Stars and Stripes Review: April 19, 1943

In this issue, the headline story details the efforts of the Allies to destroy the German war machine by destroying their factories, in this case a plane factory in Bremen. The article describes a week-long endeavour of bombing raids, both day and night and post mission reconnaissance missions showing Bremen as a pile of rubble, her factories annihilated. While it is true that German cities were severely damaged in Allied bombing raids, nearly 1/3 of Berlin's housing was destroyed by wars end, German factories were inexorably rebuilt and hidden. The Germans became very adept at camouflaging their factories, either in dense forests or inside mountains or underground. It was even considered to build a rocket-launching facility inside a mountain to prevent its destruction. In the end, though, it wasn't Germany's loss of factories that crippled their war effort but rather the Allies continual destruction of their supply convoys: war material was being produced but wasn't getting to the front.

Other stories in this issue include a progress report on the North African campaign from Dwight D. Eisenhower: the German Afrika Corps has been pushed back to Tunis and is clawing for whatever time it can get for evacuation. Also, there is a remarkable story about a soldier whose troop ship was torpedoed and sunk. The soldier was rescued out of the Atlantic by an Allied destroyer only to have the destroyer torpedoed as well. The soldier was picked out of the water by a French ship, who in turn sunk the two subs in the area responsible for sinking the troop ship and the destroyer.

Also, there is a story speculating on the Republic P-47 acting as a bomber escort in light of heavy bomber losses and the lack of a plane with sufficient range to escort the bombers all the way to their targets. Unfortunately, the P-47 was especially fuel-hungry, and could only escort the bombers a third of the way to Berlin at the most. Of course, this would all change with the later introduction of the legendary P-51 Mustang.

Finally, this issue has lighter news, such as the beginning of the year's Army boxing tournament, the start of baseball season, comic strips such as Blondie and Joe Palooka, as well as some pictures of the lovely Rosemary LaPlanche, Miss America 1941, and some ladies from the Women's Army Corps to cheer the boys up up at the front. All in all, a typical issue of the Stars and Stripes. Until next time, take care and thank you.

France's Mighty, Unlucky Super Submarine

In 1934 the French Navy commissioned what was then the world's largest submarine in the world: the Surcouf, a submarine and yet much more. However, through a series of tragic and unforeseeable events, the Surcouf's career was blotched with bad press and resulted in the sub's virtual nonexistence.

Launched in 1929, the Surcouf's main goal in life was to combine the roles of a submarine and a surface cruiser. The most notable features on this sub are the main guns, which had an 8-inch bore. The Surcouf also carried various antiaircraft guns, a total of ten torpedo tubes and even carried a small seaplane in a hangar. In the end, this sub was intended to carry 118 men 12,000 miles out to sea without refueling, on the surface that is. Surcouf was indeed a mighty ship on paper. Unfortunately, when war broke out things went downhill fast.

When Germany invaded Poland, Surcouf was escorting a convoy to Europe from the Caribbean. The Surcouf suffered engine troubles and experienced turbulent seas, resulting in the scattering of the convoy which led to seven ships being sunk by German U-boats. When Germany invaded France, the Surcouf sailed across the English Channel with only her backup electric motors and a jammed rudder. When France signed its armistice on June 22 1940, England recognized the Free French forces, and also told French sailors that either they join the fight or scuttle their ships. This resulted in a small altercation on the Surcouf with the crew and English commandos, resulting in four men dead and two wounded.

After that, the Surcouf fought with the Free French, but her involvement was connected with some questionable operations. Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the Free French, wanted to invade two islands off the coast of Canada; these islands were colonial holdings of France that vowed loyalty to the German-collaborating Vichy government. de Gaulle feared that these islands could radio information on transatlantic convoys, so the Surcouf and three other ships were sent to take the islands. Unfortunately for the Surcouf she couldn't enter the shallow harbor, so the troops she carried were transferred to the other ships and they got the glory of 'liberating' the islands.

After this event, the Surcouf was seen as either unlucky, or worse cursed. A freighter captain complained that the Sucrouf chased his ship around the ocean before they sailed away, rumors circulated that she was torpedoing Allied ships, she was even hit by one of the world's first rocket-propelled anti-submarine weapons, ironically launched accidentally by an Allied plane. This streak of bad luck would culminate on the fateful night that would claim the Surcouf and her entire crew. The Surcouf was ordered through the Panama Canal to Tahiti to aid the Allies against Japan. On February 18 1942, a very dark night, the Sucrouf was sailing partially submerged north of Cristobal when the American Army transport USS Thompson Lykes hit the sub and kept on going, thinking they had hit a German sub.

In actuality, all 129 crew members of the Surcouf went down with their ship, and there is a memorial in Cherbourg, France to commemorate their loss. The sad part about this seemingly mighty submarine is that she never once fired her guns against an enemy target in her short-lived life. Until next time, take care, and thank you.

Star and Stripes Review: April 13, 1945

April 12 is the anniversary of many events: It's the anniversary of the opening shots of the Civil War at Fort Sumter, it's the anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's spaceflight marking man's first trip into space, and 66 years ago today it is the anniversary of the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Struck down into the president's fourth term, all of America mourned, and those overseas mourned just as much as those stateside.

This issue is one of the most collectible Stars and Stripes in existence, partly because of the extra large headline, but also it marks a huge landmark not only in the course of the war, but also for the rest of the postwar world. As the front page has emblazoned, the 32nd president of the United States died on April 12, 1945 from a cerebral hemorrhage, brought on from his weakened state due to his polio. It is also noted in light of this event that Harry S. Truman was the seventh vice-president to become Chief Executive after the President's death, the other six being John Tyler, who succeeded William Henry Harrison; Millard Fillmore, who succeeded Zachary Taylor; Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Abraham Lincoln; Chester Arthur, who succeeded James Garfield; Theodore Roosevelt, who succeeded William McKinley, and Calvin Coolidge, who succeeded Warren G. Harding.

However, as with the rest of life, the war went on. Other events depicted in this issue are the US Ninth Army crossing the Elbe river, and Patton's Third Army is only 85 miles away from linking up with the Red Army. Also, it was announced that the British were no longer going to draft anyone over 31 years old, with the exception of specialists. Also, the German town of Schweinfurt was captured, which was significant for American airmen because of the heavy losses sustained from the disastrous air raids on the town.

It is important to note that this issue is not only shorter than most issues of Stars and Stripes, but the third page is almost entirely devoted to comic strips, including Blondie, Dick Tracy, and Donald Duck. It could be said that this was intentional for the purpose of helping the soldiers deal with the grief of losing their president. Whatever the reason, this issue is but one way of viewing the passing of one of America's greatest wartime leaders. Until next time, take care, and thank you.

Camp Hale: Birthplace of the 10th Mountain Division

Camp Hale recruits training by Cooper Hill

A piece of local World War history for Coloradans is Camp Hale, located between Red Cliff and Leadville. Camp Hale is best known for its role in training the 10th Mountain Division, the US's first division made up entirely of ski troops. In addition to this, Camp Hale provided much needed attention to a then-ignored Leadville, as well as being where Peter Seibert was stationed, the man who built the Vail ski village in the 1960s.

The 10th Mountain division was said to be made up of men "from college boys to cowboys", since recruitment efforts did not yield enough men who wanted to ski, which prompted the need for mountain climbers and outdoors men in general to be enlisted. The troops were trained on Cooper Hill, and taught by instructors on how to fight on skis, how to survive in the snow, and how to climb mountains, some of the instructors being from Austria.

Camp Hale today

By the middle of the war, nearly 15,000 men were stationed at Camp Hale, including 400 women from the Women's Army Corps. In addition, almost 400 members of Rommel's Afrika Corps were imprisoned there. After the war, the camp was shut down and the 10th Mountain Division moved to Texas. Today, the division has been reorganised into a light infantry division, but still bears the 'mountain' in their name. Camp Hale was mostly dismantled, but there are still some ruins of buildings there for those who want to get that much closer to Colorado's World War II history. Until next time, take care, and thank you. 

A Really Big Gun: Schwerer Gustav

Gustav. Workers seen closest to the gun show scale

In Sevastopol during the summer of 1942, the city was under siege from the Axis powers that had invaded the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa. At this siege, the world got its first and possibly only look at the largest field artillery piece in existence: the Schwerer Gustav (or Great Gustav). This railway-mounted cannon weighed around 1,350 tons and the shells it fired weighed around 7 tons. This cannon is the largest example of field artillery to see actual combat ever, and what an effect it had.

The Gustav was originally designed in 1934 to destroy the fortresses in the French Maginot Line, the fortifications at the French-German border. The gun was developed with a caliper of either 70cm, 80cm, or 1m, of these the gun fired either a 7 ton shell or an 11 ton shell. The 11 ton shell was never used, because Hitler was so awestruck by its destructive power that he ordered the 11 ton shell not to be used except with his express permission, which never came during the war.

There were actually two guns built of this type, Gustav and Dora. However, Gustav was the only gun to see real combat at the siege of Sevastopol. According to records of the siege, the gun fired only 48 rounds. However, with 7 tons coming down at a ballistic trajectory, there was chaos. Reportedly, the Gustav was able to fire shells into Severnaya Bay, through the water, through almost 100 feet of seabed and into a Soviet ammunition magazine protected by 30 feet of concrete and thought to be invulnerable.

An 80cm shell compared to a Soviet tank

Dora was constructed and deployed shortly after the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943. However, by this time the Red Army had begun its long counterattack, and when Dora's emplacement faced encirclement, the big gun was destroyed to prevent capture. Gustav, on the other hand, was captured by US troops at the end of the war and eventually cut up. Besides these two guns, there were actually plans to make a rail gun firing rocket projectiles and another gun that weighed 1500 tons, but these designs never left the drawing board or were cancelled before any real progress could occur.

Other field artillery have had slightly larger calibers and fired slightly smaller rounds, but the Gustav has secured its place as the largest caliber field cannon ever to see battle, and what a cannon it was. Until next time, take care, and thank you.