July 12, 1943 Russians halt German advance in a decisive battle at Kursk On this day in 1943, one of the greatest clashes of armor in military history takes place as the German offensive against the Russian fortification at Kursk, a Russian railway and industrial center, is stopped in a devastating battle, marking the turning point in the Eastern front in the Russians' favor. The Germans had been driven from Kursk, a key communications center between north and south, back in February. By March, the Russians had created a salient, a defensive fortification, just west of Kursk in order to prevent another attempt by the Germans to advance farther south in Russia. In June, the German invaders launched an air attack against Kursk; on the ground, Operation Cottbus was launched, ostensibly dedicated to destroying Russian partisan activity, but in reality resulting in the wholesale slaughter of Russian civilians, among whom Soviet partisan fighters had been hiding. The Russians responded with air raids against German troop formations. By July, Hitler realized that the breaking of the Russian resistance at Kursk was essential to pursuing his aims in Soviet Russia and the defense of Greater Germany, that is, German-occupied territory outside prewar German borders. "This day, you are to take part in an offensive of such importance that the whole future of the war may depend on its outcome," Hitler announced to his soldiers on July 4. But on July 5, the Russians pulled the rug out from under Hitler's offensive by launching their own artillery bombardment. The Germans counterattacked, and the largest tank battle in history began: Between the two assailants, 6,000 tanks were deployed. On July 12, 900 Russian tanks clashed with 900 German (including their superior Tiger tanks) at Prokhorovka--the Battle of Kursk's most serious engagement. When it was all over, 300 German tanks, and even more Russian ones, were strewn over the battlefield. "The earth was black and scorched with tanks like burning torches," report! ed one Russian officer. But the Russians had stopped the German advance dead in its tracks. The advantage had passed to the East. The Germans' stay in Soviet territory was coming to an end.
12-13 July 1943. Acting Wing Commander J.D. Nettleton VC is declared missing in action while serving with No.44 Squadron, RAF Bomber Command, when the Avro Lancaster I he was piloting (ED331) fails to return from a raid on Torino. He and his crew have no known graves and are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. No.44 Squadron Lancaster ED331 KM-Z Op: Turin. Believed shot down by a night-fighter off the Brest peninsular.
2 July 1944. The Royal Air Force's first operational jet aircraft, the Gloster Meteor, enters service with No.616 (South Yorkshire) Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF), then based at RAF Manston in Kent.
Date: 12 July 1940 The Battle of Britain. Weather: Mainly cloudy with early-morning fog in the Channel. Thunderstorms in many districts. Day: Attacks on convoy off Norfolk-Suffolk coast, shipping off the Isle of Wight and Aberdeen. Night: South Wales and Bristol areas. Enemy action by day The chief features of the day's operations were attacks on shipping and one raid on Aberdeen. The main shipping raid consisted of 2 formations of 12+ and 6+ aircraft which attacked a convoy off the Norfolk-Suffolk coast in the morning. Five fighter sections were despatched to intercept and these were further reinforced by one squadron. The ensuing action resulted in six enemy aircraft being shot down for certain and 2 more probable. One Hurricane is missing and one crashed on landing. A second, though less intensive raid, on shipping took place in the afternoon off the Isle of Wight. This was intercepted by one squadron and resulted in one enemy aircraft being shot down and two others probable. Other actions along the coasts brought the total to 10 certain and 4 probable, the aircraft which bombed Aberdeen being included. One other Hurricane was brought down in the sea, but the pilot is safe. South and West From 0600-0900 hours, sporadic raids occurred principally in the Portland area, in one of which a combat took place at 10,000 feet in a thick haze, but with no known result. At 1515 hours, 1 Do17 appeared Portland and was attacked by 501 Squadron. The result was inconclusive. One Hurricane dived into the sea, but the pilot was picked up by a naval unit. At 1555 hours, bombs were dropped between the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth, and at Southampton, and a He111 was shot down by 43 Squadron. This aircraft was grounded damaged, with a heavy load of bombs. Five raids were off Cornwall and Devon, Weymouth, Falmouth and St Eval were bombed at about 1640 hours. A Ju88 involved was attacked by 243 Squadron. It was last seen with black smoke coming from the port engine. South-East and East During the forenoon and early afternoon, reconnaissances were made of the Thames Estuary and Norfolk coast. At 1642 hours, a trawler off the Essex coast sent out a SOS as it was being attacked by a He111 which ultimately 74 Squadron shot down in the sea. Scottish Coast Between 0900 hours and 1300 hours, raids took place off Aberdeen and in the course of one of these a shipyard was bombed. No damage was sustained by HM ships building, or under repair. The raider, a He111 was shot down by 603 Squadron. By night from 2100 hours Between 2240 hours and 0102 hours in the west, 7 raids crossed the coast in the Portland area and made for South Wales and Bristol. Bombs were dropped at Newport and at Highbridge (Somerset). Off the East Coast between 2334 hours and 0117 hours a few raids approached Northumberland and Yorkshire and some were plotted inland. Bombs were dropped at Billingham and Thornaby. Off the Scottish Coast between 2332 hours and 0017 hours 14 tracks were plotted. These crossed the Fife and Aberdeen coast and bombs were dropped on Cupar, Dunfermline and Helensburgh. No reports of damage have been received. Weather prevented fighter action and enemy activity was also restricted on this account. Statistics Casualties: Enemy: Fighters - 2 unconfirmed; Bombers - 10 confirmed, 2 unconfirmed. Own: 3 Hurricanes. Patrols: 207 patrols involving 700 aircraft were flown Balloons: No information Aerodromes: Catterick unserviceable. Organisation: No. 152 Squadron (Spitfire) from Acklington to Warmwell No. 141 Squadron (Defiant) from Turnhouse to West Malling No. 79 Squadron (Hurricane) from Biggin Hill to Acklington Air Intelligence Reports A Ju87 operating against shipping the in English Channel was seen to have an extra fuel tank under each wing. These tanks increase the range of the Ju87 to 900 miles with corresponding reduction in its bomb load. German aircraft may make greater use of lengths of cable which are released when fighters make stern attack. Possible that aircraft of KG1 are at least equipped with apparatus for this purpose. An experimental Gruppe equipped with Me110s fitted with bomb racks has been formed and may be used against targets in the British Isles at any time. This is in accordance with German Air Force policy of evasion. Home Security Reports 12-13th July 1940 General Summary Casualties and considerable damage were caused by raids by enemy aircraft on Scotland, South and South West England and parts of Wales. [*]Detailed Summary Bombs fell ineffectively on rural areas in Cornwall, namely Goonhaven (near Perranporth), at Trefusis Point (near Falmouth), South of Truro and near Newquay. Aberdeen was raided by a single aircraft which dropped high explosive bombs. This raid caused twenty-six deaths and seventy-nine casualties and considerable damage to property, including Hall Russell & Co. Iron Works. Enemy aircraft also raided Auchterless at 1053 hours. Bombs were dropped on the naval base at Portland without causing casualties or damage. High explosive bombs were dropped at Hamble near Southampton at 1305 hours, causing slight damage to houses but no casualties. Newport (Monmouthshire) was subjected to a raid by enemy aircraft which caused slight damage to railway sidings at Lysaght's Works but caused no casualties.
July 13, 1944 Soviet General Konev establishes a new western border for the USSR On this day in 1944, General Ivan Konev, one of the Soviet Union's most outstanding officers, pursues an offensive against 40,000 German soldiers to capture the East Galician city of Lvov. When the battle was over, 30,000 Germans were dead, and the USSR had a new western border. Joseph Stalin had declared that he wanted the western border of the Soviet Union to be pushed back across the River Bug, territory that was part of prewar Poland, but was now occupied German territory. General Konev, who had led the first offensive against the Germans when they invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 (and who had created the "Konev ambush," a strategy by which troops retreat from the center of a battle area, only to allow troops from the flanks to close into the breach, used to defeat German General Heinz Guderian's tank offensive against Moscow), led the Red Army's new attack westward. He encircled 40,000 German soldiers in the town of Brody. After seven days, 30,000 German soldiers were dead, and Lvov was Soviet-occupied territory and would remain a part of the new postwar Soviet map. General Konev would go on to cross Poland into Germany and, meeting up with U.S. and other Soviet forces, enter Berlin to see the final downfall of the Axis power.
TIMOTHY PICKERING (July 13, 1943) US liberty ship loaded with supplies, ammunition and troops, hit by two bombs from Stuka dive bombers while in the anchorage one mile off the beach at Avola, Sicily. One 500-lb bomb penetrated into the engine room causing a violent explosion as the cargo blew up. Another landed in the forward hold causing a fire which the crew was unable to control. The resulting explosions caused the ship to settle in the water stern first and had to be sunk by a torpedo from a British destroyer. It took the ship 20 minutes to sink under a mushroom cloud of flame and smoke. Of the 128 British troops on board 127 die as do twenty-three of the forty-three man crew. Sixteen of the twenty-three man Armed Guard were also killed leaving a death toll of 166. There were 23 survivors who were blown overboard by the initial blast and rescued by other friendly ships in the area.
13 July 1943 No.244 Wing, Desert Air Force (No.92 and No.145 Squadrons RAF and No.1 Squadron South African Air Force) land in Sicily from Malta.
Date: 13 July 1940 The Battle of Britain. Weather: Early morning fog in southern England clearing by mid-morning. Day: Shipping attacks off Dover and Portland. Night: Minelaying in Thames Estuary. Enemy action by day During the day the enemy focussed his attention primarily on shipping and many bombs were dropped on convoys but no hits are reported. Major fighter engagements were as follows:- i. Off Portland at 1430 hours. ii. In the Dover area at 1730 hours. iii. About 15 miles off Calais at 1800 hours. Attack on Shipping in Portland Area At 1420 hours 20 enemy aircraft attacked shipping off Portland. No 238 Squadron (Hurricanes) and No 609 Squadron (Spitfires) intercepted and shot down 3 Me110s and one Do17 confirmed and one Me110 and one Do17 unconfirmed. Our casualties - one Hurricane. Attack on Dover Harbour At about 1730 hours a mixed formation of Ju87s and Me109s attacked Dover Harbour and a convoy south of Dover. 64 Squadron (Spitfires) intercepted and shot down 2 Me109s unconfirmed. One Spitfire was slightly damaged by AA fire but landed safely. AA guns claim one Ju87 which was later seen to fall into the sea. This has not been confirmed. Engagement off Calais At about 1800 hours, 56 Squadron (Hurricanes) intercepted a mixed force of 6 Ju87s and 12 Me113s about 15 miles off Dover. In the ensuing encounter, 3 Ju87s and 2 He113s were shot down for certain and one Ju87 probable. Our casualties - 2 Hurricanes. South Coast During the early morning 2 raids approached the Isle of Wight crossing the Hampshire and Dorset coasts. In spite of heavy clouds 501 Squadron (Hurricanes) shot down a Do17 west of Southampton. At 1114 hours an He111 which appeared over Spithead was shot down by 43 Squadron (Hurricanes). East Coast During the day 8 raids were reported off the East Coast, two of which attacked convoys. No hits have been reported. Bombing Bombs were dropped in the following areas:- Dundee, Warmwell, 4 miles NE Lulworth Cove. By night Fighters were despatched to intercept a few enemy raids but no interceptions were effected. There was little enemy activity. Minelaying is suspected in the Thames Estuary and between Middlesborough and The Wash. Bombing No reports of bombing have been received. An explosion occurred at 2310 hours in High Duty Alloys Factory at Slough in which one man was killed and 45 injured (23 slightly). Cause is at present unknown. Patrols over France Nil. Statistics Casualties: Enemy: Fighters - 6 confirmed 3 unconfirmed Bombers - 6 confirmed, 2 unconfirmed [*]Own: 3 Hurricanes. Patrols: 143 patrols despatched involving 473 aircraft. Balloons: Flying 1091. Casualties 32. Aerodromes: Dyce and Catterick unserviceable during the hours of darkness. Organisation: No. 152 Squadron (Spitfire) from Acklington to Warmwell No. 141 Squadron (Defiant) from Turnhouse to West Malling and is non-operational No. 79 Squadron (Hurricane) from Turnhouse to Acklington Air Intelligence Reports Increasing use is being made of armour plate both in bombers and fighters. An armoured bulkhead conforming to shape of fuselage five feet behind pilot was found on a Messerschmitt 109 which crashed at Elham (Kent). The thickness of the plate is 8mm. Home Security Reports Period: 11th - 13th July 1940 General Summary During the extended period under review the enemy has continued widely dispersed dropping of bombs in different parts of the country. Areas in Central and North-eastern Scotland, County Durham, Devonshire and South Wales have been affected by the attacks but no very serious damage or casualties have resulted except as reported in the previous summary. [*]Detailed Summary St Eval Aerodrome suffered minor damage from HE bombs on the 12th July. Bombs were dropped on the same day in a number of places in South Wales. Traffic was delayed on the main GWR line between Newport and Cardiff on account of a reported unexploded bomb which was subsequently reported to have exploded. Electric cables were damaged at Greatham, approximately 4 miles North-west of Billingham. Portland was raided by nine to twelve enemy aircraft but no damage or casualties were caused. At Dover, several bombs were dropped in an unsuccessful attack on shipping.
Date: 14 July 1940 The Battle of Britain. Weather: Fair all day. Day: Shipping attacks off Dover and Swanage. Night: Bristol area, Isle of Wight, Kent and Suffolk raided. Enemy action by day Fighter engagements with the enemy were on a smaller scale due to a reduction of enemy activity near our coasts. What activity there was, however, was almost entirely directed towards attacks on shipping. Bombs damaged convoys off Dover and a naval unit was bombed off Swanage. No damage reported. A convoy off the Norfolk Coast was also reconnoitred, and one raid approached the coast of Montrose. Patrols were maintained over convoys at periods during the day; one enemy aircraft in reporting the position of a convoy, mentioned our fighter escort and no attack resulted. South and South-West Coasts From 0600 to 0900 hours very little activity occurred. One raid went through the Straits and disappeared north of Boulogne. An intercepting attempt was unsuccessful. One raid near Poole went inland and back over the sea again sections, and at 0900 hours no reports of bombs dropped or interceptions had been made. Between 0900 and 1100 hours five raids were plotted over the Channel from Start Point to Dungenness. Shortly after 1100 hours two raids approached Swanage and a naval unit reported having been bombed. No reports were received regarding any damage. Hostile aircraft were tracked intermittently between Start Point and Land's End searching for shipping, but no convoys were in the area. Between 1300 and 1400 hours several raids were over convoys near Dover. Our fighters were on escort duty and the raiders turned back. At about 1500 hours, a number of raids were plotted, assembling behind Calais. In consequence, 3 fighter squadrons proceeded to investigate and intercepted an enemy force of 40 Ju87s, escorted by a number of Me109s over Dover and the Channel. Our aircraft shot down 3 Ju87s, 3 Me109s, and probably destroyed 1 Ju87 and 1 Me109. Our loss was one Hurricane. During this combat, a Hurricane which failed to answer a challenge was attacked by our fighters, whereupon it dived towards sea level and flew off towards France. Two merchant vessels were attacked and a naval unit hit during this engagement. East Coast Very little activity was reported off the East Coast. A few isolated enemy reconnaissances were made off Cromer, Skegness and Lowestoft areas, and over a convoy east of Harwich. Two squadrons were sent to investigate, but no contact was made. Scotland One raid approached the coast near Montrose at 4,000ft and was reported to be a Dornier. This did not cross the coast but disappeared in a south-easterly direction. South of Ireland It was reported that enemy aircraft made reconnaissances as far west as a point south-south-west of Mizen Head. By night Several raids were reported over the country from 2200 hours. Bombs were dropped in the Bristol area, north- northwest of the Isle of Wight, Kent and Suffolk. Some 18 raids appeared off the Thames Estuary and Harwich and are suspected of minelaying. Statistics Casualties: Enemy: Fighters - 3 confirmed 1 unconfirmed Bombers - 3 confirmed, 1 unconfirmed AA claims destruction of one bomber in above totals [*]Own: 1 Hurricane. Patrols: 163 patrols despatched involving 612 aircraft. Balloons: Flying 1097. Casualties 23. Aerodromes: Catterick unserviceable. Organisation: No. 141 Squadron (Defiant) became operational at 1300 hours at West Malling No. 79 Squadron (Hurricane) at Acklington. Not yet operational. No. 73 Squadron (Hurricane) operational by day only. Air Intelligence Reports British pilots again report Messerschmitt 109 fitted with cannon firing aft. Home Security Reports Period: 13/14th July 1940 General Summary There was very little enemy activity over Great Britain during the night of 13/14th July but in a number of districts warnings were given owing to the presence of enemy aircraft out at sea, particularly in the Thames Estuary. [*]Detailed Summary All unexploded bombs in the Badminton area gave been dealt with. Subsequent reports on the bombing attack at Hamble (Southampton area) at 1350 hours on the 12th July state that four HE were dropped. It was stated by the military that they were 250 kilo bombs and that many houses were slightly damaged. Hostile aircraft flew over Portland at 1446 hours and Plymouth at 1700 hours on the 14th July but no bombs were dropped. At 2256 hours 14th July, bombs were dropped at Avonmouth causing damage to the railway line and docks line; also a signal box was wrecked. Later, a second raid was carried out when bombs dropped on wasteland within the National Smelting Works.
July 14, 1974 Carl Spaatz dies On this day in 1974, U.S. Army General Carl Spaatz, fighter pilot and the first chief of staff of an independent U.S. Air Force, dies in Washington, D.C., at age 83. Spaatz was born in 1891 in Boyertown, Pennsylvania, and graduated from the Military Academy at West Point in 1914. He was a combat pilot during World War I, and at the outbreak of World War II went to England to help evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the German military. (During the Blitz, the air raids on England by the German Luftwaffe, Spaatz would sit on rooftops to better observe German air tactics.) In July 1942, he became commander of the U.S. Eighth Air Force and inaugurated daylight bombing runs against German-occupied territory in Europe. Two years later, Spaatz was made commander of U.S. Strategic Air Forces in Europe and continued the practice of daylight bombing, the target now being Germany itself, especially its fuel-oil plants. Since Germany had already lost access to oil in Romania after that country's occupation by the Soviet Union, the destruction of its native oil production proved particularly devastating to Germany's ability to keep up aircraft p! roduction. In 1945, with the war in the West over (Spaatz was present at the formal German surrender at Reims on May 8), his focus shifted to the Pacific and the Japanese. Although he initially opposed the use of atomic weapons against Japan, he eventually acquiesced and directed the bomb drops on order from President Truman. In fact, his telegraph to Washington stating that there were no Allied prisoner of war camps in Hiroshima resulted in that city becoming the first target of the atom bomb. In September 1947, General Spaatz, an illustrious combat career behind him, was named the first chief of staff of the now independent U.S. Air Force, which previously had been a unit of the Army. But a desk job was not for him. He retired in 1948.
July 15, 1941 Garbo makes an appearance On this day in 1941, master spy Juan Pujol Garcia, nicknamed "Garbo," sends his first communique to Germany from Britain. The question was: Who was he spying for? Juan Garcia, a Spaniard, ran an elaborate multiethnic spy network that included a Dutch airline steward, a British censor for the Ministry of Information, a Cabinet office clerk, a U.S. soldier in England, and a Welshman sympathetic to fascism. All were engaged in gathering secret information on the British-Allied war effort, which was then transmitted back to Berlin. Garcia was in the pay of the Nazis. The Germans knew him as "Arabel," whereas the English knew him as Garbo. The English knew a lot more about him, in fact, than the Germans, as Garcia was a British double agent. None of Garcia's spies were real, and the disinformation he transmitted to Germany was fabricated--phony military "secrets" that the British wanted planted with the Germans to divert them from genuine military preparations and plans. Among the most effective of Garcia's deceptions took place in June 1944, when he managed to convince Hitler that the D-Day invasion of Normandy was just a "diversionary maneuver designed to draw off enemy reserves in order to make a decisive attack in another place"--playing right into the mindset of German intelligence, which had already suspected that this might be the case. (Of course, it wasn't.) Among the "agents" that Garcia employed in gathering this "intelligence" was Donny, leader of the World Aryan Order; Dick, an "Indian fanatic"; and Dorick, a civilian who lived at a North Sea port. All these men were inventions of Garcia's imagination, but they leant authenticity to his reports back to Berlin--so much so that Hitler, while visiting occupied France, awarded Garcia the Iron Cross for his service to the fatherland. That same year, 1944, Garcia received his true reward, the title of MBE—Member of the British Empire--for his service to the England and the Allied cause. This ingenious Spaniard had proved to be one of the Allies' most successful counterintelligence tools.
GLOUCESTER CASTLE (July 15, 1942) Union Castle Line passenger ship of 7,999 tons and converted to an Armed Merchant Cruiser, was attacked off the Ascension Islands, by German commerce raider Michel during a voyage from Birkenhead to Cape Town, South Africa. All her starboard side lifeboats were destroyed after which she sank about ten minutes later. Of her complement of 12 passengers (all women and children) and 142 crew, a total of 93 souls perished. Two lifeboats escaped the scene carrying 61 survivors but was later picked up by the Michel and transferred to her supply tanker, the Charlotte Schliemann, which transported them to Yokohama, Japan, where they were interned for the rest of the war. Two of the survivors died while in Japanese captivity.
15 July 1942 Operations Colima and Pinpoint: 31 Supermarine Spitfires are flown to Malta from the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle. Subsequently, a further 28 Spitfires are flown to the island from the same carrier on 21 July in Operations Knapsack and Insect.
15 July 1945 The Royal Air Force's Second Tactical Air Force (2TAF) is redesignated British Air Forces of Occupation (BAFO). With the end of the Second World War in Europe, the RAF within Germany is initially tasked with assisting the British Army in maintaining order within the British Zone and supervising the dissolution of the Luftwaffe. The first Air Officer Commanding of BAFO was Air Chief Marshal Sir William Sholto Douglas.
July 16, 1940 Marshal Petain becomes premier of occupied France On this day in 1940, Marshal Henri-Philippe Petain, World War I hero, becomes prime minister of the Vichy government of France. As Germany began to overrun more French territory, the French Cabinet became desperate for a solution to this crisis. Premier Paul Reynaud continued to hold out hope, refusing to ask for an armistice, especially now that France had received assurance from Britain that the two would fight as one, and that Britain would continue to fight the Germans even if France were completely overtaken. But others in the government were despondent and wanted to sue for peace. Reynaud resigned in protest. His vice premier, Henri Petain, formed a new government and asked the Germans for an armistice, in effect, surrendering. This was an ironic position for Petain, to say the least. The man who had become a legendary war hero for successfully repelling a German attack on the French city of Verdun during the First World War was now surrendering to Hitler. In the city of Vichy, the French Senate and Chamber of Deputies conferred on the 84-year-old general the title of "Chief of State," making him a virtual dictator--although one controlled by Berlin. Petain believed that he could negotiate a better deal for his country--for example, obtaining the release of prisoners of war--by cooperating with, or as some would say, appeasing, the Germans. But Petain proved to be too clever by half. While he fought against a close Franco-German military collaboration, and fired his vice premier, Pierre Laval, for advocating it, and secretly urged Spain's dictator Francisco Franco to refuse passage of the German army to North Africa, his attempts to undermine the Axis while maintaining an official posture of neutrality did not go unnoticed by Hitler, who ordered that Laval be reinstated as vice premier. Petain acquiesced, but refused to resign in protest because of fear that France would come under direct German rule if he were not there to act as a buffer. But he soon became little more than a figurehead, despite efforts to manipulate events behind the scenes that would advance the Free French cause (then publicly denying, even denouncing, those events when they came to light). When Paris was finally liberated by General Charles de Gaulle in 1944, Petain fled to Germany. He was brought back after the war to stand trial for his duplicity. He was sentenced to death, which was then commuted to life in solitary confinement. He died at 95 in prison. The man responsible for saving his life was de Gaulle. He and Petain had fought in the same unit in World War I and had not forgotten Petain's bravery during that world war.
16 July 1940 Hitler's War Directive No.16 of this date details advanced planning for the invasion of the United Kingdom. As part of the preparations for such an assault, which are to be completed by the middle of August, the War Directive decrees that "the English Air Force must be so reduced morally and physically that it is unable to deliver any significant attack against the German crossing." The assault was codenamed Seelöwe (Sealion).
16 July 1945 At 0529hrs, the first atomic weapon is successfully detonated at the Trinity test site at Alamogordo in New Mexico, USA. The weapon generated a yield of 18,600 tons of TNT.
July 17, 1945 Potsdam Conference convenes On this day in 1945, the conference of Allied victors at Potsdam, outside of Berlin, begins, with U.S. President Harry S. Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin in attendance. The issues at hand for the Big Three and their staffs were the administration of a defeated Germany; the postwar borders of Poland; the occupation of Austria; the Soviet Union's "place" in Eastern Europe; war reparations; and the continuing war in the Pacific. Various disputes broke out almost immediately, especially over the Soviet Union's demand that the western border of Poland extend into German territory, granting Poland a zone of occupation. But the four zones of occupation that had been worked out at the Yalta Conference in February were finally agreed upon, to be created in both Germany and Austria and to be controlled by the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. A council composed of representatives of the four great powers was also established to determine the fate of Germany and Austria as nations. The council was to pursue the Five D's: demilitarization, denazification, decentralization, deindustrialization, and democratization. It was also agreed that unconditional surrender would be demanded of Japan, despite a warning by the Japanese emperor that such a demand would be resisted. Unlike previous Allied conferences, Potsdam was marked by suspicion and defensiveness on the part of the participants. Now that the war was over in the West, each nation was more concerned with its own long-term interests than that of its partners. Winston Churchill in particular was greatly suspicious of Joseph Stalin's agenda for the Soviet Union's role in Eastern Europe. Stalin refused to negotiate the future of those Eastern European nations now occupied by Soviet forces. When Churchill was informed that an election had ousted his Conservative Party from power, and that Labor's Clement Attlee was now prime minister, he returned to London. With Churchill gone from the final negotiations of the conference, the Iron Curtain could be heard descending across Eastern Europe.
E. A. BRYAN (July 17, 1944) A 7,212-ton Liberty ship, was moored at Port Chicago Naval Base, California, taking on ammunition and high explosives. Just before 10.20pm, the ship, loaded with 4,600 tons of munitions and 1,780 tons of explosives, blew up in one gigantic explosion completely wrecking the port and sending smoke and debris 12,000 feet into the air. Windows were shattered some 20 miles away. A second ship, moored nearby, the brand new QUINALT VICTORY was getting ready for its maiden voyage and also loaded with munitions. It had taken three days and nights to load the two ships, the work mostly done by black naval personnel. All on board the two ships, and many on the pier, were killed instantly. (E.A. Bryan, 53 killed, Quinalt Victory, 44 killed) A total of 320 men died including 202 black sailors. A total of 390 military and civilian personnel were injured. A twelve ton locomotive operating on the pier simply vanished, not a single piece was ever found. The 1,200 ft. wooden pier and 16 boxcars loaded with bombs and ammunition disappeared. The damage bill to the Port of Chicago (now the Concord Naval Weapons Station) was estimated at $12 million. The cause of the explosion was never officially established by the Court of Inquiry. (After this disaster, ammunition loading ceased to be a 'blacks only' affair). Following the Port Chicago explosion, 258 black sailors refused to load explosives on to Pacific bound ships until safety was improved. Fifty were court-martialled, and convicted of mutiny. They were reduced to the lowest rank and sentenced to long prison terms. Ten of them to 15 years, twenty four to 12 years, eleven to 10 years and five got 8 years. The public outcry was such that all were released from prison some months later to spend the rest of their lives under the pall of injustice and deprived of veterans benefits. One black sailor, a Freddy Meeks had his honour restored by President Bill Clinton in 1999 who gave him a pardon. Freddy Meeks died in June 2003 aged 83.
17 July 1944. The Victoria Cross is awarded to Flight Lieutenant J.A. Cruickshank for sinking the U-boat U-347 north-west of Norway during an operational patrol. The aircraft involved was Consolidated Catalina JV928 'DA-Y' of No.210 Squadron, RAF Coastal Command.
