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1933 (MONDAY)

GERMANY:     Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor by President Hindenberg. Franz von Papen  becomes Vice-Chancellor. Only three of the eleven posts in the cabinet are held by National Socialists. Brownshirts (SA) and Communists violently clash  in the streets throughout Germany. The SA celebrates Hitler's accession to  power with a torchlight parade through Berlin. (Gene Hanson)

 

Juedische Jugendhilfe (Jewish Youth Help), the agency overseeing Youth Aliya  (immigration to Palestine), is founded. (Gene Hanson)

 

U.S.A.: Albert Einstein, is lecturing in California at the time of Hitler's appointment as Chancellor. In February, he decides to take up permanent residence in the United States. From this time until his death in 1955, he will hold an analogous research position at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J. (Gene Hanson)

January 30th, 1939 (MONDAY)

GERMANY: Hitler says he has no claim on England and France except the return of old colonies.

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30 January 1940

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January 30th, 1940 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: In attacks on Thames-out convoy OA-80G to the west of the English Channel off Ushant Brittany, U-55 (Type VIIB) is destroyed by the joint action of an RAF Sunderland of No.228 Squadron, sloop HMS Fowey destroyer HMS Whitehead and French destroyers Valmy and Guépard at position 48.37N, 07.48W. Both destroyers and aircraft use depth charges. This is the first such successful action. There is one dead and 41 survivors from the U-boat's crew. The wreck lies about 90 miles southwest of the Isles of Scilly. (Alex Gordon)

RAF Fighter Command: Luftwaffe aircraft attacked shipping off the east coast. One enemy aircraft was destroyed. One merchant ship and several trawlers were sunk.

A national campaign was launched today to utilize almost all of 120 million tons of household waste that are disposed of every year. Scrap iron and steel are urgently needed for conversion into armour plate for guns, ships and tanks. "Old bedsteads, bicycles, fire-irons - we want them all," said the chairman of the scrap merchants federation. The National Farmers Union is to arrange the collection from farms of the many discarded ploughs, harrows, scythes, drills, milk pails and other rusting implements. Waste paper is urgently needed for pulping to save imports. The paper controller is appealing for people to bundle their newspapers, wrapping paper, cardboard and old letters beside the dustbin. There is also an appeal for kitchen waste to be kept separately from tins and bottles, because it is wanted for pigswill. Even bones are wanted for grinding up as fertilizer.

Corvette HMS Fleur de Lys laid down.

NORTH SEA: U-15 sunk in the North Sea at Hoofden after being rammed in error by German torpedo boat Iltis. 25 dead (all hands lost).

 

GERMANY: Berlin: Heydrich orders more expulsions of Jews from the Reich to Lublin in eastern Poland. Himmler authorises the deportation of 30,000 Gypsies.

On the seventh anniversary of the Nazi regime, Hitler speaks at the Berlin Sportpalast. He demands Lebensraum (living space) for Germans and ridicules British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, and French Premier Edouard Daladier. He notes that, since "they started the war, ...they will get all the war they want."  

SPAIN: U-25 was refuelled by the German tanker Thalia - first occurrence of this type in a Spanish port since the war began.

GIBRALTAR:  U.S. freighters SS Examelia, detained since 20 January, and SS Cold Harbor detained since 27 January, are released by British authorities.  

 

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30 January 1941

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January 30th, 1941 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyer HMS Goathland laid down.

GERMANY: Berlin: Convinced that 1941 will be "the crucial year of the great New Order in Europe", Hitler threatens to blow up US aid ships bound for Britain.

U-175, U-217 laid down.

U-555 commissioned.

GREECE: General Metaxas is succeeded as Minister President by Alexander Koryzis, a civilian and a much less strong character.

LIBYA: Derna: For the first time in this desert war, British and Australian troops of the 19th Brigade,  found themselves facing a major counter-attack as Italian troops covered the evacuation of civilians - most of them Italian settlers - and the bulk of the garrison from this once-thriving seaport town.

Eight days after their successful attack on Tobruk, armour and infantry found the defenders making the best use of the rugged, hilly countryside, their artillery directing heavy and accurate fire with 20mm guns mounted on lorries. The Italian air force, which has not been seen for several days, joined in the attack, dive-bombing and machine-gunning British positions. As they forced the Italians back to an escarpment, the British faced two more desert foes - blinding sandstorms and thirst as water supplies, carried over 100 miles of desert, began to run out.

Derna has an ample supply of good "sweet" water - and perhaps that was one major incentive for the infantry and tanks to make the final assault on the escarpment and literally run down the other side into the town where the few remaining Italian troops waited with their hands up in surrender.

As the bulk of the Allied forces moves westwards across Cyrenaica, the strength of the resistance here suggests a tough fight at Benghazi, the ultimate objective.

EGYPT: Cairo: British Headquarters in Egypt announce:

The Italian occupation of Derna in Libya ended in Thursday morning.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-94 sank SS Rushpool in Convoy SC-19.

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30 January 1942

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January 30th, 1942 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Hatfield, Herts: The prototype de Havilland Mosquito T.3 two-seat dual control trainer makes its maiden flight. (22)

Minesweeper HMS Larne laid down.

Destroyer HMS Lookout commissioned.

Minesweeping trawler HMS Loch Arlish sunk by German aircraft off the Humber.

GERMANY: Berlin: Hitler turned up at Berlin's Sports Palace today to celebrate the ninth anniversary of his coming to power. There was little to celebrate. He admitted that the offensive on the eastern front was stalled, and blamed the extreme cold, with temperatures of minus 42 Fahrenheit. He confessed: "I do not know if the war will end this year."

He also warns: "The result of this war will be the complete annihilation of the Jews ... the most evil universal enemy of all time will be finished."

U-231, U-310 laid down

U-461 commissioned.

BURMA: The Japanese open a strong attack on Moulmein and seize the airdrome.  

MALAYA: The British withdrawal to Singapore Island reaches its final stage. East Force is the first unit to cross the causeway and is followed by the Indian 11th Division and West Force. West Force delays withdrawal as long as possible in a futile effort to recover the 22d Brigade of the Indian 9th Division. Remnants of this brigade are eventually ferried across the Strait of Singapore. It is decided to withdraw the Malaya Air Force to the Netherlands East Indies except for a single squadron.  
     At 1100 hours local, 27 Japanese naval land attack planes bomb Allied shipping at Keppel Harbor; the transport USS Wakefield (AP-21, ex-SS Manhattan), waiting to embark 400 British women and children being evacuated to Ceylon, is damaged by a bomb which kills 5 crewmen; three British transports are also hit. The transport USS West Point (AP-23, ex-SS America) is straddled and showered with fragments, but suffers no damage and provides medical assistance to the crew of USS Wakefield. Both U.S. transports subsequently embark passengers that include dockyard workers from Singapore and their families, in addition to Royal Navy officers and enlisted men and a small RAF contingent. The ships will then proceed to Batavia, Java, Netherlands East Indies for additional evacuees, and thence on to Colombo, Ceylon, arriving there on 6 February.  

SINGAPORE: USS Wakefield (USCG-manned), having disembarked 20,000 British troops, was bombed by the Japanese in Singapore. Five were killed. The ship later evacuates 500 women and children to Bombay before the port falls to the Japanese.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: The Japanese invade 314 square mile (813 square kilometres) Ambon Island which has the second largest naval base in the East Indies. The defenders include Dutch troop and the Australian 2/21 Battalion plus supporting troops. During the night of 30 January two Japanese landings are launched; the 1st Kure Special Landing Force lands at Hitu-Iama and the 228th Infantry lands on the southern coast of Laitimor. The defenders are at a disadvantage to contest the landings, only a few Dutch detachments were in the area. At Hitu-Iama on the north coast the defending infantry and machine-gun crews are quickly overwhelmed and bridges on the road leading to the town of Paso are left intact allowing the Japanese to speedily advance south across the Hitu Peninsula. Other landings occurred around Hutumori; the Japanese split westward to the town, and northward to Paso using captured Ambonese compelled to act as guides.  

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: In Sector C of II Corps on Bataan, efforts to dislodge the enemy from the Pilar River bridgehead fail and indecisive fighting continues along the main line of resistance (MLR). The I Corps makes slow progress against enemy pockets behind the MLR. While the 1st Division, Philippine Army (PA), attempts to reduce Little Pocket, elements of the 11th Infantry, PA, and 45th Infantry, Philippine Scouts (PS), attack Big Pocket from the north and south, respectively. In the South Sector, the 3d Battalion of the 45th Infantry, PS, reinforced, continues to attack the Quinauan Point beachhead. The 2d Battalion of the same regiment, reinforced, supported by the 88th Field Artillery battery, PS, pushes slowly toward the mouth of the Silaiim River.  
     General Douglas MacArthur, Commander in Chief US Army Forces Far East (USAFFE), takes control of all naval forces in the Philippines.   

AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS Gympie launched.

PACIFIC OCEAN: Japanese submarine HIJMS I-73 is torpedoed and sunk the U.S. submarine USS Gudgeon (SS-21) about 274 miles west of Midway Island. I-73, with many of her crewmen on deck is running a straight course and not zigzagging.
 

TERRITORY OF HAWAII: USAAF Hawaiian Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses of Task Group 8.9 return to Hawaii, having completed a mission (began on 16 January 42) which afforded a pioneer look at the problem of air operations over vast Pacific areas, especially the problems of navigation and the servicing of aircraft.  

CANADA: Motor minesweepers ordered in Canadian yards - HMS MMS 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 250, 251, 252, 254, 256, 257, 254, 255.

U.S.A.:  The last pre-war automobiles produced by General Motors’ Chevrolet Division and Chrysler’s DeSoto Division roll off the assembly lines today.  
     The Secretary of the Navy authorizes a glider program for the Marine Corps consisting of small and large type gliders in sufficient numbers for the training and transportation of two battalions of 900 men each.  
     California Governor Culbert Olson revokes the professional and business licenses of 5,000 Japanese, German and Italian aliens in California. The revocations mostly affect Japanese-Americans.  
     The Congress passes the Emergency Price Control Act which allows the Office of Price Administration (OPA) to place ceilings on prices and rents.  

Submarine USS Trigger commissioned.

ECUADOR: Quito breaks off diplomatic relations with Berlin. (Mike Yared)

ICELAND:  The hulk of the US Coast Guard gunboat USCGC Alexander Hamilton (WPG-34), torpedoed by U-132 yesterday, is again taken in tow by a tug. The tow progresses 18 miles (29 kilometres) but the cutter's list increases rapidly to starboard and she suddenly capsizes at 1728 hours.  

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 1805, the unescorted and unarmed tanker SS Rochester was hit by one torpedo from U-106. As the engine room was flooded, the crew abandoned ship in two lifeboats, while the U-boat surfaced and waited until the boats cleared the ship. The tanker was then shelled with 8 rounds, but then the deck gun jammed and U-106 was forced to fire a second torpedo at 1845, which hit amidships and caused the ship to sink at 1920. After three hours 32 survivors (later one crewmember died of burns) were picked up by destroyer USS Roe and landed at Norfolk the next morning. (Jack McKillop and Dave Shirlaw)

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30 January 1943

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January 30th, 1943 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:

Destroyer HMS Cassandra laid down.

Frigate HMS Teviot commissioned.

FRANCE: Joseph Darnand, a pro-Nazi activist, forms the Milice Francaise [French Militia] to help the Germans to round up Resistants and Jews.

GERMANY: Berlin is celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Hitler's becoming Chancellor of Germany.

The first daylight raid of Berlin, by the RAF is conducted by Mosquito bombers. This raid is timed to coincide with speeches in Berlin commemorating the tenth anniversary of Nazi Germany. The RAF caught the city by surprise, and the morning raid caused the Luftwaffe chief, Hermann Göring , to postpone a radio talk by half an hour. The second raid, in the afternoon, coincided with a speech by the propaganda minister, Dr. Goebbels. Three planes flew in each raid, and found Berlin under clear skies. Sgt. J. Massey of Sheffield said: "The only unusual thing to happen was that we brought a dead gull back on one of our wings."

Grand Admiral Raeder resigns after disagreement with Hitler about the future of the big ships of the Kriegsmarine Surface fleet. He is succeeded as Head of the German Navy by Admiral Karl Dönitz, who initially continues also to remain head of the U-Boat arm. (Alex Gordon)

U-237, U-737, U-762 commissioned

U-1006 laid down.

U.S.S.R.: General Paulus, of the German 6th Army in Stalingrad, USSR; is appointed Field Marshall by Hitler.

Soviet forces recapture the Maikop oilfields, in the Caucasus.

The 40th Panzer Corps, commanded by Generalmajor Ferdinand Schorner, stationed in the Nikopol bridgehead east of the Dnepr river in the Ukraine, is attached by the entire Fourth Ukrainian Front. (Gene Hanson)

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Flower class corvette HMS Samphire is torpedoed 30 miles NE of Bougie at 37 47N 05 32E either by U-596 or the Italian submarine Platoon both of which made claim to the sinking. 4 survivors are rescued by HMS Zetland. (Alex Gordon)(108)

TURKEY: Adana: Churchill and Alan Brooke promise Turkey direct military help if it is forced into war.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: With the arrival of the fleet tug Navajo, USS Louisville is relieved of duty towing the Chicago to safety. Coastwatcher reports and other intelligence report a possible airstrike about 4:00 pm. Leaving 5 destroyers and a destroyer transport, Rear Admiral Richard Giffen sails ahead with the 5 cruisers and ten other destroyers. At this time carriers Enterprise and Saratoga are about 40 miles to the south. Giffen allows the two escort carriers to proceed separately because they are slowing him down.

The Japanese attack as the cruisers are deployed in parallel lines and the destroyers in an arc in front - giving little protection when the 31 Japanese G4M bombers strike. The attack results in another torpedo hit about 4:25 sinking the Chicago. During this final attack, the destroyer Lavallette is described by the Japanese pilots as a "Honolulu class cruiser". She had turned and placed herself between the Bettys and the Chicago. A near miss damages her and kills 21. The Japanese lose a total of 12 Bettys today.

CANADA: Destroyer HMCS Iroquois completed workups and declared operational.

U.S.A.: Destroyer escorts USS Booth and Carroll laid down.

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30 January 1944

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January 30th, 1944 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Frigate HMS Stayner commissioned.

GERMANY: U-1014 is launched.

ITALY: USAAF aircraft attack Luftwaffe targets in the Po valley.

At 0100 outside Salerno, while attached to the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division, a part of the U.S. VI Corps, the 1st, 3rd and 4th Ranger Battalions participated in an attack on Cisterna. The 3rd Division's mission was to seize Cisterna, cut Highway 7, be prepared to continue on to Velletri and if all went well, interdict Highway 6 at Valmonte. The 1st and 3rd Rangers were to infiltrate between German strongpoints and sneak into Cisterna where they would hold the town while wreaking havoc behind German lines easing the way for the main attack an hour later by the 15th Infantry and the 4th Rangers.

A 3rd Division reconnaissance report stated that the road to Cisterna was lightly held by elements on the Hermann Göring Division. Indeed, that was true the day before the attack but General Lukas, VI Corps commander, had postponed the attack for 24 hours in order to allow the UK 1st Infantry Division and CCA to complete preparation for their attack on the left flank of VI Corps.

The 1st and 3rd Rangers entered a ditch for their approach to Cisterna. Not long afterwards the battalions lost contact with each other. Soon after a German tank spotted the Rangers and had killed the commander. Soon after crossing the LD the 4th Rangers ran into heavy German resistance where none had been expected. The ditch gave cover to the other battalions until 1.5 miles short of Cisterna. The remainder of their approach had to be made across open fields. During the delay ordered by Lukas the Germans had moved many units into the area in front of Cisterna. The plan called for the Rangers to be in Cisterna before dawn but they were still 800 yards short of the town at first light. When the Rangers were hit by the newly arrived Germans they were in a column formation making it impossible to conduct fire and manouvre. The Germans surrounded the ditch cutting off a retrograde movement. In the end only six Rangers of the 1st and 3rd Battalions made it back to Ranger headquarters. The remainder were casualties. (Jay Stone)(265, p.160)

WAKE ISLAND: Chet Smith, a PB2Y Coronado pilot and his crew make their first mission over this island.
"Lieutenant Commander Connolly led the first group over the target in a stepped up 'V' formation. Our plane's radar altimeter indicated altitude below 50 feet.
"I asked the bow turret gunner, 'How much return fire?' He said, 'Very little.' From the waist hatch, 'Moderate fire.' The tail gunner answered, 'All hell broke loose.'" (224)

PACIFIC: USN Task Group 38.3 conducted a pre-dawn air attack on Engebi Island.

During the night, we moved up to Engebi island and launched a pre-dawn attack.  8 to 10 "Betty" aircraft were caught on the ground and set on fire.

     One was caught starting to taxi out for take-off but did not make into the air. The airfield was ruined. (Glen Boren, aboard the USS Bunker Hill)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-364  Listed as missing in the Bay of Biscay as of January 31, 1944. No explanation exists for its loss. 49 dead (all hands lost). (Alex Gordon)

Whilst escorting convoy JW.56B, destroyer HMS Hardy is struck by a torpedo fired by U-278 (Kapitanleutnant Joachim Franze) and her magazine explodes. She then has to be scuttled with a torpedo fired by HMS Venus. There are 40 casualties. Location: South of Bear Island at 73 37N 18 06E. (Alex Gordon)(108)

At 0346 and 0354, U-957 fired two Gnats at the escorts of the Convoy JW-56B and heard two detonations, which were claimed by Schaar as hits on two destroyers, but they were end-of-run detonations. At 0357, U-278 fired a Gnat that struck HMS Hardy. This hit was observed and claimed by U-957 and also by U-472, which had fired a Gnat at 0357 hours, but missed KNM Stord. At 0420, U-957 fired a spread of three FAT torpedoes at two corvettes, which laid stopped (probably the destroyer HMS Venus rescuing survivors from the torpedoed destroyer HMS Hardy) and heard one detonation after four minutes, but no destroyer had been hit at this time. Hardy had been seriously damaged and had to be sunk by a coup de grâce by HMS Venus. This detonation was heard by U-601, which thought that her Gnat, fired at 0524 had hit this destroyer. The U-boat then crossed the sinking position of Hardy and sighted an oil slick and debris.

U-314 (Type VIIC) is sunk in the Barents Sea southeast of Bear Island, Norway, at position 73.41N, 24.30E, by depth charges from the British destroyers HMS Whitehall and Meteor. 49 dead (all crew lost). (Alex Gordon)

U.S.A.:

Submarine USS Becuna launched.

Destroyer escort USS Gaynier launched.

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30 January 1945

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January 30th, 1945 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Submarines HMS Sea Devil and Astute launched.

GERMANY: Berlin: Hitler gives Goebbels the decorative title of Defender of Berlin, and makes a radio broadcast asking the German people to die in order to preserve Nazism... "However grave the crisis may be at the moment, through our unalterable will, our readiness for sacrifice, and our own abilities, we will overcome the crisis. We will endure. It is not Central Asia that will win, but Europe, led by this nation, which for 1500 years has defended and will continue to defend Europe against the East -- our Greater German Reich, the German nation."   (Gene Hanson)

Berlin: Speer writes a memo to Hitler, informing him that the state of German industry is so bad that food and electricity must now be given priority over arms production.

BALTIC SEA Sea: Wilhelm Gustloff, an ex-Kraft Durch Freude ship (Strength Through Joy) in the service of the German Kriegsmarine, is sunk in the Baltic Sea by a Soviet sub with the loss of over 5,000 lives - the largest single naval loss of life in history.
At 2108 Gotehhafen time (2:08pm CST) the Wilhelm Gustloff was sunk by the Soviet sub S13. When the Gustloff sunk, new research has now shown that there were a total of 10,582 people on board, 9,343 of whom were killed. The remaining 1,239 were rescued. 

HUNGARY: Leading Soviet tanks reach the northern edge of Vérmező (Lit. field of blood) at the western foot of Castle Hill in Budapest. They begin firing on the makeshift landing strip set up by the Germans for troop gliders.

Often flown by very young and poorly trained Hitler Youth pilots, many still managed to land, guided with pocket torches held by local children aged between 13 and 16 drawn from the Budapest Section of the Nazi-run "German Youth" organisation. Often the only chance for survival on this incredibly dangerous landing site was to set down on the southern end and exit the glider as quickly as possible before it was destroyed by Soviet guns.

By January 30 the Soviets and pro-Soviet Hungarian forces had managed to capture the first building on Castle Hill, a school at Attila utca 135.

In Mészáros utca near Déli railway station László Deseő, 15 years old at the time of the siege, kept an hourly diary of the destruction that raged around him:

January 30. At two in the morning horses were brought into the flat.

Everything shook in our cellar. My parents are horrified to the extent that they have lost all interest...It is said that after a few days the ceiling will be soaked through with manure. Then there will be something in the cellar for us to get our noses around.

MALTA: Churchill and Roosevelt meet to prepare before the summit with Stalin in Yalta.

U.S.A.: Destroyer USS Ernest G Small laid down.

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