World War History

On this day in World War History, 81 years ago the biggest amphibious operation ever in history happened.

This was the famous Allied landing in Normandy - Operation Overlord. Opening up a second-front in Europe

Over 156000 Allied soldiers were involved, landing on 5 different beaches in Normandy supported by over 5000 ships. Together with 23400 Paratroopers and roughly 6000 glider troops as well.

All gave some, some gave all

Oh, and ofcourse can't forget the:

Type 94 motorcar

Type 94 fuel bowser truck

Type 94 cable layer truck

Type 94 optical sight

Type 94 rangefinder

Type 94 air defense searchlight

Type 94 field gas mask

Type 94 wireless radio set

Type 94 field telephone

Type 94 signal light

Type 94 aiming circle

Type 94 steam generator

Type 94 field kitchen

Type 94 mobile water purifier

Type 94 aircraft torpedo

Type 94 depth charge

Type 94 naval mine

Type 94 practice bomb

Type 94 explosive demolition charge

Type 94 flare pistol

The Japanese Mitsubishi Ki-167 Sakurada/Sakura-Dan is a ''special attack'' (Kamikaze) variant developed from the 2-engined Ki-67 Hiryū (Allied reporting name ''Peggy'') medium bomber in the autumn of 1944!

Probably one of the, if not the only picture of the Ki-167 Sakurada!

The so called ''Special attack bomber'' is fitted with a *2900kg thermite shaped charge warhead behind the cockpit. Rather then ''bombing'' It's intended role was to crash into allied tank formations and ships thus the bomber is in fact, the bomb itself. The shape of the charge was fabricated in such a way that it shoots a extremely hot gas jet roughly ~1.5km (~1 mile) away! This is called the ''Munroe effect'' and is commonly used in anti tank weapons today.

The aircraft had similar performance to the Ki-67 ''Peggy'' bomber it was developed from, despite the extra 2.9 ton weight. This was because the charge was placed right on the center of balance of the aircraft and also due to the removal of the gunner crew positions on the aircraft. It had a max speed of 500-520 km/h (310-323 mph) and a range of 2500-2600 km (1550-1615 mi)

Credits to Vincent Bourguignon/The War'tist

The first sortie of the Ki-167 was on April 17 from Okinawa consisting of 2 bombers and one Sakurada, there are a few stories on what happened.

One story says that the pilot of the Sakurada (and also the commander of the airgroup) found a target and wanted to attack, but his comrades noticed his aircraft was on fire, and the plane suddenly abruptly dissapeared into the clouds never to be seen again.

The other story says that the aircrafts found no target and decided to return to the base, however the Sakurada exploded mid-air, probably due to damage to it's charge. It's not clear which story is the true one!

Supposedly the Sakurada destroyed 1 enemy ship, but it cannot be recorded if it was a Ki-167 that did this or another aircraft. Shortly afterwards, on 2 September 1945, Japan luckily surrendered putting an end to the project and not allowing it to show it's possible full potential.

A Ki-67 Hiryū of the 170th bombardement group on Kengun airfield, Japan 1945

*(According to multiple sources its a ''Thermite'' charge, but i'm not sure of it because thermite is a material meant to smelt through substances like steel and usually is not explosive. [Will edit when i found an answer])

Definitions:

Kamikaze: Term for Japanese aircraft usually loaded with explosives and intended to crash on enemy targets like ships, killing the pilot. In 1944 Japan started creating purpose-build kamikaze aircraft. Kamikaze pilots are called Tokkō-pilots or Tokkōtai (特攻隊)

Munroe effect: The increased penetration of an explosive into a surface (as of metal or concrete) caused by shaping a conical or hemispherical hollow in the charge leading it to fire a very dense and hot explosion/gas, it can be as simple as putting sandbags behind a explosive to direct the explosion and as complicated as a tandem warhead anti tank missile

Credits:

The unknown source of the Ki-167 picture

War Drawings for the Ki-167 drawing

Wikipedia for the Ki-67

Daveswarbirds.com

Walrus landing on a British carrier after rescuing a pilot in the Indian Ocean

Developed in 1933 the Supermarine Walrus was a..

Amphibious Search-rescue, Anti submarine, Maritime patrol, Catapult-launched Scoutplane of the Royal Air Force and Navy!

She's capable of carrying a light bomb-load consisting of:

6x 100lb bombs or:

2x 250lb depthcharges or bombs.

Compared to other catapult-launched aircaft this is relatively heavy!

She also has 2 extremely fast firing Vickers ''K'' Machine guns capable of hitting up-to 1200 rounds per minute.

Mostly she was used from ships with a catapult to conduct reconnaissance and scout ahead of the fleet, however in 1943 most catapults were replaced by radar which is smaller and way more effective in the role.

Walrus being launched from a catapult on HMS Rodney, it was located on her turret!

Despite this, she was still in service on aircraft carriers to rescue downed pilots, due to her low landing and take-off speed she's carrier operable without even having a tail hook or flaps, her wings are also foldable!

She has a crew of 1 pilot and 2 gunners, altho there is a second position for a co-pilot. An interesting feature of this aircraft is that the control-stick is not fixed to the aircraft, meaning it can get removed and passed out between the two pilots in case it's necessary.

However, she also had a few flaws. Test-pilot Alex Henshaw reportedly said that it was "the noisiest, coldest and most uncomfortable" aircraft he had flown. She also only had a top speed of ~220 km/h

This month, 89 years and 12 days ago the first production aircraft of the Walrus took flight!

Definitions:

Depth-charge: Type of underwater bomb which could be dropped by ship or aircraft to attack submerged submarines

Catapult: Position on WWII-era ships from which amphibious aircraft could be launched using a catapult, after conducting the mission the aircraft would land next to the ship and be recovered by a crane

I have decided upon not creating a TDIWW everyday. Reasoning for this is because of a lack of time (Especially the coming week) but also because i would be running out of unique things to write about very quickly

I'm currently writing a essay about the Battle of Iwo Jima that started on 19 february, hopefully that will be out soon!

My apologies for this, hopefully i've cleared things up a bit!

On this day in World war history the British town of Newmarket was bombed by a singular Do-17

In the afternoon of 18 February a German Dornier Do-17Z light bomber of squadron 1/K2 that was reporting weather conditions flew over the RAF base at Duxford.

The bomber encountered an army convoy heading into the town of Newmarket. The Do-17 armed with 10x 50kg bombs released it's arnament over the town attempting to engage the convoy

As a result of this 18 shops and businesses were completely destroyed. 20 Civilians died and over 200 got injured.

It's likely that seven more civilians died in the hospital from their injuries

Lest we forget

Definitions:

Light bomber: Aircraft meant to carry a light-bomb load with more speed and range. The Do-17 was one such aircraft but could also take a heavier bombload or take on different roles

RAF: Abbreviation for the British Royal Air Force.

Convoy: Group of vehicles/ships travelling together.

Sources:

Undyingmemory.net

Newmarkethistory.org.uk

Worldwarphotos.info

On this day in World War history. Indian-British soldier, Prakash Singh Chib died during a heroic action for which he was post-humously awarded the Victoria cross!

On 16/17 February Jemadar (Lieutenant) Prakash Singh Chib was commanding a platoon who were defending and taking the main punch from Japanese attackers, that used artillery, machine guns and even flamethrowers!

Left: Indian soldiers in Burma Right: Prakash Singh Chib

While commanding his troops Singh Chib got shot twice by a machine gun in both his ankles. Thus he got relieved by his second-in-command.

However, after a short while his second-in-command also got wounded. And thus Síngh Chib crawled back to his men and directed friendly mortar fire and encouraged his troops. He also picked up ammunition and distributed it among them.

As one part of his section became complete casualties, he took control of a Bren-machine gun and defended the position one-handedly!

He got shot in both of his legs for a second time completely smashing them but still he kept firing his machine gun and moved himself from place-to-place using just his hands!

On this day in World War history 16 February, 1945 the German U-boat U-309 of the VIIC Type was sunk by the Canadian frigate HMCS Saint John.

She was commissioned on January 24, 1943 and had a crew of 47. She had 9 war-patrols on her name and sunk 1 merchant ship of 7219 (GRT)

She also rescued the crew of the U-boat U-981, which had struck a magnetic mine on 12 August 1944.

Survivors of U-981 crowding the deck of U-309. You can see her anti-aircraft configuration of 2x2 C/30 2cm cannons and a 3.7cm Flak 42 gun which was quite heavy!

This day in World war history, on the 15th of February, 1942 the biggest surrender ever in British history happened!

85000 British, Indian and commonwealth troops were assigned to defend the island of Singapore commanded by Lieutenant-general Arthur Ernest Perciva.

On the 8th of February 36000 Japanese troops under command of (War criminal) General Tomoyuki Yomoshita landed on Sarambin beach, considered the weakest part of the island. And established a beachhead.

Due to communication and leadership failures the British failed to form reserves and lacked defensive positions near the landing zone, thus allowing the Japanese troops to land without much resistance, and fought their way inland over the course of 7 days.

Japanese troops landing on Sarambin beach

Alexandria Hospital massacre

On the 14th of February the infamous massacre of Alexandria Hospital happened.

A British lieutenant attempted to surrender the hospital with a white flag but was killed by bayonet. Japanese troops entered the hospital and slaughtered up to 50 soldiers, some whom were still under surgery. Doctors and nurses were also murdered.

On the next day 200 male surgeons and patients were assembled, bound and forced to march 400 meters to an industrial terrain. Those who fell were bayoneted.

The people who survived were divided into groups of 50-70, forced into 3 small rooms that lacked ventilation, had no sitting space and recieved no water. Some died during the night.

The following morning they were told they would be allowed to leave in groups of 2 to recieve water. However after hearing the screams of their comrades it became clear to the British soldiers whom were still in the rooms that they were being executed..

A Japanese stray artillery shell hit one of the buildings, thus allowing some of the prisoners to escape, there were a few other men who survived by playing dead.

This hospital was protected under the Red cross.

Happy valentines day!

On this day, 14 February, 1939 The biggest German battleship (Although she had a slightly heavier sister ship, Tirpitz) ever was launched. This was the famous Bismarck!

With a displacement of over 50000 tons fully loaded and an arnament of 8x 380mm cannons in 4 turrets she was a formidable opponent.

On 24 may 1941 she sunk the Pride of the royal navy the HMS Hood. During this engagement she also heavily damaged the HMS Prince of Wales

After this battle she escaped, thus starting the infamous Hunt for the Bismarck!