Alta Battalion

The Alta Battalion () was an independent battalion within the Norwegian 6th Division based in the village of Alta in western Finnmark and commanded by Lt. Colonel Arne Dagfin Dahl. The Alta battalion was multiethnic, being constituted by ethnic Norwegians, Sámi and Kvens. It made great successes in halting the German invasion of Norway at Narvik.
Neutrality duty.
The Alta battalion was mobilized 10 October 1939 to help guard Norway's neutrality in the Second World War and positioned in the border areas of eastern Finnmark during the Finnish Winter War to safeguard the northernmost areas of Norway against possible Soviet aggression. At the time the battalion consisted of around 900 soldiers. Guard and patrol duty in the border areas brought the battalion near the brutality of war and served to harden the men of the unit. After seeing the fighting and burning town in Petsamo the soldiers and officers of the Alta Battalion began to view war as a reality and not merely something found in the history books.
The Alta battalion was then demobilized on 15 January 1940. As the battalion deactivated, Lt. Col. Dahl realised that the international situation was still unstable and the unit might be needed again soon. Thus the soldiers were ordered to tag their uniforms and personal equipment before handing them in for storage. This precautionary measure helped the battalion greatly when it was again needed less than three months later.
After the return to Alta a ski company of ninety volunteers was formed and retained for another two months of training. On average the battalion was not considered especially ski-worthy and most of the soldiers had their only skiing experience from the neutrality duty.
The invasion.
After the German invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940 the battalion was once more mobilized, the soldiers making their way to Alta by boats or reindeer sleds, then being transported to the front area by the Hurtigruten steamships "Dronning Maud" and "Kong Haakon", and the cargo ship "Senja". The battalion departed the pier in Alta on 19 April 1940 and arrived at Sjøvegan on 21 April.
During the coming two-month-long campaign in the mountains north and east of Narvik the battalion spearheaded the 6th Division's advance against the German 3rd Mountain Division in the Narvik area. The standard issue weapons of an infantry squad of the battalion during the campaign was one Madsen light machine gun and Krag-Jørgensen rifles.
When the battalion left for the front it consisted of around 830 men, with 112 horses and 100 ski sleds.
Mountain warfare.
The unit spent the entire two-month campaign conducting offensive operations against general Eduard Dietl's entrenched troops. The at first lightly armed infantrymen attacked through the extreme mountainous terrain of northern Nordland against far better trained German gebirgsjäger and fallschirmjäger troops; the unit was only occasionally supported by artillery or air power, usually only being backed up by the unit's 18 Colt M/29 heavy machine guns and its few 81 mm mortars. On the German side the Luftwaffe became progressively more active in the campaign as the Germans recruited collaborators who constructed new air bases in the more southerly regions of the country. Especially important for the Luftwaffe's ability to support the German forces on the Narvik Front was the rapid improvement of Værnes air base, giving the German bombers much more time to operate over the northern front lines.
Success on the Narvik front.
Nevertheless, by early June 1940, in co-operation with French and Polish land forces, as well the RAF, the Royal Navy and the French and Polish navies, the 6th Division had pushed the German invaders out of the vital port of Narvik and forced them into a small pocket by the Swedish border. In the mountainous inland areas of the front the Alta Battalion was continuously on the attack, suffering many casualties in the process of throwing back the crack German troops. During the last phase of the fighting Luftwaffe bombers steadily increased their attacks against the allied forces, while the Norwegians deployed their few Fokker C.V light bombers and Heinkel He 115 and Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk M.F.11 seaplanes in support of the offensive. The elderly Fokker biplanes proved themselves to be surprisingly effective at low level bombing of German positions. The RAF provided a certain extent of fighter cover with the Gloster Gladiators of No. 263 Squadron RAF and the Hawker Hurricanes of No. 46 Squadron RAF, although these were too few to continuously patrol the entire front line.
Use of captured weaponry.
In the last weeks of the fighting the battalion was combat-hardened, and well-equipped because of the large amounts of German equipment captured by the advancing fishermen-farmers and reindeer herders of the Alta Battalion. For the first time ever Norwegian infantry advanced utilizing weapons such as submachine guns and hand grenades. During the last weeks of the campaign the battalion's mortars had been worn out by the constant use, with the base plates often being in need of replacement, hence the capture of German 50 mm and 81 mm mortars was very welcome. A number of German mountain guns that had been air dropped by the Luftwaffe to the besieged 3rd Mountain Division were also seized by the battalion and sent back to Alta. In Alta gunners began training with the captured pieces, the intention being deploying them on the front at the earliest opportunity.
The Training Battalion.
While the Alta Battalion was fighting Dietl's men at the front a training battalion of three companies was formed at Altagård and Banak back in Finnmark. In addition Alta Battalion also formed smaller local forces in western Finnmark, including an air warning unit of fifteen men in Kårhamn. Although the training battalion was supposed to provide replacements and reinforcements for the active battalion the fighting ended before it could see any action.
Foreign volunteers.
During the fighting a small number of trained foreigners joined the battalion, amongst these were nine Estonians that joined up on 19 May.
Allied evacuation of Norway.
As the Alta Battalion and the other formations of the 6th Division prepared for one last push against the beleaguered Germans and Austrians of the 3rd Mountain Division, the Third Reich unleashed Fall Gelb and invaded France and the Low Countries. The German 10 May invasion, and the disastrous consequences of this operation for the Allies, led to the land, sea and air forces committed to the Norwegian Campaign being suddenly withdrawn, with notice given the Norwegian authorities only days before the evacuation.
Demobilization.
Without the support of the RAF and the Royal Navy the Norwegian government lost all hope of prevailing against the Germans, and fled the country with the evacuating Allies. The last order of the evacuating government to the Norwegian units opposing the Nazis was: "Demobilise".
End position of German forces on the Narvik front.
After the conclusion of the campaign Eduard Dietl commented that at the time of the Norwegian capitulation his forces would have been able to hold out for only another 24 to 48 hours, after which they would have had to abandon the entire Narvik front and cross into Sweden.
As the still undefeated units of the 6th Division, amongst them the Alta Battalion, marched down from the snow-covered hills on 9 June 1940 many of the soldiers cried tears of bitterness and disappointment that victory had been snatched from them. At 0000hrs 10 June 1940 the ceasefire came into effect. During the early hours of the 10th the soldiers of the battalion marched to Grovfjord, under intermittent air attacks, from where they embarked fishing boats for the journey back to Altagård.
At the capitulation the battalion's archives were removed from Altagård and shipped into exile, initially to the Faroe Islands.
Casualties during the Norwegian Campaign.
In all the battalion suffered 71 casualties out of around 900 men during the Norwegian Campaign.
Post Norwegian Campaign.
At the end of the Norwegian Campaign the battalion was demobilised and the soldiers returned to their homes and civilian occupations. During the occupation many former members of the battalion were active in the resistance movement, mostly working with gathering intelligence on German forces in Finnmark.


HMS Cumberland (57)

HMS "Cumberland" was a heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy that saw action during the Second World War.
Career.
"Cumberland" served on the China Station with the 5th Cruiser Squadron from 1928 until 1938, returning to the UK in March 1935 for a refit. In 1938, she joined the 2nd cruiser squadron on the South American station.
In the South Atlantic.
At the start of the Second World War in 1939, "Cumberland" was assigned to 2nd Cruiser Squadron Force G, the South American Division. At the start of December she was forced to self-refit in the Falkland Islands, thus depriving the force of their strongest unit. Without her, , and engaged the German raider in the Battle of the River Plate on 13 December. "Cumberland" received a garbled indication that a contact was being made and moved north to reinforce, arriving at the River Plate at 22:00 14 December, after steaming 1000 miles in 34 hours - 29.5mph/25.5 knots. "Admiral Graf Spee" had put into neutral Montevideo and was trapped there, as "Cumberland" along with "Ajax" and "Achilles" ("Exeter" having been heavily damaged) patrolled the estuary, resulting in "Admiral Graf Spee" being scuttled by her crew on 17 December.
South African service.
After this, she sailed to Simonstown, South Africa, spending between January and February undergoing a refit. She then escorted convoys along the African coast, bound for the Middle East. In July, she was tasked, along with her sister, , with hunting down the German commerce raider (known as Raider E to the Royal Navy). Whilst on patrol, she intercepted the Vichy French merchant "Poitiers", which had been carrying ammunition to the Ivory Coast. Rather than see their ship fall into enemy hands, the crew promptly opened its seacocks and set fire to its cargo. Later that month, she attacked Dakar, suffering damage from a French coastal battery. In December, "Cumberland" was again hunting for the merchant raider "Thor", but the search proved unsuccessful.
Arctic convoys.
In October 1941, "Cumberland" joined the 1st Cruiser Squadron Home Fleet escorting the Arctic convoys until January 1944, winning the battle honour "Arctic 1942-1943".
In the Far East.
She was then transferred to the Far East, as part of 4th Cruiser Squadron Eastern Fleet. In September, she carried out raids on Northern Sumatra. During this period, "Cumberland" won the battle honours "Sabang 1944" and "Burma 1945". On 7 February 1945, "Cumberland" was back in Simonstown to have her rudder removed.
Postwar.
She returned to the United Kingdom on 12 November 1945 and transported troops until June 1946, when she was placed in reserve until 1949. She was then refitted at Devonport (1949–1951) for further service as a gunnery trials ship. She lost her 8-inch turrets, and for a few years had a prototype dual 6-inch automatic turret (testing the concept for later installation in the then building s) in 'B' position, and a prototype automatic dual 3-inch turret (also slated for the "Tiger"s) in 'X' position. For the 1956 film "The Battle of the River Plate", "Cumberland" played herself, arriving with unexpected speed from the Falklands after the battle, to replace the damaged . Although she was without her 8-inch gun turrets at this time and was refitted with lattice masts, she is very recognisable as the last of the three-funnelled heavy cruisers to remain in service. (In the final scenes, represented "Cumberland" as one of the British trio patrolling off Montevideo).
Between 1955 and 1956, HMS "Cumberland" was fitted with a number of trial anti-A-bomb and anti-H-bomb defences. Her first voyage in this configuration was delayed after some "defects" were found in her engine room, which were not explained as normal mechanical faults. In April 1956, having set sail on another secret test mission, she returned to port within 36 hours, following another unexplained "defect" in her main gearbox. Sabotage was suspected.
HMS "Cumberland" finally paid off in 1958, arriving at Cashmore's, Newport, on 3 November 1958 for scrapping.
Painting.
In 1926, HMS "Cumberland" was the subject of a watercolour by the maritime artist A.B. Cull. Although most of Cull's work was destroyed during air raids on Britain during World War II, a small number of his works survived, and they are now on display in the National Maritime Museum's collection. However, his painting of HMS "Cumberland" is held in a private collection in Australia.


Liberal Army Air Field

Liberal Army Airfield was a World War II Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber training base of the United States Army Air Forces' Second Air Force. It is currently the city-owned Liberal Mid-America Regional Airport.
History.
The first tangible move to implement the decision to locate an Army Air Corps four-engine pilot school on a site selected one mile west of Liberal in western Kansas, was the grant of a contract to Murray A. Wilson and Company, engineers, to make a complete survey and layout for an airfield. The new airfield was situated in Sections 1, 6, 25, 30, 31, and 36, Townships 34 and 35 South, and Ranges 33 and 34 West, with a dimension of two miles north and south and two miles east and west. The field formed part of a flat, low plateau.
By 16 January 1943 the survey had been completed. But even before the survey had been officially finished, contracts were let on 9 January, with Peter Kiewit Sons named as prime contractor. The entire field, some 1,946.7 acres, was purchased by the government. In addition, 3.3 acres on the north extremity of the north-south runway were leased to provide zone clearance space. Just nine days later construction began on the site.
Facilities on Liberal Army Airfield were to cost approximately $8,000,000. Initially three concrete runways were built, each 7,000 feet in length and 150 feet wide, with a gross load capacity of 37,000 pounds. Portable B-2 type runway lights were installed. In addition, a concrete parking apron of some 276,318 square yards was constructed, along with three concrete taxiways 100 feet in width. In 1943, a second set of three runways, identical and parallel to the first three were built. An enclosing loop taxiway was also constructed. This doubled the capacity of the airfield for landings and takeoffs.
Training facilities included three school buildings and four buildings housing Link Trainers. Five hangars were built, two of steel and three of wood. Three large warehouses and storage facilities for 591,000 gallons of gasoline were built. Construction coming under the general category of recreation and welfare included a gymnasium, officers' club, service club, theater, chapel, and three post exchanges. A spur line of the Rock Island Railroad was run onto the field from the main line. Housing facilities for 4,934 officers and men and a hospital with a normal bed capacity of 142 were constructed. All buildings were of mobilization type construction.
In addition to the main installation, Gage Auxiliary Field, a former municipal airport, was acquired by lease. This field, some 81 miles from Liberal Army Air Field, comprised 780 acres providing two hard surfaced runways, each of which was 5,500 feet in length and 150 feet wide.
B-24 Liberator Basic Training School.
In April 1943, before completion of construction, the initial group of officers and men of the original cadre reported. Liberal AAF was officially opened on 13 May 1943. It placed was under the jurisdiction of the Army Air Forces Pilot School (Specialized 4-Engines), II Bomber Command, Second Air Force. The mission of the base was to train Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber pilots, who were predominantly newly commissioned officers graduated from Training Command advanced twin-engine flying schools.
Additional personnel arrived during subsequent weeks. In the midst of construction, personnel acquisition moved into an intensified phase during April and May, so that the base was actively manned by the time the first B-24s to be used in training set down on the brand new runways on 20 June. That scheduling was extremely close during those hectic days can be seen in that only ten days later, on 1 July, the members of the first class were introduced to the Liberators. This is the official date of the inauguration of training at Liberal, barely six months after construction began. Initially and for a considerable time the commanding officer of the field was in charge of the several squadrons and detachments which performed the various functions requisite to the functioning of the school.
The training cycle was nine weeks in length. Halfway through the cycle of the first class, another class began the course, so that, afterward, a class graduated every four and a half weeks. By 8 December 1943 Col. R. C. Rockwood, operations and training officer, was able to tell a group of civilian employees that "we are now training approximately one-fourth of the Liberator bomber commanders trained in the continental United States". The pace of training is well illustrated in that it was not until 7 October 1943 that time was found for a formal dedication.
George McGovern, later a senator and candidate for President of the United States, trained as a B-24 pilot at Liberal.
On 1 May 1944 all the separate units on the field were disbanded except for the 744th AAF Band, the Airways Communications Squadron, and the Base Weather Section. In place of the disbanded organizations the several sections of the 2525th Base Unit were created, distinguished by the nature of the service performed:
Unit Headquarters.
In February 1945 these sections were redesignated squadrons, which remained in existence until inactivation of the field. After victory in Europe the training program of Liberal Army Airfield became somewhat erratic because of the frequent changes of policy in the Training Command. However, with the surrender of the Japanese in August, the mission of the school was definitely over.
Inactivation.
On 7 September 1945 the commanding officer received official orders for inactivation of the field on or before 30 September. B-24 Liberators were obsolete as the postwar Air Force would retain the Boeing B-29 Superfortress as its long-range strategic bomber. Liberal field was placed at that time on a standby status, which meant maintaining it in such condition as would make possible reactivation within thirty days. Consequently, the field's activities for the greater part of September were largely concerned with the process of inactivation. On 19 September the officer students were slated to complete training at Hondo Army Air Field where the 2523d Army Air Forces Base Unit would complete the four-engine training on B-24s transferred from Liberal.
All remaining personnel, except officers and enlisted men scheduled to form the standby cadre, were put on movement orders on 29 September. Although the majority of departments were still functioning on 1 October, they were prepared to close down within a few days. Four days later, Liberal Army Airfield was turned over to the Army's District Engineer, Seventh Service Command at Omaha, Nebraska who assumed jurisdiction over the field, pending disposition. Excess buildings and demilitarized equipment were sold or transferred to other bases. Some were torn down and sales were held for scrap lumber of torn down buildings, fence posts, barbed wire and other surplus items.
During its 27 months of actual training, Liberal Army Air Field graduated 4,468 four-engine airplane commanders. In addition, 1,025 pilots were graduated from the pre-transition course conducted for a period in the middle of 1944.
Current status.
Since the end of World War II, the installation has been operated by the city of Liberal as its municipal airport. One of the runways is maintained for use primarily by general aviation, although limited commercial airline service is offered. The large airfield remains intact, with a few sections of concrete removed to limit access. The large parking apron remains, part of it used by the Mid-America Air Museum. The base station has been totally redeveloped into a light industrial park, university campus and recreation fields. Many streets remain along with the outline of the base parade ground and headquarters.


20th Airlift Squadron

The 20th Airlift Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was to the 60th Operations Group of Air Mobility Command at Travis Air Force Base, California, where it was inactivated on 31 December 1997.
The squadron was first activated in 1942 as the 20th Air Corps Ferrying Squadron and ferried various aircraft on the North Atlantic ferrying route until 1943, when it was replaced by Station 3, North Atlantic Wing, Air Transport Command in a reorganization of Air Transport Command units.
The squadron was activated again in 1952 as the 20th Air Transport Squadron when Military Air Transport Service (MATS) replaced its Major Command controlled (four digit) airlift squadrons with Air Force controlled squadrons. When MATS turned Westover Air Force Base over to Strategic Air Command, the squadron moved to Dover Air Force Base. It upgraded to jet-propelled Lockheed C-141 Starlifters in 1965, and flew them until it was inactivated in 1997.
History.
World War II.
The squadron was first activated at Houlton Army Air Base, Maine, a departure station for the North Atlantic ferrying route, in March 1942 as the 20th Air Corps Ferrying Squadron. The squadron was initially assigned directly to Air Corps Ferrying Command, but in June, Ferrying Command organized the 23d Army Air Forces Ferrying Wing to manage its units on the North Atlantic route and the squadron was reassigned to it. In March 1943, the squadron became the 20th Transport Squadron.
The squadron flew and managed the ferrying of various aircraft, including Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and Lockheed P-38 Lightnings and participated in Operation Bolero, the buildup of United States forces in the United Kingdom. On 1 September 1943, the 20th disbanded and combined with support units at Houlton to form Station 3, North Atlantic Wing, Air Transport Command.
Strategic airlift.
In 1952, Military Air Transport Service (MATS) replaced its Major Command controlled (four-digit) air transport squadrons with squadrons that had served during World War II. As part of this conversion, the 20th was reconstituted as the 20th Air Transport Squadron and absorbed the personnel and Douglas C-54 Skymasters of the 1257th Air Transport Squadron at Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts in July 1952. The squadron's mission was to provide inter-theater and strategic airlift to Europe, North Africa and Canada.
The squadron was redesignated the 20th Air Transport Squadron, Heavy, on 18 April 1954, recognizing the squadron's transition into the larger Douglas C-124 Globemaster II. The 20th moved to Dover Air Force Base, Delaware on 15 May 1955 and became part of the 1607th Air Transport Group, located at Dover.
When MATS adopted the dual deputy organization, the 1607th Air Transport Group was discontinued and the squadron was assigned directly to the 1607th Air Transport Wing on 18 January 1963. The unit was briefly redesignated as the 20th Troop Carrier Squadron, Heavy on 1 January 1965. It returned its designation to the 20th Air Transport Squadron, Heavy, on 1 July 1965 as the squadron transitioned to the Lockheed C-141 Starlifter. The Starlifter brought a mission change to that of providing worldwide airlift, which included support of operations in Southeast Asia.
In January 1966, Military Airlift Command replaced MATS. In this reorganization, the 436th Military Airlift Wing replaced the 1607th Air Transport Wing and the squadron was redesignated the 20th Military Airlift Squadron.
The next changes to the 20th would not take place until August 1973, when the squadron moved to Charleston Air Force Base, South Carolina and was reassigned to the base's 437th Military Airlift Wing. At Charleston, the squadron provided support for the evacuation of South Vietnam in April 1975. The 20th took a number of contingency operations while located at Charleston, including Operation Urgent Fury, the invasion of Grenada from October through December 1983. In December 1989, the squadron provided airlift support for Operation Just Cause, the replacement of Manuel Noriega as the ruler of Panama. Starting in August 1990, the squadron deployed to support Operation Desert Shield and its support continued through the Gulf War until December 1991.
On 1 October 1991, the squadron was redesignated the 20 Airlift Squadron and reassigned to the 437th Operations Group. Two years later, the 20th relocated to Travis Air Force Base, California, where it was assigned to the 60th Operations Group as Travis's 60th Wing prepared to transition from an airlift to an air mobility wing the following year. The inactivation of the 20th Airlift squadron marked the end of the C-141 Starlifter era at Travis. The last Starlifter left Travis on 16 December 1997 and the squadron was inactivated shortly thereafter.


Battle of Metz

The Battle of Metz was a battle fought during World War II at the city of Metz, France, from late September 1944 through mid-December as part of the Lorraine Campaign between the U.S. Third Army commanded by Lieutenant General George Patton and the German Army commanded by General Otto von Knobelsdorff. Strong German resistance resulted in heavy casualties for both sides. The city was captured by U.S. forces and hostilities formally ceased on 22 November; the last of the forts defending Metz surrendered on 13 December.
Background.
Metz is located between the rivers Moselle and Seille. The fortifications of Metz consisted of several forts and observation posts with connecting entrenchments and tunnels. The city had fallen to the German forces when France was defeated in 1940. Following the fall of France, the city was immediately annexed to the Third Reich, as were most districts previously annexed to the Reich that had been lost in 1918. Most of the Nazi dignitaries assumed it was obvious that Metz, where so many German army officers were born, was a German city. At that time, the Wehrmacht did not consider it an important location and the city's defenses were reduced with many guns and equipment removed, although the fortifications were still heavily defended and well armed.
However, after the Allied "break out" from the lodgement established by the Normandy landings, the U.S. Third Army raced 400 miles across France, with the German forces retreating in disorder. As Third Army supply lines became stretched, material (especially gasoline) became scarce, and Supreme Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower called a halt to the Third Army advance so that supplies could be stockpiled for Operation Market Garden, an attempt to break into the vital (and heavily industrialized) German Ruhr Valley in the north. This pause by Third Army gave the Germans time to reorganize and fortify Metz, in an attempt to contain the Allied advance.
By the end of August 1944, German forces in Lorraine had managed to reestablish a defensive line around Metz and Nancy. According to an order issued by Hitler in March 1944, fortress commanders were to hold their positions at all costs, surrendering only with Hitler's approval, which he would never give. Metz was surrounded by forts built by the Germans between 1870 and 1919, then allowed to decay by the French, who possessed the Lorraine region until it was retaken by Germany in 1940. The German commanders of the Metz forts were required to follow Hitler's "hold at all costs" order when attacked, in September 1944, by the U.S. Third Army led by General George S. Patton, who had reached Verdun before Eisenhower's order to halt the advance and conserve supplies. Hitler understood the pause was due to a supply shortage, and would not last, and he recognized that the Third Army posed a threat to the Saar region of Germany. Hitler ordered his commanders to hold the Allies "as far west as possible," to give time for the strengthening of the West Wall, which had been depleted to build up the Atlantic Wall.
The defense of Metz was undertaken by the German First Army, commanded by General Otto von Knobelsdorff. The number of German troops positioned in the vicinity of Metz was equivalent to four and a half divisions.
Battle.
Armored elements of the United States XX Corps, while on a reconnaissance operation in the direction of the Moselle, made contact with elements from the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division on 6 September 1944. On 18 September, U.S. reconnaissance units encountered Wehrmacht Panzergrenadiers again. The U.S. forces had not expected the German forces to be in the area, and had to bring together their units that were spread out. Several small scale attacks were made by the U.S. forces after this encounter.
The first U.S. attack was launched by the 95th Infantry Division, in which they attempted to capture a bridgehead to the north of Metz. This attack was repelled by the German forces, as was another attack on the city that followed. In another attack, the US forces captured a small bridgehead across the Moselle to the south of Metz.
By the end of September, German forces positioned to the north had moved to the southern area of Metz. Some troops were also withdrawn from Metz. After this development, the XII Corps launched another attack but was countered by the German defenders. In the following two weeks, the U.S. forces limited themselves to small scale attacks and patrolling in the Metz area. During this time, the XX Corps underwent a training program, experimenting with methods of reducing the defenses of the fortress. By this time, the U.S. command had decided to attack Metz from its rear, coming from the east.
On 3 November a new attack was launched by the U.S. forces, which resulted in the capture of the outer defenses with the aid of the tactics developed during the training process. On 14 November Generalleutnant Heinrich Kittel was appointed as the new commander of the German forces. By 17 November, U.S. forces had managed to isolate most of the forts, and were attacking the city. German forces had been retreating since 17 November, and U.S. forces pursued them for the following two days. U.S. forces entered Metz on 18 November, and on 21 November Kittel was wounded and subsequently captured. Although the city itself was captured by U.S. forces and hostilities formally ceased on 22 November, the remaining isolated forts continued to hold out.
Direct assault was forbidden against the holdout forts in order to preserve artillery ammunition for the XX Corps' advance to the Sarre River and the isolated forts subsequently surrendered one by one following the surrender of Fort Verdun on 26 November. By the end of November, several forts were still holding out. The last of the forts at Metz to surrender was Fort Jeanne d'Arc, which capitulated to the U.S. III Corps on 13 December.
Aftermath.
Although the battle resulted in defeat for the German forces, it served the intended purpose of the German command of halting the advance of the U.S. Third Army for three months, enabling retreating German forces to make an organized withdrawal to the Sarre river and to organize their defenses. The level of casualties for both sides are unknown but high.
The Germans were surprised at the American approach on the battlefield. Generaloberst Johannes Blaskowitz, C.O of Armeegruppe G, reviewed Patton's decision to launch a headlong attack straight into the fortifications of Metz by saying:
The military strategist and historian Liddel Hart remarked:


North Chahar incident

The North Chahar incident () between Japan and China in June 1935, resulted in an agreement that demilitarized Chahar province.
In June 1935, four Japanese soldiers entered the Changpei District of Chahar province, north of the Great Wall, on a journey to Kalgan and Peiping. They were detained because they did not have required travel permits from the Chahar Provincial Government. The soldiers were then taken to the headquarters of the local Chinese Divisional Commander, who asked the general in command of the Chinese 29th Army for instructions. The Army commander ordered their release, allowing them to continue on their journey, but with the warning that appropriate permits must be obtained in future.
A complaint was made by the Japanese Consul at Kalgan, to General Ching, Deputy Commander of the Chinese 29th Army, that the Chinese Guards had searched the Japanese soldiers, pointed rifles at them, and had detained them some hours at Divisional Headquarters, thus insulting the Japanese Army. Soon after, the Consul passed along the matter to the Kwantung Army saying it was very grave and was beyond his power to resolve. General Mimami Commander-in-Chief of the Kwantung Army appointed Kenji Doihara to negotiate with General Ching. The resulting negotiations resulted in the Chin-Doihara Agreement.


Britannia Centre Spandau

The former Britannia Centre Spandau, previously known as British Forces Families Centre (BFFC), was built in 1990 by the PSA for the British Authorities on the site where Spandau Prison was once located.
Britannia Centre Spandau centralised the main shopping, welfare, employment and broadcasting facilities for the British military community in Berlin.
The Britannia Centre consisted of a new shopping and cinema complex, as well as five existing and completely refurbished two and three-story buildings. It was opened in phases between September 1990 and mid-1991.
Its buildings are located at the junction of Wilhelmstraße and Gatower Straße next to the former Smuts Barracks in the Wilhelmstadt in Spandau.
History.
On 1 August 1946, the "Summit House" on Theodor-Heuss-Platz was formally opened as a NAAFI Club and was adapted to the changing needs over the years. In 1977 a study recommended the construction of a new facility. At the same time the future of Spandau Prison was put to diplomatic negotiations. In 1982 a Four Power Agreement was reached, which included a statement from the Governing Mayor of Berlin, Richard von Weizsäcker, that Spandau Prison should be demolished as quickly as possible after the death of its lone inmate Rudolf Hess.
Five weeks after the death of Hess on 17 August 1987 at 1610 hours, the demolition of Spandau Prison began and was completed on 4 November 1987.
In May 1988 the construction of the new facility started and was finished on 18 September 1990. The name "Britannia Centre" was chosen by competition from over 40 entries. The shopping centre was also nicknamed "Hessco's" after the well known British supermarket chain, Tesco, and the prison's final occupant.
After British withdrawal.
After the Berlin Infantry Brigade was dissolved in mid-1994 the Britannia Centre Spandau lost its name and became the only unnamed shopping centre in Berlin. It was used by Kaiser's Tengelmann, ALDI, Media Markt and a few small companies. In late 2008 Media Markt left the main shopping complex leaving the space abandoned. In 2011 the new owner, a development company, applied for permission to demolish the cinema complex of the Britannia Centre. The cinema complex in question was used by ALDI until October 2011. The contracts for both the cinema complex and the shopping complex, which at this time housed Kaiser's, were terminated. Kaiser's left the Shopping Complex on 31 December 2011.
By May 2013 the cinema complex had vanished and the shopping complex had been changed far beyond recognition. The massive glass dome that once sat atop the complex has also been removed. On 20 June 2013, a Kaufland center opened inside.
Landmark protection.
The old two and three-story buildings, which currently house doctors surgeries and other businesses, are all listed as protected landmarks in the "Berliner Landesdenkmalliste". The two main buildings were not protected, therefore the regarding office at the "Bezirksamt Spandau" was unable to deny the request for demolition.


Convoy OG 82

OG 82 was an Allied convoy of the OG (Outward to Gibraltar) series during World War II.
The action involving this convoy resulted in the destruction of a U-boat, and also had consequences for German U-boat strategy.
Forces involved.
OG 82 comprised 17 ships outward bound to Gibraltar, carrying war materials and trade goods.
The convoy commodore was Captain AJ Baxter in "Baron Yarborough", and the convoy was protected by an understrength escort group. This was 36th Escort Group, led by Cdr FJ "Johnnie" Walker, consisting of the sloop and the s , "Pentstemon", and "Gardenia" (joined 13 April). The convoy's protection was enhanced by armed merchants— the CAM ships "Empire Eve" and "Empire Heath", and the rescue ship "Toward".
Action.
OG 82 left Liverpool on 8 April 1942. On 14 April 1942 OG 82 was at the western edge of the Bay of Biscay when it was encountered by "U-252", inbound to France after completing her first war patrol.
Her skipper, KL Kai Lerchner, sent a sighting report stating that the convoy was lightly escorted and that he was starting to shadow.
His radio signal was picked up and DFed by Royal Navy land stations and reported to Walker. He quickly dispatched his four corvettes to search for the U-boat, which was picked up on radar by "Vetch". As "Vetch" closed to attack, "U-252" crash-dived and launched two torpedoes which narrowly missed the corvette. Arriving in "Stork", Walker then sent the others corvettes back to the convoy and commenced a hunt with "Vetch" Together they made several attacks, dropping 45 depth charges in total, and "U-252" was destroyed.
No further attacks took place and OG 82 arrived at Gibraltar on 20 April without loss.
Ships in the convoy.
Allied merchant ships.
A total of 17 merchant vessels joined the convoy, either in Liverpool or later in the voyage.
Convoy escorts.
The 36th Escort Group of armed military ships escorted the convoy at various strengths during its journey.
Aftermath.
This small action resulted in the destruction of one U-boat, but had far-reaching consequences. "U-252’s" disappearance, after reporting an encounter with a lightly escorted convoy, was similar to the disappearance six weeks previously of "U-82" in the same area. From this, Befehlshaber der U-Boote (BdU) Karl Dönitz reached the erroneous conclusion that the Allies were running a decoy operation, sending heavily armed anti-submarine vessels disguised as a weak convoy to act as a U-boat trap. He therefore instructed his U-boat force to avoid attacking convoys in the Biscay area, an unexpected benefit to the Allies from this brief action.


United States Marine Forces Europe and Africa

Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa (abbreviated as MARFOREUR/AF), headquartered in Panzer Kaserne-Barracks in Böblingen, Germany, is the U.S. Marine Corps component of the U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command.
History.
In February 1980 the Commandant of the Marine Corps and the Chief of Naval Operations revised the operational task sharing between the two branches in a memorandum. Hitherto the USMC had a supporting role within United States Naval Forces Europe (NAVEUR). When that agreement came into effect on July 1, 1980, Headquarters, Fleet Marine Force Europe, the predecessor of the present unit, was founded in London including an independent 40-person staff as a Designed Component Command, to act as a Command Unit for further formations to be put under EUCOM-Command in case of a crisis situation. That staff immediately began preparing operation plans for optimal replenishment and deployment when required. FMF Europe arranged Marine support for Operation Provide Comfort, Operation Provide Promise, and Operation Deny Flight. To meet increasing challenges better, headquarters were transferred to Böblingen near Stuttgart on November 8, 1993. In February 1994 the headquarters was renamed MARFOREUR.
MARFOREUR is now dual-hatted with Marine Corps Forces Africa as Marine Corps Forces Europe / Africa, since November 2008.
Organization.
Currently, MARFOREUR/AF has a manning level of more than 1,500 Marines, of which about 100 serve at headquarters in Böblingen.
MARFOREUR/AF serves as a headquarters and liaison organization for USMC efforts in the EUCOM area of responsibility. In normal circumstances Marine elements in the theater are few – routinely, the Marine Expeditionary Unit attached to United States Sixth Fleet, and possibly other small units and detachments. Yet the HQ makes it possible to call upon forces from II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF), based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. This force comprises the 2nd Marine Division, the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, and the 2nd Marine Logistics Group, formerly known as the 2nd Force Service Support Group.
II MEF would also supply forces for the Norway Air-Landed Marine Expeditionary Brigade (NALMEB). NALMEB is a remnant NATO Cold War reinforcement organization, and would have come under command of Allied Forces Northern Europe. Significant equipment storage for a MEB is located in northern Norway under the Marine Corps Prepositioning Program-Norway, and administered in the contiguous United States by Blount Island Command. The Norwegian Government has integrated the presence of a MEB into its defense planning.
Yet the tasking is now more theoretical than real, as the last confirmed deployment was Exercise Battle Griffin in 1991, in which the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, made up from USMCR reserve units due to Operation Desert Storm, made the first test of the concept. The exercise was conducted in February and March 1991 and the Brigade was made up of the 25th Marines regimental headquarters, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines (infantry), Company E, 4th Reconnaissance Battalion, and 1st Battalion, 14th Marines (artillery).
In 2014 the USMC added heavy armored vehicles to NALMEB for the first time.
As of January 2017, a rotational force of about 330 (infantry) U.S. Marines from Camp Lejeune, NC, are stationed in Trondheim, Norway on two six-month deployments.
 Official MARFOREUR writings say that the Marine Rotational Force, Europe (MRF-E) comprises "an infantry company reinforced by enablers and a Marine Coordination Element. [Their] presence in Norway facilitates military exercises that support NATO and USEUCOM operational plans; increases interoperability with Allies and Partners; advances efforts for more naval integration; and enables recuperation of the Marine Corps' cold weather and mountain proficiencies."


Flight of the Norwegian National Treasury

The National Treasury of Norway consisted of 50 tonnes of gold worth in 1940 (approximately in 1940, or in 2015.)
When the German invasion began, the gold was evacuated from Oslo first overland to Åndalsnes and then by ship to Tromsø. From Tromsø, evacuating Allied forces took the cargo of gold to Britain. The gold arrived safely in Britain despite German ground and air attacks. It was ultimately shipped to North America.
Evacuation from Oslo.
The gold was stored in the main vault of the Norges Bank's headquarters in Oslo. During the increasing tension of the 1930s, plans were made to make the gold more mobile. When the Second World War broke out, these plans were accelerated and the gold was packed into 818 crates of 40 kg, 685 crates of 25 kg and 39 barrels of gold coins, weighing 80 kg each: a total of 53 tons.
When news reached the government in the early hours of 9 April 1940 that the patrol boat "Pol III" had been attacked and that enemy ships were approaching Oslo, orders went out to evacuate the gold to the vault in Lillehammer. Heavies (a British term for forklift) from local businesses were used to load the gold onto 26 civilian lorries. The last lorries left Oslo hours before the Wehrmacht arrived.
By train and lorry to Åndalsnes.
The gold stayed at Lillehammer for a few days before having to move again due to the German advance. It was loaded onto a train and travelled across country away from the German advance. Meanwhile, the Norwegian government and King Haakon VII were separately evading the German advance. German paratroopers attempted to reach Lillehammer in buses to capture the dignitaries and gold, but were stopped by an improvised defence at Midtskogen. Norwegian troops from Jørstadmoen, including poet Nordahl Grieg, deployed to Lillehammer to guard the train.
The train left Lillehammer on 19 April and arrived in Åndalsnes on 20 April, where British expeditionary troops had landed a few days before. Åndalsnes was bombed several times by the Germans. The train was undamaged and was moved to Romsdalshorn station, outside Åndalsnes. The British were informed of the gold, and agreed to evacuate it to Britain and then perhaps onwards to America. The gold was to be split between three ships. The first, the British cruiser HMS "Galatea" departed from Åndalsnes on Thursday, 25 April, with 200 crates.
By ship to Tromsø.
No further loading was done at Åndalsnes due to the approach of German troops through the Gudbrandsdalen and further air raids. The gold was moved on 23-28 lorries to Molde, to be embarked on the British cruiser HMS "Glasgow" with the King and the government, and taken to Tromsø and then to Britain. The city was being bombed when they arrived. 756 crates and all 39 barrels were loaded onto "Glasgow" before, late on Monday April 29, Captain Pegram judged they could wait no longer and ordered the ship north to Tromsø. 18 tonnes of gold, in 301 large and 246 smaller crates, were left behind. The coastal steamer took on most of the remainder before bombing suspended loading. The 30 crates left by "Driva" were moved by lorries to Gjemnes, to be picked up by the steamer on its way north to Tromsø.
"Driva" was attacked by German aircraft several times and beached to avoid sinking. The gold was transferred to five fishing vessels from Bud and Hustad. These were "Heimdal", "Barden", "Svanen", "Leif" and "Gudrun", captained by Hans M. Inderhaug, Harald Tungehaug, Engvald Sunde, Emil Skottheim and Alfred Skottheim respectively. As hoped, the fishing vessels did not draw attention and they arrived at Gjemnes without incident, and the 30 crates brought north by road were picked up. The five boats continued north to Titran, arriving at the island of Frøya in Trøndelag on Saturday, 3 May. The soldiers from Jørstadmoen were sent home, and the gold was transferred to two larger fishing vessels. The two ships left on 4 May and arrived in Tromsø four days later.
Evacuation overseas.
In Tromsø, the gold was loaded onto the British cruiser HMS "Enterprise". The cruiser sailed south to Harstad, before departing on 25 May. "Enterprise" survived two German air attacks en route to Scapa Flow. From there, she sailed to Greenock, where the gold was brought ashore. The gold was taken by train to Bank of England's vault in London. Finally, the gold was shipped in installments across the Atlantic Ocean to America and to Canada. Of the 50 tonnes from Oslo, the only losses were 297 gold coins from a barrel damaged during transit aboard a British vessel.
The gold was gradually sold in America – partly to fund the government in exile. Ten tonnes of gold coins returned to Norway in 1987.


Battle of Makassar Strait

The Battle of Makassar Strait, also known as the Action of Madura Strait, the Action North of Lombok Strait and the Battle of the Flores Sea, was a naval battle of the Pacific theater of World War II. An American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) fleet—under "Schout-bij-nacht" (Rear Admiral) Karel Doorman—was on its way to intercept a Japanese invasion convoy reported as bound for Surabaya (its destination was actually Makassar), when it was attacked by 36 Mitsubishi G4M1 "Betty" and 24 Mitsubishi G3M2 "Nell" medium bombers, which forced the fleet to retreat.
The battle occurred on 4 February 1942 in the Java Sea, closer to the Kangean Islands than to Makassar Strait. This battle should not be confused with the Naval Battle of Balikpapan, which occurred over a week earlier on 24 January 1942, which is also sometimes referred to as the "Battle of Makassar Strait".
Background.
At the end of January, Japanese forces had conquered the north and west coast of Borneo and large parts of Maluku (Moluccas). On Borneo's east coast, Japanese forces occupied the oil facilities and ports of Balikpapan and Tarakan, and on Celebes the cities of Menado and Kendari had also fallen. To gain full control of Makassar Strait, the Japanese needed to capture the cities of Makassar and Banjarmasin.
On 1 February, Allied commanders received word from a reconnaissance plane: at Balikpapan, a Japanese invasion force—consisting of 20 troop transport ships, three cruisers and 10 destroyers—was preparing to sail. On 2 February, Admiral Thomas C. Hart, "Vice-Admiraal" (Vice Admiral) Conrad Helfrich, Rear Admiral William A. Glassford and (Commodore) John Collins, RAN met at Palembang; Helfrich's suggestion that a strike force be formed was approved. It was formed the following day under "Schout-bij-nacht" (Rear Admiral) Karel Doorman, and began taking on supplies at the Gili Islands, south of Madura.
The ABDA force consisted of four cruisers (, which was the flagship, and , and ) escorted by seven destroyers (, , , , , , and ).
Battle.
On the morning of 3 February, the ABDA strike force was spotted by a squadron of about 30 Japanese bombers reported as heading toward Surabaya. Seven of the bombers showed special interest in the strike force and started circling above the ships. The ships initially dispersed to deeper water, but the planes left without attacking, and the strike force resumed taking on supplies.
At about midnight, the ships sailed for "Meinderts Droogte" (Meinderts Reef; later Karang Mas), off the north east tip of Java. The last ship arrived around 05:00 on 4 February. At 09:30, the strike force received word that air patrols from Makassar had spotted the Japanese apparently heading for Surabaya. On the morning of 4 February, the ABDA strike force headed out for Makassar Strait, in search of the Japanese invasion force, which was reported to be passing through the straits and was now said to include three cruisers and 18 destroyers, escorting transports and other ships, under "Sho-sho" (Rear Admiral) Takeo Takagi.
At 09:49, while Doorman's strike force was south of the Kangean Islands, Japanese bombers were sighted to the east by sailors on the ABDA ships. The Japanese planes where flying in four "v"-formations at an altitude of about .
The planes attacked the Allied cruisers. The first to be targeted was "Marblehead", and the bombs landed about in front of the ship. During a second attack, "Marblehead" sustained two direct hits and a damaging near miss. The two direct hits penetrated the deck, killed 15 crew directly and destroyed the ship's ability to manoeuver; "Marblehead" was now able only to sail in circles. The near miss also caused a hole , near the bottom of the ship. However, subsequent attacks on "Marblehead" were less intense.
"Houston" initially evaded bombs successfully, but suffered a severe hit during a final attack; a bomb hit the deck near the aft gun turret, and killed 48 crew. The rear guns were rendered useless.
After the hits on "Houston" and "Marblehead", the planes focused on "De Ruyter", which evaded four attacks and sustained only minor damage to fire control for its 40 mm guns.
At about 13:00, Doorman ordered his ships to return west and signalled Hart that—without fighter protection—it would not be possible to advance to Makassar Strait, due to the threat from bombers. "Houston" and "Tromp" had already gone south through Alas Strait, and were south of the strait. "Marblehead" and the four U.S. destroyers went south through Lombok Strait. "De Ruyter" and the three Dutch destroyers also stayed with "Marblehead" until the Lombok Strait. Both U.S. cruisers headed for Tjilatjap, to get repairs and medical attention for their wounded.
Aftermath.
Japanese aircrews reported three cruisers sunk during the attack: one ""Augusta" class cruiser", one "Tromp"-class cruiser type and one "Java"-class cruiser. However, no ships of the latter class were present during the attack, and only "Marblehead" and "Houston" were damaged.
At Tjilatjap, "Houston" and "Marblehead" transferred their wounded to a hospital and buried their dead. "Marblehead" would not fit in the dry dock, but the hole in the hull was temporarily repaired, and the ship sailed for the east coast of the U.S.—by way of Ceylon and South Africa—for repairs. "Houston" was able to continue service with the ABDA fleet.
The retreat of the strike force resulted in the Japanese taking control of Makassar Strait and thereby tightening their grip on the western part of the Dutch East Indies.


Second Air Force

The Second Air Force (2 AF; "2d Air Force" in 1942) is a USAF numbered air force responsible for conducting basic military and technical training for Air Force enlisted members and non-flying officers. In World War II the CONUS unit defended the Northwestern United States and Upper Great Plains regions and during the Cold War, was Strategic Air Command unit with strategic bombers and missiles. Elements of Second Air Force engaged in combat operations during the Korean War; Vietnam War, as well as Operation Desert Storm.
History.
The Northwest Air District of the GHQ Air Force was established on 19 October 1940; activated on 18 December 1940 at McChord Field, and then re-designated as 2d Air Force on 26 March 1941. 5th Bombardment Wing was assigned to Second Air Force up until 5 September 1941.
2nd Air Force.
On 11 December 1941, four days after the Pearl Harbor attack, 2d Air Force was placed under Western Defense Command. However, on 5 January 1942, it was returned to the Air Force Combat Command (a redesignation of GHQAF after creation of the United States Army Air Forces on 20 January 1941), and later placed directly under Headquarters AAF when Air Force Combat Command was dissolved in March 1942.
From December 1941, 2d Air Force organized air defense for the northwest Pacific Ocean coastline of the United States (1940–1941) and flew antisubmarine patrols along coastal areas until October 1942. It appears that immediately after 7 December 1941, only the 7th, 17th, 39th and 42d Bombardment Groups under II Bomber Command were available for this duty. In late January 1942, elements of the B-25 Mitchell-equipped 17th Bombardment Group at Pendleton Field, Oregon were reassigned to Columbia Army Air Base, South Carolina ostensibly to fly antisubmarine patrols off the southeast coast of the United States, but in actuality came to prepare for the Doolittle Raid against Japan.
In January 1942, the 2d Air Force was withdrawn from the Western Defense Command and assigned the operational training of units, crews, and replacements for bombardment, fighter, and reconnaissance operations. It received graduates from Army Air Forces Training Command flight schools; navigator training; flexible gunnery schools and various technical schools, organized them into newly activated combat groups and squadrons, and conducted operational unit training (OTU) and replacement training (RTU) to prepare groups and replacements for deployment overseas to combat theaters.
As the Second Air Force it became predominantly the training organization of B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator heavy bombardment groups. Nearly all new heavy bomb groups organized after Pearl Harbor were organized and trained by Second Air Force OTU units, then were deployed to combat commands around the world. After most of the heavy bombardment groups had completed OTU training, the Second Air Force conducted replacement training of heavy bombardment combat crews and acquired a new mission of operational and replacement training of very heavy bombardment (B-29 Superfortress) groups and crews.
Designated the Second Air Force on 18 September 1942, starting in mid-1943 the unit's training of B-17 and B-24 replacement crews began to be phased out, and ressigned to First, Third and Fourth Air Forces as the command began ramping up training of B-29 Superfortress Very Heavy bomb groups, destined for Twentieth Air Force. Under the newly organized XX Bomber Command, B-29 aircraft were received from Boeing's manufacturing plants and new combat groups were organized and trained. XX Bomber Command and the first B-29 groups were deployed in December 1943 to airfields in India for Operation Matterhorn operations against Japan.
A football team made up of Second Air Force personnel defeated Hardin–Simmons University in the 1943 Sun Bowl.
XXI Bomber Command, the second B-29 combat command and control organization was formed under Second Air Force in March 1944 with its combat groups beginning to deploy to the Mariana Islands in the Western Pacific beginning in December 1944. A third B-29 organization, XXII Bomber Command was formed by Second Air Force in August 1944, however the organization never got beyond forming Headquarters echelon and Headquarters squadron. Inactivated before any operational groups were assigned, as XX Bomber Command units were reassigned from India to the Marianas, eliminating need for the command.
On 13 December 1944, First, Second, Third and Fourth Air Force were all placed under the unified command of the Continental Air Forces (CAF) with the Numbered Air Forces becoming subordinate commands of CAF. The training of B-29 groups and replacement personnel continued until August 1945 and the end of the Pacific War. With the war's end, Second Air Force was inactivated on 30 March 1946. In what was effectively a redesignation, the headquarters staff and resources were used to create Fifteenth Air Force, which became the first Numbered Air Force of the new Strategic Air Command ten days later.
Cold War.
The command was reactivated on 6 June 1946 under Air Defense Command, at Offutt Air Force Base. The Second Air Force assumed responsibility for the air defense of certain portions of the continental United States.
In 1947, the 73d Bomb Wing was reactivated with the 338th and 351st Bombardment Groups being assigned to it, both reserve B-29 Superfortress organizations. The wing was assigned to Second Air Force. A third group, the 381st was added in 1948. However SAC was having enough difficulties keeping its front-line active duty bomb units in the air to maintain even minimal pilot proficiency in the late 1940s. The wing and its bomb groups were all inactivated in 1949.
The Second Air Force was also assigned the reserve 96th Bomb Wing, which was later redesignated an air division, and several C-46 Commando troop carrier groups under the 322d Troop Carrier Wing. One of these groups was the 440th Troop Carrier Group.
It was again inactivated on 1 July 1948.
The Second Air Force was (re)-activated and assigned to Strategic Air Command on 1 November 1949 at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana.
The initial organization of Second Air Force as part of SAC was:
37th and 38th Air Divisions joined Second Air Force on 10 October 1951. 37th Air Division was responsible for Lockbourne Air Force Base and Lake Charles Air Force Base, and 38th Air Division was located at Hunter Air Force Base, Georgia.
With the end of fighting in Korea, President Eisenhower, who had taken office in January 1953, called for a "new look" at national defense. The result: a greater reliance on nuclear weapons and air power to deter war. His administration chose to invest in the Air Force, especially Strategic Air Command. The nuclear arms race shifted into high gear. The Air Force retired nearly all of its propeller-driven bombers and they were replaced by new Boeing B-47 Stratojet medium jet bombers. By 1955, the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress heavy bomber would be entering the inventory in substantial numbers and as a result, Second Air Force grew both in scope and in numbers.
After the Korean War, the history of Second Air Force became part of Strategic Air Command's history, as B-47 Stratojet, and later B-52 Stratofortress and KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft entered SAC's inventory. During the Cold War, Second Air Force aircraft and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM)s stood nuclear alert, providing a deterrence against an attack on the United States by the Soviet Union. In 1966, an order of battle for the force showed units spread across most of the United States, from the 6th Strategic Aerospace Wing at Walker AFB, New Mexico, to the 11th Strategic Aerospace Wing at Altus AFB, Oklahoma, to the 97th Bombardment Wing at Blytheville AFB, Arkansas.
During the Vietnam War, squadrons of 2d Air Force B-52 Stratofortesses (primarily B-52Ds, augmented by some B-52Gs) were deployed to bases on Guam, Okinawa and Thailand to conduct Arc Light bombing attacks on communist forces. The 28th Bombardment Wing was among the units assigned this duty. The 2d Air Force organization was inactivated during the post-Vietnam drawdown, on 1 January 1975, with those 2 AF bomb wings not inactivated and/or those 2 AF bases not closed, redistributed to 8 AF and 15 AF.
With the end of the Cold War and the restructuring of Strategic Air Command, Second Air Force was reactivated and became the steward for reconnaissance and battlefield management assets, based at Beale AFB, California. This assignment lasted from 1 September 1991 until 1 July 1993, when it was inactivated by Air Combat Command.
Air Education and Training Command.
Second Air Force was reactivated and reassigned on 1 July 1993 to Keesler AFB, Mississippi. Its mission became conducting basic military and technical training for Air Force enlisted members and support officers at five major AETC training bases in the United States.
The command has the mission is to train mission ready graduates to support combat readiness and to build 'the world's most respected air, space, and cyberspace force'. To carry out this mission, Second Air Force manages all operational aspects of nearly 5,000 active training courses taught to approximately 250,000 students annually in technical training, basic military training, medical and distance learning courses. Training operations across Second Air Force range from intelligence to computer operations to space and missile operations and maintenance.
The first stop for all Air Force, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve enlisted airmen is basic military training (BMT) at Lackland AFB, Texas. After completing BMT, airmen begin technical training in their career field specialties, primarily at five installations: Goodfellow, Lackland, and Sheppard Air Force bases in Texas; Keesler AFB, Mississippi; and Vandenberg AFB, California. Each base is responsible for a specific portion of formal technical training airmen require to accomplish the Air Force mission. Instructors conduct technical training in specialties such as enlisted aviator, aircraft maintenance, civil engineering, medical services, computer systems, security forces, air traffic control, personnel, intelligence, fire fighting, and space and missile operations.
Commissioned officers attend technical training courses for similar career fields at the same locations.
Wings and Groups under Second Air Force are:
In 2006, Second Air Force was assigned the responsibility of coordinating training for Joint Expeditionary Tasked (JET) Training Airmen. These Airmen are assigned to perform traditional US Army duties in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa. An Expeditionary Mission Support Group was formed to provide command and control of these JET Airmen as they are trained at US Army Power Projection Platforms across the US prior to deploying to their assigned Area of Responsibility (AOR). This group has been named the 602d Training Group.
In 2007, Second Air Force was given responsibility to provide curricula and advice to the Iraqi Air Force as it stands up its own technical training and branch specific basic training among others. This mission is known as "CAFTT" for Coalition Air Forces Technical Training.


Fast Carrier Task Force

The Fast Carrier Task Force (TF 38 when assigned to Third Fleet, TF 58 when assigned to Fifth Fleet), was the main striking force of the United States Navy in the Pacific War from January 1944 through the end of the war in August 1945. The task force was made up of several separate task groups, each typically built around three to four aircraft carriers and their supporting vessels. The support vessels were screening destroyers, cruisers, and the newly built fast battleships.
Carrier-based naval warfare.
With the arrival of the fleet carriers the primary striking power of the navy was no longer in its battleship force, but with the aircraft that could be brought to battle by the carriers. The means by which the US Navy operated these carriers was developed principally by Admiral Marc Mitscher. Mitscher determined that the best defense for a carrier was its own air groups, and that carriers were more easily defended if they operated together in groups, with supporting ships along with them to aid in air defense, anti-submarine defense, and rescue of downed airmen.
Said Mitscher: "The ideal composition of a fast-carrier task force is four carriers, six to eight support vessels and not less than 18 destroyers, preferably 24. More than four carriers in a task group cannot be advantageously used due to the amount of air room required. Less than four carriers requires an uneconomical use of support ships and screening vessels."
The ships of each task group sailed in a circle formation centered on the carriers. The supporting ships sailed relatively close by, and added their anti-aircraft fire to that of the carriers to help ward off attacking aircraft. When under attack by torpedo aircraft, the task group would turn toward the oncoming aircraft to limit attack angles. Other than this measure, the carriers in the task group would not take evasive action from their attackers. This was in marked contrast with the Imperial Japanese Navy, but the choice made for more stable platforms for the anti-aircraft fire of all the ships in the task group and allowed the ships in the group to sail more closely together. The primary defense of the group against air attack was the group's own fighter cover.
Admirals.
The individual primarily responsible for the development and operations of the task force was Admiral Mitscher. The overall command of the task force alternated between two very different admirals: Raymond Spruance and William "Bull" Halsey. Spruance was calculating and cautious, while Halsey was more aggressive and known for taking risks. Most higher-ranking officers preferred to serve under Spruance; most common sailors were proud to serve under Halsey. Their commander was Admiral Chester Nimitz.
When the force was part of Admiral Spruance's Fifth Fleet, the carrier task force was commanded by Mitscher and bore the designation Task Force (TF) 58. When led by Admiral Halsey as part of the Third Fleet, the carrier force was commanded by Vice Admiral John S. McCain Sr. and its designation was Task Force (TF) 38. Planning for upcoming operations was completed when each admiral and his staff rotated out of active command. This allowed the Navy to perform at a higher operational tempo, while giving the Japanese the general impression of naval assets greater than what were actually available.
Fast carriers in action.
The Fast Carrier Task Force took part in all the US Navy's battles in the Pacific during the last two years of the war. The task groups could operate independently or combine with the others as needs dictated. Raids against island strong points such as Iwo Jima or Chichi Jima might be undertaken by one or two task groups, but when a major operation was underway the task force would concentrate all four groups together. Each group would remain distinct but operate in close proximity to the other groups to provide the task force with maximum protection and maximum striking power.
The Fast Carrier Task Force worked in conjunction with the other two major components of the Pacific Fleet: the Amphibious Force, which was much larger overall and which carried and provided direct support to the Marine forces, and the Service Squadrons of hundreds of support vessels which resupplied and maintained the fleet. The fleet and task group designation changed when the command of the fleet changed hands. When under the umbrella of Fifth Fleet, the invasion force was called the Fifth Amphibious Force. When Halsey had command of the fleet, Third Amphibious Force was the designation. By the time of the Battle of Iwo Jima in early 1945, the Task Force included eighteen aircraft carriers, eight battleships and two "Alaska"-class large cruisers, along with numerous cruisers and destroyers. TF 58 alone commanded more firepower than any navy in history.
The original TF 38 came into existence in August 1943, built around , and under the command of Rear Admiral Frederick C. Sherman. TF 58 was created on 6 January 1944 with Rear Admiral Marc Mitscher commanding, serving under the fleet command of Admiral Spruance in the Fifth Fleet. TF 38 continued to exist, but as a command structure only. TF 58 proved the success of the Fast Carrier TF concept with Operation Hailstone, a massive naval air squadrons and surface vessels attack on the Japanese ships and airfield at Truk Lagoon on 17–18 February 1944.
With command change from Spruance to Halsey on 26 August 1944, all units changed designations again. Mitscher, who was an aviator from early training and had a masterful command of the airgroups, requested that he retain command of the Fast Carrier Task Force until his replacement, Admiral John McCain, could have proper time to become more familiar with the handling of a carrier task force. King and Nimitz concurred. Admiral Halsey, like Spruance before him, sailed with the Fast Carrier Task Force. The force grew to nine CVs and eight CVLs in preparation for the landings on Leyte. Task Force 38 was composed of four task groups: Task Group 38.1 was commanded by Admiral McCain, with its previous commander, Admiral Joseph "Jocko" Clark, remaining on as advisor, Task Group 38.2 was under the command of Admiral Gerald Bogan, Task Group 38.3 was led by Admiral Frederick Sherman, and Task Group 38.4 was under the command of Admiral Ralph Davison.
Following the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Mitscher went on shore leave and planning duty, and Vice Admiral McCain took over as commanding officer of TF 38, which continued under Halsey and the Third Fleet. In January 1945 TF 38 raided the South China Sea and attacked Japanese positions in Formosa and Luzon.
On 26 January 1945, Halsey and McCain went on shore leave and planning duty, while Spruance and Mitscher returned to their previous commands. Third Fleet became Fifth Fleet, and TF 38 became TF 58. They led the fleet through the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, facing sustained attacks from land-based Japanese kamikaze aircraft. As the Okinawa campaign dragged into its second month, the presence of the carriers was still required to provide close air support to the soldiers on the island as the Army and its Air Corps were not as adept as the Marine Corps at quickly establishing airfields over newly occupied territory. At the end of April, Admiral Nimitz came out to review the situation. After two months operating off the coast of Okinawa in support of Army forces engaged in battle on the island, the command staff was exhausted from the continuous pressure of fending off kamikaze attacks. On his return to Pearl Harbor, he notified Halsey that he would have to take over command from Spruance in thirty days, whether or not the mission was completed.
On 28 May 1945, Halsey arrived aboard , his new flagship, whereupon he relieved Spruance, while McCain relieved Mitscher. Spruance and Mitscher returned to Pearl Harbor. Fifth Fleet once again became Third Fleet, and Task Force 58 became Task Force 38. Halsey remained in command until the Japanese surrender ended the war on 2 September 1945.


Convoy OB 293

OB 293 was a North Atlantic convoy which ran during the battle of the Atlantic in World War II.
It was notable for seeing the loss to the Kriegsmarine (KM) of , with her commander KL Günther Prien, the person responsible for the sinking of two years previously.
Prelude.
OB 293 was a west-bound convoy of 37 ships, either in ballast or carrying trade goods, and sailed from Liverpool on 2 March 1941 bound for ports in North America.
It was escorted by an escort group of two destroyers, and , and two corvettes, and . They were led by LtCdr Rowlands of "Wolverine", which would stay with them till they left the Western Approaches. (At this stage of the campaign escort groups were too scarce to provide "end-to-end" cover).
On 6 March 1941 the convoy was sighted by commanded by Prien.
After sending a sighting report he set to shadowing the convoy, being joined throughout the day by three other boats. They were (Kretschmer), (Matz) and (Eckermann).
Action.
On the night of the 6/7 March the pack launched its attack.
In the early hours of 7 March "U-99" slipped into the convoy from ahead, to attack on the surface; she torpedoed the tanker "Athelbeach", damaged by "U-47", sinking her, and the whale factory ship "Terje Viken".
"U-70" damaged a British tanker, "Delilian", and a Dutch tanker, "Mijdrecht". The latter rounded on " U-70" and attempted to ram; "U-70" was forced to crash-dive to escape.
"UA" hit a freighter, but did not sink her.
The response of the escorts was swift and effective. The U-boats were subjected to a fierce bombardment as the warships chased down contacts; over 100 depth charges were expended over a five-hour period.
"UA" was damaged but was able to escape;
"U-99" only escaped by diving deep and waiting out the attack.
"U-70" was damaged in the onslaught and forced to the surface, where she was fired on and sunk by the corvettes "Camellia" and "Arbutus".
"U-47" avoided damage and was able to stay in contact with the convoy, sending further reports and requesting re-inforcements. He had also been able to torpedo "Terje Viken", which was straggling after being damaged, though she still remained afloat. The escorts attempted to bring her to port, but she finally sank on the 14th; her loss was credited to both "U-99" and "U-47".
Meanwhile, on the night of 7th/8th, at about 1am on the 8th, "Wolverine" sighted a U-boat on the surface which she identified as "U-47". She and " Verity" attacked, and after four hours, which had shown evidence of damage, the U-boat was driven to the surface within yards of "Wolverine", before diving again. The destroyer sent down a pattern of depth charges and was rewarded with an underwater explosion, marked by an orange glow, and flames that broke the surface.
Aftermath.
"Wolverine" was credited with destroying "U-47", and this featured in the official record until the late 1990s. However, after reviewing the available records modern historians regard this attack as being directed against "UA", which was badly damaged, but survived to reach port.
No conclusion can be reached about the fate of "U-47", and it is thought likely to be the result of a diving accident.
The success of the defence of OB 293, with the loss of the U-boat ace Prien, coupled with the successful defence of Convoy HX-112, and the loss of two more aces, Kretschmer and Schepke, one week later, marks a minor turning point in the Atlantic campaign.


Foster Waterman Stearns

Foster Waterman Stearns (July 29, 1881 – June 4, 1956) was a U.S. Representative from New Hampshire.
Biography.
Born in Hull, Massachusetts, Stearns attended public schools. He graduated from Amherst College in 1903, Harvard University in 1906, and Boston College in 1915. He was Librarian of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, from 1913 to 1917, and State Librarian of Massachusetts in 1917.
During the First World War, Stearns served as a first lieutenant with the Sixteenth Infantry, First Division, and at the General Headquarters of the American Expeditionary Forces in France, where he served as assistant military attaché from November 27, 1917, until discharged August 5, 1919. He received the Silver Star and Purple Heart decorations in recognition of his service.
He served in the Department of State, Washington, D.C., in 1920 and 1921, and was third secretary of the American Embassy, attached to the United States High Commission, in Constantinople, 1921-1923. He was second secretary of the American Embassy at Paris in 1923 and 1924.
Returning to the United States, Stearns was Librarian of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, from 1925 to 1930. He moved to Hancock, New Hampshire, in 1927.
He served as member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 1937 and 1938, and served as delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1940 and 1948. He was Regent of the Smithsonian Institution, 1941-1945. In 1941 he became a hereditary member of the New Hampshire Society of the Cincinnati.
Stearns was elected as a Republican to the Seventy-sixth, Seventy-seventh, and Seventy-eighth Congresses (January 3, 1939 – January 3, 1945). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1944, but was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for United States Senator.
A confidential 1943 analysis of the House Foreign Affairs Committee by Isaiah Berlin for the British Foreign Office described Stearns as
In 1942, Stearns became a director of the Rumford Printing Co. of Concord, New Hampshire. He moved to Exeter in 1948, where he died June 4, 1956. He was interred in Exeter Cemetery.


Bombing of Toyokawa in World War II

The was part of the strategic bombing campaign waged by the United States of America against military and civilian targets and population centers during the Japan home islands campaign in the closing stages of World War II.
Background.
Although the city of Toyokawa was not a major population center, it had a major target of military significance: the one of the largest in the Empire of Japan, which produced 7.7 mm machine guns, 13 mm and 20 mm aircraft cannon and 25 mm anti-aircraft cannon and associated munitions for the Imperial Japanese Navy. By February 1945, the facility had 56,400 workers and covered an area of 330 hectares. The Tōkaidō Main Line railway connecting Tokyo with Osaka also ran through the city.
Air raids.
Despite its obvious military significance, Toyokawa was not bombed until the very late stages of World War II. On 1 November 1944, a small scale air raid occurred. This was followed on 23 November by a midnight fly-over by a lone camera-equipped B-29 Superfortress on a reconnaissance mission.
However, a major air raid did not occur until the morning of 7 August 1945. During this attack, 135 B-29 Superfortress bombers of the USAAF 20th Air Force, 58th 73rd, 313th, and 314th Bombardment Wings launched from Guam, Saipan and Tinian. They were joined by 48 P-51 Mustang escort fighters deployed from Iwo Jima. Arriving over the target area at 10:13 AM, twelve B-29s bombed the Toyokawa Naval Arsenal, while the remaining bombers concentrated on Toyokawa's civilian population center, and the P-51s strafed targets of opportunity. A total of 3,256 500-lb bombs (813 tons) was dropped on the city from an altitude of 15,000–17,000 feet. Civilian casualty estimates range from 2,544 to 2,677 people killed. Victims included 452 schoolchildren and teenaged girls, some of whom had been conscripted and many of whom had volunteered to work at the Naval Arsenal.
Japanese anti-aircraft fire damaged 21 B-29s during the raid, one of which crashed into the ocean near Iwo Jima. There were no American fatalities. Another B-29 lost course and dropped its bombs on the rural village of Futamata (now part of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka).
After the war, a memorial monument was erected within the grounds of Toyokawa Inari temple. Several other memorials exist at various locations around Toyokawa City.


Battle of Braddock Down

The Battle of Braddock Down was a battle of the south-western campaign of the First English Civil War. It was fought on open ground in Cornwall, on 19 January 1643. An apparently easy victory for the Royalists under Sir Ralph Hopton secured Cornwall for King Charles and confirmed Hopton's reputation as a commander. Hopton also gained respect for the mercy shown to his foe, of whom 1,500 were captured during and after the battle. The precise location of the battlefield is a matter of dispute, though English Heritage believe it to be within parkland at Boconnoc.
Prelude.
Hopton had been attempting to march into Devon from Cornwall but was prevented from doing so by the Parliamentarian force at Plymouth under the Earl of Stamford and William Ruthven. He retreated across Bodmin Moor and on 17 January was able to replenish his food and ammunition stores from three Parliamentarian ships that sought refuge from a storm at Falmouth and were captured.
Sir Ralph Hopton's Royalist forces had been camped the night of 18/19 January at Boconnoc. On breaking camp, their dragoon vanguard encountered Parliamentarian cavalry to the east, and discovered Ruthven's army deployed on Braddock Down. Ruthven had been unwilling to wait for reinforcements sent by Stamford to arrive and had marched to face the Royalists in the hope of a quick victory. Ruthven initially believed he was facing stragglers from Hopton's main army but was instead lured into facing the entire Royalist force.
Battle.
Ruthven had more cavalry, but Hopton had more infantry and also two light cannons. These he kept concealed during the first two hours of the battle, which was largely a long-range musket duel. After deciding to attack, Hopton ordered his Cornish foot under Sir Bevil Grenville to charge. The defending Parliamentarians, drawn from newly raised and inexperienced forces, fired just one volley at the Cornish, causing two casualties, then turned and fled.
Aftermath.
The defeated Parliamentarians were pursued into Liskeard where over 1,200 were captured. In all, 1,500 Parliamentarians were captured and a further 200 killed with few losses on the Royalist side. Hopton drove another band of survivors out of Saltash, where they had fled after the battle. The battle cost the Royalists little but had severe consequences for the Parliamentarians, who lost the prospect of controlling Cornwall. Hopton's reputation as a commander was bolstered by his victory here and he was also commended for the mercy shown to his surrendered foe.
Battlefield.
The location of the battle is a matter of dispute. English Heritage considers the location to be slightly south of Middle Taphouse. However traditional opinion places the battle within Boconnoc Park. The exact location is not likely to be discovered without archaeological excavation.
A cross from Lanlivery was made into the upper section of "The Monument" on Druids Hill, St Winnow. It was brought from Lanlivery in 1846; this monument commemorates the loss of life in the Battle of Braddock Down.


Nagano Prefecture

 is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the northeast, Saitama Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Prefecture to the southeast, Shizuoka Prefecture and Aichi Prefecture to the south, and Gifu Prefecture and Toyama Prefecture to the west.
Nagano is the capital and largest city of Nagano Prefecture, with other major cities including Matsumoto, Ueda, and Iida. Nagano Prefecture has impressive highland areas of the Japanese Alps, including most of the Hida Mountains, Kiso Mountains, and Akaishi Mountains which extend into the neighbouring prefectures. The abundance of mountain ranges, natural scenic beauty, and rich history has gained Nagano Prefecture international recognition as a world-class winter sports tourist destination, including hosting the 1998 Winter Olympics and a new Shinkansen line to Tokyo.
Geography.
Nagano is an inland prefecture and it borders more prefectures than any other in Japan, bordering Gunma Prefecture, Saitama Prefecture, Yamanashi Prefecture, and Shizuoka Prefecture to the east, Niigata Prefecture to the north, Toyama Prefecture and Gifu Prefecture to the west, and Aichi Prefecture to the south. Nagano contains the point furthest from the sea in the whole of Japan—this point lies within the city of Saku. The province's mountains have made it relatively isolated, and many visitors come to Nagano for its mountain resorts and hot springs. Nine of the twelve highest mountains in Japan can be found in Nagano and one of its lakes, Lake Kizaki, is a beach resort popular for its water attractions and games.
As of 1 April 2014, 21% of the total land area of the prefecture was designated as Natural Parks; namely the Chichibu Tama Kai, Chūbu-Sangaku, Jōshin'etsu Kōgen, and Minami Alps National Parks; Myōgi-Arafune-Saku Kōgen, Tenryū-Okumikawa, and Yatsugatake-Chūshin Kōgen Quasi-National Parks; and Chūō Alps, Enrei Ōjō, Hijiriyama Kōgen, Mibugawa Suikei, Ontake, and Tenryū Koshibu Suikei Prefectural Natural Parks.
Cities.
Nineteen cities are located in Nagano Prefecture:
Towns and villages.
These are the towns and villages in each district:
Demographics.
The life expectancy in Nagano prefecture is the longest nationwide with the average life expectancy of 87.18 years for women and 80.88 years for men.
Economy.
Nagano Prefecture has a large and diversified economy, with a strong focus on electronics, information technology, precision machinery, agriculture and food products, and tourism, with a total GDP of about trillion (2014).
Several large Japanese groups have production facilities in Nagano Prefecture, such as Citizen Watch (Citizen Group), MinebeaMitsumi, Seiko Epson or Vaio.
Sports.
There are two local J.League clubs: AC Nagano Parceiro and Matsumoto Yamaga FC.


Mid-Atlantic gap

The Mid-Atlantic Gap is a geographical term applied to an undefended area beyond the reach of land-based RAF Coastal Command antisubmarine (A/S) aircraft during the Battle of the Atlantic in the Second World War. It is frequently known as The Black Pit, as well as the Atlantic Gap, Air Gap, Greenland Gap, or just "the Gap". This resulted in heavy merchant shipping losses to U-boats. The gap was eventually closed in May 1943, as growing numbers of VLR Liberators (Very Long Range models) and escort carriers became available, and as basing problems were addressed.
History.
RAF Coastal Command, when it was created in 1936, was given responsibility for A/S (or ASW) patrol. It was equipped only with small numbers of short-ranged aircraft, the most common being the Avro Anson (which was obsolescent by the start of World War II) and Vickers Vildebeest (which was obsolete); for a time, shortages of aircraft were so severe, "scarecrow patrols" using Tiger Moths were even employed. Bomber Command routinely got higher priority for the best, longest-ranged aircraft. Only as Bomber Command transitioned to four-engined aircraft did Coastal Command receive the castoffs, such as Vickers Wellingtons, which finally had adequate range for A/S patrol. Moreover, Coastal Command's motley assortment of Ansons, Whitleys, and Hampdens were unable to carry the standard 450 lb (205 kg) depth charge; that needed Wellingtons or Sunderlands. (The other aircraft capable of carrying it, the Avro Lancaster, was Bomber Command's crown jewel.)
Coastal Command's prize was the Consolidated Aircraft Liberator GR.I, commonly called the VLR Liberator or just VLR. The Liberator B.I proved too vulnerable for bombing missions over Europe, but had excellent range and payload, ideal for A/S patrol. Top priority for these was the U.S. Navy for reconnaissance operations in the Pacific, where their long legs were equally valuable, but where they generally carried out missions of lower priority than Coastal Command's.
VLRs were of particular importance in times when Bletchley Park was unable to read "Kriegsmarine" Enigma (Ultra). When ON 127 was attacked by on 11 September 1942, there was exactly one VLR of 120 Squadron overhead. Fifteen U-boats converged on ON 131, only to meet aircraft, and Coastal Command sank two, while in protecting ON 136, 120 Squadron's VLRs sank on 12 October 1942. Even then, VLRs proved invaluable in co-operation with shipborne "Huff Duff". Defending SC 104, VLRs guided by HF/DF drove off three shadowers in one day, 16 October. They bettered the performance on 29 October, for HX 212, driving off five, and seven on 6 November around SC 107. "...[T]he apparent inadequacy Newfoundland-based air support was highlighted by the early interception of SC 107 and the resultant bitter and costly battle." This led RAF to belatedly move a number of Coastal Command squadrons.
The paltry nine Liberator GR.Is operating over the Atlantic, members of 120 Squadron based in Iceland, were nevertheless a worry to Admiral Dönitz, "BdU". As a measure of how valuable they were, after patrols off Canada were added in 1942, only one ship was lost in convoy. Even in mid-1942, Coastal Command only had two squadrons of Liberators and Fortresses, and at the first sign of Coastal Command's success against U-boats, Harris sought to have their aircraft used in attacking German cities.
After Convoy SC 118, Professor Patrick M. S. Blackett, Director of the Admiralty's Operations Research section, made several proposals, including diverting VLRs from Bomber Command to Coastal Command. "Despite the strength of Blackett's case, the Admiralty (not to mention the Air Ministry, Bomber Command, and the Americans) believed for some time yet that it could not afford to reduce the heavy air offensive in the Bay of Biscay or to abandon the bombing of German bases by the RAF." "The number of VLR aircraft operating in the North Atlantic in February [1943] was only 18, and no substantial increase was made until after the crisis of March." Nor were night air patrols, recognized as necessary, initiated until the autumn of 1943.
Bomber Command did not refuse entirely to offer assistance against U-boats. From 14 January 1943 through May, they flew seven thousand sorties against the U-boat pens in Lorient, Brest, and St. Nazaire, at a cost of 266 aircraft and crews. They accomplished no damage to the pens nor the submarines within them. Coastal Command strength never reached 266 VLRs. Missions flown against German U-boat building yards had similarly disappointing results.
Aircraft also had an important indirect role, by preventing even the formation of wolf packs. They limited the places U-boats could attack in safety, and (by reducing the ability of shadowers to find and track convoys) made shipping harder to find, thereby reducing losses. This also helped escorts, by enabling them to deal with one U-boat at a time. Despite a willingness of RCAF aircraft to fly in (perennially bad) conditions off the Grand Banks Coastal Command would never have attempted, U-boats could trail convoys beginning very soon after departure from Halifax. Without air-to-surface vessel radar (ASV), the almost "perpetual fog of the Grand Banks also allowed pack operations to penetrate within a couple of hundred miles of Newfoundland, while aircraft patrolled harmlessly above", visual detection impossible.
A means of detecting surfaced submarines at night, when they were at their most vulnerable, recharging batteries, and felt most safe, was a top priority for Coastal Command. ASV gave it to them. The previous AI.II (Mark 2 Airborne Interception) radar became ASV.II (Air to Surface Vessel Mark 2) fitted in Coastal Command aircraft. Coastal Command priority for it, however, ranked behind Fighter Command's night fighter units. ASV.II's 1½-metre wavelength (actually 1.7 m, 176 MHz), mid-VHF band emissions meant however, that a submarine was usually lost in sea return before it came in visual range, at around a mile (1,850 m), by which time it was already diving. In response, the Leigh light was developed. Though it had to overcome Air Ministry indifference, and only entered service in June 1941, it proved very successful. This, however, required a large aircraft, such as the Wellington or Liberator, to carry the generator needed to power the light, and most of Coastal Command's aircraft were incapable of it, nor were Bomber Command inclined to turn over anything better. Moreover, the Germans developed Metox, which picked up ASV's radar pulses before it was able to detect a submarine at all, rendering it useless.
The appearance of H2S three gigahertz-frequency (10 cm) radar changed that, and the combination of H2S (as ASV.III) and Leigh light proved lethal to U-boats. Harris, however, denied Coastal Command any allocation of H2S systems, claiming Bomber Command needed it to find targets, in preference to Gee and Oboe, while arguing Coastal Command might lose it to the Germans. Churchill backed him up. Marshal John Slessor, head of Coastal Command, countered Bomber Command also risked having it fall in enemy hands, and having the Germans produce a countermeasure against it, before Coastal Command ever got to use it. In the event, this was exactly what happened. The first ASV.III was fitted to a Coastal Command Wellington at Defford in December 1942, with twelve based at Chivenor by February 1943, while a copy of H2S was lost 2/3 February when a Stirling Pathfinder was shot down over the Netherlands, on only H2S's second operational use. Harris made similar objections to supplying the American-created 3 cm-wavelength H2X radar units to Coastal Command (which knew it as ASV.IV), again got higher priority, and again saw it fall into German hands, almost exactly a year later, in February 1944.
As Coastal Command predicted, the Germans captured the damaged H2S, which would have been next to impossible from a Coastal Command aircraft downed at sea, rather than over land, and Telefunken produced the "Rotterdam Gerät" (Rotterdam Device, named for where it was captured). Coastal Command's first ASV.III-equipped patrol took place over the Bay of Biscay 1 March. ASV.III made its first U-boat contact on the night of 17 March, but unfortunately the carrier Wellington suffered a malfunction of its Leigh Light and was unable to press home the attack. The first attack using the system occurred the next night. When ASV.III did enter service, German submariners, right up to Dönitz, began to mistakenly believe British aircraft were homing on emissions from the Metox receiver, which no longer gave warning. Meantime, German scientists were perfecting the "Rotterdam Gerät" to create a submersible version for U-boat defense, of the aviation-utilized FuG 350 "Naxos" radar detector for night fighters, the submersible version getting the "FuMB"7 "Naxos U" designation. While fragile, Naxos worked. However, it entered service the same day as the 10 GHz-emissions H2X (which "Naxos" could not detect) became operational in Coastal Command. "Naxos" was replaced by "FuMB"36 "Tunis" in May 1944, and was supplemented by "Stumpf", what today would be called radar absorbent material, under the codename "Schornsteinfeger" ("Chimneysweep").
Just before the Conference, Admiral Ernest J. King got control of A/S aircraft from the Army Air Force, arranging a trade of B-24s for comparable types. This enabled Slessor to make a deal with him to "borrow" one squadron. After attacks on ONS 166, the number of VLRs in Newfoundland finally increased. "Canadians had been pressing hard for Liberators since autumn 1942, against British doubts that the RCAF could employ them effectively, while RCAF, for its part, opposed RAF taking over a job RCAF saw as its own. The commanding officer of 120 Squadron, Squadron Leader Bulloch, confirmed RCAF's ability, and in early March 1943, the number in Newfoundland belatedly increased (though it was not enough to constitute 10 Squadron, RCAF, before 10 May), while 120 Squadron's strength doubled. This still only put all of thirty-eight VLRs over the Mid-Atlantic Gap. The arrival of 25th Antisubmarine Wing, USAAF, with its medium-range B-24s (equipped with H2S, probably built by Canadians), made it possible to free up Coastal Command VLRs without it. The growth in numbers of escort carriers meant "a dramatic increase of USAAF Fortresses and medium-range Liberators" could be based in Newfoundland. 25h Wing flew over the Bay of Biscay, where they sank one U-boat before being redeployed to Morocco.
Increasing availability of escort carriers reduced the hazard of the Gap. After a crisis in March which nearly had Churchill and the Admiralty abandon convoys altogether, the Mid-Atlantic Gap was finally closed in May 1943, when RCAF VLRs became operational in Newfoundland, by which time the Battle of the Atlantic was largely won.


Allied Expeditionary Air Force

The Allied Expeditionary Air Force (AEAF), also known as the Allied Armies’ Expeditionary Air Force (AAEAF), was the expeditionary warfare component of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) which controlled the tactical air power of the Allied forces during Operation Overlord during World War II in 1944.
Its effectiveness was less than optimal on two counts. It did not function as the controlling headquarters for all Allied air forces, with the strategic forces of RAF Bomber Command and the US Eighth Air Force being retained by their national command authorities until pressure from U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower resulted in them being placed directly under SHAEF instead of AEAF. Its commander was also not universally liked. Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory was regarded by some as being too inept for his place in the high command.
It had two major components, the RAF Second Tactical Air Force and the USAAF Ninth Air Force. Each supported their own nation's Army Group. It also had operational control of the Air Defence of Great Britain, but with that organisation not being under the control of SHAEF.
AEAF was dissolved after Leigh-Mallory was reassigned to command RAF forces in the Far East, later being killed in an air crash.