What happened on your birthday in WW2?


  • 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.


  • Thanks MidnightExpress.
    Those Bomber losses seem high for 1944: 12%.
    Have just been reading about Malta: Italy and UK fighting and supporting the island. Seems remarkable and audacious transporting those planes with the Italians out there with 7 battleships( not all operational of course).


  • Funny what different people think and fear.
    I thought by 1944 the Allies had got the better of the Germans in the Air War bombing.
    Will have to read some more in to that.


  • Crete was invaded on my birthday! (may 20th)


  • Nice Axistiger.
    Was a waste of German resources though.
    Should have tried to take Malta!

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    @Gargantua:

    November 26 1939: At 2.30 PM, Red Army stages a false flag border incident to justify the coming invasion of Finland.

    November 26 1941: The Japanese Hawaii task force leaves the Kurile Islands, bound for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

    November 26 1942:
    -The movie Casablanca premières at the Hollywood Theater in New York City.
    -A British SOE team, together with Greek Resistance fighters, blows up the Gorgopotamos viaduct in the first major sabotage act in occupied continental Europe.

    LOL, some real winners there.  And NO ONE is allowed to call me Gorgopotamous…

    You know… in review, I have to say that basically each of these events is a BACKSTAB/SURPRISE move.

    What does that say about me? LOL


  • @Gargantua:

    @Gargantua:

    November 26 1939: At 2.30 PM, Red Army stages a false flag border incident to justify the coming invasion of Finland.

    November 26 1941: The Japanese Hawaii task force leaves the Kurile Islands, bound for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

    November 26 1942:
    -The movie Casablanca premières at the Hollywood Theater in New York City.
    -A British SOE team, together with Greek Resistance fighters, blows up the Gorgopotamos viaduct in the first major sabotage act in occupied continental Europe.

    LOL, some real winners there.�  And NO ONE is allowed to call me Gorgopotamous…

    You know… in review, I have to say that basically each of these events is a BACKSTAB/SURPRISE move.

    What does that say about me? LOL

    I don´t know Aleposita ?? I thought you were canadian and not a Greek??! Hellas
    Maybe it means you are a Bridge bomber ,not a backstabber  8-) 8-) count your fingers ,all there lol…


  • August 30th

    1940 – The Second Vienna Award re-assigns the territory of Northern Transylvania from Romania to Hungary.
    1942 – World War II: the Battle of Alam Halfa begins.
    1945 – Hong Kong is liberated from Japan by British Armed Forces.
    1945 – The Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Douglas MacArthur lands at Atsugi Air Force Base.

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