Franz von Papen shortly after his appointment to the office of German ambassador in Vienna in July 1934. Picture taken at the Tempelhof Airfield in Berlin, just before von Papen’s depature to Vienna. Left to right: Franz von Papen, Mrs von Papen, Mrs Tschirschky and Papen’s chief of staff Fritz Günther von Tschirschky. Von Papen was suggested as a replacement for Adolf Hitler if Hitler could be overthrown, but Von Papen turned down the offer. Click here for more details.
By: Phil Kohn. Dedicated to the memory of his father, GM3 Walter Kohn, U.S. Navy Armed Guard, USNR, and all men and women who have answered the country’s call in time of need. Phil can be contacted at ww2remembered@yahoo.com.
On October 1, 1943, in Italy, Neapolitans end their uprising as the last of the German military occupiers retreat from Naples. Before leaving, the Germans lay waste to the city, damaging many cultural landmarks and burning over 200,000 books. Later in the day, British and American units of the U.S. Fifth Army enter the city. Banker Averell Harriman, U.S. special envoy to Europe, is named ambassador to the Soviet Union.
Australian troops retake Finschhafen, on Papua-New Guinea on October 2. In Japan, military conscription is expanded to college students; within six months, the draft age will be lowered from 20 to 18. The only exceptions are students of science or medicine. Boys as young as 17 may volunteer for the Japanese military, and before long, 15-year-olds will be accepted. In Europe, the government of neutral Sweden issues a proclamation welcoming all refugees from Occupied Denmark to the kingdom.
The Japanese attack on many fronts as they open a large offensive across central China on October 3. In the Aegean Sea, 1,200 German paratroopers capture the Greek island of Kos, off the Turkish coast. Around 900 Allied and 3,000 Italian troops are taken prisoner. Some 90 Italian officers are executed for having fought against their former allies, the Germans.
The French Mediterranean island of Corsica is liberated by Free French forces on October 4 after 25 days of fighting. Allied aircraft attack a German convoy off Narvik, Norway, sinking 40,000 tons of shipping. Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler addresses an audience of SS officers and German administrators in the German city of Posen (now Poznań, Poland). Among his comments, he states: “. . . I shall speak to you here with all frankness of a very serious subject. We shall now discuss it absolutely openly among ourselves; nevertheless, we shall never speak of it in public. I mean the evacuation of the Jews, the extermination of the Jewish race . . .”
The first of two heavy raids by planes of a U.S. Navy task force is made on October 5 against Japanese-held Wake Island, with 61 Japanese aircraft being reported destroyed. At the instigation of Office of Strategic Services head William “Wild Bill” Donovan — without the knowledge of President Roosevelt — a representative meets with Fritz von Papen, the German ambassador to Turkey, and tries to persuade him to lead a coup to overthrow Adolf Hitler, with von Papen to become the new leader of Germany. Von Papen rejects the proposal.
The Naval Battle of Vella Lavella, Solomon Islands, takes place on October 6. Nine Japanese destroyers engage six U.S. Navy destroyers to divert attention from the seaborne evacuation of the Japanese garrison from the island. Each side in the naval engagement loses one destroyer. The Allied takeover of the island completes the second phase of “Operation Cartwheel:” the capture of the central Solomon Islands. The U.S. Navy hits Wake Island with a second heavy air raid. In the Aegean, a German convoy bound for the island of Leros is attacked by two British cruisers and two destroyers. Seven Axis troop transports and one escort ship are sunk. In Germany, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler makes it known that he wishes for an acceleration of “The Final Solution.”
In retaliation for the two U.S. air raids on Wake Island, 97 American civilians being held prisoner there are executed by the Japanese on October 7. Blindfolded, they are marched to a beach, machine-gunned and buried in a mass grave.
