The role that black and female aviators played in the success of World War II.

1. The Strategy & Tactics of World War ll
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#32 I OCT-NOV 2t.]13
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36
Army Group Courland &
the Breakwater Strategy
Army Group Courlandwas one of the
few major German formations in the
east that wasn't routed by the Soviets
n 1945. Heres our analysis of its stand,
as wel as the larger "breakwater
strategy" that put the army group
so far out on a geo-strategic limb.
by Jake Fasick
52
Auchinleck vs. Montgomery:
Depending on who you believe, it
was either Gen. Auchinleck or Gen.
Montgomery who saved British
Eignrh Army from destruction
at Romme's hands in 1942.
by Jonathan Lupton
[}EPARTN&MN$TS
24
Design Corner
by Joseph Miranda
64
Game Preview
Guards Armour Division (Special Edition)
65
. Behind the Lines
Operation Whiteshot &
The Churchill NATSTank
by Chrtstopher M iskimon
. Historical Perspective
Black & Female US
Wartime Aviators
by Joel Kindrick
.l Remember
The Story of Robert L.
Vannoy, USMC,VMF-115
bV Allyn Vannoy
.Turning Points
Death of a Fleet:Toulon 1942
byVernie Liebl
78
Media Reviews
WORLD at WAR 32 | OCT-NOV 2013
* FEATuREs
IE
The Battle of Nomonhan, 1939
ln the summer of 1939 a fierce
battle raged in a remote frontier
region on the Manchurian-Mongolian
border. The combatants were the
lmperial Japanese Army and the
Soviet Red Army, and the battle
became known as Nomonhan or
Khalkin-Gol. Here's our analysis.
by Joseph Miranda
26
Lend Lease to Russia
Depending on which interpretation
you accept, Lend Lease either saved
the Soviets or was only of marginal
importance. Here's our interpretation
by John M. Barr
sY

3. Churchill had also been produced
using a British-designed gun. With
the Normandy landings on 6 June,
however, the European Theater took
precedence over the Mediterranean for
supplies and new weapons, including
up-gunned Churchills. Since the
NA75s were alreadyin that theater,
theywere used to bolster British
armored forces fighting in Italy.
The British armored regiments
in Italy were organized with two
noops of Sherman tanks and two
of Churchills in each squadron. The
NA75s were added into that mix,
though combat records often dont
differentiate between the types of
tanks used in particular engagements.
Different versions of Churchills would
often be present in the same unit. For
example, A S4uadronof 142 Royal
Armored Corps had three troops of
Churchills with six-pounder guns and
a headquarters troop offour NA75s.
Many served in the Gothic Line
campaign in northern Italy, actually a
series of tough German defensive belts
that caused the Allies great difficulty.
The best endorsements of the NA75
came from the good reports received
from their crews in that fighting.
Morrell was rewarded for his effort.
After the threats to his career in the
case offailure, success instead led
to promotion to major and award of
the M.B.E. (Member of the British
Empire), a chivalric order. Gen. Tope
even brought Morrell onto his staff,
so his career didnt languish. Morrell's
creation remains an excellent example
of the innovation and ingenuity of
soldiers in the field to find better
ways to accomplish their mission.
HTSTORIGAL
PErlSPECTI'E
Black&Female US
l,VartimeAviators
A/hite American assumptions
toward race and gender slowed black
and female aviators'progress and
prevented women, in particular, from
becoming a full-fledged part of the
military during the SecondWorld
War. All those assumptions had been
proven incorrect by the time the war
ended. Unfortunately, it was only black
American males who were acknowl-
edged to have skill as flyers beyond
the assumptions initially held by the
military. The women aviators had to
wait 35 years before finally receiving
fulI accreditation in retrospect.
Having gained no military respect
for their accomplishments inWorld
War I, and faced with the official 1925
ArmyWar College study that main-
tained it was impossible to successfully
mix the races within military units,
many American blacks nevertheless
sought recognition by calling for
greater involvement in the military.
Because the technologically innova-
tiveArmyAir Corps caught much of
the public's attention, black-or,,,rred
newspapers and organizations placed
a lot ofpressure in that direction dur-
ing the presidential campaign of 1940.
Incumbent and Democratic presi-
dential candidate Franklin Roosevelt,
in order to bolster his poll numbers in
his race against Republican candidate
Wendell Willkie, signed legislation
allowing blacks to obtain pilots' licens-
es through the CMlian PilotTiaining
Act. He then also signed the Selective
Tiaining and Service Act, admitting
blacks into segregated combat units.
Out of that legislation came the
"Tuskegee Experiment," named after
the Alabama tornryr chosen as the locale
at which to train black pilot cadets.
Though there were already a few expe-
rienced black pilots, theywere passed
over for an all white staff of instructors.
The first instructor, Col. Frederick
Kimble, from Oregon, broughtwith
him the prevailing racial assumptions
of the day. That is: blacks didnt
have the ability to fly airplanes. He
went out of his way to antagonize
the cadets. He forbade all the white
officers from socializingwith them
in anyway, and stated no blacks
would rise above the rank of captain
while he was in charge of the base.
Political pressure was again
mounted against the War Department,
A group ofblackpilot-cadets are inspected by their white officer atTiskegee kfie in 1941.
- Chrktopher Miskimon
WORLD at WAR 32 OCT-NOV 2013

4. Observation Post
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The story of the 99th was most recently portreyed within the
popular culture in the 20 1 2 .frlm Red Tails.
the cadets, who began their training
in July 1941 and were organized as
the 99'h Pursuit Squadron, would be
sent to the front on 3 April 1943.
The first larger unit to which they
were assigned was 27' Fighter Group,
where they received a month of
combat training. Col. Philip Cochran
*4tr..
&*-
Jacqueline Co chran, founder of the
Women's Airforce Ser"uicE Pilats (WASPS),
Nancy Harkness Loue,founder ofthe
Womeis Atrxiliary Ferry Squadron (WAFS).
was one of their white instructors
from another group, the 33rd, andhe
praised the pilots of the 99'h by saying:
"Those Nazis had better look out."
Unfortunately that was the only
positive thing later recalled about
the 99'h's relationship with the 33'd,
whichwas where the blackunitwas
attached after completing its month
of combat training with the 22ft.
That latter group's white pilots saw
and Kimble was replaced by Maj.
Noel Parrish. Due to his more
evenhanded approach, he became
surreptitiously knornm as "Great
White Father" on the base.
Even so, theWar Department
hesitated in deploying the new
aviators. It took nearly a year'before
70 WORLDatWAR32 I OCT NOV2013
F '' tl

5. the black pilots as a handicap. Col.
Villiam Momyer, the group leader,
set the tone when he treated them
n ith indifference and operationally
acted as if they didn't exist. Not only
did he place the 99'ft's base three miles
from those of the other squadrons,
they were never invited to any social
events within the command. Planning
meetings would start early and
rvould always just be endingwhen a
representative from the 99rl' arrived.
Though itwas mandated the 99'/'
would train further with the 33"r, the
black pilots were always assigned
subordinate wingman positions and
were never allowed to practice in the
roll of flight leader. Nevertheless, it was
within the 33'd the Germans were first
confronted by the 99'l' on 9 June 1943.
Unfortunately the engagement
was fought in a confused man-
ner, with both white and black
American flyers scattering. The
action prompted Momyer to lr''rite
a disparaging report saying the
99'h was "not of fighting caliber."
By September, when the report
was offi cially submitted, Momyer
knew that on 2luly Lt. Charles
Hall had shot a FockeWulf 190 out
of the sky for the 99'hb first
rrkill,"
and that the unit had successfully
provided ground support and bomber
escort in preparation for the Allied
storming of the Sicilian beaches.
Nevertheless, Washington took the
report seriously. A special committee
headed byAssistant Secretary of
War John J. McCloywas set up to
investigate further. Fortunately Col.
Benjamin O. Davis, who'd meanwhile
returned from the 99t'to serve as an
instructor in the newly forming black
332"d Fighter Group,was on hand to
successfully defend the 99'/' and the
investigation was dropped . The 79't'
Fighter Group later demonstrated
mixing races could successfully be
done at that mid-level olorganization.
The black aviators eventually
earned a IoIal of 7 44 Nr Medals, 95
Distinguished Flying Crosses, l4
Bronze Stars, tlivo Soldier Medals,
eight Purple Hearts, one Silver
Star, the Legion of Merit and three
Distinguished Unit Citations. The 99'ft
merged into the 332n't and became
knornm for their superb protection of
bombers on deep raids into Germany.
The black fighter pilots had indeed
disproved the racial assumptions
held about them at the war's start.
That wasn't the case for America's
women pilots. Iacqueline Cochran,
the 1938 winner of the Bendix Race
and holder of the transcontinental
speed record, who later became the
first female to break the sound barrier,
wanted to see a "Women's Air Corps
Auxiliary" to support the regular air
force. She solicited and received sup-
port from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt
and Chief of the Army Air Corps
Gen. Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold.
Soon after the US entered the
war, with the blessing of theArmy
Air Corps, she set up theWomen's
F$ing Training Detachment
(WFTD), which eventually became
the Women's Airforce Service Pilots
(WASPs). A lemale aviator training
facility was organized at Avenger
Field in Sweet,vater, Texas.
Elsewhere, Nancy Harkness
Love, just before Cochran began
her program, founded theWomen's
Au-.ciliary Ferry Squadron (WAFS).
That unit consisted of already licensed
female aviators who ferry-piloted
military planes to various destinations.
They soon merged with theWASPs.
The WASPs tested new planes,
ferried aircraft across the nation and
the oceans, and towed targets for
anti-aircraft artillery training, which,
ofcourse, placed them in danger
every time rounds were fired in their
direction. A total of 1,830 women
became flyers. Unfortunately for
them, unlike the army's and naly's
female arxiliaries, theWASPs were
never fully militarized. The other
service branches got full congressional
approval because they took on jobs,
such as filing and tlping, which men
didn't want. Of course, that wasn't the
case when it came to the relatively
glamorous job of militarypiloting.
The male pilots' lobby at first
seemed small, but more and more
veteran male pilots chimed in against
the militarization of theWASPs. The
male pilots received their greatest help
from Representative Robert Ramspeck
(Democrat, Georgia). He began an
"investigation' into the program, even
though he never visitedAvenger Field
or any of the bases where there were
WASPs. His 13-page report concluded
theWASP program was "inefficient."
Ul1at it didnt do was offer any com-
parison between the performance of
male pilots with those in the women's
program, which would've revealed the
latter to be fully capable. Ramspeck
simply counted on upholding
longstanding assumptions women
were inferior to men. His findings per-
suaded enough in congress to vote to
disband theWASPs in December 1944.
Cochran defended the program
in an 11-page report compiled over
t,vo years. Though mostly ignored,
her report brought out the fact the
women who had died while in the
service oftheir country had been
responsible for paying for their
or.rm funerals due to theWASPs
never having been militarized. Mhen
December came, theWASPs went
home. It wasnt until 23 November
1979, due to the support of Senator
(and military pilot) Barry Goldwater
(Republican, Arizona), the WASPs
flnally received official veteran's status.
- Jael Kindrick
* mm&rxgruxmgm
?he $toa'y of Rllbert &"
Vrur$&y, W$S[C, l,&,gF- I I 5
I was sworn into the Marine Corps
on l0 December 1942, alongwith
about 150 other guys from the Chicago
area and across Illinois and Iowa. I'm
not positive just why it was I joined the
WORLD at WAR 32 I OCI NOV 2013
IF"'