April 24

1857 Birth: Henri Philippe Petain, French soldier and statesman. Due to his military leadership in World War I, he was viewed as a hero in France, but his actions during World War II resulted in him being convicted and sentenced to death for treason, which was commuted to life imprisonment by Charles de Gaulle. In modern France, he is generally considered a traitor, and patainisme is a derogatory term for certain reactionary policies.

1876 Birth: Erich Raeder, German naval commander. Raeder attained the high rank of Grand Admiral in 1939, becoming the first person to hold that rank in wartime since Alfred von Tirpitz. Raeder led the Kriegsmarine (War Navy) for the first half of World War II but was eventually demoted and replaced by Karl Donitz in 1942. He was sentenced to life in prison during the Nuremberg Trials, but was later released and wrote his autobiography.

1882 Birth: Hugh Dowding, Scottish fighter pilot, commander of RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain. Aside from the system he bequeathed to Fighter Command, his major contribution was to marshal resources behind the scenes and maintain a significant fighter reserve, while leaving his subordinate commanders' hands free to run the battle.

1891 Death: Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, Prussian field marshal, thirty years chief of the staff of the Prussian army, widely regarded as one of the great strategists of the latter half of the 1800s, and the creator of a new, more modern method, of directing armies in the field. He is often referred to as Moltke the Elder to distinguish him from his nephew Helmuth Johann Ludwig von Moltke, who commanded the German army at the outbreak of World War I. It is certainly true that Moltke was given a great army to work with thanks to the efforts of war minister Albrecht von Roon, and he was given nearly ideal situations to fight in, thanks to the brilliant diplomacy of Otto von Bismarck. It was Moltke's job to win the wars with what he was given, and in this he succeeded completely.

1903 Birth: S. F. Nadel, Austrian-born British anthropologist whose investigations of African ethnology led him to explore theoretical questions. From 1934-36, he worked with the Nupe and other groups in northern Nigeria. From 1941-46, he joined the Sudan Defense Force in order to have a personal involvement with the destruction of the Nazi forces. He produced outstanding ethnographic writings. Nadel was also a major theoretician who attempted to develop a new synthesis of social science, as in his books, The Foundations of Social Anthropology and A Theory of Social Structure. He wanted to link the "Study of Man with the whole universe of scientific knowledge."

1906 Birth: William Joyce, Irish fascist and Nazi propaganda broadcaster to the United Kingdom during World War II; nicknamed "Lord Haw Haw" because of his pretentious accent. A condemned war-time traitor, he was controversially executed for treason. Although listening to his broadcasts was officially discouraged (although not actually illegal) they became very popular with the British public. They always began with the words "Germany calling, Germany calling" (because of Joyce's nasal drawl sounded like: Jairmany calling, Jairmany calling). These broadcasts urged the British people to surrender, and were well known for their jeering, sarcastic and menacing tone. However, far from breaking British morale, they served only to increase either resentment or ridicule of Joyce. There was probably also a covert desire by listeners to hear what the other side were saying, since information during wartime was severely censored and restricted. Joyce made his final broadcast on April 30, 1945, during the Battle of Berlin. In a clearly intoxicated voice, he chided Britain's role in Germany's imminent defeat and warned that the war would now leave Britain poor and barren. He signed off with a final defiant "Heil Hitler". The following day Radio Hamburg was seized by British forces who used it to make a mock Germany calling broadcast denouncing Joyce.

1915 Armenian Genocide: The genocide begins with the deportation and murder of the Ottoman Armenian intellectuals.

1916 WW1: Proclamation of the Irish Republic: "In the name of God and of the dead generations..."

1916 WW1: General Maxwell on the Easter Rising: "...The rebellion began by Sinn Feiners, presumably acting under orders, shooting in cold blood certain soldiers and policemen. Simultaneously they took possession of various important buildings and occupied houses along the routes in the City of Dublin which were likely to be used by troops taking up posts. Most of the rebels were not in any uniform, and by mixing with peaceful citizens made it almost impossible for the troops to distinguish between friend and foe until fire was opened. In many cases troops having passed along a street seemingly occupied by harmless people were suddenly fired upon from behind from windows and roof tops. Such were the conditions when reinforcements commenced to arrive in Dublin. Whilst fighting continued under conditions at once so confused and so trying, it is possible that some innocent citizens were shot..."

1918 WW1: Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz's Official Report on the Zeebrugge Raid: "...During the night of April 22-23 an enterprise of the British naval forces against our Flanders bases, conceived on a large scale and planned regardless of sacrifice, was frustrated. After a violent bombardment from the sea, small cruisers, escorted by numerous destroyers and motorboats, under cover of a thick veil of artificial fog, pushed forward near Ostend and Zeebrugge to quite near the coast, with the intention of destroying the locks and harbour works there. According to the statements of prisoners, a detachment of four Companies of the Royal Marines was to occupy the Mole of Zeebrugge by a coup de main, in order to destroy all the structures, guns, and war material on it and the vessels lying in the harbour. Only about forty of them got on the Mole. These fell into our hands, some alive, some dead. On the narrow high wall of the Mole both parties fought with the utmost fierceness. Of the English naval forces which participated in the attack the small cruisers Virginia [sic], Intrepid, Sirius and two others of similar construction, whose names are unknown, were sunk close off the coast.  Moreover, three torpedo-boat destroyers and a considerable number of torpedo motor-boats were sunk by our artillery fire. Only a few men of the crews could be saved by us. Beyond damage caused to the Mole by a torpedo [sic] hit, our harbour-works and coast batteries are quite undamaged. Of our naval forces only one torpedo-boat suffered damage of the lightest character. Our casualties are small."

1921 Weimar: The Tyrol region of central Europe votes for union with Germany.

1922 Confirming the agreed text of the San Remo Conference, the Council of the League of Nations decides to assign the Mandate for Palestine to Britain. "...The Mandatory shall be responsible for placing the country under such political, administrative and economic conditions as will secure the establishment of the Jewish national home, as laid down in the preamble, and the development of self-governing institutions, and also for safeguarding the civil and religious rights of all the inhabitants of Palestine, irrespective of race and religion..."

1926 Weimar: The Treaty of German-Soviet Friendship and Neutrality extends the Rapallo Treaty of 1922.

1932 Weimar: In German elections, the Nazis make gains in, Bavaria, Wurttemberg and Hamburg and increase their seats in the Prussian Diet from 6 to 162.

1933 Church and Reich: Baron von Ritter, the Bavarian ambassador at the Vatican reports to Berlin that Monsignor Kaas and the Papal Secretary of State are in constant touch with each other. "There can be no doubt that Cardinal Pacelli (the future Pope Pius XII) approves of a policy of sincere cooperation by the Catholics within the framework of the Christian Weltanschauung (world view) in order to benefit and lead the National Socialist Movement." (Lewy)

1935 The American Union for Social Justice, Father Coughlin's organization, holds its first meeting in Detroit.

1935 Holocaust: A Nazi decree orders that publishers and newspaper editors must prove their "Aryan" descent to 1800, or lose their jobs.

1936 April 24-27 Anti-Jewish demonstrations break out in Czechoslovakia after screenings of the film Golem.

1938 Sudeten Crisis: A Sudeten German Congress at Karlsbad demands full autonomy for Sudeten Germans. "...There were many reasons why the Czech government did not agree with the stance of the Sudeten Germans - if the area was handed over to the Germans, would it lead to other nationalities in Czechoslovakia wanting independence? Also, the Sudetenland contained many valuable resources such as lignite, coal and the area was just about the countries most vital defensive zone as the Sudetenland contained many border fortifications with Germany. The Sudeten Germans Peoples Party received both verbal and financial support from Hitler. Hitler had constantly talked about putting all Germans into one Reich and that no true German would have to live outside of Germany. In 1938, Hitler ordered his generals to start to make plans for the invasion of Czechoslovakia. He also ordered Henlein and his followers to start to create trouble in the Sudetenland, therefore proving to the outside world that the Czech government was incapable of maintaining order in its own state. Hitler planned to use this chaos to put his army into the Sudetenland to restore law and order. Hitler's plan was risky not least because the Czech army was strong and professional. The terrain from Germany to the Sudetenland was very steep and it was very likely that the Wehrmacht's use of Blitzkrieg would have been of no value..."

 

1941 WW2: Operation Demon; The United Kingdom begins evacuating Greece.

1942 Volkishness: Adolf Hitler, perhaps in a search of new territory to conquer, orders Dr. Heinz Fisher to conduct "Hollow Earth" experiments on the Baltic Island of Rugen.

1942 Holocaust: 650 Jews are deported from Nuremberg to Izbica and Belzec. (Atlas) German Jews are no longer allowed to use public transportation. (Persecution)

1943 Holocaust: From the SS and Police Fuehrer in the District of Warsaw to the Higher SS and Police Fuehrer East: "...Apparently the Jews still in the Ghetto were deceived by the fact that the operation did not start until 1000 hours into believing that the action really had been terminated yesterday. The search action, therefore, had especially satisfactory results today. This success is furthermore due to the fact that the noncommissioned officers and men have meanwhile become accustomed to the cunning fighting, methods and tricks used by the Jews and bandits and that they have acquired great skill in tracking down the dug-outs which are found in such great number. The raiding parties having returned, we set about to clean a certain block of buildings..."

1945 WW2 Churchill to Truman: "I thank you for your answer to my telegram. I agree with the preamble, but later paragraphs simply allow the Russians to order us back to the occupational zones at any point they might decide, and not necessarily with regard to the position of the fronts as a whole. It is your troops who would suffer most by this, being pushed back about a hundred and twenty miles in the center and yielding up to the unchecked Russian advance an enormous territory. And this while all questions of our spheres in Vienna or arrangements for triple occupation of Berlin remain unsettled."

1945 WW2 Churchill to Stalin: "I have seen the message about Poland which the President handed to M. Molotov for transmission to you, and I have consulted the War Cabinet on account of its special importance. It is now my duty to inform you that we are all agreed in associating ourselves with the President in the aforesaid message. I earnestly hope that means will be found to compose these serious difficulties, which if they continue will darken the hour of victory."