What happened on your birthday in WW2?


  • Wouldn’t dream of it. Actually I tried, but it was such a long word kept typing it wrong. We all have our names here, Gorg. Sorry Garg. (Amawful at typing.)
    I am Wittmann!
    No, I am Wittmann!
    No…
    By the way got to love the fight the Finns put up against the might of Bolshevik Russia!


  • Me and Gorgopotamos were born almost the same day

  • 2024 2023 '22 '21 '20 '19 '18 '17

    Nothing happened on my birthday during World War 2. I wasn’t born yet, so it wasn’t my birthday at the time.

    However, as far as February 16 is concerned, I’m going to be lazy and quote Surprise Attack, since he already covered that date in his overview (which has unfortunately been discontinued since).

    @suprise:

    Feb 16 1940 British raiders freed naval prisoners of war in Norwegian waters in the Altmarkepisode. Altmark was one of the German ships most sought after by the Royal Navy at this time. The tanker and supply ship had served the now scuttled Graf Spee. To the British it was a prison ship, for the Altmark was known to have hundreds of merchant seamen rescued from the nine ships destroyed by the Graf Spee. After a hemispheric search the Altmark was located at Trondheim, Norway, a neutral port. The British destroyer Cossack followed her out of Trondheim on the morning of the 16th when Altmark tried to break out, but she sought refuge in the Jossing Fjord on the southwest tip of Norway when pursued. Cossack entered the Fjord with five other men-of-war and demanded release of the prisoners. The Germans refused, and the Norwegian authorities insisted Altmark was unarmed and had been searched. Captain Philip Vian, commander of the fourth Floatilla Group, ordered an armed party from the Cossack to board the Altmark. The Germans were overpowered after a brief skirmish. The British found and freed 299 British prisoners and quickly steamed to Britian, leaving Altmark intact. What the British did may have been a violation of international law, but German and Norwegian protests were ignored. Hitler felt the incident was proof the British would not respect Norwegian neutrality and ordered accelerated planning for the occupation of Norway.

    1941 Britian mined the waters of Singapore.    Kismayu in Italian Somaliland fell to the South African force from Kenya.    Turkey and Bulgaria signed a nonaggression pact, insuring Sofia a neutral Turkey in the projected campaign against Greece.

    1942 German U-Boats shelled oil-refining facilities on Aruba and Curacao, off the west coast of Venezuela.    Hitler named Martin Bormann to replace Hess as second inline, behind Goring, in the Nazi line of succession.

    1943 Kharkov was reoccupied by the Russian 40th and 3rd Tank armies. Hitler equated the loss of Kharkov to Stalingrad and vowed to retake Russias 4th largest city. The Russians had now advanced 375 miles west of Stalingrad.    U.S. and British forces suffered heavy losses in Tunisia, with the Germans advancing 25 miles northwest from Gafsa and to the southwest toward Feriana.    British 8th Army troops attacked the Mareth defense line in Tunisia at Ben Gardane.

    1944 German forces launched their major attack on the Anzio beachhead. The 14th Army aided by the Luftwaffe which was more active than ever before in attacking the pocket, hoped to drive the Allies into the sea. The Germans made limited gains against the U.S. 3rd Division positions but suffered heavy personnel and tank losses    U.S. Army and Marine units converged at the Itni River, effectively securing all of the western part of New Britian.    R.A.F. bombers dropped 2,642 tons of explosives on Berlin in 39 minutes. It was the heaviest raid of the war on the German capital. 42 of the 806 aircraft were shot down.

    1945 American paratroopers landed on Corregidor Island, followed by a boat-borne 34th Division infantrymen two hours later, completelysurprising the Japanese. A total of 4,215 Japanese died defending the Island, to the loss of 136 Americans.    An Indian brigade landed on the Arakan coast 62 miles south of Akyab to cut off the Japanese retreating toward Prome.    Breslau was totally surrounded by the Red Army.


  • Thanks Herr KaLeun. I have filled in a few days and am posting tomorrow. Am sure Surprise Attack will do too when he can.

  • TripleA

    February 25, 1943 Vietminh forms Indo Chinese Democratic Front.

    I guess you can call me THE RESISTANCE.

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    More like LE Resistance.


  • May 14, 1942
    In the Gulf of Mexico, U-506 torpedoes US tanker SS David McKelvy, carrying 81,000 barrels of crude oil which explodes.
    SS David McKelvy will be beached on the Louisiana coast but declared a total loss. U-564 sinks neutral Mexican tanker SS Potrero del Llano by mistake off the Southeast tip of Florida

    In the Caribbean 50 miles West of Grenada, U-155 sinks Belgian MV Brabant. 14 miles Southwest by of Grand Cayman, U-125 sinks Honduran SS Comayagua. U-162 continues creating havoc off the coast of South America. 90 miles Northeast of Barbados, U-162 uses 6 torpedoes to sink British tanker SS British Colony, carrying 9800 tons of Admiralty fuel oil.

    Mediterranean. 5 miles off Port Said, Egypt, at the mouth of the Suez Canal, Allied convoy runs into a minefield laid by U-561 on April 14. Greek SS Mount Olympus sinks and Greek SS Fred is damaged. Norwegian SS Hav is towed to shore and beached but burns out and is a total loss. At 9 PM off Ras el Hilal, Libya, British submarine HMS Turbulent uses the deck gun to shell tiny Italian sailing vessel San Giusto, which is carrying 161 tons of gasoline and explodes.

    At 2 PM in the English Channel, near Cherbourg, RAF aircraft sink minesweepers M26 and M256. In the North Sea, minesweeping trawler M-1307 German hits a mine and sinks.

    Kharkov offensive. Soviets continue advancing West out of the Izium salient, but Soviet 28th Army, forming the Northern pincer advancing from another salient near Volchansk, is pounded to a standstill by Luftwaffe Fliegerkorps VIII, newly-arrived from the Crimea. Soviet fighters sent in to engage the Germans are decisively beaten despite being numerically superior. Hitler orders General Ewald von Kleist to counterattack with his 1st Panzergruppe. In the Black Sea, Soviet destroyer Dzerzhinski sinks on a Soviet mine near Sevastopol.

    “AF is short of water”. US cryptologists learn that Midway Atoll, at the Northern end of the Hawaiian island chain, is the target of a coming Japanese naval attack.

    US submarine USS Tuna sinks Japanese transport Toyoharu Maru 65 miles off Sohuksando, Korea.


  • Friday, May 13, 2011
    May 14, 1941
    A British Bristol Blenheim bomber flying reconnaissance over Syria spots a German Junkers Ju90 transport aircraft at the Vichy French airfield at Palmyra. British government gives permission to enter Syrian air space (risking reprisals from the French). RAF fighters return to strafe the airfield, damaging 2 German Heinkel He111 bombers.

    In anticipation of German invasion of Crete, British cruiser HMS Dido departs Suda Bay for Alexandria, Egypt, with £7,000,000 of Greek gold, escorted by destroyers HMS Stuart, Vendetta, Janus & Isis.

    British gunboat HMS Gnat shells a mobile German gun battery on the coast near Tobruk, Libya.

    500 miles West of South Africa (now Namibia), German armed merchant cruiser Atlantis sinks British SS Rabaul with shellfire after Rabaul fails to stop (7 crew killed, 47 crew and 4 passengers taken prisoner).


  • Where are you guys looking this stuff up? If I were to google my birthday all that will come up is recent events.


  • Hi KrisBeKreame. Put in the date and look for: Events.
    Have fun!
    If you still cannot find anything, tell me  your birthday.


  • Well if i put in Sept. 11, I will only get recent events. If you know what i mean.

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    Quite an interesting selection…

    September 11th’s…

    1939 – World War II: Canada declares war on Germany, the country’s first independent declaration of war
    1940 – George Stibitz performs the first remote operation of a computer.
    1941 – Ground is broken for the construction of The Pentagon.
    1941 – Charles Lindbergh’s Des Moines Speech accusing the British, Jews and the Roosevelt administration of pressing for war with Germany.
    1943 – World War II: German troops occupy Corsica and Kosovo-Metohija.
    1943 – World War II: Start of the liquidation of the Ghettos in Minsk and Lida by the Nazis.
    1944 – World War II: The first Allied troops of the U.S. Army cross the western border of Germany.
    1944 – World War II: RAF bombing raid on Darmstadt and the following firestorm kill 11,500.
    1945 – World War II: Australian 9th Division forces liberate the Japanese-run Batu Lintang camp, a POW and civilian internment camp on the island of Borneo.


  • Well done Garg.
    Sept 11th is an excellent Birthday for world battles!

    Here are 3:  Stirling Bridge in Scotland, saw William Wallace defeat an English army in 1297, while Edward I was in France fighting them.  ( Is in “Braveheart”.)
    Eugene of Savoy(the cruiser that escorted the Bismarck was named after this great Catholic General and scourge of France and the Turk alike)won two battles today: Zenta and Malplaquet in 1697 and 1709. 
    Look them up. They make great reading.

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    In all seriousness, does flight 93 constitute a battle?


  • I would say no.

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    I don’t see why not?

    Clearly it was an open conflict once it started, citizens stood in defence of their country against an aggressor (Like the Alamo), all in an attempt to save lives, which they hoped would include their own.

    There was a clear strategic goal (Control of the plane), undoubtedly multi-national alliances were forged, and no less than a battle ensued.

    It has a clear beginning, and a clear end, and it was part of a larger scale conflict.

    The other hijackings wouldn’t count, because there was no resistance.


  • If you ever need info, just P.M. and I’ll look up the date for ya


  • May 14, 1940
    Holland capitulates. 9th Panzer’s Corps commander General Rudolf Schmidt threatens to bomb Rotterdam unless the Dutch garrison surrenders. Although the surrender is agreed, Luftwaffe planes do not get the order to abort & drop 95 tons of bombs destroying most of the city (1000 civilians killed, 85000 made homeless). General Schmidt will be awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross on 3 June 1940 for his role in the campaign in Holland.

    Dutch Commander-in-Chief General Winkelman instructs his forces to lay down arms, although sporadic fighting continues for a few days. Dutch have 2300 dead, 7000 wounded (plus 3000 civilians killed). German lose 2900 killed and missing, 7000 wounded and 1300 airborne troops, captured on the first day, imprisoned in Britain.

    Rommel secures his narrow bridgehead at Dinant by personally leading 30 tanks to drive French and Belgian troops back 3 miles to the Belgian border village of Onhaye (his tank is hit & a shell splinter wounds his cheek). 7th Panzer crosses the Meuse in strength. Further South at Sedan, Guderian also has his 3 divisions of Panzers across.

    In central Belgium, General Erich Hoepner rashly sends 3rd & 4th Panzer Divisions in pursuit of Prioux’s Corps de Cavalerie. At Gembloux they come under fire from emplaced French artillery, losing many tanks.


  • May 14, 1943 - The German submarine U-657 is sunk by naval land-based aircraft (VP-84) in the north Atlantic.


  • Free French penetrate German line

    Sunday, May 14, 1944  www.onwar.com

    May 14, 1944
    In Italy… The attacks by forces of the US 5th Army continue. The French Expeditionary Corps advances into the Ausente Valley, capturing Ausonia, and continue to advance over the Aurunci Mountains toward the next German defensive line, which is not occupied in strength at this time. The US 2nd Corps makes progress against the defending German 94th Division.

    Over Britain… The Luftwaffe conducts a night raid on Bristol and southwestern England with 91 planes of which 15 are lost.

    In the North Sea… German E-boats attack Allied landing craft lying off the coast of Britain near the Isle of Wight. The Free French destroyer La Combattante sinks S-141 in which the second son of Admiral Donitz, Klaus Donitz, is serving. The entire crew is lost at sea.

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