Category Archives: World War 2

Sinking of the Zamzam, 1941

This advertisement for Eveready batteries appeared 75 years ago this month in the November 1936 issue of Popular Science. I had never heard of the Zamzam, but her last voyage is a fascinating but forgotten story of the Second World War.

I haven’t found any independent verification of the claim in the ad, that the Captain used Eveready batteries to avert disaster. But whether or not he did, it’s a compelling story.

The Zamzam set sail from New York in the Spring of 1941 under the Egyptian flag, bound for Egypt by way of South America and South Aftica. Built in 1909, she originally bore the name Leicestershire and flew the British flag. She first served as a passenger ship to India, and during the First World War, she served as a troop carrier, carrying troops to Russia and repatriating Australian troops after the war. After the war, she was modernized to burn oil rather than coal, and resumed passenger service to Rangoon until 1930.

In that year, she was sold to the British National Exhibition Ship Company Ltd., and was renamed the British Exhibitor, where she was to serve as a floating expedition showcasing goods throughout the Empire. When that company went into liquidation, the ship was purchased by the Egyptians, where she transported 600 pilgrims at a time from Suez to Mecca for the next eight years.

With the outbreak of war, the Zamzam was pressed into service carrying passengers between Egypt and New York. The first trip to New York was apparently uneventful, but her last voyage was the return trip.

The ship left Hoboken, New Jersey, on March 20, 1941, with 201 passengers aboard. To avoid war zones, the neutral ship would sail to Trinidad, thence to Recife, Brazil, across the Atlantic to Capetown, South Africa, and then up the east coast of Africa to Mombasa, Kenya, and then to Alexandria, Egypt.

The largest contingent of passengers consisted of 144 missionaries, representing both Catholic and Protestant denominations. Interestingly, the contingent of missionaries from the Augustana Lutheran Church were on their way to Tanzania, where they were to replace German Lutheran missionaries interned by the British.

The passengers also included a group of ambulance drivers from the British-American Ambulance Company, en route to North Africa to serve as ambulance drivers for British forces. There were also a group of American tobacco buyers en route to Rhodesia. Most passengers were American, but there were a large number of Canadians. The missionaries in particular included many women and children among their numbers.

Joining the passengers in Brazil were Life magazine photographer David E. Scherman and Fortune magazine editor Charles J.V. Murphy, who documented the later sinking.

A few days after leaving New York, the passengers were startled when the crew began painting over the portals and announcing that the ship would be travelling in strict blackout conditions. This prompted considerable protest by the passengers, who had believed that they would be traveling openly under the protection of a neutral flag. The captain, a British officer, insisted that he was acting under orders of the Admiralty, to the great consternation of passengers. The ship traveled under strict blackout, and no light, not even a lit cigarette, was permitted on deck.

During the early morning hours of April 17, the German raider Atlantis (also known as the Tamesis), a reflagged Norwegian freighter, attacked. The passengers donned life jackets and boarded lifeboats and the ship sunk. Since some of the lifeboats had been damaged, a number of passengers were forced to float in the water.

Just as the raider hoisted its Nazi flag and its crew were stationed at machine guns, a rainbow appeared in the morning sky. Eventually, the survivors signaled (presumably with the captain’s Eveready flashlight) that the ship was neutral. The German ship took the survivors aboard, and the captain discovered to his dismay that many of the passengers were Americans.

By all accounts, the captain, Bernhard Rogge, treated the prisoners humanely, and they were transferred a few days later to another ship which eventually transported them to occupied France. The Americans were repatriated fairly rapidly through Spain and Portugal, but the Canadians were interned.

The Catholic missionaries were American born, but were traveling under Canadian passports to expedite entry into South Africa. In retrospect, the decision was undoubtedly regretted, since they were interned with the other Canadians. This turned out to be a fortunate circumstance for the Germans, since the Geneva Convention required them to provide chaplains for POW’s, a role which these prisoners took on.

Eventually, seven of the Canadian women were to be exchanged for German women being held in Canada. At some point, they were placed on a train to Berlin. Unfortunately, nobody had bothered to tell Berlin that they were coming, and they were left to their own devices in the enemy capital. They made contact with American journalists and diplomats, and were eventually returned to Canada.

During their stay, however, they were forced to obtain food in the local economy along with the Germans. One butcher, recalling his humane treatment by the allies as a prisoner in the previous war, greeted them in English each time they entered his shop, and allowed them to the front of the line, somewhat to their embarrassment.

This video, prepared by one of the predecessors of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, is a fascinating look at the bizarre odyssey of these missionaries.

References

Canada Carries On: 1941

Seventy-five years ago, the United States was less than a month away from entering the war, but Canada had been at war with Germany since 1939. In this ad from this date’s issue of Broadcasting magazine, November 10, 1941, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reminded potential American advertisers that Canada was carrying on. Despite wartime conditions, industry was at capacity, new factories were coming online, employment was at a peak, and most important for advertisers, retail sales were showing gains.

The CBC was serving wartime duties, and it reminded advertisers that it provided complete broadcast services to reach the Canadian market.

Battle of Moscow, 1941

7 November 1941 parade in Red Square, 1949 painting by Konstantin Yuon via Wikipedia.

Seventy-five years ago today, the Battle of Moscow was underway, with Nazi troops at the gates of the Soviet capital.

To boost morale and stiffen the Red Army’s resolve, Stalin ordered the traditional Revolution Day parade to take place as it traditionally did in Red Square. But this time, after the troops paraded past the Kremlin, the continued marching directly to the front.

The event is heroically depicted in the 1949 painting by Konstantin Yuon shown above. Film of the event can be seen here:

As the soldiers paraded to the front, Stalin charged them:

Comrades, men of the Red Army and Red Navy, commanders and political instructors, men and women guerillas, the whole world is looking to you as the force capable of destroying the plundering hordes of German invaders. The enslaved peoples of Europe who have fallen under the yoke of the German invaders look to you as their liberators. A great liberating mission has fallen to your lot. Be worthy of this mission! The war you are waging is a war of liberation, a just war. Let the manly images of our great ancestors inspire you in this war! May the victorious banner of the great Lenin be your lodestar!

For the complete destruction of the German invaders!

Death to the German invaders!

Long live our glorious Motherland, her liberty and her independence!

Under the banner of Lenin, forward to victory!

Radio Bargain House, Birmingham, AL, 1941

Seventy five years ago this month, Pearl Harbor was still a month away, and the end of civilian radio production was still five months away. But radio retailers were starting to feel shortages, since many parts were in short supply due to wartime material priorities, and in some cases, the numbers of new sets available didn’t meet demand.

This led many retailers to take a closer look at selling used sets. Trade-ins were often viewed as a headache, and little effort was made to realize a profit from them. But the wartime economy made many retailers consider selling used radios. The November 1941 issue of Radio Retailing carried advice from the experience of M.M. Law, the proprietor of Radio Bargain House of Birmingham. Law got into the radio business by accident when running a hotel. A hotel guest turned a radio over to him for sale, and he placed a classified ad in the paper. He received fifteen calls in response to the ad. When he eventually lost the lease on the hotel, he decided to get into the radio business.

Law typically made a net profit of about $2 on each set. He often bought in bulk from other dealers looking to unload their trade-ins, sometimes as low as $1 per set. He typically invested about $3 fixing up each set, and quickly sold many for $6.95. He estimated that his average sale was between $12 and $15.

He continued advertising in the classified ads, since his experience was that this was where bargain shoppers looked. He always kept a set outside his shop, marked “today’s special,” and reported that he would often sell this set, with the buyer not bothering to look for others. In other cases, however, the set outside would entice a buyer to come in the store to buy a better set on the floor.

Winston Churchill: Never Give In

On this date 75 years ago, October 29, 1941, Winston Churchill gave his “Never Give In” speech.

Never give in, never give in, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

WW2 CBS Broadcasts

One of the fascinating parts of collecting old radios is pondering the kinds of programs they pulled in over the years. Chances are, the radio was used to listen to countless hours of news, music, entertainment, and sports. They were a witness to history, but the frustration is that we can no longer listen to the programs that were broadcast. Programs generally weren’t recorded, and most of the live programs that were broadcast were lost.

Fortunately, there are exceptions, although most of them were the result of accidental preservation. One example is documented in this news story from KIRO in Seattle:

KIRO Radio accidentally saves American history

Even though it was contrary to network policy, KIRO made a practice of recording CBS network news on 16 inch discs, so that they could be replayed at a more convenient hour for West Coast listeners. Fortunately, someone rescued these discs when they were to be discarded, and they are now in the collection of the University of Washington. They are gradually being digitized, and many are available at this link. The first one in that collection, for example, is a broadcast from September 1, 1939, and include a report from London of the declaration of war.

NBC Shortwave Listening Station, Bellmore, Long Island, 1941

Shown here in the October 25, 1941, issue of Radio Guide is the Shortwave Listening Station which the NBC network had recently installed at Bellmore, Long Island. The station was in operation 24 hours a day, and the staff of 24 foreign language experts and radio engineers kept tab on the war of words coming from Europe.

The issue also reported on a publicity stunt recently conducted by Berlin Radio. For a number of days, the station had announced that Lord Haw Haw had been banned from the air. Then, an announcement followed that Lord Haw Haw would be allowed to come on the air and give his side of the story.

Many American editors fell for it, and the broadcast received plenty of advance publicity. However, Lord Haw Haw hadn’t been banned from the German airwaves. It was a publicity stunt in which he announced merely that the American networks refused to carry his propaganda.

1941: How Radio Will Defend America

On this date seventy five years ago today, October 18, 1941, less than two months before Pearl Harbor, Radio Guide magazine told all the ways that radio would defend America. The author, an army officer who had previously served as an editor of the magazine, started by saying that the bombers would come first, make no mistake about it. They would do it, unless radio prevented them, as one of the nation’s first line defenses. He noted that the shores were ringed with listening stations on our territory, on distant islands and ships at sea, and aboard blimps above the ocean. One of those stations would see them coming, and radio would carry the message to commanders whose duty it was to defend our shores.

If enemies did get through, then “radio must do for America what it failed to do for France; it must tell Americans where to go and by what routes. When areas need to be evacuated, radio must instruct automobilists and truck-drivers to use certain roads and highways. The Army has first claim on the others. Indeed, it may be a part of one’s preparedness to keep his radio continuously tuned in. No other means can tell the public so quickly of threatened danger.”

Another aspect of national preparedness was monitoring foreign shortwave broadcasts. “Would you think, for example, that by listening to what Germans are telling Americans, both in North and South America, you could learn what Germany may do next? Well, you can. Even now German short-wave stations are talking to us at all hours. Each twenty-four hours they are sending us thirty thousand words of trickery and deceit. By following it for month after month we have learned that it assumes a pattern that is visible to experts. Our own Federal Communications Commission hires such experts and many others besides to listen to all foreign language broadcasts. Stations in Oregon, Texas, Maryland and Puerto Rico hear all broadcasts directed to this country and to South America. They make recordings of these broadcasts, turn them over to translators, then to analysts, then to psychologists. Result: The American government was warned ahead of time that Japan was going to occupy Indo-China. Germany’s attack on Russia was predicted within a few days.”

Air Corps radio operators. “A few months ago many of them were ‘hams’ you heard on short waves. Today they’re learning everything from signal codes to radio night-fighting technique.”

The article also noted how broadcasting had served the public by providing information and quieting rumors. It concluded by noting that in peace, Americans had used radio better than any other nation. “We have more stations, more receivers, more artists, more technicians, more listeners. In war, if it comes, we shall also use radio best–there can be no doubt of that–and employ its multitude of services in order that a complete and glorious victory may quickly be ours.”

Wartime Lamp Radio

Despite wartime parts shortages, the young man shown here was able to furnish his room with a radio, courtesy of plans found in the October 1944 issue of Popular Mechanics.

The lamp is not merely ornamental; it is part of the circuit. The 40-watt bulb serves to drop the line voltage to light the tube filaments. Two tubes are used, either type 37 or 76. The article noted that these tubes could be found in an old set, or in the radio student’s junk box. One served as a rectifier, with the other one serving as regenerative detector. The cabinet is a wooden file box. The lamp socket comes from the dime store and is mounted on a curtain rod secured to a wooden block on the cabinet with glue. The switch on the lamp socket turned on both the lamp and radio.

The coil was wound on a cardboard tube, and wire from an old transformer or filter choke could be used.

The set was billed as a “Desk Lamp DX’er for Boy’s Room.” For best selectivity on local stations, the article recommended an indoor antenna of 15 feet. For pulling in DX, it recommended a long and high outdoor antenna.

The article notes that no external ground is used, but doesn’t explain why not. Since the set is connected directly to the AC wiring, adding an external ground would run a 50/50 chance of blowing a house fuse (or in a modern home, popping a GFI). And anyone planning to make a modern recreation should be aware that the set isn’t exactly safe. One side of the headphones is connected directly to the AC line, and the antenna connection has only one capacitor between it and a hot wire. So the modern parent, before giving one of these interesting sets to Junior to put in his room, would probably be well advised to include an isolation transformer.

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Babi Yar, 1941

Soviet investigators view opened grave at Babi Yar, 1944. U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum photo.

Today marks the 75th anniversary of one of the largest acts of mass murder to take place during the Holocaust, the massacre at Babi Yar, on the outskirts of Kiev, Ukraine. On September 29 and 30, 1941, 33,771 Jews were killed at that ravine.

German forces entered the city on September 19, 1941. Prior to the German invasion, about 160,000 Jews had resided in the city, about 20% of the population. About a hundred thousand fled in advance of the Germans, and most of those remaining were women, children, the elderly, and the sick.

Wikipedia image.

On September 29, the German military government issued the order shown here, requiring all Jews in the city to report, along with documents, money, valuable, warm clothing, and blankets.

The Nazis conducted the operation with efficiency. The Jews were ordered to proceed and give up first their luggage, then their coats, then their outer garments and shoes, and finally their underwear. By the time they knew what was happening, it was too late. By the time they heard the machine gun fire, there was no chance of escape.

They were led to a ravine about 150 meters by 30 meters. At the bottom of the ravine, they were made to lie down on top of Jews who had already been shot. A marksman, standing on the layers of corpses, then shot each in the back of the neck.

The corpses were then buried in the ravine, and the money, valuables, clothing, and even underwear was distributed to local ethnic Germans.

Wikipedia photo.

Shown here is Dina Pronicheva (1911-77), one of the handful of survivors of the massacre. She initially claimed that she was not Jewish and was only seeing someone off. The Germans decided to kill her anyway so that she would not be a witness. She played dead in a pile of corpses as the Nazis covered the mass grave with earth. She was eventually able to exhume herself. She was the only survivor to testify at the Kiev war crimes trial.