WesWorld

1 January
Two new important naval vessels have been laid down today.
At the AFNE Yard at Bahia Blanca, the fourth Santisima Trinidad Class light cruiser, the Fortaleza, had her keel laid by the Mayor of Bahia Blanca. She should complete in July 1946 and her sister Rivadavia is currently in the fitting out basin and should be completed on time in September this year. Also at the yard the heavy cruiser ARA La Argentina has begun a major rebuilding which will be completed later this year. The cruiser will receive new engines and secondary armament to ensure she remains fully modern into the early 1950s.
At the Astillero Nav. Yard at Puerto Belgrano the Defence Minister, Vice Almirante (ret). Juan Perez Benedicto Hood laid the first keel plate of the Navy’s first submarine depot Ship, the Delphin. Based on a modified version of the Project 708 Class destroyer depot ship/ repair ship the vessel should complete in May 1946. The Delphin will allow submarines to be support away from the main naval bases in wartime and to enable operations further south along the Patagonian shoreline.

5 January
The final three Yucuman Class destroyers, the ARA Salto, Segui and Bathurst, which were rebuild as escorts following the 1935 War, have been decommissioned and have joined the static reserve fleet to await disposal. Their parent unit was disbanded yesterday pending a reorganisation of the destroyer and escort units of the Navy.

6 January
Several new local football teams have been formed who will play in the two Regional Leagues this year; Club Atlético Policial is located in San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca; Club Social y Atlético Guillermo Brown (named after the famous Irish-born Admiral) is from Puerto Madryn in Chubut Province and finally, the Club Boca Río Gallegos, formed by an band of enthusiastic meat processing plant workers in Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz.

In other news, the heavy cruiser ARA Almirante Brown was formally decommissioned at Bahia Blanca today. She has been sold to Turkey and her transfer will take place quite soon. The majority of her crew will be posted to new light cruisers currently under construction.

15 January
Across Argentina today was a remembrance of the victims of the severe earthquake that hit the province of San Juan last year. The provincial capital, San Juan, was totally destroyed and an estimated 10,000 of its inhabitants killed (roughly 10% of its population).
Today work continues on rebuilding the city and aid donations still arrive from across the nation to support the families and orphans left from this most devastating of natural disasters.

24 January
The Army today has re-designated II Brigada and V Brigada, at San Luis and Santa Rose respectively, as Mechanised Infantry Divisions to reflect their new role. These two units will feature mechanised infantry units with armoured infantry carriers and armoured forces in support. In addition, each infantry division will receive a company of heavy tanks by the end of the year. All Brigada of the Army have now been reclassified as divisions, reversing a move made three years ago under the National Defence Programme.

Notable Cultural Highlights of 1945

An overview of the films and major literature to be released during 1945.


Argentine Films of 1945

Notable films this year are;
Allá en el setenta y tantos (Back in the Seventies), an historical drama of life in the 1870s directed by Francisco Múgica and written by Manuel Agromayor and Tulio Demicheli. The film stars Silvana Roth as Élida Paso and Carlos Cores.

El Alma de un tango (The Soul of a Tango) is a musical tango film directed and written by Julio Irigoyen. The film stars Héctor Palacios, Warly Ceriani, Lea Conti, Elisa Labardén, Percival Murray and Tino Tori and premiered in Cordoba on 20 April 1945.

Besos perdidos (Lost Kisses) is a romantic drama directed by the notable director Mario Soffici.

La Cabalgata del circo (The Gap) is a musical directed and written by Mario Soffici with Eduardo Boneo and Francisco Madrid. It stars Eva Duarte, Libertad Lamarque, Hugo del Carril, José Olarra, Orestes Caviglia, Juan José Miguez and Armando Bo. The film portrays the lives, loves and vicissitudes of a group of circus performers in the Argentine Pampas around the turn of the century with songs.

Despertar a la vida is the third film directed this year by Mario Soffici. It stars Roberto Airaldi, Lea Conti, Humberto de la Rosa and Francisco de Paula.

Chiruca is a film by Benito Perojo, written by Arturo Cerretani and Benito Perojo, and starring Catalina Bárcena, Manuel Collado and Homero Cárpena.

Cuando en el cielo pasen lista is a drama directed by Carlos F. Borcosque, written by Tulio Demicheli and starring Narciso Ibáñez Menta, Ilde Pirovano and Aída Alberti.


Short Stories

'The Aleph'
This is a short story by the writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges, which was published in September 1945.
In Borges' story, the Aleph is a point in space that contains all other points. Anyone who gazes into it can see everything in the universe from every angle simultaneously, without distortion, overlapping or confusion. The story continues the theme of infinity found in several of Borges' other works. As in many of Borges' short stories, the protagonist is a fictionalised version of the author. At the beginning of the story, he is mourning the recent death of a woman whom he loved, Beatriz Viterbo, and resolves to stop by the house of her family to pay his respects. Over time, he comes to know her first cousin, Carlos Argentino Daneri, a mediocre poet with a vastly exaggerated view of his own talent who has made it his lifelong quest to write an epic poem that describes every single location on the planet in excruciatingly fine detail. Later in the story, a business on the same street attempts to tear down Daneri's house in the course of its expansion. Daneri becomes enraged, explaining to the narrator that he must keep the house in order to finish his poem, because the cellar contains an Aleph which he is using to write it. Though by now he believes Daneri to be quite insane, the narrator proposes without waiting for an answer to come to the house and see the Aleph for himself. Left alone in the darkness of the cellar, the narrator begins to fear that Daneri is conspiring to kill him, and then he sees the Aleph for himself. Though staggered by the experience of seeing the Aleph, the narrator pretends to have seen nothing in order to get revenge on Daneri, whom he hates, by giving him reason to doubt his own sanity. In a postscript to the story, Borges explains that Daneri's house was ultimately demolished, but that Daneri himself won second place in the Argentine National Prize for Literature. He also states his belief that the Aleph in Daneri's house was not the only one that exists, based on a report he has discovered, written by Captain Burton when he was British consul in Brazil, describing the Amr mosque in Cairo, within which there is said to be a stone pillar that contains the entire universe; although this Aleph cannot be seen, it is said that those who put their ear to the pillar can hear it.

15 February
Two new purpose-built coastal transports the ARA Canal Beagle and ARA Cabo de Hornos were commissioned today and will join the Auxiliary Squadron at Comodoro Rivadavia. Both vessels will supply the naval stations along the coast and also transport sailors and officers, military officers and government officials.

27 February
A week after arriving at Bahia Blanca from Italy, the four ex-Italian Soldati Class destroyers Geniere, Granatiere, Lanciere, Bombardiere have been commissioned as ARA Ingeniero, Grenadier, Lancer and Bombardero respectively today in a joint ceremony.

1 March
Two ex-German Minenschiffe Typ M1 Class motor minesweepers have been commissioned and they have joined the 3rd Motor Minesweeper Flotilla at Comodoro Rivadavia today.

3 March
Six ex-German Minenschiffe Typ M1 Class motor minesweepers, recently commissioned after their transfer from Germany, have officially formed the 4th Motor Minesweeper Flotilla at Puerto Deseado.

5 March
Four ex-German Minenschiffe Typ M1 Class motor minesweepers, recently commissioned after their transfer from Germany, have officially formed the 5th Motor Minesweeper Flotilla at Rawson. These are the last of twenty-eight such vessels brought from Germany during the past year.

18 March
The first of two new Project 715 Class survey boats has been commissioned today as the ARA Cormoran. This fine coastal craft equipped to map our coastal waters and shorelines will soon join the Survey Squadron at Bahia Blanca. A sistership should follow shortly.

19 March
The Army today has disbanded the 3rd Armoured Regiment at Catamarca and the unit will reform as the Third Armoured Division officially tomorrow. This larger unit will be third such unit in the Army and should gradually grow to its official strength by the end of next year.

9 April
The last of Argentina’s old scout cruisers built after the turn of the century has finally retired. The ARA Commandante General Irigoyen (originally the ARA Espora) has been employed as a gunnery training ship since 1936, having been rebuilt in the early 1930s and used as an escort during the 1935 South American War. This fine old vessel was decommissioned today and she joins Static Reserve Fleet awaiting disposal. Locals in Bahia Blanca have called on the Navy to maintain the vessel as a museum ship but the Navy has not yet publicly announced their final intentions for the ship.

14 April
The State Minister, Alfredo Sicillia, today announced the formation of a new national news agency, Télam (Telenoticiosa Americana or American Telenews) with the purpose to compete with US agencies such as United Press International and Associated Press. It is a public-private a joint venture between the government and private capital. Gerónimo Jutronich has been appointed as director and he has been tasked with forming a team of journalists. The new agency should begin disseminating information in October.

6 May
A proposal by the Finance Minister, Carlos Santinez, to lower the rate of land tax and relax rent controls for landowners of large holdings has been publicly condemned by several tenant farmer organisations as being a policy dreamt up by the agricultural land barons. Some business leaders have called for equal tax breaks on their industrial enterprises. Only last month, the Minister reduced the export dues on beef and other major agricultural produce.

29 May
Today the extended facilities of Fabrica Militar de Aviones’ Department of Metallurgical and Aerodromes were officially opened today. Given the demands of the modern aviation industry for the production of metals and light alloys the original Casting Workshop was opened on August 21, 1933, equipped with a cupola furnace and furnace for casting light alloys. The new extension adds specialist forging processes and tooling.

1 June
The State Minister, Alfredo Sicillia, today toured the city of San Luis which is undergoing rebuilding. He opened the new hospital and toured the reconstruction of the city’s cathedral and an estate of modern worker’s prefabricated houses designed and built by the German architect Walter Gropius.

18 June
The second of two new Project 715 Class survey boats has been commissioned today as the ARA Petrel. This fine coastal craft equipped to map our coastal waters and shorelines will soon join the Survey Squadron at Bahia Blanca alongside her sistership, the ARA Comoran.

22 June
The Ministry of Finance has today announced that annual exports of beef and beef products have risen 6% and are now at their highest levels since 1933.

26 June
Unconfirmed reports suggest that the Corporación Sud-Americana de Servicios Aéreos airline and the shipping company Dodero Navigation Argentina have held initial talks on founding a new international airline using flying boats as a joint venture. Industry commentators have suggested the airline may target different routs than those of what would it biggest rival, the Argo-SAE privately owned Trans Oceanic Airlines.

27 June
Planned naval gunnery exercises off Patagonia are cancelled owing to a severe winter storm.

9 July
Today the Nandú, four wheel drive command car was exhibited publicly for the first time at the Cordoba Armaments Producers Fair.
Produced at the Esteban de Luca Arsenal, this sturdy vehicle is powered by a 76hp petrol engine manufactured by HAFDASA (Hispano Argentina Fabrica de Automobiles). Although the Auto Union Type 99 is in production, a pre-production batch of ten vehicles has been ordered for the Army. The Nandú is the South American Ostrich.



15 July
At the Astillero Nav. Yard at Puerto Belgrano, the giant hull of the Navy’s first submarine depot Ship, the Delphin, slipped down her construction berth to the sound of squealing metal and tons of anchor chains rattling along to halt the capacious hull in the basin. This vital vessel should be commissioned next May.

17 July
The skies over Cordoba today saw a new sight and sound as a sleek, twin-engined aircraft made its maiden flight piloted by Captain de Aero Edmundo Osvaldo Weiss.
The aircraft is the prototype I.Ae.30 Ñancú heavy fighter designed by Luis Barron and his team during 1944 to meet the need for a long-range fighter. The I.Ae. 30 is of all-metal construction and is powered by two Rolls-Royce Merlin V-12 engines. The armament is reportedly designed for both attacking enemy bombers and ground attack. By the end of 1943, a contract was received for three prototypes. In mid-1944, 144 production aircraft were ordered as the I-03 Ñancú. On 9 June, the prototype began its ground tests at Cordoba which consisted of ground handling and taxiing. These having been completed satisfactorily, the first flight was made today on schedule.


Another new FMA aircraft under development is the I.Ae.31 Colibri, designed and built by the H. Goberna factory at Alto Alberdi, Cordoba as a two-seat civil light and aerobatics plane. It has a steel-framed fuselage with light alloy forward fuselage covering with plywood aft of the firewall, fixed undercarriage with a non-retractable tail wheel and is powered by a 155hp Blackburn Cirrus Major with a de Havilland two-blade variable-pitch propeller. The estimated top speed is 150mph, endurance 1hr 50mins and a service ceiling of 21,300ft. Production has not yet begun and no official government interest in ordering the type has yet been reported.

4 September
The President and several senior officers of the Air Force visited the FMA works and engine factory at Cordoba today. The President was shown the latest I.Ae.28 and I.Ae.30 twin-engine types and he toured the production facilities. He was guided round by Erhard Milch, the Technical Director of Research and Development at the Instituto Aerotechico. The latter also gave the President a private briefing on jet propulsion and its likely impacts on the future of aviation.

23 September
The 1945 Campeonato Argentino de Rugby was won in a thrilling final today by Córdoba Athletic who beat Unión de Rugby del Norte 5-4. This is the first time this annual rugby union competition has been held.
Teams who participated;
Capital, ossia di Cordoba (Cordoba)
Unión de Rugby del Norte (Tucumán)
The San Martín Rugby Club de Villa María (Cordoba)
The Litoral (Combinado de Rosario y Santa Fe) (Santa Fe)
C. A. Estudiantes de Paraná (Parana)
Unión Cordobesa de Rugby (Cordoba)
Córdoba Athletic (Cordoba)
Unión de Rugby del Litoral (Bahia Blanca)

28 September
The final three ex-Italian Soldati Class destroyers Corsaro, Legionario, Mitragliere have been officially commissioned today as ARA Pirata, Legionario and Gunner at Bahia Blanca.

30 September
The third light cruiser of the Santisima Trinidad Class, the ARA Rivadavia was officially commissioned today into the Navy and the 3rd Cruiser Squadron at Comodoro Rivadavia.

1 October
Employment has taken a recent welcome upturn at the AFNE Paraguay shipyard at Encarnation in Paraguay as a new river boat tender is laid down for the Navy to support its gunboats on the Rio Paraguay. The vessel, which will be completed early next year, will be named in honour of the wartime hero Alferez de Navio Gomez.

12 October
Télam (Telenoticiosa Americana or American Telenews), the new national news agency, today began disseminating news information.

8 December
A team of aid and reconstruction experts have left Bahia Blanca by flying boat heading to the scene of the devastating Baluchistan earthquake, where they hope to be able to give advice on recovery following this terrible event.

18 December
The football club, Club Atlético Independiente has won the 1945 Primera División Argentina for the first time with 41 points and 17 wins.

[OOC: Just as a refresher since the last post some time ago: Two refined AAM-4 rockets with improved FMA/ RRF RL-AO-203D engines were launched in September 1943 and were fully successful reaching 300,000 feet and travelling 140 miles downrange. At that point the AAM-4 programme was wrapped up and work began on producing the AAM-5 rocket and tests were scheduled for the end of 1944.]

The AAM-5 was codenamed Gold and its engine; the FMA/RRF RL-AO-204 was codenamed Symphony. The AAM-5 was designed from the outset of the programme as the full-scale rocket. Mr Minia’s design team had begun work as early as June 1942 and Dr. Galteri’s team used their growing experience to make some refinements to the engines. The sleek design that rolled out of the assembly shed on 26 June 1944, just over ten years after the project began, was 14.05m long, 1.68m in diameter and weighed roughly 12,000kg when fuelled. It had spare capacity to carry 950kg of scientific payload and was powered by the 25,000kg-thrust FMA/RRF RL-AO-204 engine. Dr. Galteri had refined the hydrogen peroxide steam turbine fuel pump which ran on the bench successfully at 5000rpm and producing 675hp. Minia predicted the flight path would be an arc 330km long with a maximum altitude of 96km (the margins of space) which would take 3 mins 40 secs. It would be powered for 70 secs of the flight, attaining a maximum velocity of 5580km/h. By comparison the original AAM-1 only 1.4 m long with a take-off weight of 150 kg looked like a firework.

New range equipment including the latest Atlantean radio-location sets was installed during March-September 1944. After extensive static test firings during the summer in the test stands at Maquichao, the second production engine was fitted to Gold-1 during November 1944. After further static trials to determine reliability of various components and how well the fuelling systems worked, Gold-1 was test fired in the stand on January 6 1945. Six days later it was launched to check the operation of the AO-204 engine. It travelled 200km downrange and reached a maximum altitude of 85km. Gold-2 followed on 17 March, travelling 220km and reaching a maximum altitude of 88km. This was the first fully instrumented prototype. The fourth production AO-204 engine blew up on the stand on 16 April and the programme was paused for three months until the problem could be identified and corrected. The fifth engine passed all its trials in August and on September 1 it launched Gold-3 successfully. Gold-4 followed on 26 September, but a gyroscope failure saw the rocket tumble out of control and the safety office had to destroy the rocket. Gold-5 with a research package designed by the University of Pyrrha performed the first ever space research mission, the rocket reaching 96km altitude, on 7 November. In January 1946 a series of three rockets under Project Ophion were test fired in tightly calibrated trajectories to measure their accuracy. Gold-6 was lost during its firing on 11 March, but Gold-7 again proved the design with a successful maximum range flight. Gold-8 was the last of the experimental flights on 24 April, fitted with a scientific payload designed by the physics department of the University of Cordoba. Following this was a classified programme of eight flights under Project Ophion II during June-October.


The successful launch of Gold-2