Recovery team at the site following the Carole Lombard crash on Mount Potosi of 16 January 1942.
American Homefront: Returning on 16 January 1942 from a War Bond rally in Indianapolis in which she sold $2 million bonds, Indiana, actress Carole Lombard, 33, perishes when her DC-3-382 NC1946 propliner (Transcontinental and Western Air, Inc. (TWA) Flight 3) crashes near Good Springs, Nevada. The twin-engined plane flies straight into a vertical cliff (Double Up Peak) on Potosi Mountain in the Spring Mountain Range and causes a fireball seen for 40 miles. The crash occurs at 19:20 local time, just after takeoff from a refueling stop at Las Vegas (a small town at the time). Everyone on board - 15 soldiers, four passengers including Lombard and her mother and agent, and 3 crew including one female stewardess - perishes. Rescue/recovery efforts are difficult because of the location and the wintry conditions. The bodies are recovered with great effort by men hauling them up steep slopes and cliffs in bags but not all of the body parts are found. Lombard is identified through dental records, her earrings, and by visual identification of her remains by acquaintances. Legend has it that Lombard's wedding ring remains on the mountain.
The impact point on Mount Potosi of the Carole Lombard crash of 16 January 1942.
The Civil Aeronautics Board concludes:
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings and of the entire record available at this time, we find that the probable cause of the accident to aircraft NC 1946 on January 16, 1942, was the failure of the captain after departure from Las Vegas to follow the proper course by making use of the navigational facilities available to him.
In essence, the CAB finds that pilot error caused the Lombard crash. The pilot or co-pilot apparently entered a proper course heading for departures from the usual stopover point, Boulder City, instead of for Las Vegas. Inevitably, some conspiracy theories arise later about the plane being shot down by German spies, an engine caught fire, and so forth. The war has a direct influence on causing the Lombard crash, as local authorities had turned off (due to vastly overblown war concerns) safety beacons on the mountain that would have warned the crew of the danger. Ms. Lombard, whose real name is Jane Alice Peters Gable, had suggested to husband Clark Gable (his real name, though it was a shortened form of William Clark Gable) that he join the military. The tragic death of his wife Carole Lombard ultimately leads Clark Gable to enlist in the US Army Air Force. Some of the plane's remains may still be seen on the mountainside, probably because they are very difficult to reach.
There is original footage below of Lombard and the recovery process.
Transcontinental and Western Air, Inc., Douglas DC-3-382 NC1943, the same type aircraft as NC1946. (Boeing Images).
Eastern Front: The commander of Army Group South, Field Marshal Walter von Reichenau, recently suffered a stroke and is not expected to survive. Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, removed in mid-December from his command of Army Group Center for "health reasons," is planning a lengthy vacation in the Austrian Alps when he receives a telephone call on 16 January 1942 from the army personnel office (not Adolf Hitler, who sometimes makes these calls personally). The anonymous staff officer asks von Bock if he would be willing to take over command of Army Group South. Startled, von Bock instantly agrees and indicates that he will be on a train to Hitler's headquarters in East Prussia on the 17th. The incident is very odd, as Hitler does not particularly like von Bock and has many other options. Von Bock later learns informally that the true reason for his return is Hitler's concern about unfavorable publicity both within the Reich and abroad about all of the German generals who have been fired recently (and there are more to come). Regardless of the reason, von Bock quickly goes from almost certain retirement to command of the army group that is destined to decide the fate of the Third Reich over the next year.
Scene of the crash of Transcontinental and Western Flight 3 on Potosi Mountain, Nevada. The point of impact was at an elevation of 7,770 feet (2,368 meters). (Bettman Archive via Lost Flights).
Reichenau also becomes a subject of interest on the Soviet side. The Red Army has retaken Klin from the Germans, and they have found many Wehrmacht documents. One of these is von Reichenau's infamous 10 October 1941 "Severity" order. The order, issued when von Reichenau commanded the German 6th Army, authorized the indiscriminate killing or starvation of Soviet civilians and Red Army soldiers whenever it would benefit the Wehrmacht. The Soviet government publishes the order in the belief that it will stiffen Soviet resistance to the German invaders.
Transcontinental and Western Air Douglas DC-3 NC1945, sister ship of NC1946, TWA Flight 3. (TWA).
In the Crimea, the Soviets land the 226th Rifle Regiment at Sudak, which is behind the German lines. The troops are supported by powerful naval forces offshore that include the battleship Parizhskaya Kommuna, the cruiser Krasnyi Krym and four destroyers. There is only a small Romanian garrison in Sudak that offers little resistance. Back near Sevastopol, General Erich von Manstein, commander of 11th Army, regards this as a diversion and only sends a couple of Romanian infantry battalions to keep an eye on the bridgehead. The Luftwaffe gets in some practice against the Soviets, and artillery also makes the Soviets' lives very unhealthy. The Red Army troops continue to hold out, however, and area commander Lieutenant Dmitry Kozlov decides that the German failure to quickly wipe out the small force indicates weakness. So, he makes plans to reinforce them. Manstein, meanwhile, keeps his eye on the objective and continues building up his forces on the all-important line along the Parpach Narrows.
Battle of the Pacific: Before dawn, Japanese troops quietly cross the Muar River on the Malay Peninsula and capture barges moored there. They tow them downstream to the town of Muar, where Japanese troops climb aboard and then cross the river in them. The only Allied troops in Muar are members of the 45h Indian Brigade who are not expecting any trouble because they still think the Japanese are far upstream. Australian artillery nearby begins opening fire at the motley collection of packed barges and Chinese junks sailing across the mouth of the river. The Japanese crossing at Muar itself is repulsed by the artillery fire, but the Japanese quickly get an entire division across the Muar River a little further upstream. The defense is hampered when the commanders of the Rajputana Rifles and the Royal Garhwal Rifles are killed along with most of their officers in fighting near the town and a Japanese aircraft raid on its headquarters decapitates most of the leadership of the 45th Indian Brigade. By nightfall, the Indian 45h Brigade has retreated in disarray several kilometers down the coast to Parit Jawa and the Japanese are in control of Muar Town and its valuable harbor. This is a critical breach of the British defense of Johore, the final slice of the mainland before Singapore. There are still British troops inland far to the north retreating from Gemas whose retreat can easily be cut off from Muar. The Australian troops nearby prepare to launch a counterattack on the 17th to retake these critical areas.
In Singapore itself, it's already getting too hot for some to handle. The daily Japanese air raids are virtually unstoppable and getting worse all the time. The anemic Royal Australian Air Force presence is unable to both defeat the raids and also help the stumbling army units to the north. So, they have to choose one or the other priority, and neither choice exerts a decisive result. Today, a dozen RAAF Brewster Buffalos focus on ground support and successfully shoot up a Japanese convoy near the Gemas-Tampin road. In addition, four Buffalos sink four barges at Malacca, while six RAAF Hudsons join in the attempt to stop the Japanese crossing of the Muar River. This is all useful to some extent to the British army, but meanwhile, the daily Japanese bombing raids on the Buffalos' own airfields in Singapore while the Brewsters are operating further north are destroying the RAAF's ability to function at all. The situation is so bad that the RAAF is preparing to abandon Singapore entirely and transfer west to Sumatra in the Netherlands East Indies. There, they at least will be able to continue functioning but be of limited value to the retreating British army on the Malay Peninsula and the air defense of Singapore. Once the defending fighters are gone, the Japanese bombers will have virtually complete control of the skies over "Fortress Singapore." That is an extremely dangerous situation for the British no matter how bravely they intend to defend Singapore.
In the Philippines, the Japanese have made an incursion into the Allied line on the western (the II Corps) half of the line. The Filipino 51st Division counterattacks but completely fails to reestablish its line. The Japanese also have split the center of the Allied line between the I and II Corps on Mt. Naib, which provides a dangerous opening to the south. The Americans quickly shift the U.S. Philippine Division in as reinforcements to the area. They at least temporarily halt the Japanese, but it is unclear who truly has the upper hand. The Americans consider withdrawing to the Reserve Battle Line running from Casa Pilar to Bagac but hold their ground. Further west, in the I Corps sector, the Japanese cross the Batalian River and attack the coastal town of Moron (Morong). The US troops counterattack and force the Japanese back to the river but take heavy losses. The battle at Moron is notable because Lieutenant Edwin P. Ramsey of the 26th Cavalry Regiment orders his mounted troops to charge into the town when he sees the opportunity for a surprise attack. The 27 heavily outnumbered Filipino and American cavalrymen charge and succeed in scattering the Japanese forces who have entered the town. This enables the Allies to briefly retake the town. It is the last mounted charge by U.S. cavalry to date.
"Australian soldiers at a coastal fortress near Brisbane, 16 January 1942. Close-range shot of a group of four Australian soldiers, wearing helmets, kneeling around a mortar that is about to be fired. A sergeant is kneeling behind the men supervising the activity. The location is undisclosed. Caption: 'Battle Station at an important coastal fortress near Brisbane (Information was taken from The Courier-Mail Archives, 16 January 1942 - picture not published)."
The US Navy sends Task Force 8, centered around USS Enterprise, to the Marshall and Gilbert Islands to launch a strike. The Task Force is about 800 miles northeast of the Solomon Islands when one of its planes fails to return. The three men in the Torpedo Squadron Six TBD Devastator run out of fuel and take to a raft in the middle of nowhere, with nothing in sight but water. This is the beginning of a 34-day ordeal with no stored food or water that they somehow survive.
Fallschirmjäger Feldwebel Helmut Arpke, born 20 March 1917 in Graudenz; killed in action 16 January 1942 near Schaikowka, Russia. This photo was taken in May 1940 when he won his Ritterkreuz (Federal Archive Bild 146-1980-108-36A).
US Military: President Roosevelt asks his cabinet to consider the need and feasibility of a military roadway through Canada to Alaska. This idea of an Alaskan Highway (ALCAN Highway) has been kicking around since Thomas MacDonald, director of the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads, proposed an international highway spanning the United States and Canada in the 1920s. Roosevelt has made several unsuccessful attempts in the intervening years to convince the Canadians of its usefulness, but it has never been built. World War II has made such a highway more interesting to both countries. Among the issues to be considered is the actual route, on which there is no agreement, and whether Army leadership and the US Army Corps of Engineers feel the highway is feasible and worth the immense effort required to build it. The construction season in the region is short and would require diversion of many construction units from other priorities.
A Boeing 314A flying boat of the type that took Winston Churchill across the Atlantic on 16 January 1942.
British Government: Having concluded his visit to Washington, D.C., for the Arcadia Conference, Prime Minister Winston Churchill returns to England. He does this in a novel way, by airplane. This is the first time that any head of state crosses the Atlantic by air. Churchill is no stranger to flying, even across large bodies of water such as the English Channel, but crossing the Atlantic is full of danger. Churchill uses a Berwick, a Boeing 314A flying boat. It is painted in olive drab camouflage with large Union Flags under the cockpit windows and piloted by British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) pilot Captain John Kelly Rogers under military orders. The original plan had been for Churchill to simply fly to Bermuda and then take a ship home, but he enjoyed the flight there so much that he decided to complete the journey in the flying boat, too. It is luxuriously appointed with comfortable bunks, and Churchill is so taken with this quick mode of transportation that he prefers flying for his future transatlantic journeys, too. One major special accommodation is made for Churchill, the addition of a special oxygen mask created by the Institute of Aviation Medicine at Farnborough which he wears even while sleeping.
Evacuees from Leningrad - some of the lucky few able to fly out or get on a ferry across Lake Ladoga - board a Red Air Force transport on 10 October 1941.
Holocaust: The "Severity Order" is issued on 10 October 1941 by Field Marshal Walther von Reichenau, commander of Sixth Army in the Army Group South sector of the Eastern Front. The "Secret" Severity Order, also known as the Reichenau Order, is one of the "smoking guns" of Wehrmacht culpability in crimes that many of its members claim were only committed by the SS. It is one of the most savage and ruthless orders issued by any military command anywhere.
Field Marshal Reichenau greets Adolf Hitler in Poland.
The Severity Order states in part:
The most important objective of this campaign against the Jewish-Bolshevik system is the complete destruction of its sources of power and the extermination of the Asiatic influence in European civilization.
In this eastern theatre, the soldier is not only a man fighting in accordance with the rules of the art of war, but also the ruthless standard bearer of a national conception and the avenger of bestialities which have been inflicted upon German and racially related nations. For this reason the soldier must learn fully to appreciate the necessity for the severe but just retribution that must be meted out to the subhuman species of Jewry. The Army has to aim at another purpose, i. e., the annihilation of revolts in hinterland which, as experience proves, have always been caused by Jews.
The Severity Order embodies hateful language for anyone, but certainly for any soldier who only claims to be "following orders." The full text of the Severity Order is reproduced below.
A KV-1 from the Soviet 4th Tank Brigade, 1st Special Rifle Corps knocked out by German artillery near the city of Mtsensk on October 10, 1941. This is where General Guderian's Panzer Group 2 is fighting southwest of Tula. The panzers have been encountering increasingly difficult resistance on the road to Moscow from the best Soviet armor left.
It is difficult to read the Severity Order, must less appreciate its real-world consequences on innocent people. In essence, the Severity Order not only authorizes, the Severity Order actually compels the annihilation - mass execution - of anyone who opposes German rule. The obvious implication of the Severity Order is that all people of the Jewish faith oppose German rule and thus must be eliminated simply for being Jewish. Whether or not this is true - and there is no reason to think that it is - the Severity Order imposes a virtual death sentence on any non-combatant identified as being Jewish. The Severity Order also strongly discourages any "feeding of the natives and prisoners of war who are not working for the Armed Forces from Army kitchens" and fighting any fires set by retreating Soviet troops to buildings that the Germans do not themselves intend to use.
Reichenau standing next to his command car during Operation Barbarossa. Visible behind Reichenau is the commander of the 297th Infantry Division, General of Artillery Max Pfeffer.
The Severity Order is one of a series of extremely political orders issued by members of the Wehrmacht that were illegal under any norms of international law. As with the other "questionable" orders issued by the Wehrmacht during 1941, the Severity Order does not last long - officially. Both the Severity Order and the even more infamous Commissar Order issued by Field Marshal Keitel are rescinded on 6 May 1942. However, even if you believe that the two orders actually are negated - and not simply brushed from view with their clear import remaining - they are both in effect for well over six months. Reichenau receives a promotion to command of Army Group South in December 1941, so, obviously, the Severity Order did not hurt his career too much. However, Hitler felt that Reichenau had a bad tendency to overstep his "military problems," which certainly seemed to be the case with the Severity Order. He denied a suggestion to make Reichenau commander if the entire Germany Army, commenting only, "This officer is too political for me." Reichenau passed away unexpectedly of a heart attack on 17 January 1942, so how his career would have progressed is unknowable.
Local people gathered for the executions at Zasulye Yar pursuant to the order of the German commander of the town of Lubny on 10 October 1941.
The Wehrmacht troops of the Sixth Army quickly take the Severity Order to heart. On the same day that the Severity Order is issued, the German commander of Lubny, Ukraine, east of Kyiv (about midway to Poltava on the main road), orders all Jews from the area to assemble on the 15th or 16th of October at an area outside of town named Zasulye Yar. There and then, approximately 4500 people are executed by Sonderkommando 4a and local auxiliaries. This is done in a similar fashion to the previous executions at Babi Yar.
A Heinkel He 111H on a torpedo training exercise, 10 October 1941.
The Severity Order becomes a very hot topic after World War II. Reichenau, who perished not long after its issuance, does not have to answer for it (at least to earthly justice), but others do. Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, commander of Army Group South and thus Reichenau's immediate superior, must approve the Severity Order before it is issued. Rundstedt not only approves the Severity Order, but he also urges all of the other army commanders in his command to issue similar orders (Rundstedt claims that he knows nothing about the Severity Order when testifying on his own behalf at the Nuremberg trials). It is unclear what General Hoth, commander or 17th Army, and General von Manstein, commander of 11th Army, do with this advice, but, apparently, they let the Severity Order pass in silence.
A Canada National Railways locomotive at Kamloops Junction, BC, on 10 October 1941 (Bud Laws Collection at Trainweb.org).
Below is the full text of the secret order issued by Field Marshal von Reichenau on 10 October 1941. This was appended to a more innocuous order.
SECRET!
Army H. Q., 10.10.41
Army Command 6., Sec. Ia-A. 7
Subject: Conduct of Troops in Eastern Territories.
Regarding the conduct of troops towards the Bolshevistic system, imprecise ideas are still prevalent in many cases. The most essential aim of war against the Jewish-Bolshevistic system is the complete destruction of their means of power and the elimination of Asiatic influence from the European culture. In this connection, the troops are facing tasks which exceed the onesided routine of soldiering. The soldier in the eastern territories is not merely a fighter according to the rules of the art of war but also a bearer of ruthless national ideology and the avenger of bestialities which have been inflicted upon German and racially related nations.
Therefore the soldier must have full understanding for the necessity of a severe but just revenge on subhuman Jewry. The Army has to aim at another purpose, i. e., the annihilation of revolts in hinterland which, as experience proves, have always been caused by Jews.
The combating of the enemy behind the front line is still not being taken seriously enough. Treacherous, cruel partisans and unnatural women are still being made prisoners of war and guerilla fighters dressed partly in uniforms or plain clothes and vagabonds are still being treated as proper soldiers and sent to prisoner-of-war camps. In fact, captured Russian officers talk even mockingly about Soviet agents moving openly about the roads/ and very often eating at German field kitchens. Such an attitude of the troops can only be explained by complete thought-lessness, so it is now high time for the commanders to clarify the meaning of the present struggle.
The feeding of the natives and of prisoners of war who are not working for the Armed Forces from Army kitchens is an equally misunderstood humanitarian act as is the giving of cigarettes and bread. Things which the people at home can spare under great sacrifices and things which are being brought by the Command to the front under great difficulties, should not be given to the enemy by the soldier not even if they originate from booty. It is an important part of our supply.
When retreating the Soviets have often set buildings on fire. The troops should be interested in extinguishing of fires only as far as it is necessary to secure sufficient numbers of billets. Otherwise, the disappearance of symbols of the former bolshevistic rule even in the form of buildings is part of the struggle of destruction. Neither historic nor artistic considerations are of any importance in the eastern territories. The command issues the necessary directives for the securing of raw materials and plants, essential for the war economy. The complete disarming of the civil population in the rear of the fighting troops is imperative considering the long and vulnerable lines of communications. Where possible, captured weapons and ammunition should be stored and guarded. Should this be impossible because of the situation of the battle so the weapons and ammunition will be rendered useless. If isolated partisans are found using firearms in the rear of the army drastic measures are to be taken. These measures will be extended to that part of the male population who were in a position to hinder or report the attacks. The indifference of numerous apparently anti-soviet elements which originates from a "wait and see" attitude, must give way to a clear decision for active collaboration. If not, no one can com-plain about being judged and treated a member of the Soviet System.
The fear of the German counter-measures must be stronger than the threats of the wandering Bolshevistic remnants. Being far from all political considerations of the future the soldier has to fulfill two tasks:
1. Complete annihilation of the false Bolshevistic doctrine of the Soviet State and its armed forces.
2. The pitiless extermination of foreign treachery and cruelty and thus the protection of the lives of military personnel in Russia.
This is the only way to fulfil our historic task to liberate the German people once forever from the Asiatic-Jewish danger.
