Camp McCoy in the Words of My Uncle

Friday, February 14, 2020

POST TWENTY-THREE (Red Flags and Rings) 30 March 1943

March 30, 1943

Dear Mother,

Here I am on range guard so with doing the best I can will write you a letter. First, I will tell you what I mean by range guard. The 37th FAB are firing at 10 o'clock. It is now 11 in the morning. I am 5 miles out in the woods on two cross roads. I can see a big hill and when I see a red flag go up all persons or cars are stopped from going over the roads. If anyone insist on passing I take their name, address etc. The same if any car try to go by, except the 37th. Gee the wind is blowing quite a little and you may not be able to read this. It is a warm wind and I have my overcoat off. Have it rolled up and am writing on it. Nothing under my sheet of paper so you can see my troubles. Ha! Ha! it's a letter just the same. I first stopped and watch a crow fly by. You know over of thousand black birds????

Gee Mom you can't guess what I got on those two big tests we took. 98.4% and 95%. I'm glad I worked hard. I didn't think I'd make that much. What do you think?
You folks at home are getting to high class for me. All this typewritten letters etc. I got Eugene's letter and could read it o.k. Tell him to be careful when he types. He told me how they hauled 30 don. I almost figured he meant something else -? Ha! Ha!
*(Personal Mother) So her ring cost $50.00. Gee not much if you say it quick. (A saying that if you say something fast it doesn't sound so bad.) I may have never told you before but one time not so very long ago I had in one part of my pocketbook $80.00. I saved a little each week even if I was paying for my car. I had in mind something that cost $89.00 and a few cents. Not that I cared to pay that much but you know how I am. I don't believe in paying too much but if I liked something I liked it and that is what I wanted. We both saw it and mention how pretty it was but that it cost quite a bit. She said she didn't care about one that even cost near $50.00. To her $25.00 was plenty. I will always say I liked that in her. Still I had seen what I liked and knew after all she liked it to. But it just wasn't to be. She never was a gold digger. I know what you mean when you said Pauline (girl friend) is nervous. She has been sick a lot this winter. Don't worry I'm not too serious and I just write a common letter. Guess my letters are not serious enough for her. I don't intend to write something I don't mean. *(end personal) ( It appears Uncle Charlie is writing about someone getting a ring. Then he shares about two different girl friends he has had and how Pauline is different from the other one he use to have. He let's his mother know he's not too serious about Pauline. It appears both Uncle Charlie and his mother have concerns about Pauline.)
There goes the red flag. I have just eaten my lunch. The rest I'll write standing up. The air out here is swell to-day.
A lieutenant in a jeep just drove up and asked me a few questions. Oh dear that salute.
Mom how would you like a drink out of this canteen? Here goes - not bad. Guess I'll wait until I get back to camp before addressing the envelope. I'd like you to get this even if you can't read it all.
Eugene sure thinks Dad is doing a swell job on the barn. I won't know the place until I see it all.
Here comes the trucks.
So Long,
Love to all
Charles

^^Mar 29 Meat (784 gram/week, 2 kilogram for GI's), butter & cheese rationed in US during WW II

^^Mar 30 5th National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men's Basketball Championship: Wyoming beats Georgetown, 46-34; Cowboys' point guard Ken Sailors is named tournament Most Outstanding Player. Kenneth Lloyd Sailors was an American professional basketball player active in the 1940's and early 1950's. A 5-foot-10-inch guard, he is notable for popularizing the jump shot as an alternative to the two-handed, flat-footed set shot.

Kenny Sailors

^^Mar 30 British 1st army recaptures Sejenane, Tunisia.

^^Mar 31 US bombs Rotterdam by mistake, kills 326. While the Germans occupied the Netherlands during the Second World War (1940–1945), Allied air forces carried out a number of operations over Rotterdam and the surrounding region. These included bombing strategic installations, leaflet dropping, and during the last week of the war, the dropping of emergency food supplies. In one incident, during a raid on the shipyards and dock area, the United States Army Air Forces accidentally bombed a residential area killing 326 people. This was revealed in the 1990’s and a memorial has been made.

Rotterdam Bombardment Memorial

**March 31 – Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! opens on Broadway, heralds a new era in "integrated" stage musicals, becomes an instantaneous stage classic, and goes on to be Broadway's longest-running musical up to that time. Runs until 1948.

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!

Camp McCoy Church Bulletin

of the Second Division Artillery
Was enclosed in the letter.

Uncle Charlie's Dad beginning to build the barn

Grandpa Knight beside completed barn.

*Source 1 https://www.thoughtco.com/world-war-ii-battles-2361453

*Source 2 https://americasbesthistory.com/timeline2ndworldwar1943.html for major battles

**Source 3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943_in_the_United_States

^^Source 4 https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1943

##Source 5 https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/us-home-front-during-world-war-ii

Saturday, February 8, 2020

POST TWENTY-TWO ( Bazookas) 28 March 1943

Inside Camp McCoy Church

March 28, 1943

Sun Morning

Dear Mom,

Here I am ready for church half an hour early so will start this letter. The sun is not shining and it feels a lot like rain. Still it is warm. Last week was a swell week and I guess at last spring is on its way. I hope so, it is sure has been rough. The people up here say it has been the hardest winter they have seen for years.

The past week was a grind. It sure was a hard week. Basic Training is over. The bad part is the fact you can't pick your job. Listen to this. A fellow had been a doughboy for over a year. Last December he was discharged. In two weeks he rejoined the Army. Being a little old he wanted to start where he left off, which seems the proper place after all. Guess where he ended up? - Here in the artillery. They put you where they like.
What a test we took. It covered 22 subjects with 127 questions, over 300 parts in all. Another part of the Division took one over the same work but with a little different questions. They started to train the same time we did. They only made an average of 50% so the General had a good idea - let us take it. I felt like going A.W.O.L. or over the hill in other words. We were told we trimmed the life out of them. I'll let you know later when I get my paper back.
The big shots took us out as a Battery one day to see what we could do with what we had learned. We were firing 2 miles and back at the 105 howitzer guns we couldn't use our target. It's a long story to tell you how it's done but you have forward observers, telephone, radio, B.C scope, aiming circle, etc. Each man has his job. We were told that on the other side of that big hill on the side of a little knoll was a machine gun nest. The order came down to blow it out. The third round was a direct hit. It sure looked good for all of us as a group.
Time out, Mother, I'm going to church now. Hope you're humming a little church tune this morning. What kind of day is it out at home? (So long for now.)
Back from church, also chow. The sun is trying to come out but it is still hazy over head. Pauline (girlfriend) wrote it was 18 degrees below the other morning.
That card I sent from Sparta, I didn't go to church there. Had to go down one evening so dropped you the card.
These new beds we have slept a lot better than the old ones. They were just a cot with canvas instead of a spring. A fellow went to get up last night and forgot he was up so high. He said it was a long way down to the floor and kind of hard landing.
That woman down at the mill still sends me the paper (Sunday). I have been so busy it has been two weeks or more since I wrote her last. Going to send her a line after I finish this. She writes me about 6 or 8 pages and tell me to write when I can but not to hurry. It cost her some money but she feels she is only doing a small part compared to what we boys are doing and giving up. I told her I didn't know how I could pay her back but someday I might. Boy what a letter I got. I'll never say anything about paying her back again.
How is Dad? When Helen wrote last he was having a lunch. Tell him to keep his chin up. The news is looking better all the time.
Did you hear about the new gun the Army has? It is so light two men can carry it. It is called a bazooka. You know like that new play on the radio. One soldier in Africa stopped 6 tanks with it. Another time a landing party was being held up. A soldier waded ashore and with the bazooka made the fort surrender. The charge is far more powerful than T.N.T. They just can't stand it long. A flier said that after flying over Berlin the other night it looked like as if the whole of Germany was aflame.
Ma, that Helen (sister) sure takes the cake. Said she couldn't write much more as she had to tease Joey for awhile. No rest for poor Joe now. Well he can look back to last winter and think how lonesome he was.
Eugene (brother) never says much but I know he misses me a lot. Hope he keeps on the right road. By what I read he has changed a lot. Guess he is doing more than his part.
Love from deep in Wisconsin
Charles
P.S. So you're still a good old Maine potato bug by what I found in my magazine. That page with the corner turned over. Also I don't remember you ever pinching chocolate drops before. - Maybe

^^Mar 23 German counter attack on US lines in Tunisia, Africa.

*March 23 to April 3, 1943 – Battle of El Guetarr, Tunisia (North Africa Theater)

Troops: USA NA; Germany/Italy NA.

Casualties (Killed/Wounded/Missing): USA 4-5,000, 35-55 tanks; Axis 4-6,000, 40 plus tanks.

Battle led by General George Patton becomes first successful tank battle by U.S. against German tank commanders in defense of their position. Indecisive overall when U.S. tanks could not mount as successful an offense.

An American soldier hands out cigarettes to captured Bersaglieri of the 131st Armored Division Centauro near El Guettar in March 1943.

Battle of El Guetarr, Tunisia

^^March 25 97% of all Dutch physicians strike against the Nazi-created Chamber of Physicians on this date in 1943. Mandatory registration with this newly formed guild would have forced the physicians to follow Nazi guidelines for racial screening and “euthanasia” for the handicapped and mentally challenged. Hundreds of the protesters were arrested, and for weeks there was almost no medical service in The Netherlands, but the threat of epidemic disease eventually convinced the Nazis to relent and rescind their registration order.

^^March 26 2^nd Lt. Elsie S Ott becomes 1st woman awarded the US Air Force Medal. She was awarded this medal in recognition of her heroism in determining a way to evacuate the wounded from the front line.

2nd Lt Elsi S. Ott - nurse

*March 26 – WWII – Battle of the Komandorski Islands: In the Aleutian Islands, the battle begins when United States Navy forces intercept Japanese troops attempting to reinforce a garrison at Kiska.

^^March 27 Battle of Komandorski Islands, Pacific Ocean. The Battle of the Komandorski Islands was a naval battle between American and Imperial Japanese forces which took place on 27 March 1943 in the North Pacific, south of the Soviet Komandorski Islands.

Results: Tactically inconclusive, Strategic U.S. victory.

^^Mar 27 US begins assault on Fondouk Pass, Tunisia. This is only one battle in Tunisia between 17 November 1942 to 13 May 1943.

Fondouk Pass, Tunisia

Bazookas

*Source 1 https://www.thoughtco.com/world-war-ii-battles-2361453

*Source 2 https://americasbesthistory.com/timeline2ndworldwar1943.html for major battles

**Source 3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943_in_the_United_States

^^Source 4 https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1943 ##Source 5 https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/us-home-front-during-world-war-ii copyright of letters and any original material Peter Lagasse

Saturday, February 1, 2020

POST TWENTY-ONE ( Prepares to be a Gunner) 22 Mar 1943

March 22, 1943

Dear Mother,

This letter may be a little short but we have been busy since chow to-night. We had a lot of double deck bunks come to-day. We had to put them together after supper. They grouped us by twos. I had a little fellow with me. Most of the boys in groups of twos tossed up a coin to see who would sleep on bottom or top. The little fellow was so short I gave him the bottom. He is a little lazy but with the right handling I'll change him. He was sure happy to be on bottom. My bed is about at the top of my head. Ha Ha it almost makes you sick to look over the side.

Basic training done last Saturday (March 20,1943). This is clean up week. I have a big test coming up. Takes in all we have had. Before the big officers. 100 or 200 questions. If you don't pass you'll go to school at night and make it up. Mom, I'm going to make it O.K. Try to be near the top of the list.

Boy, did we drill today. About 3 hours. Took the skin off my leg on the obstacle course to-day. We go out firing the big guns Thursday all alone. (March 25) I may be gunner. Sure have a lot on your mind if you're a gunner. (States on Uncle Charlie's Separation Qualification Record he was a Gunner Corporal for 29 months and the MOS 844 says "Lays 105mm howitzer, handles sight, corrects for elevation and deflection and is in charge of section when chief of section is elsewhere.") Gunner and No. 1 man have to be on their toes. If the gunner sets off the sight wrong, he'll be a few miles out. At 3 or 4 miles he will miss his target. Here is what I mean (He drew a small picture of the howitzer shooting the ammunition to a building.) If your gun is just a little to one side you can see that at 3 or 4 miles you'll miss your target a lot.

Here are some commands --- Base deflection 1546, aiming point three to right, record new deflection, left or right 150 mils, on 1 open 6. The gunner does this on his sight and instrument then says ready to fire. Guess it won't make much sense to you. I'll let you know how I make out. I've been working hard. Guess this week will top them all.

Please send my shoes, Mother. So you think Joey can drive. If I had my car and they told me to get home I'd make Joey look as if he was standing still.

I went to church Sunday and what a swell pastor. He sure told them plenty. He said he guessed some of the La Crosse Baptists were home, warming their beds or reading the Sunday paper. He said we Americans were throwing in the waste cans enough food to keep all the children of Europe alive. Still we kick. A pastor from Europe had told him how he had seen little children pick up bread from the street and kiss it before eating it. Gee, could he talk.

Here are a couple of papers. When I get my next pay, Ma, you're going to have a present. I don't know what but it sure will be something. Ha Ha maybe some more stamps. How is the weather out home? Polly said you called her up. Guess you got my letter so you know why I didn't write. Don't you think for one minute I'll ever forget you. You come first. Then good old Dad. I may be able to give Dad a trimming when I get home. Tell that brother of mine he'd better wrestle those bulls around plenty before I come back or I'll put him flat on his can in two seconds.

(The two brothers were always joking between themselves and sometimes with others. I could tell you some very funny stories.) See if you can squeeze a little love out of Helen to send to me. Mom, why don't you make Helen buy every other stamp? Joey is home now. Quite an idea I think. That woman from the mill still sends me the Sunday paper. So I read all the Sunday news.

So here is a short letter and here I am on the 3rd sheet. You're the only one that rates a letter so long. Some day I'll tell you all about it and not on paper. It has been warm for three days. Hope spring will soon come. Old Mr. Ladd sent me a letter to-night with some clippings from the paper. Did you see the pictures of those six boys from one family in Gorham who were in the service. I think it was the same family Mrs. Holt was talking about once before I left. That mother sure has plenty to think about. One more to go I think. Mother, plant plenty and save all you can for next winter. They'll soon catch up with Mr. so and so. You know who I mean. Hope no sickness starts. It will be bad when the flu gets around. What have I got in that draw upstairs that I might like? You might send some with the box and my shoes if you think you should. Any shaving things or tooth paste will be O.K.

Gee, Mom, I'm tired and have to shave before going to bed. Here I am in the shower room finishing this letter. No letter for Polly to-night. I don't write to her any more than I do you.

Good Night All

Love Charles

^^Mar 18 Ships James Oglethorpe (US) & Terkulai (Netherlands), torpedoed & sank.

^^Mar 18 Red Army evacuates Belgorod

^^Mar 19 Airship Canadian Star torpedoed & sank

^^Mar 19 British 8th army opens assault on Mareth Line, Tunisia

^^Mar 20 German U-384 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. She carried out two patrols and sank one ship on each patrol. She was a member of three wolfpacks. On her second patrol, she was sunk by a British aircraft southwest of Iceland.

^^Mar 21 Another assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler fails

^^Mar 22 Dutch work week extended to 54 hour

^^Mar 22 SS Police Chief Hans Rauter threatens to kill half of the Jewish children. Of the over 140,000 Jews in the Netherlands only about 35,000 will survive the Holocaust. Han Rauter will be executed for war crimes in 1954.

SS Police Chief Hans Rauter

105mm howitzer shown in a U.S. Army training film from World War 2. The version shown is actually the 105mm Howitzer M3 instead of the more common 105mm Howitzer M2.

*Source 1 https://www.thoughtco.com/world-war-ii-battles-2361453

*Source 2 https://americasbesthistory.com/timeline2ndworldwar1943.html for major battles

**Source 3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943_in_the_United_States

^^Source 4 https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1943

##Source 5 https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/us-home-front-during-world-war-ii

Saturday, January 25, 2020

POST TWENTY (Goat Meat & Home Life) 17 March 1943

Camp McCoy Enlisted Men's Barracks

March 17, 1943

Dear Mother,

Gee, I'm sorry for I know you'll be looking for a letter. Here's the answer. The other night when I was going to write you we were having a real old fashion ice storm. The funny thing it was lightning and thundering like heck. I never saw anything like it before. Saturday and Sunday were good days. I felt spring was coming but have changed my mind. Then the lights went out. When they came on it was after 9 o'clock so they went right out. The last two days I've been sick. That old goat meat with all the gravy. Guess goat meat would be ok if cooked right. I'm feeling good to-night. Gosh, what a wind blowing outside.

Flavilla (sister) sent me a box with a lot of things to eat. I'm going to have a nice lunch a little later on. I once gave a lot away. Then I found that some of the fellows always would eat but when they got a box they saved it. So I dish out a little and save some for myself now.

The old boys came back from Watersmeet, Michigan, yesterday. I got 18 letters and three packages. Was glad to get some mail.

If you have to pay anything on the car take it out of what I left home. Eugene (brother) is doing all he can. Oh yes, before I forget it. What size sweater does Eugene take? If you have to use more than five dollars go ahead. All I want to do is get home. Then I can start over. I just want enough money on hand to start home in a minute if I have a chance for a furlough.

I got the pictures o.k. I'm going to keep them all. Guess I got all your mail. I've checked on the dates.

Head Herds-man E.R. Knight. Boy, I bet thats right down his line. He'll be a farmer before it's over. I bet the barn looks good. (He's writing about his brother again. Eugene will, in fact, become a farmer. Milking his own cows morning and evening. Cutting acres of hay in the summer. His daughter and one of her sons are still in the farming business.)

So Helen (sister) is going to have one jump on Joey (fiancé). I think that's great. After all it's the little things like shining those pennies and the small things we do that makes life happy. It's the small things that count, not the big. That is what I always said. What may seem foolish to us may be fun for the two concerned. The little things that Helen Ladd use to do for me were the ones that made me happy.

If I need any money, I'll send home for some. Keep some on hand. I guess Eugene is doing his part without me. Ask him for anything. I'll go without first.

O.K., Dad; keep your old Ford tractor. These jeeps won't climb up a Pine tree. How well I remember that day. But, Dad, I'm going to have one of these new little rifles we have. They're new and never been used before. Caliber 30 and what a gun, weighs 5 and 1/2 pounds. Now, Dad, don't tell me you'll still take the old shot gun to go deer hunting with, Ha! Ha! Hey, Mom, get after Dad and tell him he's old fashion.

Hey, Mom, I saw a nice pillow top in La Crosse but didn't buy it. It had Mother on it. Can you guess why I didn't buy it? I bet you can.

So much for to-night. I've got to buy some ink. It's too cold to go out to-night. Will write later.

Love to Mother, Dad,

Eugene & Mrs. Borek

Charles

P.S. Soon I'll have to put Joey on the end.

^^Mar 15 Red Army evacuates Kharkov in the Ukraine. The Third Battle of Kharkov was a series of battles on the Eastern Front of World War II, undertaken by the German Army Group South against the Red Army, around the city of Kharkov between 19 February and 15 March 1943.

More information https://www.thoughtco.com/third-battle-of-kharkov-2361480

^^Mar 16 Ships Elin K (Norway) and Zaanland (Netherlands) torpedoed by German U-boats and sink.

^^Mar 17 Physician Willem J Kolff performs the world's first 'hemodialysis' using his artificial kidney machine, however the treatment is unsuccessful and the patient dies, in the Netherlands.

^^Mar 17 Alderamin (Netherlands) & Fort Cedar Lake (British) torpedoed & sink.

*Source 1 https://www.thoughtco.com/world-war-ii-battles-2361453

*Source 2 https://americasbesthistory.com/timeline2ndworldwar1943.html for major battles

**Source 3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943_in_the_United_States

^^Source 4 https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1943

##Source 5 https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/us-home-front-during-world-war-ii

Saturday, January 18, 2020

POST NINETEEN (My Uncle Tells Off His Sgt.) 8 Mar 1943

Mar 8, 1943

Dear Dad,

How is the weather man using you folks now? The snow out here had gone quite a bit then came the sad part. To-night it is snowing hard with plenty of wind. Very fine snow and guess it will last for awhile.

Gee, I had 3 letters in 2 weeks. You see the 2nd Division (most of them) is at Watersmeet, Michigan, on winter maneuvers. The mail is all going up there first. Guess they forgot us. Hope to have some mail to-morrow. Here is something I'm going to tell you. Don't say much outside. Four boys froze to death at Watersmeet, Michigan. It might have been the lack of air inside the sleeping bags. I can't think that is it because if a fellow wasn't getting air he would come out or open the bag up a little. On the other hand you can freeze and not know it. You're cold at first then you become warm.

A lieutenant turned over in a jeep. I hear he made a mess of himself and has a small chance of living. This is no kids game. You take a lot the outside (people not in the camp or army) knows nothing about. That news won't come out in the paper.

I sent you a card. Told you I stayed in La Crosse. In the U.S.O. building I talked with an old man. He told me this was the worst winter for over 25 years.

I'm going to have it easy some afternoon this week. Going to have my teeth filled. Have the afternoon off.

I came near having K.P. duty the other day. We were in ranks. The Sgt. gave the command "at ease." When you are at ease you place your left foot to one side keeping your right foot in place. You may move your hands, look around but no talking. You can talk when at the command of "rest." Someone talked. The Sgt. is from Texas. He got mad. "All right you guys I gave at ease and I mean I ease. Some of you guys seem to think you can up and talk anytime you like. Just like a God Damn Yankee!" Boy did I burn up. I held in all afternoon. At night when he said fall out and get ready for retreat. I let go.

"Fall out you Damn Yankees and get ready for retreat," I said. The Sgt. turned and looked at me. "What do you mean?" he asked. I started. "Listen Sgt. I don't care if you have one or twenty stripes that bull shit don't go. I might be a G. D. Yankee but I'm proud of it. If you care to be dirty don't forget we Yankees gave you southerners a licken once and we can do it again. Don't think you boys from the south are going to win this war alone. A lot of us northern boys are going to die too. I'm a Yankee and proud of it and no one is going to get away with that stuff without a fight." I said plenty more and walked away. The next day the Sgt. tried to fix it up and said he didn't mean it that way. Guess someone told the Lieutenant about him. I told the Sgt. if I had anything to say I'd tell him to his face, not to someone else. He uses me good now. They'll respect you after you let them know you're no rat. Too bad the South feels that way.

We had a new boy come in from Texas. I was on No.1 gun as gunner and thought I heard a command. Looking around at No. 3 gun I saw a boy down on his back. Then two fellows took him away. We just kept working away. I found out after, he broke his leg. You see, each gun has a gunner and seven cannoneers. The new boy got under the trails when the gun crew swung the trails around. Gosh, you have to work fast. On the run all the time. If you make a wrong move, too bad. That's why it pays to learn even at night on your own time. (Cleve Barkley writes, “The trails of an artillery piece were a pair of long steel appendages that protruded backwards from the under-carriage of the 105mm howitzer gun. When the gun was deployed these were splayed out, like an inverted “V”, to provide stability for the weapon when firing. At the end of each trail was a shovel like device (called spades) which were pounded or dug into the ground to reduce recoil when the gun fired. (In one of the attached photos you will see what looks like a sandbag placed on top of the spades for additional weight.) If the direction of fire was to be changed, soldiers would grab and lift the trails to spin the gun around so it could face the assigned target. This is how “the boy from Texas” got his leg broken; apparently he stumbled or something while maneuvering the gun and the heavy trail came down on him.
When it came time to move the gun a long distance, the trails were clasped together, scissor-like, to form one long piece which was then attached to the trailer hitch of a vehicle (truck/prime mover) by means of a large ring attached to the end of the right trail.” (See attached pictures).
(PS: I, would highly recommend the book In Death’s Dark Shadow: A Soldier’s Story written by Cleve Barkley about his father in the 38th Infantry of the 2nd Infantry Division in WW II.)

105mm howitzer

Guess my rank (grade) for the whole basic training will be up in the 90's. I've worked hard. May move anytime but just don't know where. (It appears he is hearing about his division possibly moving soon, but we know they will be at Camp McCoy for another 7 months. Rumors must have been a common problem.)

Not much more to write about until I get some mail. Good bye Dad, Mother, Helen, Eugene.

Love

Son and brother Charles

*March 2-5, 1943 – Battle of the Bismark Sea, Lea (Pacific Theater)

Troops: USA/Australia 168 aircraft, 10 ships; Japan 6,900 troops, 100 aircraft, 16 ships.

Casualties (Killed/Wounded/Missing): USA/Australia 13, 6 aircraft; Japan 2,890, 20 aircraft, 12 ships. American and Australian aircraft destroy convoy of Japanese troops heading to New Guinea after intelligence of destination and timing proves accurate. Of 6,900 Imperial Japan troops heading out, only 1,200 made it to Lae.

More information: https://www.thoughtco.com/world-war-ii-japanese-stopped-2361458

^^Mar 3 Bomb fleeing crowd falls into London shelter; 173 die

^^Mar 4 Transport #50 departs with French Jews to Maidanek/Sobibor.

Majdanek, or KL Lublin, was a German concentration and extermination camp built and operated by the SS on the outskirts of the city of Lublin during the German occupation of Poland in World War II. Although initially purposed for forced labor rather than extermination, the camp was used to kill 78,000 people on an industrial scale during Operation Reinhard, the German plan to murder all Jews within their own General Government territory of Poland. The camp, which operated from October 1, 1941, until July 22, 1944, was captured nearly intact, because the rapid advance of the Soviet Red Army during Operation Bagration prevented the SS from destroying most of its infrastructure, and the inept Deputy Camp Commandant Anton Thernes failed in his task of removing incriminating evidence of war crimes. Therefore, Majdanek became the first concentration camp discovered by Allied forces.

^^Mar 6 Battle at Medenine, North Africa: German Field Marshall Rommel's counterattack. The Battle of Medenine, also known as Operation Capri (Unternehmen Capri), was an Axis spoiling attack at Medenine in Tunisia on 6 March 1943. The operation was intended to delay an attack by the British Eighth Army on the Mareth Line. The British had been forewarned by Ultra decrypts of German wireless communications and rushed reinforcements from Tripoli and Benghazi before the Axis attack, which was a costly failure. General Erwin Rommel, the commander of Army Group Africa (Heeresgruppe Afrika), could not afford to lose forces needed for the defense of the Mareth Line and the effort was abandoned at dusk that day.

Field Marshall Erwin Rommel

^^Mar 7 Major General George Patton arrives in Djebel Kouif, Tunisia.

Major General George Patton

**March 8-13 – WWII: American forces are attacked by Japanese troops on Hill 700 in Bougainville, in a battle that lasts five days.

^^Mar 8 335 allied bombers attack German city of Nuremberg, a center for military production.

^^Mar 12 Soviet troops liberate Wjasma. A town and the administrative center of Vyazemsky District in Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Vyazma River.

^^Mar 13 United States Baseball approves official ball (with cork & balata: the dried sap of the balata tree, used as a substitute for rubber)

^^Mar 13 Failed assassin attempt on Adolf Hitler during Smolensk to Rastenburg flight. Time-bomb in Hitler’s plane fails to explode, on flight from Smolensk to Rastenburg, planted by Maj.-Gen. Henning von Tresckow and Lt. Fabian von Schlabrendorff.