherman tank of the 4th County of London Yeomanry fording the Volturno river at Grazzanise, 17 October 1943 [Public domain, IWM]

This week in the war in Italy, on the night of 12/13 October 1943, troops from the US 5th Army crossed over the Volturno river. Further advance was made difficult by torrential rain and fierce opposition from German units north of the river, including the elite Hermann Goering Luftwaffe armoured division.

Also on 13 October 1943, the Italian government declared war on Germany. Italy was now divided, with forces allied with Britain and America located to the south and Mussolini’s Italian Social Republic, still loyal to their Axis partner, located to the north.

A sunny day in Rome: Jeff Williams and WWII aficionado, Steve McCarthy, stand outside the former Gestapo HQ, now the Historical Museum of the Liberation [photograph by Edith-Mary Smith]

The German army was already spread throughout northern and central Italy and proceeded to occupy as much of the country as it could.

The former Italian embassy in Rome became the new headquarters for the Rome Gestapo. It now houses the Historical Museum of the Liberation (Museo Storico della Liberation) and is home to memorabilia and displays related to Italy’s struggle to oust the Nazi occupiers.

Posted in World War II | Tagged Italy, Rome, Volturno river | Comments Off

This week in the War, 4–10 October 1943: Two islands

Posted on October 5, 2015 by secondbysecond

The present-day island of Kos in the eastern Mediterranean [Public domain, author: Karelj]

This week in the war, massacres of prisoners occurred on two widely separated islands.

The first incident took place on the Greek island of Kos in the eastern Mediterranean, close to the coast of Turkey. Italian forces had occupied the island after the Italian/German invasion of Greece. Kos had been recaptured by the British on 15 September 1943 but then reinvaded by the Germans on 3 October. Resistance to the German landing force ended this week in the war, on 4 October 1943. The British troops became prisoners of war but 90 of the Italian officers were murdered by their captors—true to Hitler’s recent directive to execute all Italian officers who had sided with the Allies.

Wake Island in the western Pacific [Public domain]

The second massacre took place on Wake island in the western Pacific. The Japanese had invaded the island soon after the Pearl Harbour attack and were to occupy the island for the remainder of the war. This week in the war, on 5 October 1943, planes from the USS Yorktown bombed Japanese positions on the island. Two days later, anticipating an American invasion, the island’s commander ordered the murder of all US prisoners, a total that reached almost one hundred.

Posted in World War II | Tagged Greece, Kos, Wake island | Comments Off

This week in the War, 27 Sept–3 Oct 1943: Naples

Posted on September 28, 2015 by secondbysecond

British soldiers are greeted by the locals, Bay of Naples, 1943 [Public domain, IWM, artist: Tom White]

This week in the war, on 27 September 1943, the people of Naples rose up against the German occupiers who had been plundering the city and deporting thousands of citizens for forced labour in Germany. The uprising began in the afternoon when German soldiers were sacking a large department store in the city centre. The Germans retreated, firing at random.

By the end of the day, the fighting had spread throughout the city, with local citizens opening fire on the occupiers from windows and the roofs of buildings. The uprising continued the following day and the Germans sent in tanks, several of which were disabled by the Italians freedom fighters.

Barricades were hastily built and, despite a truce, the fighting continued for two more days until the Allies arrived on the southern edge of the city.

On the morning of 1 October 1943, the King’s Dragoon Guards entered Naples unopposed. The citizens of the city and the local Italian Resistance had already forced the German occupiers to withdraw—although not before the latter had destroyed much of the city’s infrastructure and factories, to say nothing of libraries and art.

Posted in World War II | Tagged Italy, Naples | Comments Off

This week in the War, 13–19 September 1943: Bridgehead firmly established at Salerno

Posted on September 16, 2015 by secondbysecond

British mortar crew in action near Salerno [Public domain, IWM]

This week in the war, heavy fighting continued around Salerno, the more northerly prong of the Allied force that had invaded the Italian mainland.

Using large numbers of tanks and powerful artillery, the Germans launched a series of counter-attacks aimed at throwing the Allies back into the sea. However, additional British and American reinforcements arrived and the landing force held on. By 16 September, the battle was going in favour of the Allies and the Germans started to pull back.

Given the Salerno bridgehead had survived and the British Eighth Army was advancing from the south, the Germans began a general withdrawal northward-west towards Naples.

Posted in World War II | Tagged Italy, Salerno | Comments Off

This week in the War, 6–12 September 1943: Italy surrenders, Mussolini is rescued

Posted on September 8, 2015 by secondbysecond

An Italian cruiser and battleship steam slowly past Royal Navy escorting ships en route to Malta to surrender, 10 September 1943 [Public domain]

This week in the war, on 8 September 1943, with the Allied fleet already in view off the Italian coast near Salerno, Italy surrendered. (The agreement to do so had already been signed five days earlier.)

General Eisenhower made the announcement: “The Italian government has surrendered its forces unconditionally. . . Hostilities between the armed forces of the United Nations and those of Italy terminate at once.” The head of the Italian government, Marshal Badoglio, made the same announcement on Italian radio.

Eisenhower went on to say that the Allies would support any Italians who acted to repel the Germans from Italian territory. Hitler had anticipated the threat and was already strengthening the German forces in Italy under Kesselring’s command. He launched Operation Axis with the intent to occupy Italy. Badoglio and the Italian royal family fled Rome for the safety of the south.

Otto Skorzeny (centre) next to Mussolini, after the latter was freed during the Gran Sasso raid, 12 September 1943 [Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-567-1503C-15]

As for the Duce: He was still under arrest and being held at the Campo Imperatore hotel on the Gran Sasso massif. By the end of the week, 12 September 1943, he was freed by German paratroopers and SS special forces who landed on the mountain top by glider. The SS leader, Otto Skorzeny, achieved worldwide fame for engineering the daring rescue (which was praised by Winston Churchill).

Mussolini (with Skorzeny) was flown to safety in Storch light aircraft. He landed near Rome and then flew on to Vienna.

Posted in World War II | Tagged Badoglio, Italy, Italy surrenders, Mussolini, Skorzeny | Comments Off

This week in the War, 30 Aug–5 Sept 1943: The Invasion of Italy

Posted on September 3, 2015 by secondbysecond

Invasion of Italy, 3 September 1943 [Public domain]

This week in the war, on the morning of 3 September 1943, General Bernard Montgomery’s Eighth Army invaded the mainland of southern Italy. It was the beginning of what would become a two-pronged assault on the Italian mainland, with Lieutenant-General Mark Clark’s US Fifth Army landing further north at Salerno (on 9 September).

There had been much behind-the-scenes diplomacy on the part of the Italians. Later that same day, Italian General Giuseppe Castellano secretly met American generals Eisenhower and Bedell Smith in Sicily and signed an armistice agreement on behalf of Italy’s head of government, Marshal Badoglio. It was agreed that the armistice would come into effect on 8 September.

A half-track comes ashore at Reggio during the invasion of Italy, 3 September 1943 [Public domain]

The Salerno landings soon ran into trouble. Although much of southern part of the country was taken, the Italian campaign would eventually develop into a long and difficult slog up the boot of Italy with the Germans under Luftwaffe Field Marshal Albert Kesselring mounting a effective defense. The Italy campaign did not end until close to the end of April 1945.

Posted in World War II | Tagged Invasion of Italy, Italy, Kesselring, Mark Clark, Montgomery | Comments Off

This week in the War, 1–7 November 1943: Kiev is liberated by the Soviets

This week in the War, 25–31 October 1943: Austrian-born actor & director Max Reinhardt dies in New York City

This week in the War, 18–24 October 1943: The Moscow Conference

This week in the War, 11-17 October 1943: Italy changes sides

This week in the War, 4–10 October 1943: Two islands

This week in the War, 27 Sept–3 Oct 1943: Naples

This week in the War, 13–19 September 1943: Bridgehead firmly established at Salerno

This week in the War, 6–12 September 1943: Italy surrenders, Mussolini is rescued

This week in the War, 30 Aug–5 Sept 1943: The Invasion of Italy

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