Njaco
The Pop-Tart Whisperer
6 JANUARY 1944
UNITED KINGDOM: The RAF and USAAF announced their joint development of jet aircraft.
The master plan for an Allied invasion of north-west Europe, which has been codenamed "Overlord", was being drastically revised after examination by General Montgomery, the ground force commander under General Eisenhower. On first seeing the COSSAC plan, Montgomery said that the Germans would have no difficulty in containing such a small landing area, and severe congestion would follow when reinforcements were brought in. He took his objections to Eisenhower, who agreed with him. In three days this week at St. Paul's school - his old school in West London - his 21st Army Group HQ, Montgomery hammered out a plan for five divisions to land on a 50-mile from the river Orne to the Cherbourg peninsula. A third airborne division will join the two already assigned to flank protection. The new plan called for a greatly expanded force of landing craft, so D-Day would be delayed for a month, to the end of May.
EASTERN FRONT: Thrusting west in a great salient from Kiev, General Vatutin's First Ukrainian Front crossed the pre-war border of Poland and chased the Germans to the gates of Sarny, an important junction on the railway from Kiev to Warsaw. Vatutin was giving the Germans no chance to recover. He was pushing on in overwhelming strength, and in a special communiqué this morning the Soviet High Command said that his men have killed more than 3,000 Germans and knocked out 83 tanks and 68 field guns. Many prisoners have been taken. The Russians have advanced 400 miles since the opening of their campaign last July. If they achieve similar results this winter, then they would be in not only Poland but East Prussia, the heartland of German militarism.
WESTERN FRONT: 'U-270' shot down a RAF No. 206 Sqn B-17 Fortress 206/U. The boat was damaged during the attack and returned to port.
The Gunboat 'St. Augustine' (PG-54) was sunk in a collision with the U.S. merchant tanker 'Camas Meadows', 73 miles south- southwest of Cape May, New Jersey.
Lieutenant General James H Doolittle assumed command of the US Eighth AF, replacing Lieutenant General Ira C Eaker who would go to Italy as Commanding General Mediterranean Allied Air Force (MAAF). General Carl Spaatz assumed command of USSAFE and named Major Generals Frederick L Anderson and Hugh J Knerr as Deputy Commanding Generals for operations and administration.
US Eighth AF Mission 177: During the evening, 5 B-17s dropped 984,000 leaflets on Amiens, Lille, Valenciennes, Cambrai and Reims, France without loss.
During combat with a Sunderland of TAF No. 228 Sqdrn, Lt. Erich Stain of Jagdkommando 1./SAGr 128 was shot down and killed in his Fw 190G-3. However the Sunderland was then shot down about 190 km west of Brest by another Jagdkommando 1./SAGr 128 Fw 190.
MEDITERRANEAN: US freighter 'William S. Rosecrans' dragged an anchor during a storm south of Naples, Italy, and struck a mine that started a fire that doomed the ship. She sank later that afternoon but there were no casualties to either the merchant complement or the 27-man Armed Guard, who were all rescued by British naval vessels.
Control of US Fifteenth Air Force operations against targets of the Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) was placed under USSAFE.
In Italy, B-26s bombed Pontedera hitting the marshalling yard and Piaggio aircraft factory there, the Lucca marshalling yard, and the railway N of Follonica; P-40 and A-36 fighter-bombers attacked gun positions in the Cervaro-Monte Trocchio area and near Aquino, the town of Cervaro, the railway at Civitavecchia, trains N and E of Rome, the Velletri train station, and the town of Fondi.
After another one day stay, this time at Viterbo, I./JG 4 moved to Osa (Littorio).
GERMANY: 16 RAF Mosquitos flew to Duisburg, 2 to Bristillerie and 1 each to Dortmund and Solingen, 57 aircraft minelaying off Biscay ports, 10 OTU sorties. No losses.
UNITED KINGDOM: The RAF and USAAF announced their joint development of jet aircraft.
The master plan for an Allied invasion of north-west Europe, which has been codenamed "Overlord", was being drastically revised after examination by General Montgomery, the ground force commander under General Eisenhower. On first seeing the COSSAC plan, Montgomery said that the Germans would have no difficulty in containing such a small landing area, and severe congestion would follow when reinforcements were brought in. He took his objections to Eisenhower, who agreed with him. In three days this week at St. Paul's school - his old school in West London - his 21st Army Group HQ, Montgomery hammered out a plan for five divisions to land on a 50-mile from the river Orne to the Cherbourg peninsula. A third airborne division will join the two already assigned to flank protection. The new plan called for a greatly expanded force of landing craft, so D-Day would be delayed for a month, to the end of May.
EASTERN FRONT: Thrusting west in a great salient from Kiev, General Vatutin's First Ukrainian Front crossed the pre-war border of Poland and chased the Germans to the gates of Sarny, an important junction on the railway from Kiev to Warsaw. Vatutin was giving the Germans no chance to recover. He was pushing on in overwhelming strength, and in a special communiqué this morning the Soviet High Command said that his men have killed more than 3,000 Germans and knocked out 83 tanks and 68 field guns. Many prisoners have been taken. The Russians have advanced 400 miles since the opening of their campaign last July. If they achieve similar results this winter, then they would be in not only Poland but East Prussia, the heartland of German militarism.
WESTERN FRONT: 'U-270' shot down a RAF No. 206 Sqn B-17 Fortress 206/U. The boat was damaged during the attack and returned to port.
The Gunboat 'St. Augustine' (PG-54) was sunk in a collision with the U.S. merchant tanker 'Camas Meadows', 73 miles south- southwest of Cape May, New Jersey.
Lieutenant General James H Doolittle assumed command of the US Eighth AF, replacing Lieutenant General Ira C Eaker who would go to Italy as Commanding General Mediterranean Allied Air Force (MAAF). General Carl Spaatz assumed command of USSAFE and named Major Generals Frederick L Anderson and Hugh J Knerr as Deputy Commanding Generals for operations and administration.
US Eighth AF Mission 177: During the evening, 5 B-17s dropped 984,000 leaflets on Amiens, Lille, Valenciennes, Cambrai and Reims, France without loss.
During combat with a Sunderland of TAF No. 228 Sqdrn, Lt. Erich Stain of Jagdkommando 1./SAGr 128 was shot down and killed in his Fw 190G-3. However the Sunderland was then shot down about 190 km west of Brest by another Jagdkommando 1./SAGr 128 Fw 190.
MEDITERRANEAN: US freighter 'William S. Rosecrans' dragged an anchor during a storm south of Naples, Italy, and struck a mine that started a fire that doomed the ship. She sank later that afternoon but there were no casualties to either the merchant complement or the 27-man Armed Guard, who were all rescued by British naval vessels.
Control of US Fifteenth Air Force operations against targets of the Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) was placed under USSAFE.
In Italy, B-26s bombed Pontedera hitting the marshalling yard and Piaggio aircraft factory there, the Lucca marshalling yard, and the railway N of Follonica; P-40 and A-36 fighter-bombers attacked gun positions in the Cervaro-Monte Trocchio area and near Aquino, the town of Cervaro, the railway at Civitavecchia, trains N and E of Rome, the Velletri train station, and the town of Fondi.
After another one day stay, this time at Viterbo, I./JG 4 moved to Osa (Littorio).
GERMANY: 16 RAF Mosquitos flew to Duisburg, 2 to Bristillerie and 1 each to Dortmund and Solingen, 57 aircraft minelaying off Biscay ports, 10 OTU sorties. No losses.
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