World War II Chronicle: May 16, 1943
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The front page reports that the Mississippi River is flooding up by Ste. Genevieve, Mo. and the government is using Axis prisoners of war to help fill sandbags. The prisoners are likely being sent from a nearby facility named Weingarten, but they may also be coming from St. Louis or Fort Leonard Wood. Around 15,000 Germans and Italians will be sent to Missouri during the war and many decide to stay in the Show-Me State permanently… George Fielding Eliot column on page six…
On the following page, six German generals are pictured after their surrender in Tunisia. Generaloberst Hans-Jürgen von Arnim took over as commanding general of all German and Italian forces in North Africa from Erwin Rommel on March 10. Von Arnim had previously led the Fifth Panzer Army, which was taken over by General der Panzertruppe Gustav von Vaerst. Generalleutnant Karl Bülowius commanded the provisional Division von Manteuffel. Generalmajor Gerhard Bassenge was a World War I ace and commanded the area’s Luftwaffe forces. Generalmajor Friedrich Freiherr von Broich led the 10th Panzer Division. In all, 12 Axis generals are captured when Tunisia falls. You probably aren’t familiar with these guys but imagine us having lost Omar Bradley, Jimmy Doolittle, Terry Allen, and Theodore Roosevelt Jr. all at once.
And if you’ll remember, two top German commanders had been killed or captured in North Africa within the last few months. Georg Stumme died as the result of an Oct. 24, 1942 ambush while inspecting the front lines and Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma, had been captured in November 1942.
Afrikakorps, Panzergruppe Afrika, and Panzerarmee Afrika can get confusing as Axis forces in North Africa were changing their name every few months. Well it’s not much different than American units when you think about it: The Marine Corps is a corps, consisting of multiple divisions. The Army Air Corps was too, until it grew large enough to form a force, and it became the Army Air Force. Well the Germans stood up the Afrikakorps — Africa Corps — in January 1941. Then became a group — Panzergruppe Afrika in August 1941. Then there was Panzerarmee Afrika in January 1942. In late 1942 there was the German-Italian Panzer Army. By January 1943 the 5th Panzer Army and the Italian 1st Army formed Army Group Africa.
While the name of the headquarters they reported to changed, the Afrikakorps remained a sub-component of the group, army, and army group forces…
Page 18: this is the 25th anniversary of the first U.S. Air Mail flight. Lt. James C. Edgerton flew the first route and is a major now. He is the first pilot to have flown through a thunderstorm — a dangerous feat in a biplane — and also came up with the first firefighting system for engines…
Summary of the war’s 193rd week on page 30… Sports section begins on page 36… On page 66, former Star sports columnist Francis E. Stan is now a Naval gunnery officer.
Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 16 May 1943. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1943-05-16/ed-1/