Wednesday, 3rd May 1944 (Postcard) & Monday, 7th August 1944

My Dear Dorothy,

Your letter of 19th March to acknowledge and thank you for.  Received 2 parcels each of 200 cigs yesterday (1 Capstan, 1 Players).  Unfortunately, there were no cards inside to say from whom they were from.  The Capstan usually come from you tho?

The weather is very breezy with warm or showery periods.  The heat of summer will soon be here.  As usual Jim & I are in the best of health and sincerely wish the same to all you at home.

Arthur.

On this day:
In Tokyo... Japanese Admiral Toyoda is designated Commander in Chief of the Combined Fleet. He replaces Admiral Koga who was killed on March 31st.

In Burma... The British 14th Army captures heights above Maungdaw-Buthidaung road in the Arakan.

Over Nazi Europe... During the night, RAF bombers target an army depot at Mailly, near Rheims (Germany), aircraft stores at Montdidier (France), an ammunition dumps at Chateaudun (France) and Ludwigshafen (Germany). A total of 49 aircraft are lost.

In the United States... The production of synthetic quinine (anti-malarial) by young Harvard scientists Woodward and Doering is announced in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In Occupied France... French resistance members burn 100,000 liters of acetone in the Lambiotte plant, Premery.

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/

My Dear Mother & Father,

We have just spent a very happy August weekend - the weather being glorious. Yesterday we held a "Carnival" - practically every allied country was represented by a tableau, then there was individual fancy dress, a pipe-band and a military band; it really was a splendid effort, particularly in these circumstances where a piece of cloth is very precious.  Then in the afternoon a fun-fair was held, all the various POW organisations had a stall, Merseyside & District was represented by an "Arcade".  Guess the weight of the cake - coconut (artificial) shies and all the others were there.  The Carnival reminded me of Bootle May Queen and the fun-fair of Founders Day.

Today was given over to athletic-championships which were preceded by a visit from Les Knowles and Co, a wonderful sight.  No world records were made, but some very good performances were set up.  Tomorrow we have a test match - England v New Zealand - and on Thursday South Africa v Australia - on Friday an All- Star baseball Canada v USA - on Saturday the volley-ball final Athens v Palestine.

We are all bubbling over with health & spirits and hope to be soon re-united.  Till then my love to you all.

Arthur.


On the Western Front... German forces begin a significant counterattack from east of Mortain, opposite US 1st Army (between US 7th and 14th Corps). Elements of German 2nd and 116th Panzer Divisions spearhead the offensive. Mortain is recaptured. Heavy Allied air attacks prevent more significant advances by the German forces. Meanwhile, in Brittany, the US 8th Corps (part of US 1st Army) attacks the German garrisoned ports of Brest, St. Malo and Lorient. During the night, Canadian forces (part of British 21st Army Group) launch attacks southwest of Caen after a preparatory bombardment involving over 1000 RAF heavy bombers dropping more than 3000 tons of bombs on German positions.


On the Eastern Front... Soviet forces advance in the Carpathian foothills and capture Sambor, southwest of Lvov.

In the Mariana Islands... On Guam there is heavy fighting along the entire front as US forces attack Japanese positions.

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/


After much hard work from Arthur's granddaughter Jo, the revamped website Lamsdorf Remembered is now live.  We are pleased to announce that after a very long hiatus, we are now accepting submissions for the website.  There is also a small discussion forum, available for anyone to join.  Please take a look and let us know you've visited.  Feedback gratefully received as there are still some tweaks that need to happen.