This day in the war in Europe 65 years ago

[syscom3]

11 September 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: During the night of 10/11 September, there are several submarine attacks: first U-659 damages a 8,029 ton British tanker. A few hours later U-404 and U-218 damage each a 7,417 ton and a 7,361 ton Norwegian tankers. U-584 finishes off the 8,029 ton British tanker previously damaged by U-659. All of these attacks occur about 737 nautical miles west of Cork, County Cork, Eire, in position 51.26N, 28.19W.

At 1158 hours GMT, Canadian corvette HMCS 'Charlottetown' (K 244) is struck by a torpedo fired by German submarine U-517 and sinks in the St. Lawrence River about 33 nautical miles (61 kilometers) northeast of Matone, Quebec, in position 49.10N, 66.50W. 'Charlottetown' has just escorted the convoy SQ 30 to Rimouski, Quebec, and is returning to Gaspe, Quebec; nine of the crew went down with the ship.

EASTERN FRONT: The ruined city of Stalingrad was in immediate danger of falling to the Germans. German 6.Armee commander General Friedrich Paulus had fought off Zhukov's hastily-prepared counter-attack and was working his way towards the heart of the city against stubborn resistance. Russians guns, safe on the eastern bank of the Volga, were pounding the Germans, whose latest communique said that the;

"fortified belt of steel" around Stalingrad had to be taken "piece by piece" from the Russians, "who resist fiercely and desperately to the end."

German 6.Armee commander General Friedrich Paulus is summoned to Chancellor Adolf Hitler's headquarters ("Werewolf") to explain why 6.Armee hasn't taken Stalingrad. Paulus tells Hitler that an attack will go in with 11 divisions, three of them panzer, on 13 September. The Russians have only three infantry divisions, parts of four others, and two tanks brigades against him. Stalingrad should crack, he says and Hitler is pleased.

NORTH AFRICA: New Zealand raiders of the Long Range Desert Group attack the Italian air base at Barce and destroy 23 Italian aircraft on the ground.

After several days of no contact, Oblt. Marseille only gets to destroy two RAF warplanes during his daily fighter sweeps.

NORTH AMERICA: With so many young men involved in the war effort, there is a critical shortage of labor across Canada and the government announces that all women, single and married, born between 1918 and 1922, are required to register with the Unemployment Insurance Commission. The Calgary, Alberta, manager of the Commission explains that the women would not necessarily be given employment immediately, but that their experience and skills would be classified in case they are required for necessary war work. Across the Canadian prairies, hundreds of people, including teachers, bankers, lawyers, clergymen and schoolchildren, volunteer to assist with bringing in the harvest. In Drumheller, Alberta, as in towns all across the prairies, the local Board of Trade organizes busses and cars to take the volunteers to farms where they work with local farmers to harvest the grain and build granaries to store it.

 

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12 September 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 2107 hours Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), the 19,695 ton former Cunard White Star passenger liner SS 'Laconia' is struck by torpedoes fired by German submarine U-156 in the South Atlantic about 976 nautical miles (1 808 kilometers) southwest of Monrovia, Liberia. 'Lanconia' sinks at 2323 hours. The ship is sailing to England with 136 crewmen, 80 civilians, military material and personnel (268 men) and approximately 1,800 Italian prisoners of war with 160 Polish soldiers on guard. Shortly after the ship sinks, the crew of the surfaced U-156 hear Italian voices in the sea and in the lifeboats. The U-boat captain begins a rescue operation and sends a radio message in the clear asking for assistance from any vessel in the area stating that;

"if any ship will assist the ship-wrecked 'Laconia'-crew, I will not attack providing I am not being attacked by ship or air forces."

During the next three days, U-156 rescues 400 survivors with 200 on the deck of the sub and 200 in lifeboats. On 15 September, U-506 arrives at 1130 hours followed by U-507 and the Italian submarine 'Cappellini' a few hours later. The subs head for Africa towing the lifeboats behind them. The following day, 16 September, a USAAF B-24 Liberator based on Ascension Island flies over the scene and the pilot notifies his headquarters. Even though the submarines are flying the Red Cross flag, the pilot is ordered to attack them which he does at 1232 hours. The submarines cut the lines to the lifeboats and submerge leaving hundred of people who are on the decks now in the water. Shortly thereafter, French warships arrive from Dakar and pick up about 1,500 survivors. Admiral Karl Doenitz, Commander of the German U-boat fleet, subsequently forbids U-boats to help ships' survivors. He is indicted for the 'Laconia order' at the Nurnberg trials.

Convoy PQ 18 left Hvalfjord, Iceland, en route to Archangel, U.S.S.R., on 8 September. The convoy consists of 40 merchant ships escorted by the escort aircraft carrier HMS 'Avenger', the light cruiser HMS 'Scylla', 20 destroyers, two submarines, four corvettes, three minesweepers and four trawlers. The covering force of the heavy cruisers HMS 'London', 'Norfolk' and 'Suffolk' with the battleships HMS 'Anson' and 'Duke of York' on stand by close by. The Luftwaffe provided a formidable opponent with forty-two Heinkel He-111 torpedo bombers of KG 26 and thirty-five Junkers Ju-88 dive bombers. Tactics consisted of simultaneous attack by torpedo bombers and dive bombers swamping the defenders. U-Boats began shadowing the convoy and one of them, the 'U-88' was sunk by HMS 'Faulknor' about 241 nautical miles (446 kilometers) southwest of Longyearbyen, Sptizbergan Island, Norway. All 46 aboard are lost. The convoy was sighted by a BV 138 recon flying boat near Jan Mayen island. At this time the BV 138 reported seeing thirty-nine freighters and a tanker, two fleet tankers and a rescue ship along with escort destroyers. Later recon planes discovered the aircraft carrier, HMS 'Avenger', with a protecting flight of Hawker Hurricanes. The recon planes started to shadow the convoy until bombers could be alerted and assembled.

EASTERN FRONT: The perimeter held by the Soviet Army at Stalingrad is closed to 30 miles (48 kilometers). Lieutenant General Vasily Chuikov is appointed to command the Soviet 62nd Army at Stalingrad and immediately orders close-quarter fighting to prevent the Germans from using their Ju87 Stuka dive bombers. Chuikov tells his 55,000 haggard men,

"We shall hold the city or die here."

Lt. Wilhelm Lemke of III./JG 3 brought his victory total to fifty kills with the destruction of a Russian aircraft.

GERMANY: In an effort to reverse previous orders restricting creation of new designs that could improve the Luftwaffe, Reichsmarschall Göring removed the orders of 2 February, 1940 and allowed development to proceed. But this served to hinder the Luftwaffe even more as previous aircraft that had not been tried were put into production, wasting more time and material as numerous poor designs were worked on and proven unsuitable.

MEDITERRANEAN: Twenty-five He 111H-6s of Sonderkommando Koch arrived at Athens / Kalamaki, along with three He 111 H-6 and one Ju 88 D-5 of Kommando Fritzel.

SOUTH AMERICA: Brazilian naval forces are placed under the operational control of the USN.

UNITED KINGDOM: U.S. Lieutenant General Dwight D. Eisenhower officially announces assumption of command as Commander-in- Chief Allied Expeditionary Force for Operation TORCH (the Allied invasion of northwest Africa), and Allied Force Headquarters (AFHQ) is activated in London.

The USAAF 4th Fighter Group is activated at Bushey Hall, England, to furnish the first U.S. fighter escorts for Eighth Air Force heavy bombers on missions over occupied Europe. Former members of the Eagle Squadrons, U.S. fighter pilots who had voluntarily served in the RAF before U.S. entry into the war, formed the nucleus of the new group.

Bristol was once again the target by the Höhenkampfkommando der Versuchsstelle für Höhenflüeg but on this occasion the lone Ju 86R, again flown by Fw. Horst Götz and Lt. Erich Sommer, was intercepted en-route by a specially modified Spitfire flown by Pilot Officer Prince Emanuel Galitzine, from the RAF's newly formed 'SS' Flight at Northolt. For the first time a Ju 86R was engaged in combat, and the crew, who hastily jettisoned their bomb near Salisbury, were lucky to return to France with only one cannon hole through the port wing. So ended the highest air battle ever fought over Britain, and soon after the high altitude bombing experiment ceased.

WESTERN FRONT: Ten British Commandoes raid Port-en-Bessin in Normandy and kill seven Germans. The gunfire alerts the garrison which attacks and kills nine of the commandoes; one, Private Hayes, swims along the coast and aided by a French family, escapes to Spain. However, the Spanish police arrest Hayes and send him back to France where he is interrogated by the Gestapo. Acting under the notorious "Kugel" Order, signed by German Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Chief Armed Forces High Command, that orders execution for all captured British commandos, Hayes is executed by the Gestapo.

 

[syscom3]

13 September 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Convoy PQ 18:The day began with an attack by Ju 88s from KG 30 on the Allied convoy PQ 18. Later in the day twenty-four He 111s of I./KG 26 took off from Bardufoss followed by sixteen He 111s from III./KG 26 at Banak and headed towards PQ 18, flying low over the water under the radar. Northwest of Bear Island, the He 111 bombers, each armed with two torpedoes, executed a massive line-abreast attack at low altitude, simultaneously dropping all their "torps" and sinking no less than eight freighters virtually immediately. Flying in three waves, 150 feet above the water, the torpedo-armed bombers targeted the aircraft carrier HMS 'Avenger' and the rest of the convoy while the covering fighter force of Hurricanes were away chasing the Ju 88s. All the Luftwaffe aircraft returned though some were so badly damaged from the defending flak that six were written off. Three Hurricanes were also shot down by friendly fire but their pilots were rescued. 'U-589' rescued four Luftwaffe airmen in the Arctic. She did not have the chance to bring them to shore as she was herself sunk the very next day.

EASTERN FRONT: 6.Armee began its final effort to take Stalingrad. The perimeter held by the Red Army was closed to 30 miles. General Chuikov was appointed to command the Soviet 62nd Army at Stalingrad. Lt. Josef Menapace, Staffelkapitän of 7./SchG 1 was wounded when his Hs 123 was shot up by a Soviet fighter over Stalingrad. Female Soviet fighter pilot Lidya Litvyak shot down two German aircraft on her third mission, including one piloted by a decorated German ace.

GERMANY: During the night of 13/14 September, the most bombed city in Europe, Bremen in northern Germany, suffers its 1,000th air raid. RAF Bomber Command dispatches 446 aircraft to attack Bremen; 374 bomb the target with the loss of 21 aircraft, 15 Wellingtons, two Lancasters, a Halifax, a Hampden, a Stirling and a Whitley, 41 percent of the force are lost. The Lloyd dynamo factory is put out of action for two weeks and various parts of the Focke-Wulf factory for from two to eight days. Five nearly completed aircraft are destroyed and three more damaged. The report also lists seven cultural and historical buildings hit in the center of the town as well as six schools and two hospitals. Seventy people are killed and 371 injured. Two aircraft bomb Oldenburg as a target of opportunity.

INDIAN OCEAN: British General Sir William Platt, Commander-in- Chief East Africa Command, establishes his headquarters ashore at Majunga. The East African 22nd Brigade continues toward Tananarive, hampered chiefly by roadblocks.

NORTH AFRICA: US Army, Middle East Air Force B-25 Mitchells hit landing grounds southeast of Matruh.

OPERATION AGREEMENT:To help relieve the pressure on Eighth Army in the Alamein area, a combined operations raid was planned on Tobruk to destroy installations and shipping. An attack would be launched from the landward side by the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG), while simultaneously the destroyers 'Sikh' and 'Zulu' together with coastal forces craft would land Royal Marine and Army units from the sea. AA cruisers 'Coventry' and 'Hunts' provided cover. During the night of the 13th/14th, a few troops got ashore but 'Sikh' was soon disabled by shore batteries. Hit repeatedly by the shore guns, the 'Sikh' was disabled and taken in tow by her sister ship, HMS 'Zulu'. When the tow cable was parted by a shell hit, she drifted into the line of fire once more. On top of this, seven German dive-bombers attacked the stricken vessel which had to be abandoned. Loss of life amounted to 15 officers and over 100 ratings. The few survivors were taken prisoner when they reached the shore. British desert raids also reached Benghazi and Barer.

Major David Stirling of the British Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) and the Special Air Service (SAS) Unit lost a quarter of his men after his modest plan for the raid is inflated into a full scale assault. The plan went against everything that Stirling believed is essential for a successful raid. He is forced to swell his ranks with newcomers, all of whom are not SAS trained; the element of surprise could not be achieved because a large force is being used and, finally, the use of a pre-arranged time table clamped the SAS's mobility resulting in the inability to strike as and when the opportunity presented itself.

During the night of 13/14 September, US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24s attack Tobruk, in Libya, and shipping in Bengasi harbor.

 

[syscom3]

14 September 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Convoy PQ 18: German torpedo planes continued attacks upon Archangel-bound convoy PQ 18, sinking U.S. freighter SS 'Mary Luckenbach' about 600 miles (966 kilometres) west of North Cape, Norway; she was lost with all hands. The violent explosion of SS 'Mary Luckenbach's' ammunition cargo rained debris on nearby freighter SS 'Nathaniel Greene' injuring 11 men (five of whom were transferred to British destroyer HMS 'Onslaught' for medical attention), but the merchantman made port under her own power. Concussion from the explosion also disabled U.S. freighter SS 'Wacosta', which was later torpedoed and sunk about 400 miles (644 kilometres) northeast of Jan Mayen Island; she suffered no casualties. German U-boat U-457 torpedoes a British Royal Fleet Auxiliary motor tanker early in the day and the ship is later sunk by torpedoes from U-408 about 127 nautical miles (235 kilometers) south-southeast of Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen Island. Twelve of the 40 merchant ships (30-percent) that left Iceland on 8 September have been sunk. KG 26 was sent again to attack PQ 18 but the convoy, forewarned, was ready and waiting. With twenty-two He 111s armed with torpedoes, Major Klumper, Gruppenkommandeur of I Gruppe, found the convoy and led the flight to attack the leading ship, thinking it was the aircraft carrier. The escort aircraft carrier HMS 'Avenger' is carrying 12 Sea Hurricanes Mk IIBs and three Swordfish M IIs. The Sea Hurricanes intercept the Luftwaffe aircraft attacking PQ 18 and with fire from the convoy, destroyed five Heinkels. The flight abandoned the mission and returned with nine aircraft so badly damaged they too were written off. This left the Gruppe after two missions with only eight serviceable aircraft. The weather worsened and PQ 18 was allowed to continue to Archangel unmolested. Though the attacks started successfully, Reichsmarschall Göring's ambition to finally redeem himself over the failure of destroying the 'Ark Royal' pushed the Luftwaffe to overextend itself in operations. The result was too few planes to stem the tide of material now making its way to Russia. Towards the end of the war the material significance of the supplies was probably not as great as the symbolic value hence the continuation - at Stalin's insistence - of these convoys long after the Soviets had turned the German land offensive. While tracking Convoy PQ 18, German submarine U-589 is sunk about 169 miles (313 kilometers) south-southeast of Longyearbyen, Sptizbergan Island, by depth charges from the British destroyer HMS 'Onslow', and depth charges from a Swordfish aircraft of No. 825 Squadron in the escort carrier HMS 'Avenger'; all 44 crewmen on the U-boat are lost. The boat had rescued four Luftwaffe airmen yesterday and they also went down with the ship. This is the sub's eighth patrol and she is credited with sinking two ships for a total of 3.264 tons.

While escorting Convoy ON 127 (U.K. to North America), Canadian destroyer HMCS 'Ottawa' (H 60), is hit by two torpedoes from German submarine U-91 and sinks about 373 nautical miles (690 kilometers) east of Saint John's, Newfoundland; 141 men of the 208 aboard are lost.

EASTERN FRONT: Thunderous attacks by 200,000 Germans stagger the Soviets at Stalingrad. In coordinated offensives, the German 6.Armee and 4.Panzerarmee storm into the heart of the wrecked city and nearly reach the main ferry landing where Soviet reinforcements land after crossing the Volga River. The Soviet 62nd Army was hemmed into a narrow strip of land no more than 10 miles at its widest and 4 miles as its narrowest. However, a shortage of troops meant that the 6.Armee could only attack on very narrow frontages. Couple this to the fact that the 6.Armee was fighting in built-up areas, meant that progress was slow and losses high. Even so, the LI. Armeekorps (von Seydlitz) advanced toward the inner city and the Central Station. Realizing the Germans have nearly conquered the city, Lieutenant General Vasily Chuikov, Commanding General 64th Army, calls for, and gets, reinforcements. The first of them, the 13th Guards Division, is brought across the Volga and immediately counterattacks. Several other divisions will bolster Stalingrad's defenses during the next few days.

GERMANY: During the day, RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos bombed ports in Northern Germany. Individual aircraft bombed Cuxhaven , Emden , Kiel, Lubeck and Wilhelmshaven without loss. Wilhelmshaven reports four bombs falling in the town centre, with an old folks' home and several houses hit and ten people injured. Kiel reports four bombs on a nearby village with no particular damage and no casualties.

During the night of 14/15 September, RAF Bomber Command sends 220 aircraft of five types to Wilhelmshaven; 185 bomb the city. A Wellington is the only aircraft lost. The four aircraft of 408 (Canadian) Squadron on this raid represent the last operational effort by Hampdens with front-line squadrons. The Pathfinder marking is accurate and Wilhelmshaven reports its worst raid to date. Housing and city-centre type buildings are listed as being hit hardest. Seventy seven people are killed and more than 50 injured.

MEDITERRANEAN: US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberators attack shipping at Suda Bay setting a vessel afire.

The Italian submarine 'Alabastro' is sunk by a British Sunderland Mk. II, aircraft "R" of No. 202 Squadron based at Gibraltar, northwest of Algiers, Algeria. The sub is caught on the surface and the captain elects to fight it out with guns but the Sunderland, piloted by an Australian, drops a depth charge and 'Alabastro' stops dead in the water and sinks after 30 minutes, leaving 40 survivors in the water.

NORTH AFRICA: US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Tobruk and P-40s fly a sweep with the RAF over the frontlines.

In addition to the land forces attacking Tobruk, Libya, last night (OPERATION AGREEMENT) a second force attacks by sea. British destroyers HMS 'Sikh' and 'Zulu' together with coastal forces craft will land Royal Marine and army units from the sea. Antiaircraft cruiser HMS 'Coventry' and 'Calcutta' provide cover. Tribal class destroyer HMS 'Sikh' is illuminated by a searchlight associated with a Luftwaffe 88 mm (3.5-inch) antiaircraft battery and receives heavy, well-directed fire. The gearing room and the turbine lubrication system are destroyed and ready use 4.7-inch (11,9 centimeter) ammunition along side A turret is exploded, as are the demolition charges set around Y turret. HMS 'Zulu' attempts to tow 'Sikh' away but is herself hit and is ordered away. 'Sikh' is scuttled at 0708 hours and the crew abandon the ship. There are 275 casualties. British antiaircraft cruiser HMS 'Coventry' is attacked by a force of German Ju.87 dive bombers and is so badly damaged that she has to be sunk by the destroyer HMS 'Zulu' about 136 nautical miles (404 kilomters) east of Tobruk, Libya. Then HMS 'Zulu' is attacked by a force of six German Ju87 Stuka divebombers and 12 Ju88s. A bomb enters the engine room and brings the ship to a stop. The British destroyer HMS 'Croome' takes off all crew except for a towing party, whilst the destroyer HMS 'Hursley' takes her in tow. When it became clear that HMS 'Zulu' is sinking, the tow is cast off, but before HMS 'Croome' can come alongside to take off the towing party, 'Zulu' rolls over and sinks about 255 nautical miles (472 kilometers) east of Tobruk, Libya. There are 40 casualties.

WESTERN FRONT: To meet German demands for labor collaboration between Vichy France and Germany, the Vichy French government establishes compulsory labor for men between the ages of 18 and 65, and for unmarried women between the ages of 20 and 35.

 

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15 September 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: German submarine U-261 is sunk about 136 nautical miles (252 kilometers) northwest of Stornoway, Hebrides Islands, U.K., by depth charges from an RAF Whitley of No. 58 Squadron based at RAF Stornoway; all 43 hands on the U-boat are lost. The is the boats first patrol.

EASTERN FRONT: There is fierce fighting between German and Soviet forces for possession of Mamayev Kurgan, the strategic hill overlooking Stalingrad.

Obstlt. Hans-Ekkehard Bob of 9./JG 54 shot down two more Russian planes to bring his score to forty-eight victories.

MEDITERRANEAN: A lone US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberator drops one bomb on a tanker in Suda Bay.

NORTH AFRICA: US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb behind the Axis lines while P-40s, along with the RAF, fly escort and carry out a scramble missions over the area west of El Alamein.

Another dry spell ended when Oblt. Marseille returned to his high scoring ways by destroying seven enemy aircraft over the desert. JG 27 escorting Stukas intercepted attacking RAF fighters and were awarded 19 Victories. The P-40s intercepting this Stuka raid were put up by 239 Wing, thirty-six Kittyhawks from 250 Sqn, 3 RAAF, 450 RAAF, 112 Sqns. Only six Kittyhawks failed to return, one which was claimed to be shot down by friendly AA Fire. The sixth of the seven enemy fighters credited to Marseille (all identified as 'P-46s', JG 27's erroneous designation for the Kittyhawk) gave him his 150th. He was only the third Luftwaffe pilot to reach this figure at this time. Although Marseille's 150 brought no further decorations (at the time there was nothing higher than the Diamonds), it did result in his immediate promotion to Hauptmann. Still three months short of his 23rd birthday, Hans-Joachim Marseille had become the youngest Hauptmann in the Luftwaffe. He was also by far the highest scorer against the western Allies.

WESTERN FRONT: During the day, 12 RAF Bomber Command Bostons bombed the whaling factory ship Solglint in Cherbourg harbor; the ship is set on fire and gutted. No Bostons are lost. During the night of 15/16 September, nine aircraft laid mines in the Gironde Estuary.

During the night of 15/16 September, 26 RAF Bomber Command aircraft laid mines in the Frisian Islands.

An Fw 190A-2 was seen over Sdr. Bindslev at 1220 hours when Staffelkapitän Oblt. Herbert Huppertz of 10./JG 5 dropped the aircraft's canopy and it fell in the fields of Farmer Gunner Sørensen, Aasen. About three minutes later Oblt. Huppertz made an emergency belly landing in a farm field near St. Mogensbæk due to engine failure. It touched down in a turnip field and skidded on to the next field where the aircraft came to a halt. Oblt. Huppertz had damaged his left leg and was bleeding from wounds on his head and was unconscious when Søren Sørensen along with his employees ran over to the aircraft. The Oberleutnant's left leg was stuck in the cockpit but they managed to free him and brought him to the farmhouse and called for Doctor Greisen of Bindslev. Dr. Greisen arrived and dressed the wounds of the Staffelkapitän who had now regained consciousness. It appeared that Huppertz also suffered from a concussion. The Wehrmacht in Friedrichshaven was called and at 1330 hours a party arrived with an ambulance and took Huppertz to the German hospital in Friedrichshaven. A number of soldiers from the German garrison in Sindal arrived to guard the FW 190 and billeted at the St. Mogensbæk farm. When darkness fell one soldier was guarding the aircraft when Jens Sørensen walked over towards him with a warm cup of coffee. The guard became nervous and warning shots were fired. Only when his comrades joined him from the house did he calm down. It took several days to dismantle and remove the aircraft.

 

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16 September 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Convoy PQ-18: While tracking Convoy PQ-18 (Iceland to Northern U.S.S.R.), German submarine U-457 is sunk about 412 nautical miles NNE of Murmansk, U.S.S.R., by depth charges from the British destroyer HMS 'Impulsive' (D 11); all 45 hands on the U-boat are lost. This is the boats third patrol and she had been credited with sinking an American freighter and a British tanker in July 1942 for a total of 15.593 tons and damaging another for a total of 8.939 tons.

The German submarines U-156, U-506 and U-507 and the Italian submarine 'Capellini' are engaged in rescuing survivors of the sinking of the British transport 'Lanconia' on 12 September, when they are attacked by a USAAF B-24 Liberator based on Ascension Island.

EASTERN FRONT: At dawn in Stalingrad, the Soviet 42nd Regiment attacks into a hurricane of mortar fire, seeking the top of Mamayev Kurgan, a hill which is almost in the center of the city and its heights hold a commanding position over the whole city, the Volga River and the area across the river.

Ofw. Wilhelm Schilling of 9./JG 54 shot down a Russian IL-2 Sturmovik for his forty-sixth victory but himself was then shot down by anti-aircraft fire and seriously injured. Lt. Heinz Schmidt of II./JG 52 scored his 102nd kill.

GERMANY: During the day, RAF Bomber Command sent six Mosquitos to Wiesbaden to bomb the Biebrich chemical factory. Five bombed the target without loss.

During the night of 16/17 September, RAF Bomber Command dispatched 369 aircraft to bomb Essen; 244 aircraft bombed the target and 39 are lost, 21 Wellingtons, nine Lancasters, five Stirlings, three Halifaxes and a Whitley, 10.6 per cent of the force. Although much of the bombing is scattered, this is probably the most successful attack on this difficult target. There are 33 large and 80 "medium" fires. Eight industrial and six transport premises are hit. The Krupps works are hit by 15 high-explosive bombs and by a crashing bomber loaded with incendiaries. There is much housing damage. In Essen and its immediate surroundings, 47 people are killed and 92 injured. Other town hit are Duisburg by two aircraft and individual aircraft bombed Hamborn, Kempin and Oberhausen without loss.

NORTH AFRICA: U.S. Major General Lewis H Brereton, Commanding General US Army Middle East Air Force in Egypt, is officially assigned to the Middle East as a result of pressure from Major General Clayton L Bissell, new Commanding General 10th Air Force in India, for clarification of the status of Brereton and other key staff officers and combat crews who had gone from India to the Middle East in June and July 1942.

During the night of 16/17 September, US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Bengasi, Libya, harbor.

NORTH AMERICA: A training program for the Women's Auxiliary Flying Squadron (WAFS), under Jacqueline Cochran's direction, is approved as the 319th Army Air Forces Flying Training Detachment (Women), or more simply Women's Flying Training Detachment (WFTD), at Howard Hughes Field, Houston, Texas.

WESTERN FRONT: During the day, nine RAF Bomber Command Bostons are dispatched to Den Helder but are turned back. Two of them bomb Bergen Airfield at Alkmaar.

 

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17 September 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The Vichy French ships light cruiser FR 'Gloire', the colonial sloop 'Dumont d'Urville' and the minesweeper 'Annamite' rescue 1,041 survivors of the sinking of the SS 'Laconia' on 12 September.

EASTERN FRONT: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill meets with Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin in Moscow as the German Army rams into Stalingrad.

Bitter street fighting erupted in the north west suburbs of Stalingrad. Lt. Andrei Khoyzyanov and a platoon of Soviet marines dressed in striped shirts and navy hats, reinforced the troops holding the huge grain elevator just south of the Tsaritsa Gorge.

Oblt. Müller of I./JG 53 downed five Russian aircraft.

GERMANY: As a result of the USAAF B-24 Liberator attack on German and Italian submarines rescuing survivors of the torpedoed British transport SS 'Laconia' on 12 September, Admiral Karl Doenitz, Commander-in- Chief of the German Navy, orders his U-boats not to pick up survivors of ships they sink.

INDIAN OCEAN: The Vichy Governor-General of Madagascar receives and rejects the proposed armistice terms from the British.

MEDITERRANEAN: British submarine HMS/M 'Talisman' sailed from Gibraltar on 10 September, and last reported on 15 September. She is lost in the Mediterranean south of Sicily. There are no survivors or any Axis claims for her loss. It is likely that she is mined in the Sicilian Channel on or around 16/17 September.

US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb shipping in Pylos Bay and shipping and piers near Sphakia, and in Khalones and Pylos Islands.

NORTH AFRICA: US Army, Middle East Air Force P-40s make an offensive sweep with the RAF over the front lines.

NORTH AMERICA: Army Brigadier General Leslie Groves is put in command of the Manhattan Engineer Project. This project is the cover name for the atomic bomb project and, under his direction, the basic research is carried out, mainly at Columbia University in New York, New York, and the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. Due to overstated concern for security and simple chauvinism, he is strongly opposed to sharing any information with the British.

WESTERN FRONT: During the night of 17/18 September, four RAF Bomber Command Halifaxes dropped leaflet in France without loss.

 

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18 September 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The Vichy French sloop 'Dumon D'Urville' takes off 42 survivors of the sunken British passenger ship from the Italian submarine 'Capellini'.

Convoy PQ-18 reached the safety of the White Sea today with 27 of its original 40 ships intact. Despite the losses, it was the biggest convoy yet to reach Russia. It sailed for Russia on 2 September, after a month in which convoys to the USSR were halted. Following the disastrous July convoy PQ-17, when only 11 out of 36 merchantmen arrived in Russia, Churchill wrote to Stalin suggesting that convoys should be suspended until the longer nights of autumn. Reluctantly, the Soviet leader agreed. PQ-18 was the most heavily protected convoy so far, with around 50 naval vessels deployed in either the escort or covering forces, including 20 destroyers and the carrier HMS 'Avenger.' The German navy had difficulty getting close to the convoy, and air attacks account for most of the 13 convoy ships lost. The worst day was 13 September. Forty German torpedo-bombers sank eight ships in as many minutes in a stunning assault. The day before, U-boats sank two of the ships in the starboard column. Five torpedo-bombers were shot down and the destroyer HMS 'Faulknor' sank U- 88 with a blitz of depth charges. In all, the Germans lost 20 aircraft and two U-boats. The escort will return with surviving ships of earlier convoys, including PQ-17.

The German submarine 'U-455' lays mines off Charleston, South Carolina

EASTERN FRONT: Stalingrad: Soviet marines fend off ten German attacks from their positions in the city grain silo. The Germans, fighting their way yard by bloody yard through the piles of rubble which were once Stalingrad in a war of grenades, bayonets and rifle butts, have been thrown off the Mamaev Kurgan, the raised Scythian burial ground which dominates the river crossings of this bridgeless city. It was General Rodimitsev's 13th Guards Division, ferried across the Volga by night, which stormed the burial ground. Everything now depends on the ferries and other small boats which cross the river at night, lit up by the glow of burning buildings and illuminating shells, with the river erupting in waterspouts as the shells and bombs whistle around them. They bring in ammunition and reinforcements and carry out the wounded to the safety of the east bank. Many are sunk or riddled with machine-gun fire as they head into the inferno. But they keep on coming, providing the only lifeline to Stalingrad's defenders. The city is so shattered that the fighting is concentrated around individual buildings. The central station has changed hands four times in three days. General Vasily Chuikov, the abrasive new commander of the battered 62nd Army has set up his HQ in the Krasny Oktyabr factory.

The Germans have command of the air, and some of the bravest people in this battle are the pilots of the flimsy Polikarpov P-2 biplanes which stagger through the shell-rent night sky to bomb the Germans. One squadron is crewed exclusively by women pilots. Oblt. Müller of I./JG 53 downed seven Russian aircraft.

The Russians launched an offensive on the Voronezh front, 250 miles North west of Stalingrad. The blanket of Luftwaffe aircraft over Stalingrad suddenly disappeared as they were used to support the German forces fighting against the attack in the northwest by the Russian 1st Guards Army to relieve the pressure on Stalingrad. By the afternoon the Russian attack failed and the Luftwaffe reappeared over the city to continue it's bombing and strafing.

GERMANY: Berlin: Himmler today agreed that Germany's "asocials" should be handed over to forced labour without proper sustenance or medical help - in effect, worked to death. In the concentration camps, "asocials" wear coloured triangular badges to identify the different categories of outcast: homosexuals (pink), pacifists (purple), political offenders (red), criminals (green), anti-socials (black) and Jews (yellow Star of David). Poles, Russians, Czechs and gypsies have been added to the list since 1939. A policy for dealing with undesirables was introduced soon after Hitler came to power, when it was decided that, in the interests of racial purity, the mentally deficient should be sterilized. Then at a Nuremburg party rally a speaker suggested that Jews should be sterilized also. Hitler promised that, in the event of war, euthanasia not sterilization would be introduced; at such a time the church would be unable to speak against it. In the first two years of the war, up to 80,000 Germans identified as "useless elements" were exterminated. This took place without the publication of a formal decree. When the justice ministry pressed for the text of the Fuhrers decree, all it received was a photocopy of a handwritten note from Hitler to the head of the Reich chancellery. The note ordered chancellery officials to give "duly appointed physicians" powers to "order the mercy killing of incurables". On the basis of this note, euthanasia institutes were set up. These were later to provide the models for the extermination camps for Jews. Though camp warders initially were ex-soldiers, ex-criminals and the generally unemployable who had joined the SS, intellectuals now serve in the camps, carrying out "scientific" experiments. Prostitutes have been sent to Dachau for tests on reviving frozen human guinea-pigs by the body heat of others.

INDIAN OCEAN: Tamatave, the main port of the French colony of Madagascar, has been taken by the British - a day after the island's Vichy governor, M. Annet, rejected General Sir William Platt's surrender terms. The British fleet arrived off Tamatave at dawn. When the Vichy authorities refused to surrender, it bombarded the port. Three minutes later the white flag was raised. By the time that the 29 Brigade had landed most of the Vichy troops had withdrawn. With the taking of Tamatave - a week after landing at Majunga, on the west coast - Allied forces are pressing on to the capital Tananarive from east and west, against mainly Malgache and Senegalese troops, through an inhospitable terrain where malaria knocks down more troops than bullets.

NORTH AMERICA: The designation of all USAAF Air Forces is changed from a number to a name, e.g., 1st Air Force to First Air Force, 2d Air Force to Second Air Force, etc.

WESTERN FRONT: Paris: 116 people are executed in retaliation for recent attacks on German soldiers.

 

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19 September 1942

EASTERN FRONT: Oblt. Müller of I./JG 53 downed his 100th and 101st victories, both Russian aircraft. Oblt. Anton "Toni" Hackl of JG 77 downed his 118th victory, a LaGG-3.

GERMANY: During the day, six RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos attempted the first daylight bombing raid on Berlin; two aircraft had to turn back with mechanical trouble, two aircraft bombed Hamburg and one aircraft bombed the Berlin area through thick cloud. The remaining Mosquito is lost, believed shot down by a German fighter. Fw. Rudolf Piffer from 11./JG 1 claimed the Mosquito for his first kill over Osnabrück.

During the night of 19/20 September, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 118 aircraft, 72 Wellingtons, 41 Halifaxes and five Stirlings, to bomb Saarbrucken; 95 bombed the target with the loss of five aircraft, three Wellingtons and two Halifaxes lost, 4.2 per cent of the force. The Pathfinders had to mark two targets on this night and the Pathfinder crews allocated to this raid experienced difficulties with ground haze. Bombing is scattered to the west of the target. Saarbrucken reports on 13 houses destroyed, 27 seriously damaged and one man killed. A second force of 68 Lancasters and 21 Stirlings is sent to Munich; 84 bombed the target with the loss of five aircraft. Approximately 40 percent of the crews dropped bombs within 3 miles (4,8 kilometers) of the center of Munich but most of the bombs fell in the western, southern and eastern suburbs of the city. It has not been possible to obtain a report from Munich.

MEDITERRANEAN: During the night of 19/20 September, US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb the Pylos Bay area, Pylos Island and Khalones.

NORTH AMERICA: The Finnish Legation in Washington, D.C., issues a statement asserting that Finland;

"..wants to cease fighting as soon as the threat to her existence has been averted and guarantees have been obtained for her lasting security."

It is stated, however, that no Peace proposals have been made to Finland, nor any promise of the restitution of the territories belonging to her, nor any guarantee of lasting security.

The auxiliary aircraft carrier USS 'Chenango' is commissioned. She is the tenth ACV in commission.

UNITED KINGDOM: The Northeast of England was attacked during the night by the Luftwaffe. Dwellings in the streets were damaged and a water and gas main fractured. At South Shields eight bombs and about 600 incendiaries were dropped on the Bents Park, Erskine Road and Simonside respectively. A Dornier Do 217E, shot down by a Beaufighter, crashed into the sea off Tynemouth at 22.04 hours. The body of Oberfw. H. Ahrendholz, a crew member was found in the sea off Tynemouth on the 20 September. There were no other survivors. Another Beaufighter attacked a Dornier Do 217 but missed as the Dornier returned the fire and damaged the night fighter's undercarriage and starboard wing so badly that a crash landing had to be made.

 

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20 September 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Two British warships escorting Convoy QP-14 (northern Russia to Iceland) are torpedoed and sunk by German submarines: Whilst astern of the convoy minesweeper HMS 'Leda' is sunk by U-435 in the Greenland Sea, about 203 nautical miles (377 kilometers) southwest of Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen, Svalbard. Tribal class destroyer HMS 'Somali' is sunk by U-703 about 282 nautical miles (522 kilometers) west-southwest of Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen, Svalbard. The midships section of the port side is blown away and the ship held together only by the starboard side and the keel. The port turbine fell through the bottom of the ship. All non-essential crew members are taken off and British destroyer HMS 'Ashanti' takes HMS 'Somali' in tow. When the weather worsens, and a violent storm broke, HMS 'Somali' folded into two, and the stern section sank quickly. Survivors are rescued HMS 'Ashanti' and antisubmarine warfare trawler 'Lord Middleton'. HMS 'Somali' sinks about 338 nautical miles (626 kilometers) north-northeast of Reykjavik, Iceland.

EASTERN FRONT: Stubborn street fighting is in progress in Stalingrad. The Soviet marines and soldiers holding the grain silos were almost out of ammunition and they had no water. In a frantic search for something to drink, Lt. Khoyzyanov led his men out of the tower door, across the field, the main road and into a gully, where they stumbled upon an enemy mortar battery. In the resulting melee, the startled Germans fled, leaving gallons of ice-cold drinking water that the marines gulped down gratefully. Completely dehydrated, Khoyzyanov suddenly felt faint from the water, and collapsed on the ground. When he woke up, he was in a dark celler and standing over him was a soldier from the German 14.Panzerdivision. The grain elevator he had defended so heroically had passed into enemy hands. The Germans quickly put out the fires and saved most of the wheat, which would be significant in the weeks to come. Paulus declared that the 6.Armee need substantial reinforcements if it was to continue its assault in Stalingrad. Paulus and von Weichs were also very concerned about their flank defense which consisted of Italian, Hungarian and Romanian troops. However, Hitler was determined to capture Stalingrad before reorganizing the flanks. Over Stalingrad, the Luftwaffe concentrated on destroying the main railroad station in the center of the city.

The town of Terek, in the Caucasus, falls to German Heresgruppe A.

A strength return for II./SchG 1 reported a total of forty-six Hs 129s and Hs 123s on hand with twenty-eight serviceable. Losses that autumn for the Gruppe in the Stalingrad area were very light.

GERMANY: A bomber force consisting of 68 Lancasters and 21 Stirlings mounts a raid on Munich, Germany; three Lancasters and three Stirlings are lost. Approximately 40 per cent of the crews dropped bombs within 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) of the center of Munich but most of the bombs fell in the western, southern and eastern suburbs of the city.

UNITED KINGDOM: The outline plan for Operation TORCH, the invasion of North Africa, is issued; D Day is set for 8 November.

 

[syscom3]

21 September 1942

EASTERN FRONT: German submarine U-446 (Type VIIC), allocated to the Danzig (training) flotilla 8, is sunk by a mine near Kahlberg in the Gulf of Danzig; 23 crewmen die. Raised 8 November 1942, the submarine is not recommissioned and is scuttled at Kiel, Germany, on 3 May 1945, before finally being broken up in 1947.

Most of southern Stalingrad is now in German hands, except for the vast grain elevator, held by 30 Guards and 18 Sailors. Soviet Sailors used as infantry win a tremendous reputation with friend and foe alike for their tenacity, as those at Stalingrad are Arctic Fleet veterans. After three days of continuous fighting the Soviet 92nd Naval Rifle Brigade captured an important strongpoint - an elevator. Having removed their peacoats and wearing only their striped undershirts, subunits of naval infantrymen rose to the counterattack 10 to12 times a day fighting with fire and bayonet. There were but 20 to 30 persons left in the companies, and there were 17 in 1st Company, 4th battalion (CO,Senior Lieutenant G.S. Filimonov). In just two days 17 seamen repelled 14 attacks, destroyed eight tanks and over 150 Germans. Senior Lieutenant F.S.Zhukov, the communist battalion commander, killed 18 Germans. Petty Officer 2nd Class V.V. Borisoglebskiy hit three tanks with an anti-tank rifle, and Red Navy Seaman V.N.Balatsin, a Komsomol member, annihilated two tanks. Communist Red Navy Seaman A.L. Kudrevatyy,who allowed the Germans to get within 25 to 30 meters of his position, cut down 26 of them with fire from his machinegun. Machinegunner I.V. Repin destroyed an enemy tank and killed 10 Germans with an anti-tank rifle he picked up from the battlefield. The brigade's military commissar, S.N.Shapin, was mortally wounded in the fighting.

In Stalingrad's center, German troops try to break through to the left flank of the Tsaritsa River, but are slowed by heavy Soviet artillery fire.

GERMANY: During the night of 21/22 September, two RAF Bomber Command Wellingtons laid mines off Kiel.

NORTH AFRICA: German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel hands over command of Italian-German Panzer Army to General Georg Stumme and proceeds to Germany.

NORTH AMERICA: The prototype Boeing XB-29-BO Superfortress, USAAF s/n 41-002, msn 2482, makes its first flight at Boeing Field, Seattle, Washington.

WESTERN FRONT: During the night of 21/22 September, nine RAF Bomber Command Wellingtons laid mines in the Great Belt, the strait between the main Danish islands of Zealand and Funen.

The national elections in Sweden show the pro-Nazi candidates doing very poorly.

 

[syscom3]

22 September 1942

EASTERN FRONT: Units of the German 6.Armee (General Friedrich von Paulus) and 4.Panzerarmee (General Hermann Hoth) split the Soviet 62nd Army (Lieutenant General V.I. Chuikov) in two and capture nearly the entire southern part of the Stalingrad, including the huge grain elevator defended by Soviet soldiers and sailors. What began as a Blitzkrieg had become urban warfare, as the Russians defended the city street by street, building by building. Alongside the regular Red Army were workers' units, determined to make the Germans battle for every factory and exploiting to the full the defensive capabilities of their shattered home town.

Fw. Crinius of I./JG 53 finally got his 100th victory.

CENTRAL AFRICA: In Chad, French Brigadier General Charles DeGaulle, leader of the Free French, meets with General Jacques- Philippe LeClerc, commander of French Equatorial Africa, at Fort Lamy and gives orders to begin the march into Libya with the objective of seizing the Fezzan region for France and pressing on to Tripoli to join the British Eighth Army for a move into Tunisia.

INDIAN OCEAN: British East African troops close in on Tananarive, the island's capital. Vichy French troops offer little resistance.

NORTH AFRICA: US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb shipping in Bengazi harbor; direct hits are made on a large vessel while a smaller vessel and other targets receive lesser hits.

General Galland inspected the facilities of JG 27, commanded by Major Eduard Neumann.

NORTH AMERICA: The US Combined Chiefs of Staff approve a plan drawn up in Washington by the U.S. Army's Services of Supply, "The Plan for the Operation of Certain Iranian Communication Facilities between Persian Gulf Ports and Tehran by U.S. Army Forces." The plan gives the U.S. direct responsibility for moving supplies through Persian Corridor to the USSR.

WESTERN FRONT: During the day, RAF Bomber Command sent 18 Boston in low-level pairs to attack power stations: three bombed the power station at Mazingarbe, two each attacked Choques and Comines, and one each bombed Lille and Pont a Vendin. Two aircraft is lost.

During the day, RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos bomb two targets: four bomb a steel factory at Ijmuiden and two hit a gas works at Haarlem.

 

[syscom3]

23 September 1942

EASTERN FRONT: German Heeresgruppe B continued to make slow progress in Stalingrad against bitter opposition. Heeresgruppe A assembled an assault force for a drive on the Black Sea port of Tuapse. The Soviets began a counterattack in the Orlovka district of northwestern Stalingrad. Stiff resistance by the Germans allowed this 3 day attack to make slight gains.

Oblt. Müller of I./JG 53 was awarded the Ritterkreuz for his 101 victories and promoted to Hauptmann and Fw. Wilhelm Crinius of 3./JG 53 was awarded the Eichenlaub and promoted to Leutnant.

GERMANY: During this prolonged period of bad weather, RAF Bomber Command sent out three small raids without Pathfinders on the night of 23/24 September. The first is to Wismar with 83 Lancasters dispatched; 54 bombed the target. This is judged to be a successful attack on the Baltic coastal town and the nearby Dornier aircraft factory. Many crews came down to less than 2,000 feet (610 meters). Numerous fires are seen including a large one in what is believed to be the aircraft factory. Wismar reports 32 houses and eight industrial buildings seriously damaged, 67 people killed and 109 injured. Four Lancasters are lost. The second raid is to the U-boat shipyards at Flensburg with 28 Halifaxes dispatched; 21 bombed the target. Five aircraft are lost. The third target is Vegesack with 24 Stirlings dispatched; five bombed the target with the loss of one. Other targets bombed by one or two aircraft are Ardorf Airfield, Bremen, Kiel, Lubeck, Oldenburg and Wihelmshaven. Three other RAF aircraft laid mines in the Heligoland Bight with the loss of one aircraft.

INDIAN OCEAN: The East African 22nd Brigade enters Tananarive, the capital of Madagascar, which has been declared an open city.

NORTH AFRICA: A German He-111 leaves North Africa for Germany, with Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, Commanding General German-Italian Panzer Forces in Africa aboard; he is going home for medical treatment. General Georg Stumme takes command in Africa. General Wilhelm von Thoma is in command of the Armor. The newer high ranking brass brought in as replacements for causalities of the Afrika Korps do not fit in very well with the older hands.

NORTH AMERICA: First Mosquito leaves production line in Canada. (pbfoot)

UNITED KINGDOM: Major General James H Doolittle assumes command of the USAAF Twelfth Air Force.

In a Luftwaffe attack on York, twelve small fires were started and two people were reported killed. Some damage was also reported at Scarborough.

WESTERN FRONT: One RAF Bomber Command aircraft laid mines in the Little Belt, the strait between the Danish island of Funen and the Jutland Peninsula.

RAF Bomber Command aircraft laid mines off three ports: five aircraft laid mines off St. Nazaire, three off Lorient and two off La Pallice.

Three RAF Bomber Command bombers lay mines in the Frisian Islands.

 

[syscom3]

24 September 1942


EASTERN FRONT: During the night of 24/25 September, two RAF Bomber Command aircraft lay mines off Gdynia, Poland.

Units of the German Heeresgruppe A launch an attack against the Black Sea port of Tuapse.

Six hundred Soviet partisans, some dressed in German uniforms and using heavy artillery, burn down the town of Ryabchichi, on the Smolensk-Bryansk railway and highway.

At Stalingrad Olga Yamschchikova became the first women fighter pilot to "kill" an enemy aircraft when she shot down a German Junkers Ju 88 dive-bomber.

Theo Weissenberger's 24th victory was scored with 6./JG 5 on this date.

GERMANY: General Franz Halder, Chief of the General Staff, is sacked by the Fuhrer Adolf Hitler after many arguments during the summer. General Kurt Zeitzler is appointed in his place with responsibility for the Russian front.

During the night of 24/25 September, RAF Bomber Command aircraft lay mines in six areas: five aircraft lay mines in the Heligoland Bight, three off Danzig, two each off Pillau and Swinemunde and individual aircraft off the Fehmarn Channel and Sassnitz.

NORTH AFRICA: Due to his quickly rising victory score Hptm. Marseille was promoted to Oberst.

WESTERN FRONT: During the night of 24/25 September, RAF Bomber Command aircraft lay mines in two areas: 18 aircraft lay mines in the Frisian Islands and four off Texel Island.

 

[syscom3]

25 September 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: German submarine 'U-253' (Type VIIC) reported for the last time on 24 September in the Denmark Strait in the approximate position 67.30N, 21.00W while operating against convoy OP.14 (Northern Russia to Iceland). She is ordered into the Atlantic Ocean today. There is a strong possibility that the boat is lost today to a mine in the submarine minefields SN 11 or SN 71A off the Icelandic coast. These fields are laid on 1 June and 21 August 1942 and crossed 'U-253's' route to the Atlantic. This is the first patrol for this boat and she had no victories.

INDIAN OCEAN: The East Africa 22d Brigade establishes contact with the 29th Independent Brigade, giving the British control of the central part of the island.

The British Foreign Office announced that Madagascar had been placed temporarily under military jurisdiction;

"in order to ensure law and order and to provide for the administration [in Madagascar] pending the establishment of a friendly regime."

MEDITERRANEAN: US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24s fail to locate a shipping convoy south of Crete and return without bombing.

NORTH AFRICA: US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24s bomb Bengasi.

Pte. Percival Eric Gratwick (b.1902), Australian Military Forces, at Miteiriya Ridge, alone wiped out a machine-gun post and a mortar and died charging a second post. (Victoria Cross)

NORTH AMERICA: The US Maritime Commission announces that 488 cargo ships have been built in the past year.

The US War Labor Board orders equal pay to women as recognition of role in war.

WESTERN FRONT: During the night of 25/26 September, RAF Bomber Command sends ten Wellingtons on a minelaying mission in the Frisian Islands without loss.

Four RAF Bomber Command Mosquito Mk. IVs of No. 105 Squadron set off from Leuchars, Scotland, to attack Gestapo Headquarters in Oslo. This raid is intended to be a morale raiser for the Norwegian people and is timed to coincide with a rally of Norwegians who supported the Germans. Vidkun Quisling, the Nazi puppet ruler of occupied Norway, was to give a rally at the Gestapo headquarters in Oslo. Four Mosquito B.IVs of RAF No. 105 Squadron were assigned to break up the party. The four aircraft are intercepted by Fw 190s on their low-level bombing run and one Mosquito is shot down. Four bombs hit the Gestapo headquarters but three passed right through the building without exploding and the fourth, which remained inside the building, also failed to explode. The mission was successful, if expensive. Uffz. R. Fenten and Uffz. E. Klein from 2./JG 5 both made claims for a Mosquito destroyed.

 

[syscom3]

26 September 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The British destroyer HMS 'Veteran' (D 72) is struck by the first of two torpedoes at 0736 hours GMT fired by German submarine U-404. The destroyer sinks about 596 nautical miles (1 103 kilometers) west of Galway, County Galway, Eire. HMS 'Veteran' is escorting eight shallow-draft passenger vessels in Convoy RB-1 (St. John's, Newfoundland to Londonderry, County Derry, Northern Ireland). The convoy is attacked by three German wolf packs totaling 17 U-boats. The destroyer is struck while rescuing survivors from the U.S. passenger ship SS 'Boston' and the British ship SS 'Yorktown.' All crewmen on the destroyer and 78 suvivors of the merchant ships are lost.

EASTERN FRONT: The German 6.Armee launched its "final" attack at Stalingrad with 100,000 fresh troops. After bitter fighting, they took the main ferry landing making it difficult for the Soviets to move reinforcements across the Volga River.

Lt. Hans Beissenger of II./JG 54 reached the 100 kill mark.

GERMANY: During the night of 26/27 September, RAF Bomber Command sent 28 Halifaxes to bomb the U-boat yards at Flensburg. A recall is made but two aircraft went on to bomb the target area; one is lost. Two mining missions are also flown: six aircraft laid mines off Kattegat and two laid mines in Kiel Harbor; one aircraft is lost.

INDIAN OCEAN: British Lieutenant General Sir William Platt, Commander in Chief East Africa Command, moves his headquarters from Majunga to Tananarive.

MEDITERRANEAN: Three squadrons of US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberators are sent on shipping strikes fail to locate targets.

NORTH AFRICA: As if to celebrate his new promotion, Oberst Marseille again destroyed seven more aircraft, the 158th, and last of all – a Spitfire – going down near El Hamman, another halt on the coastal railway two stops to the east of El Alamein. But Nemesis was already at hand. The two missions of 26 September had both been flown in new Bf 109G-2/trops. The first six of these machines, which were to replace the Gruppe's trusty 'Friedrichs', had just been delivered, and all had been allocated to Oberst Marseille's 3. Staffel. One of them, Wk-Nr. 14256, was to bring about the unthinkable, and something which 158 aerial opponents had failed to accomplish.

The US Army Middle East Air Force dispatched B-24 Liberators of 3 squadrons on shipping strikes but they failed to locate targets.

UNITED KINGDOM: 12 merchant ships reached the safety of Loch Ewe, Scotland after a week of battles with U-boats and German aircraft. They were the survivors of convoy QP-14 which left the Russian port of Archangel on 13 September. Three merchant ships were lost as were three escort vessels. Three ships were sunk in a matter of minutes on 22 September, after a U-boat penetrated the convoy's defensive screen at a time when it lacked air support.

WESTERN FRONT: During the night of 26/27 September, two RAF Bomber Command aircraft lay mines in the Little Belt, a strait between the Danish island of Funen and the Jutland Peninsula.

During the night of 26/27 September, 25 RAF Bomber Command aircraft laid mines in the Frisian Islands.

The USAAF Eighth Air Force flies Mission 12: 75 B-17 Flying Fortresses and 36 P-38 Lightnings are dispatched to attack Maupertus Airfield in Cherbourg and Porjeau Airfield in Morlaix; 16 execute diversionary missions but the remainder are recalled due to adverse weather.

 

[syscom3]

27 September 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The German submarine U-165 is sunk in the Bay of Biscay about 5 nautical miles (9 kilometers) north of Lorient, France, probably by air-laid mines. All 51 hands on the U-boat are lost.

The U.S. Liberty Ship SS 'Stephen Hopkins' sinks the German auxiliary cruiser HK 'Stier' (Schiffe 23 or Raider "J"). 'Stephen Hopkins' engages HK 'Stier' (Schiffe 23) and supply ship 'Tannenfels' in a surface gunnery action in the central South Atlantic on the shipping lane between Capetown, South Africa, and Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana. 'Stier', with six 5.9-inch (15 centimeter) guns, opened fire at 0854 hours and quickly reduced the lumbering American ship to a hulk. But 'Hopkins' hit back with her single 4-inch (10,2 centimeter) gun and hit 'Stier' 15 times, including two shots that knocked out her steering gear and started a fire in the engine room at 0905 hours. 'Stier' ceased fire at 0918, and 'Hopkins' sank at 1000 about 1,294 nautical miles (2 396 kilometers) east-southeast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with the loss of 42 crew. With his own ship ablaze, the 'Stier's' captain gave the order to abandon ship and 'Stier' sank at about 1140. 'Tannenfels' returned to La Verdon, France, with the 320 survivors of the battle. The 19 survivors of the 'Stephen Hopkins' gathered in one lifeboat, which had little food and water, and began a 2,200 nautical mile (4 074 kilometer) 31-day journey to Brazil. Fifteen men, ten crewmen and five Armed Guards, survived.

EASTERN FRONT: Units of the German 6.Armee succeed in capturing most of the strategic Mamayev Kurgan Hill at Stalingrad, and penetrating the heavily defended Red October and Barricades housing estates. The survivors of the 92nd Naval Infantry Brigade crossed to the island of Golodnyy. Here a composite battalion was formed out of the survivors.

NORTH AFRICA: Dewoitine D-342, msn 01, registered F-ARIZ by the French airline Air France, crashes during takeoff from Ameur el Ain; all 25 aboard are killed.

US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberators are dispatched to attack an 8,000-ton vessel at Bengasi. No bombs hit the target but several straddle a jetty in the harbor.

NORTH AMERICA: The last engagement of bandleader Glenn Miller and his Orchestra was performed at the Central Theater in Passaic, New Jersey. They did some of their most popular songs, including "In the Mood," "Moonlight Cocktail," and "I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo." And when they played their "Moonlight Serenade" theme for the last time, Glenn Miller's civilian orchestra disappeared into musical history.

 

[syscom3]

28 September 1942

EASTERN FRONT: Russian forces cross the Volga River near Rzhev in the central sector.

NORTH AMERICA: Lieutenant General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, Commanding General U.S. Army Air Forces, gives the highest priority to the development of two exceptional aircraft, the Northrop B-35 Flying Wing and the Consolidated Vultee B-36 Peacemaker, intended for bombing runs from bases in the United States to targets in Europe.

WESTERN FRONT: Hptm. Joachim Helbig, the Gruppenkommandeur of I./LG 1 was awarded the Schwertern, the twentieth German soldier so honored.

 

[syscom3]

29 September 1942

EASTERN FRONT: German pressure in Stalingrad was again stepped up as the 6.Armee struggled desperately to clear Stalingrad. Obstlt. Hans-Ekkehard Bob of 9./JG 54 shot down a Russian LaGG-3 to bring his score to fifty kills.

GERMANY: During the night of 29/30 September, RAF Bomber Command Lancasters on minelaying missions in the Baltic Sea: six lay mines off Sassnitz and two lay mines off Swinemünde. One aircraft was lost.

Berlin: Hitler ordered five "flak towers" to be built in Germany to boost defenses against Allied air attacks.

INDIAN OCEAN: Continuing south from Tananarive on Madagascar, British forces occupy Fianarantsoa. Two companies of the Pretoria Regiment and a few armoured cars from Diego Suarez land on the southwest coast at Tulear in order to secure the port, airfield, and seaplane base site for patrolling the Mozambique Channel.

MEDITERRANEAN: US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberators hit harbor installations at Suda Bay.

NORTH AFRICA: US Army, Middle East Air Force P-40s fly an offensive sweep over the battle area, and carry out an interception mission against Luftwaffe Ju 87 Stukas over the frontline near El Alamein, Egypt.

UNITED KINGDOM: In England, U.S. pilots who had been members of the three RAF Eagle Squadrons (Numbers 71, 121 and 133 Squadrons) are taken over by the USAAF Eighth Air Force's VIII Fighter Command and organized into the 4th Fighter Group as the 334th, 335th and 336th Fighter Squadrons respectively; the group HQ and all squadrons move from Bushy Park, Hertfordshire, to Debden, Essex, with Spitfires Mk. Vs.

A lone German raider dived out of the cloud at Petworth, Sussex and dropped its bombs from near-rooftop height on a council school, which was completely demolished with 85 boys inside it. Thirty-one children were dead, with two of their teachers. Parents in this town of 2,500 inhabitants in south-east England came running to the school and began digging in the wreckage with their bare hands. Rescuers dug out 28 boys alive but injured.

WESTERN FRONT: During the night of 29/30 September, three RAF Bomber Command Lancasters laid mines off the Bornholm Islands.

 

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30 September 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-596 was attacked by an aircraft in the North Atlantic and suffered heavy damage. She managed to reach base at St. Nazaire on 3 October.

U-125 sank SS 'Empire Avocet' and 'Kumsang'. The master and a machinist from 'Empire Avocet' were captured.

U-506 sank SS 'Siam II'.

U-516 sank SS 'Alipore'.

EASTERN FRONT: The Russians crossed the Volga to the North west of Moscow and recaptured 25 villages.

The Soviet 92nd Naval Rifle Brigade was sent to the vicinity of the Barrikady Plant at Stalingrad. After heavy fighting the battalion, which had 147 men left, was moved to the city center to reinforce the 37th Rifle Division. All day the seamen fended off the savage attacks by the Germans. During the night seamen crossed to the left bank of the Volga, to the settlement of Rybachiy. Here, replenished by Pacific Fleet seamen, the battalion once again became a brigade, which returned to combat in early November. The fighting was especially fierce in the vicinity of the Krasnyy Oktyabr', Barrikady,and Traktornyy plant, in the defense of which the 92nd Brigade and the 308th Rifle Division participated. Repulsion of the numerous attacks and the daily bomb runs and artillery bombardment thinned the ranks of the 92nd Brigade.

Major Joachim Muncheberg of JG 51 was posted as Kommodore of JG 77 when Major Gordon Gollob left to take a staff position in Berlin. Major Muncheberg's position at JG 51 was as a 'Kommodore in training' or acting Gruppenkommandeur of the crews of JG 51.

GERMANY: Berlin: Josef Goebbels, the German minister for propaganda, today launched the country's fourth wartime winter appeal by announcing that last year the population donated some 1.2billion Reichsmark [£100 million] for needy families. A growing proportion of the money is now being used to finance official welfare bodies such as the National Socialist People's Welfare (NSV). Money is raised in house-to-house collections made by members of the NSV and other organizations, for example the Hitler Youth, the SA and the SS, who remind reluctant donors of their public "duty".

In a major speech at the Sportspalast, Hitler ridicules the Allied leadership as;

"military idiots ... mentally sick or perpetually drunk."

NORTH AFRICA: While thousands of British troops were undergoing training in desert warfare in the rear lines, watched by their new chief, Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery, the British Eighth Army set out to probe the defences of the Afrika Korps, also - while Rommel is in Germany for medical treatment - under a new chief, General Georg Stumme. The 44th Division - just two brigades - then mounted a very small action to assess the strength of German positions in the Munassib Depression. Today's battle took place to the south of the Alamein line, with heavy casualties on both sides.

The top-scoring Luftwaffe ace Hans-Joachim Marseille (158 British aircraft) who was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds on 3 September is killed. He was flying a new Messerschmitt Bf-109G-2 fighter, W.Nr. 14256, "Gelb 14" on a mission escorting Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers. While returning to base at 1135 hours, Marseille indicated that he had smoke pouring into his cockpit and it was becoming difficult to either breathe or see. Other members in the flight urged Marseille to remain with his aircraft for another couple minutes since they were still over enemy-held territory. By 1139 hours, smoke in the cockpit was now unbearable and Marseille was forced to leave his airplane. Marseille's last radio transmission was;

"I've got to get out now. I can't stand it any more".

Now over German territory, at approximately 10000 feet (3,048 meters), Marseille rolled his aircraft inverted in a standard manoeuvre to prepare for bailout. Suffering from probable spatial disorientation, possible toxic hypoxia, as well as being blinded by the smoke in the cockpit, Marseille's aircraft entered an inverted dive with an approximate dive angle of 70 to 80 degrees. At a speed of approximately 400 knots (460.3 mph or 740.8 km/h), Marseille jumped out of his damaged aircraft. Unfortunately, the left side of Marseille's chest struck the tail of his airplane, either killing him instantly or incapacitating him to the point where he was unable to open his parachute. As the other members of Marseille's squadron watched in horror, Marseille's body landed face down 7 km (4.3 miles) south of Sidi Abd el Rahman, an unfitting end to the "African Eagle." His final score was 158 enemy aircraft destroyed, all Western front flown warplanes. He was buried where he fell, at a white tomb used as a landmark by airmen, seven kilometers south of Sidi Abd el Rahman. Marseille shot down more Western front Allied aircraft than any other German fighter pilot, alive or dead. Geschwaderkommodore Major Eduard Neumann, who had once prophesied that he would make a fighter pilot out of the precocious young Berliner, issued an Order of the Day. It ended with these sentences;

" His successes against our toughest aerial opponents, the English, are unique. We can be happy and proud to have counted him as one of us. There are no words eloquent enough to convey what his loss means to us. He leaves behind an obligation for us to follow his lead, both as a human being and as a soldier. His spirit will remain an example to the Geschwader for ever."

The pilots of 3. Staffel had their own way of mourning the loss of their 'Jochen'. They shared a fig cake and listened to his favorite tune, 'Rumba Azul', on the wind-up gramophone.

NORTH AMERICA: Everyone from the First Lady downwards had made it clear that the American war effort demands that women play dramatically different roles. Not only women themselves are being educated into new ways; so, too, are employers, labour leaders, store owners, men in uniform and legislators. Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, for instance, called for easing the burden of housework for those women working to win the war. She suggested that restaurants should prepare meals which working women could pick up and take home for quick service. More child care is needed, she said, as is transportation to and from schools. Training started this month to teach women such trades as welding, armature winding and burning. Mrs. Elinore M. Herrick, the newly-appointed director of personnel for Todd Shipyards, which as 12 yards on three coasts, said training for more difficult jobs will start soon, since Selective Service has given semi-skilled males but six months' deferment. At Republic Steel, 1,000 women have been hired in its 27 plants to make and assemble aircraft parts and accessories. They are given uniforms, hairnets and pay equal to men's. But the company says that it will draw the line on women in open-hearth areas because of the 100-degree Fahrenheit heat. Asked if more women would be hired, one Republic vice-president growled:

"There are too many women here now."

However, he was in the midst of 25 women reporters.

Production jobs are not the only ones open to women. Columbia University has begun a course to train women to be engineering aides for Grumman Aircraft Corporation, and the Red Cross wants more nurses' aides, targeting "leisure-class" women. Women are joining up in record numbers, according to the WAACS and WAVES. The chief of the WAVES (the US equivalent of Wrens), Mildred McAfee, says that she doesn't mind at all being called "the old man".

WESTERN FRONT: This month, 14,000 Jews from France, 6,000 from the Netherlands and 5,000 from Belgium have been deported to Auschwitz. 20,000 Polish Jews perished at Belzec, and at least 6,000 Jews from Theresienstadt camp, in Czechoslovakia, were slaughtered at Maly Trostenets.