This day in the war in Europe 65 years ago

1 February 1943

EASTERN FRONT: After Hitler promoted General von Paulus to Feldmarschal, Hitler assumed that von Paulus would fight on or take his own life. Von Paulus was not so accomodating as to throw himself on his own funeral pyre. Soviet forces closed in on his last command post, a cellar in the bombed out ruins of the Univermag Department store in downtown Stalingrad. Unshaven, dirty and close to a state of collapse, Friedrich von Paulus offered his surrender to an obscure Russian lieutenant named Fydor Yelchenko, who promptly marched the new Feldmarschal and his staff off to his superiors. Of the nearly 350,000 men who had followed him to Stalingrad, only 90,000 survived to surrender to the Soviets. To the delight of the Soviet forces and the dismay of the Reich, the prisoners included 22 Generals. Hitler was angry at the Feldmarschal's surrender and confided that;

"Paulus stood at the doorstep of eternal glory but made a about face."

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German troops of Heeresgruppe Mitte (von Kluge) evacuated Demyansk in order to shorten their lines and free up troops to plug the gapping holes to the south. Soviet forces captured Svatovo, southeast of Kharkov, cutting the rail lines from the city to the Donets Basin. Lt. Wilhem Batz was appointed adjutant to Johannes Steinhoff at II./JG 52. Killed in a flying accident this day was Gerhard Beutin, a 60 victory experte with JG 54. 4(F)./122 was now located at Bagerovo, near Kerch, Crimea.

GERMANY: Hitler held a military conference at Rastenburg which he accused his generals of disloyalty. Although he pressed this accusation, he promoted Baron Maximillian von Weichs, Ewald von Kleist and Ernst Busch to Feldmarschal.

MEDITERRANEAN: U-617 fired a spread of four torpedoes at a vessel identified as cruiser of the Dido-class and observed two hits and a boiler explosion. At 17.55 hours, the ship capsized and later sank by the stern. The victim was the Cruiser-minelayer HMS 'Welshman' (M 84) (Capt W.H.D. Friedberger, DSO, RN) (2650 tons) which sank 35 miles east-northeast off Tobruk, Libya. Nine officers and 139 ratings were lost, also an unknown number of military passengers (among them four aircrew members that had been badly burnt in a plane crash on Malta). Only a few survivors were rescued.

In the Mediterranean, an explosion occurred at 0615hrs in the diesel engine room of U-77, resulting in some damage to the boat.

NORTH AFRICA: American tanks and infantry are battered at German positions in Faid Pass (In Tunisia, roughly east-northeast from Kasserine). On 30 January von Arnim's 5.Panzerarmee had driven the French out of the Faid Pass and then attacked them at Pichon. Combat Command A of the U.S. 1st Armored Division then attempted to retake Faid, but was repulsed. Other U.S. and British forces (I don't know which units) were sent to Pichon and restored some stability along the front. About two weeks later Faid Pass was one of the staging points for the German counteroffensive against the U.S. Army around Kasserine.

NORTHERN FRONT: 14(jabo)./JG 5 was formed in February to serve as a semi-autonomous jabostaffel within JG 5. The unit was created from elements of 11./JG 5 and experienced fighter pilot Hptm. Friedrich Wilhelm Strakeljahn was given command. Another man assigned to the new Staffel was Kurt Dobner, who had gained one aerial victory with 11./JG 5 in 1942. 14(J)./JG 5 flew only Fw 190A-2s and A-3s, at a time when those variants had been superseded elsewhere by the Fw 190 A-4 and A-5. However because the staffel was based in the far north of Finalnd, fighter opposition was minimal, and the earlier Fw 190 variants proved adequate. The units's initial 11 Fw 190A-3s came from 11./JG 5, and later aircraft came from other parts of JG 5 and from the Kjeller repair facility in Norway. 14(J)./JG 5 flew missions primarily against Russian ships moving along the Barents Sea coast. the staffel prroved very effective, sinking many enemy vessels.

WESTERN FRONT: III./KG 101 was formed from I./Kampfschulgeschwader 3 at Cognac under the command of Hptm. Horst Beeger, who led the Gruppe throughout its existance. III./KG 101 trained pilots for service with Fw 190 ground-attack units, probably SKG 10 exclusively. I./KSG 3 had been based at Cognac and had provided training for SKG 10 pilots in Dec 1942 and early 1943. When the pilots first arrived at Cognac, they were given a short course on fighter tactics, starting with aerobatics in a Bu 133, then formation flying, aerobatics and air-to-ground firing in an Fw 190. Then came bombing training including lectures and pilots were taught about bombing land and sea targets. KSG 3 had its own bombing range at Cognac.

2 February 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 03.04 hours, the Steam merchant 'Jeremiah Van Rensselaer' (Liberty, Tonnage 7,177 tons) in station #45 (last ship in the extreme port column) of convoy HX-224 was torpedoed by U-456 south of Iceland. The ship had been in station #11, but had performed poorly keeping station and kept her station about once in seven nights, she managed to catch up in the daytime and consequently her position was changed. Two torpedoes struck on the port side in the #1 hold. The explosion created a hole 8 feet by 30 feet, blew the hatch cover off, strewed cargo overboard and started a fire. A short time later, a third torpedo struck on the port side at #4 hatch and blew a truck standing on deck into the water and also started a small fire. The engines were secured and some of the eight officers, 34 crewmen, 28 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, one 3in and eight 20mm guns) and one passenger abandoned ship panicked, they tried to launch three lifeboats, but two capsized in the rough seas. Eight men got away in a boat and others jumped overboard and swam to three rafts, but the harsh weather and cold water caused the most men to die from exposure. Only one officer, six crewmen and 17 armed guards survived. 23 survivors and three bodies were picked up after five hours by the British rescue ship 'Accrington' and landed at Gourock. A boarding party from the US Coast Guard cutter USS 'Ingham' (WPG 35) later boarded the ship and noted that she could have been saved, but the watch below left the boilers fire lit, which burned the boilers out. The vessel was scuttled by gunfire at 13.00 hours. The boarding party also found one man, who never left the ship and took him to the escort vessel. One week later two bodies were recovered from a raft by FFL 'Lobelia' (K 05).

EASTERN FRONT: The final assault at Stalingrad took place. The German perimeter had been reduced to a small area of the wrecked city around the Tractor Factory complex. The Soviets massed over 300 guns per kilometer of front and smashed the German positions under a massive barrage. Later, 2 He 111s loaded with bomb canisters full of provisions flew over the city but found no signs of life and returned to base. The remnants of 6.Armee under General Strecker in the northern pocket ceased fighting and surrendered to the Red Army. The battle for Stalingrad was over and the Luftwaffe's attempt of an airlift for von Paulus' 6.Armee was a failure. The battle of Stalingrad was the largest single battle in human history. It raged for 199 days. Of the more than 280,000 men surrounded at Stalingrad, 160,000 had been killed in action or died of starvation or exposure. 34,000 mostly wounded men had been evacuated. 90,000 German soldiers marched off into captivity. Most would die in the march from the city. Only 5000 of these men would see Germany again, the last returning 12 years later in 1955. Losses for the Luftwaffe from 24 Nov '42 to 31 Jan '43 amounted to 266 Ju 52s, 165 He 111s, 42 Ju 86s, 9 Fw 200s, 7 He 177s and one Ju 290 - a total of 490 aircraft, enough for a whole Fliegerkorps.

The Russians advanced to the rail link between Nikopol and Axis held territory.

GERMANY: Cologne was attacked at night by 161 RAF aircraft - 116 Lancasters, 35 Halifaxes, 8 Stirlings and 2 Mosquitoes - in another experimental raid using a 4-engined bomber force with various forms of Pathfinder techniques. Markers were dropped by both the 'Oboe' Mosquitoes and the H2S marker aircraft. Again the results were disappointing, with no clear concentration of markers being achieved and with subsequent bombing being well scattered. Unfortunately, a Pathfinder Stirling (R9264) on this raid was shot down by a night-fighter and crashed near Hardinxveld-Giesendam (southeast of Rotterdam), handing the Germans an example of the H2S set on only the second night that this new device was used. The set was damaged but the German firm of Telefunken was able to reassemble it. This gave the Germans an early indication of the operational use of H2S and eventually led to the development of a device, 'Naxos', which would enable German night fighters to home on to a bomber which was using H2S.

Five aircraft - 3 Lancasters, 1 Halifax and 1 Stirling - were lost. Major Werner Streib of I./NJG 1 claimed 2 of the bombers and Hptm. Hans-Dieter Frank of 2./NJG 1 was credited with a destroyed Stirling.

US VIII Bomber Command flew Mission #32, dispatching 61 B-17s and 22 B-24s against the Hamm, Germany marschaling yards. The formation encountered bad weather over the North Sea and returned to base.

3 February 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-265 was sunk south of Iceland, by depth charges from a British B-17 Fortress aircraft (Sqdn. 220/N). 46 dead (all hands lost).

U-217 sank the steam merchant 'Rhexenor' (7957 tons) at location at Mid Atlantic. At 10.50 hours, the unescorted 'Rhexenor' was hit on the port side under the bridge by one torpedo from U-217 southeast of Bermuda. After all men of the crew had abandoned ship in four lifeboats the U-boat surfaced and fired at the ship with the deck gun until she sank at 12.10 hours. The fourth mate C.W.G. Allen was taken prisoner by the U-boat after the Germans were told that the master and the chief officer were lost with the ship, landed at Brest and was taken to the POW camp Milag Nord. The master and 18 survivors in a lifeboat reached Guadeloupe on 20 February, after one man died of exhaustion, but another one later died in hospital. On 21 February, a second boat with the chief officer and 19 survivors made landfall about 60 miles north of St.Johns, Antigua. A third boat with ten survivors landed on Jost van Dyke Island in the Tobago group on 23 February, after one men in that boat died of exhaustion. Also on 23 February, the 18 occupants in a fourth boat were picked up by the British armed yacht HMS 'Conqueror' after they had been spotted by USMC patrol aircraft of VMS-3 and landed at St.Thomas, Virgin Islands.

At 04.52 hours, U-223 fired five single torpedoes at three ships in the convoy SG-19 about 150 miles west of Cape Farewell. One of the first torpedoes hit the steam passenger ship 'Dorchester' (5,649 tons) and the other torpedoes missed her and the Norwegian steam merchants 'Biscaya' and 'Lutz'. The 'Dorchester' was struck on the starboard side in the machinery spaces. The explosion stopped the engines and the vessel swung to starboard, losing way. Her complement of seven officers, 123 crewmen, 23 armed guards and 751 troops and passengers began to abandon ship three minutes after the hit. Three of the 14 lifeboats had been damaged by the explosion, the crew managed only to launch two more overcrowded boats and 33 men left with rafts, but many men evidently did not relize the seriousness of the situation, stayed aboard and went down with the ship, which sank 30 minutes later. The US coast guard cutters USS 'Escanaba' (WPG 77) and USS 'Comanche' (WPG 76) began rescuing survivors within minutes. Rescue swimmers from the USS 'Escabana' jumped into the icy water with lines tied about them to pull incapacitated men out of the water. The USS 'Escabana' picked up 81 survivors from the water and rafts and 51 from one lifeboat. The USS 'Comanche' picked up 41 survivors from another lifeboat and 56 from rafts and the water. They also picked up hundreds of bodies. They were landed at Narsarssuak the same day. 675 lives were lost: the master, three officers, 98 crewmen, 15 armed guards and 558 troops and passengers. Three officers, 25 crewmen, 44 civilian workers, three Danish citizens, twelve armed guards, seven US coast guard personnel and 135 US Army personnel were saved. Four Army chaplains representing the four different faiths: RevLt George Lansing Fox (Methodist); Rabbi Lt Alexander David Goode; RevLt. Clark Poling (First Reformed Church) and Father John Washington gave up their lifebelts to soldiers who have none, all four perished with the ship. All were posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the DSC. In 1961 the US Congress declared the 3 February four Chaplains Observance Day and The Chapel of the Four Chaplains was established in Philadelphia.

U-255 fired torpedoes at the convoy RA-52 about 600 miles northeast of Iceland and observed two hits on one ship. Lookouts on the steam merchant 'Greylock' spotted a torpedo in the smooth seas and broad daylight about 300 yards off the port side. They tried to evade the torpedo, but it struck between the #5 and #6 holds, creating a large hole below the waterline and also locking the steering gear. A second torpedo missed the bow by 75 yards. The ship immediately flooded and took a starboard list. 15 minutes after the hit, the ten officers, 26 crew members, 25 armed guards and nine passengers left the ship in four lifeboats. A British escort ship shelled the 'Greylock', which sank stern first at 14.30 hours. The most men were picked up by the HMS 'Lady Madeleine' (FY 283) and HMS 'Northern Wave' (FY 153) and landed at Belfast and Gourock. Four crew members were picked up by the HMS 'Harrier' (J 71) and taken to Scapa Flow. All the crew came together in Glasgow and were eventually repatriated from Liverpool.

The motor tanker 'Inverilen' in convoy HX-224 was torpedoed by U-456 south of Iceland. The tanker was abandoned and sank later. The master, 24 crew members and six gunners were lost. 14 crew members and two passengers (DBS) were picked up by the HMS 'Asphodel' (K 56) (Lt G.L. Fraser) and landed at Londonderry. U-456 was chased after the attack by the HMS 'Londonderry' (U 76), which had to abort the chase after she was damaged by a premature detonation of one of her own depth charges. U-632 sank the motor tanker 'Cordelia', a straggler from convoy HX-224, south of Iceland. The master, 37 crew members and eight gunners were lost. The sole survivor, chief engineer I.C. Bingham, was taken prisoner by the U-boat and carelessly mentioned the convoy SC-118 which was reported to the BdU. The convoy was subsequently attacked with the loss of nine ships. The survivor landed at Brest on 14 February and was taken to the German POW camp Milag Nord.

EASTERN FRONT: Soviet troops retook Kushchevskaya on the Soskya River, 50 miles south of Rostov and Kupyansk in the Ukraine. Fw. Alfred Kruger of 4./JG 52 was listed as missing in action and believed to be dead.

Hptm. Hans Knauth's IV./JG 51 moved its Bf 109Fs and Fw 190s from Isotscha / Iwan-See to Jesau.

GERMANY: Hitler, in a national broadcast from his headquarters, announced to the nation that 6.Armee had been destroyed at Stalingrad, saying the;

"....the sacrifice of the Army, bulwark of a historical European mission, was not in vain."

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Four days of national mourning was declared.

84 Halifaxes, 66 Stirlings, 62 Lancasters and 51 Wellingtons raided Hamburg on the first 200-plus raid for more than 2 weeks. Icing conditions in cloud over the North Sea caused many aircraft to return early. The Pathfinders were unable to produce concentrated and sustained marking on H2S and the bombing of the Main Force was scattered. The results in Hamburg were no better than the attack by a much smaller force a few nights earlier. 55 people were killed and 40 injured. The German night fighters operated effectively against the Hamburg raid, despite the bad weather, and 16 bombers were lost - 8 Stirlings, 4 Halifaxes, 3 Wellingtons and one Lancaster. Lt. Lothar Linke of Stab IV./NJG 1 claimed 2 of the bombers and scores went to Oblt. Manfred Meurer of 3./NJG 1, Hptm. Wolfgang Thimmig of Stab III./NJG 1 and Hptm. Wilhelm Dormann of 9./NJG 1, among others. Hptm. Reinhold Knacke, a 44 victory night-fighter with Stab I./NJG 1 was killed after destroying a Halifax and a Stirling.

NORTH AFRICA: The day after arriving at Thelepte airfield in Tunisia, the US 52nd FG encountered Fw 190s of JG 2 while escorting P-39s. The ensuing combat resulted in the loss of Lt. Harold Pederson. A second Spitfire was shot up so badly that the wounded pilot, Lt. Hugh Williamson, had to bail out. 7 Spitfires were claimed by the Fw 190s including 4 for Lt. Kurt Buhligen of 4./JG 2 and 2 for Ofw. Kurt Goltzsch of 4./JG 2.

Over Tunisia, Lt. Franz Kunz of 5./JG 53 flying a Bf 109G-4, collided with an Allied aircraft and was wounded.

UNITED KINGDOM: A Do 217E was shot down by a Beaufighter of RAF No. 219 Sqdrn and it crashed 1/2 mile south of Muston near Filey in Yorkshire. It was assumed that the crew baled out over the sea, as no bodies were found in the wreckage. German records examined after the war showed that its pilot, Obfw. Karl Muller, was the holder of the Ritterkreuz and had over 280 missions to his credit.

WESTERN FRONT: 60 Venturas were sent to various targets in France, Belgium and Holland but only 15 aircraft bombed the railway yards at Abbeville and at St. Omer airfield. Hptm. Wilhelm-Ferdinand Galland, Gruppenkommandeur of II./JG 26, led 40 Fw 190A-5s to intercept 12 of the Venturas of RAF No. 121 Sqdrn escorted by Spitfires from RAF No. 64, 122 and 308 Sqdrns., which were sent to attack Coutrai-Wevelghem airfield. At 11:05 hours, Galland sent down in flames the Ventura flown by Sgt. G.K. Moodley and only 7 minutes later he blasted a Spitfire of RAF No. 308 Sqdrn. II./JG 26 literally thrashed the escort when they shot down 2 other Polish Spitfires and forced the pilot of a fourth to bail out over the waters of the Channel. During another Ventura raid in the afternoon, Fw 190s of I./JG 2 and II./JG 26 engaged one of the escorting Spitfire squadrons, RCAF No. 416 Sqdrn and again Galland beat them up. Three Spitfires were shot down in a few minutes, one of them by Hptm. Galland (possibly the Spitfire flown by F/O J.S. McKenty). A fourth Spitfire, flown by F/O Rainville ditched in the waters of the Channel and he was rescued. For the day the Channel Front Geschwaders shot down 8 Spitfires and one Ventura (2 Spitfires and the Ventura by Galland himself) and lost only one Fw 190.

4 February 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-414 was attacked in the North Atlantic by a Curtiss aircraft and damaged so badly that she had to return to base.

Convoy SC-118 comes under concentrated attack from German U-boats in the Atlantic.

U-187 (Type IXC/40) is sunk in the North Atlantic, by depth charges from the British destroyers HMS 'Vimy' and 'Beverley'. 9 dead and 45 survivors.

EASTERN FRONT: Soviet army troops and marines achieved a landing behind the German 17.Armee in the Kuban near the Black Sea port of Novorosiisk. The attack was designed to unhinge the strong German mountain positions east of the city but quick reactions from the Germans turned the tiny bridgehead into a charnel house. German High Command had ordered an operation to help Schorner's men of 40.Panzerkorps to escape the oncoming Soviet onslaught. During the operation, Schorner actually took control of a Flak gun.

Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: MS "T-515" (ex-"Gelenjik" ) - was sunk by field artillery, close to Ujnaya Ozereika (later raised and went into service). (Syscom)

Gerhard Seifert, brother of Major Johannes Seifert of JG 52 was killed in action. He had only one victory to his credit.

GERMANY: The second daylight American raid on Germany was an attack on the Hamm marshalling yards along with Emden and Onsbruck. 65 B-17s of the US 1st BW and 21 B-24s of the US 2nd BW were dispatched. The B-24s turned back before hitting the Dutch coast when the temperature dropped below the lowest limit of the thermometers. Heavy cloud covered Hamm so 3 of the 4 B-17 groups (39 B-17s) attacked the yards, port area and industries in Emden. As the bomber formations broke up from the cloud layer, they were intercepted by 8 Bf 110s of IV./NJG 1 led by Hptm. Hans-Joachim Jabs. Flying in pairs, this was the first time that the Luftwaffe decided to use night-fighters in daylight defense because it was thought the heavily armoured Bf 110s would be effective against the heavy bombers. The first pair of Bf 110s, consisting of Hptm. Jabs and Ofhr. Scherer, sliced into the bomber formation and scored no hits but Ofhr. Scherer's plane was damaged and both crew members wounded. The second pair, that of Lt. Vollkopf and Uffz. Naumann, attacked from head-on and both succeeded in damaging a bomber, which broke from the formation with a smoking enegine. Coming around for a second pass, Uffz. Naumann attacked from behind but as he damaged the Fortress further, its rear gunner scored strikes on Naumann's Bf 110. Both planes went down smoking, with Uffz. Naumann crashing in shallow water on the north shore of Ameland Island. The last pair of Bf 110s, that of Ofw. Grimm and Uffz. Kraft, dove past the rear of the bomber formation in a hail of bullets and bounced a straggling B-17. Taking turns attacking the bomber, the Fortress finally caught fire and went down. But both Bf 110s were smoking and barely made it back to the airfield at Leeuwarden. Ofw. Grimm belly-landed after his engines gave out. All 8 Bf 110s were severly damaged, leaving 8 aircraft with all their sensitive special night fighting equipment out of action. An additional 50 Fw 190s and Bf 109s joined the attack. Before the bomber formations reached the North Sea coast, 3 B-17s were shot down and a 4th, badly damaged, fell into the sea. At one point,, a Fw 190 attacking from a head-on position, collided with a B-17 from the US 305th BG and both planes crashed to the ground. 5 B-17s were lost although the planes of JG 1 claimed 10 bombers shot down. The Geschwader lost 2 pilots - the Stafflekapitaen of 6./JG 1, Oblt. Walter Leonhardt and Uffz. Rudolf Mayer of 12./JG 1.

MEDITERRANEAN: 77 Lancasters,55 Halifaxes, 50 Stirlings and 6 Wellingtons bombed Turin (Italy) with the loss of 3 Lancasters. 156 aircraft reached and bombed Turin causing serious and widespread damage. The brief local report states that 29 people were killed and 53 injured. (Hugh Spencer)

4 Pathfinder Lancasters were sent to La Spezia, an Italian port, to try out a new type of 'proximity fused' 4,000 lb bomb which exploded between 200 and 600 feet above the ground to widen the effects of the resulting blast. 3 aircraft dropped their bombs successfully but this type of weapon does not seem to have come into general use. All the Lancasters returned safely. (Hugh Spencer)

NORTH AFRICA: The first units of the British Eighth Army crossed from Libya into Tunisia.

Men of the 51st Highland and New Zealand Divisions - all heroes of El Alamein - formed up to march past Winston Churchill. The Prime Minister was on a whirlwind tour of the Middle East - with a significant stop in neutral Turkey - and was spending the day with his troops. The PM toured the harbor - where engineers were clearing blockships and port installations. He left for Algiers, despite a death threat from a known assasssin.

Ten P-38s of the US 1st FG escorted 18 B-17s followed by 10 additional P-38s escorting a flight of 24 B-24s. Four P-38s were lost in combat with Bf 109s. Oblt. Anton Hackl of II./JG 77 battled with the Lightnings and was shot down and badly wounded. He spent the next several months in hospital. Capt. Clarence Rimke of the US 94th FS / 1st FG claimed one Bf 109. Another flight of Lightnings hit an airfield west of Gabes.

At 16:00 hours, 8 Fw 190s from JG 2 were scrambled from Kairouan airfield to intercept enemy aircraft flying recon over the Sbeitla and Fondouk areas. The Allied formation came from Thelepte airfield and consisted of 6 Spitfires from the US 4th FS / 52nd FG and 6 Spitfires from the US 5th FS / 52nd FG, escorting 5 P-39s. The Fw 190s were south of Ousseltia when air combat with the escorting Spitfires began. During the engagement, Oblt. Buhligen claimed 3 Spitfires destroyed, Oblt. Rudorffer claimed 2 Spitfires and Ofw. Goltzsch claimed one Spitfire. Either Oblt. Buhligen or Oblt. Rudorffer shot down Capt. Hugh Williamson, who baled out with a wounded leg. While he descended in his parachute, Lt. Harold Pederson flew protective circles around him but a II./JG 2 pilot latched onto his tail after circling 1 1/2 times and was shot down in flames. The 52nd FG lost at least one other Spitfire during this combat. Capt. Williamson claimed one German fighter probably destroyed and 2 damaged, but not one II./JG 2 machine was hit by enemy fire.

UNITED KINGDOM: New guidelines to Allied bomber crews have emerged from the Casablanca summit attended by the British PM, Winston Churchill and American President Franklin D. Roosevelt last month. An air ministry directive sent to Sir Arthur Harris, chief Bomber Command, today said that his primary objective is the;

"...progressive destruction . . . of the German military, industrial and economic system and the underminig of the morale of the German people."

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In January 1943 approx 628 RAF Bomber Command aircrew were lost - killed or POW. (Hugh Spencer)

WESTERN FRONT: 103 Wellingtons, 16 Halifaxes and 9 Lancasters attacked Lorient. 1 Wellington was lost. This was an all-incendiary attack without the Pathfinders. Bombing was concentrated and large areas of fire were started. (Hugh Spencer)

5 February 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-267 was attacked in the North Atlantic by escorts with depth charges. The boat was damaged so severely that a return to base was necessary, reaching St. Nazaire on Feb 18. (Syscom)

At 14.05 hours, the 'West Portal' (Master Oswald Joseph Griffin), a straggler from convoy SC-118, was hit forward of the bridge by one torpedo from U-413 and immediately took a list. The U-boat had fired a spread of four torpedoes from a distance of over 3500 yards at the zigzagging ship and hit her with the third torpedo. She was missed by a first coup de grâce, but sank after a second hit in the stern at 15.21 hours. The Germans observed how some of the eight officers, 32 crewmen, 25 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, one 3in and eight 20mm guns) and twelve passengers abandoned ship in lifeboats, but they were never seen again. HMS 'Vanessa' (D 29) recieved a distress signal from the ship and left the convoy to search for survivors, but no position had been reported so search proved to be fruitless. (Syscom)

EASTERN FRONT: The Red Army reached the Sea of Azov at Yeisk, cutting off German troops at Novorossiisk. Soviet forces captured Staryy Oskol and Izyum, but the landings at Anopa were repulsed.

MEDITERRANEAN: The first signs of a major crack in the facade of Mussolini's Fascist Italy began to show when a tired and bitter il Duce sacked his son-in-law, Count Galeazzo Ciano, Italy's foreign minister since 1936 and 2 other senior members of his cabinet. Mussolini himself took charge of foreign affairs. Mussolini was described as no more than a sad shadow of the bombastic, boastful and vain Duce who set out to recreate the grandeur of Imperial Rome by engineering excuses ti invade soft targets like Albania and Ethiopia - only to see his 'empire' snatched from him by Allied troops. With Anglo-American forces converging on Tunisia, he knew that the invasion of Italy could not be far away and he pleaded with Hitler to sue for peace in Russia after the defeat at Stalingrad and bolster Italy's shattered army against the Allies. On the other hand, Count Ciano was appointed ambassador to the Vatican and many observers believed that the desperate Mussolini sent him there to negotiate peace with the Allies.

U-617 shadowed the convoy AW-22 (Alexandria - Benghazi), consisting of four steamers and four escorts from grid CO92 to CO67. At 08.02 hours, the U-boat torpedoed and sank the 'Henrik' and 'Corona'. The 'Corona' (Master Einar Endresen) was hit by one torpedo and 15 minutes later by another on the starboard side. The foc´sle deck line split to keel and from keel to about 15 feet from deck line port side. The collision bulkhead was fractured and foc´sle deck dropped 12 inchs from aft side windlass to stem. All seven Norwegian officers, 40 Chinese crewmen, the Egyptian messboy, six British gunners and 49 army personnel as passengers abandoned ship. The master, 10 crewmen and 11 passengers were picked up by the British motor launch HMS ML-1012. The master, the 2nd mate and three crewmen returned to the lifeboat with the intention of returning to the ship, but on the way back he came across the British motor launch HMS ML-356 and being uncertain of the condition of the ship they decided to board the motor launch. HMS 'Erica' (K 50) (Lt A.C.C. Seligman, RNR) put a boarding party on the 'Corona', including one Indian stoker from 'Henrik' and later took the survivors on board and brought them to Tobruk. The next day, the 'Corona' was taken in tow to Tobruk and beached. In the afternoon on 24 February, she sank during a storm. On 17 Oct, 1947, the wreck of 'Corona' was refloated and was taken in tow by the tug 'Lenamill', but sank two days later 20 miles north of Derna. (Syscom) The 'Henrik' (Master Johan Sørlie) was probably hit by two torpedoes and sank within 3 minutes about 30 miles east of Tobruk. The launched lifeboat swapped as the vessel sank, throwing the occupants into the water. The survivors clung to rafts or debris until they were picked up by British motor launches. Two Chinese crew members died, out of a complement of seven Norwegian officers, 33 Chinese crew members and six gunners. (Syscom)

WESTERN FRONT: Spitfires of the US 4th FG flew 8 sorties -2 on uneventful patrols and 6 to strafe a shipping convoy. Two corvettes and a merchant ship were damaged. One Spitfire was shot down by Uffz. Heinz Goimann of 5./JG 26.

One flight of the US 350th FG, flying P-39s from RAF stations Portreath and Predannack on Lands End, England to Port Lyautey, French Morocco, broke up in a severe squall over the Bay of Biscay and lost one pilot. He was flying alone, probably still on the deck, when he was ambushed and shot down by a patrolling Ju 88 flown by Oblt. Hermann Horstmann of 13./KG 40.

19 Stirlings went minelaying in the Frisian Islands. 2 aircraft were lost. (Hugh Spencer)

5th February 1943
I reported for a medical assessment locally in the first step to be accepted for training as aircrew in the RAF. Apparently they liked what they saw and subsequently accepted me.

6 February 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-465 was attacked by an Allied aircraft during a convoy action and had to abort its attack due to damages.

U-403 was strafed and attacked with 6 bombs by a Canadian Canso aircraft (RCAF Sqdn 5) off Newfoundland and recieved moderate damages.

U-262 fired five torpedoes at a tanker and a steamer, heard three detonations and claimed both ships sunk. However, there is no confirmation from Allied sources, but it is likely that Polish Steam merchant 'Zagloba' (Master Zbigniew Deyczakowski) was hit and sunk in these attacks. The ship was straggling from the convoy SC-118 since the afternoon of 5 February. (26 dead - no survivors) The Greek Steam merchant 'Polyktor' was torpedoed by U-266 and sank after two coups de grâce at 19.30 and 19.32 hours. The ship was straggling from convoy SC-118 due to problems with the rudder. The master and one crew member were taken prisoner.

EASTERN FRONT: Soviet advances continued as Bataysk (near Rostov), yeysk (Sea of Azov), Lisichansk (Donets River) and Barvenkovo (near Kharkov) were all liberated.

Hitler, infuriated by the continual Soviet advance in southern Russia, had Feldmarschal von Manstein flown to his 'Wolf's Lair' HQ in East Prussia. It was his intention to refuse von Manstein permission to make any more withdrawls, but military reality and the shock of Stalingrad forced him to allow von Manstein to fall back from the Donets to the river Mius, leaving only a rearguard to cover Rostov-on-Don. The fall of Rostov, which was now imminent, meant that 17.Armee, left behind by von Kleist in his retreat from the Caucasus, was now confined to the 'Gothic Line' positions around the Taman penisula between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Hitler planned to use this army as the springboard for another attack on the Caucasus, but Stalin planned to treat it as he did 6.Armee in Stalingrad. Two days ago, Soviet amphibious forces landed on the peninsula to cut the Germans off from the Crimea. But 17.Armee had been listening to Soviet radio and knew that the assault was coming. They slaughtered the Russians as they were coming ashore at 2 of the landing beaches but another force, put ashore at Novorossiisk, dug in and was expanding its beach-head. Meanwhile, General Malinovsky was racing on from the Donets, forcing von Manstein back to Tagnrog and the Mius even without Hitler's permission. The Russians were now poised to take the whole Donets basin. It was the same story further north where Hitler had been forced to give General von Kluge, the commander of Heeresgruppe Mitte, permission to abandon the vulnerable Rzhev salient. Von Kluge now seemed likely to lose Kursk in the next few days. There was one city that Hitler ordered to be held at all costs: Kharkov, the fourth largest city in the Soviet Union. The newly-formed SS Panzerkorps had been ordered to defend it to the death.

GERMANY: The official 3 days of mourning for Stalingrad ordered by Hitler were over, but it was doubtful if the German people would ever recover from the terrible defeat. They still could not come to terms with the crushing of the Wehrmacht by the untermenschen (subhumans) of Russia. Hitler added to the shock felt in the higher echelons of the Naxi Party by telling a group of gauleiters at his 'Wolf's Lair';

"What you are witnessing is a catastrophe of unheard-of magnitude. . . if the German people fails then it does not deserve that we should fight for its future; then we can write it off with equanimity."

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General Dietmar, Germany's chief military commentator, echoed Hitler's doom-laden message in an extrodinary broadcast from Berlin last night in which he said;

"The bitter experience of Stalingrad still weighs heavily on our soul. For the first time we are experiencing the entire tragedy of the reverse. For the first time an entire German army has ceased to exist."

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Even more painful for the hundreds of thousands of German families were the last letters from fathers, sons and brothers killed in the final days of the debacle or marched off across the steppes into captivity. The tales of horror told in these letters and the longing for home which permeated them contrasted sadly with the bombastic broadcast of Goring, in which he boasted;

"....in spite of everything, Germany's ultimate victory was decided there."

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In the midst of all the sorrow there was a threat. Goebbels was invoking an old Prussian war decree of 1689 which said:

"Whoever, in the midst of battle, begins to retreat, shall be put to death without mercy."

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SS Reichfuerher Heinrich Himmler receives an inventory of goods taken from murdered Polish Jews, including 825 rail wagons of clothing for redistribution in Germany and a wagon full of women's hair.

2 Mosquitoes attacked Dusseldorf without loss.

MEDITERRANEAN: The Canadian corvette HMCS 'LOUISBURG' is sunk by enemy aircraft off Oran, Algeria.

NORTH AMERICA: In an opinion poll released today the American public were asked: If Hitler offered peace terms now to all countries on the basis of not going further, but of leaving matters as they are now, would you favor or oppose such a plan?
Favor 4%
Oppose 92 %
No Opinion 4%

The US High Command is restructured, creating a European theatre under General Andrews and leaving General Eisenhower in charge of North Africa.

The European Theater of Operations, United States Army (ETOUSA) had been established on 8 June 1942by presidential directive to command all U.S. Army personnel in Europe and Africa. Major General Dwight D. Eisenhower had been named Commanding General ETOUSA during the same month. Recognizing the importance of the North African operations, the formal separation of operations in England and Africa is finalized as the North African Theater of Operations, United States Army (NATOUSA) is established today with Lieutenant General Eisenhower in command; NATOUSA is responsible for all U.S. Army personnel in North Africa. The U.S. Army Air Forces' Lieutenant General Frank M. Andrews, currently Commanding General U.S. Army Forces in the Middle East, is named to replace "Ike" as Commanding General ETOUSA, which now controls all U.S. Army forces in the U.K., Iceland and Greenland.

A jury in Los Angeles, California, USA acquits actor Errol Flynn of three counts of statutory rape. Flynn was charged with the statutory rape of two teenage girls aboard his yacht. The publicity resulted in the catch phrase "In like Flynn."

WESTERN FRONT: 52 Wellingtons and 20 Halifaxes were minelaying between St Nazaire and Texel and 3 Wellingtons were lost.

7 February 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-118 attacked Convoy MKS-7 and sunk 3 ships: the Steam merchants 'Baltonia' and 'Empire Mordred' and the Motor merchant 'Mary Slessor'. (Syscom)

U-402 attacked Convoy SC-118 and hit 6 ships: the Motor merchant 'Afrika', Steam merchants 'Kalliopi' and 'Toward', tankers 'Daghild' and 'Robert E. Hopkins' and the Troop transport 'Henry R. Mallory'. U-614 also attacked Convoy SC-118 and hit the Steam merchant 'Harmala'. (Syscom)

U-77 attacked Convoy KMS-8 and hit the merchant ships 'Empire Banner' and 'Empire Webster'. (Syscom)

U-609 was sunk in the North Atlantic, by depth charges from the Free French corvette 'Lobelia'. 47 dead (all hands lost). (Syscom)

U-624 was sunk in the North Atlantic, by depth charges from a British B-17 Fortress aircraft (Sqdn. 220/J). 45 dead (all hands lost). (Syscom)

EASTERN FRONT: Soviet forces captured Azov and the mouth of the Don River while in the Ukraine, Kramatosk was liberated.

GERMANY: 2 Mosquitoes bombed Essen and Hamborn without loss. (Hugh Spencer)

MEDITERRANEAN: In Sardina, over 50 US 12th AF B-17s and B-24s bombed Elmas airfield and the seaplane base at Cagliari. P-38s provided escort. During the raid on Elmas, Oblt. Ferdinand Ottisch and 2 others were killed and 3 were wounded. 1(F)./122 was reduced to only 3 sevicable Ju 88s.

In Italy, US 9th AF B-24s hit the harbor at Naples, scoring a direct hit on 1 vessel and hits on others.

NORTH AFRICA: In the evening, the North African convoy KMS 8 was attacked to the west of Tenes Head by 7 Ju 88 and 7 He 111 torpedo bombers of I./KG 26. The convoy came under attack by German and Italian bombers as it moved towards Sicily and away from Gibraltar Based fighter cover. The bombers sank the RCN corvette HMCS 'Louisburg' and damaged the British steamboat 'Fort Babine'. At 19:00 hours several Axis aircraft converged on the convoy from different directions and executed an aggressive low-level bombing attack. A few minutes later, 5 Italian torpedo-bombers swept in from ahead of the convoy and launched thier weapons. 'Louisburg', who was stained in the van, was hit at 19:10 hours by a torpedo that struck her on the port side amidships. The torpedo was dropped at such short range that there was no time to take evasive action. The attacking aircraft was hit and flew off trailing smoke but did not crash. The majority of casualties was caused by the detonation of her own depth charges as the ship went down so quickly that there was no opportunity to set them to "Safe".

WESTERN FRONT: Generalfeldmarschall Hugo Sperrle, leader of Luftflotte 3, inspected Schiphol airfield.

100 Wellingtons,81 Halifaxes, 80 Lancasters and 62 Stirlings attacked Lorient. 3 Lancasters, 2 Halifaxes and 2 Wellingtons were lost. The Pathfinder marking plan worked well and the two Main Force waves produced a devastating attack. (Hugh Spencer)

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8 February 1943

EASTERN FRONT: Kursk fell to the Soviets with a sudden flanking movement which took the Germans by surprise. General Golikov's troops also took Korocha, some 70 miles to the south, and the Russians now threatened the whole German line from Orel to Kharkov. Kursk, captured by the Germans in November 1941, became the key to their communications network, the vital link in the shifting of supplies and reinforcements between the southern and central fronts. It was the first of the 3 main bases - Kursk, Orel and Kharkov - which the Germans established as their winter line in 1941, to be recaptured. The Germans used these bases as the starting points for their offensive last summer which led to Stalingrad. Now, it seemed that the Russians would use Kursk to launch the northern arm of a pincer attack on Kharkov in order to trap SS General Hauser's Panzerkorps. German correspondents reporting the battles at the approaches to Kursk, commented with some awe, on the numbers of tanks and guns deployed by the Russians.

MEDITERRANEAN: In Italy, US 9th AF B-24s attacked ferry installations at Messina.

NORTH AFRICA: 1(F)./122 was transferred from Elmas to Decimo in Sardina due to the constant Allied air attacks on the airfield. A Me 210 belonging to 2(F)./122 failed to return from the Tripoli - Misurata -Zuara area. Two crew were missing including the pilot, Uffz. Kurt Schulz.

In Tunisia, B-17s bombed the docks and shipping at Sousse. B-26s and B-25s bombed Gabes airfield, hitting the nearby marshalling yard. Two forces of A-20s attacked a vehicle and troop concentration east of Faid. Fighters escorted bomber missions, strafed the Sened-Maknassy area and the landing ground at Kebili.

WESTERN FRONT: 6 Lancasters laid mines in Baltic areas without loss.

GERMANY: Himmler ordered special precautions to be taken at concentration camps to prevent mass escapes in the event of air raids - including the sub-division of each camp into blocks, each containing 4000 prisoners, which were surrounded by minefields, electrically charged barbed wire, searchlights and dogs trained to kill on sight.

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9 February 1943

EASTERN FRONT: The Red Army recaptured Belgorod. In the early morning over Slavyanskaya near Kuban, Erich Hartmann of 7./JG 52 scored his 3rd victory over a Russian aircraft - a LaGG-3.

NORTH AFRICA: The Allies sent 24 B-17s of the US 301st BG escorted by P-38s of the US 1st FG and 20 P-40s and Spitfire Vs to attack Axis targets. At 13:45 hours, 6 II./JG 2 pilots scrambled to intercept an incoming enemy aircraft. A formation of 4 P-39s of the US 81st FG was flying a recon mission north of Ousseltia and east of Kairouan, escorted by 9 P-40s of GC II/5. 10 minutes after take-off, the Fw 190s attacked the P-40s. During the combat, the P-40s formed a defensive circle. The Fw 190s barreled into the circle and claimed shooting down at least 12 P-40s and 6 P-38s at no loss to themselves. Hptm. Erich Rudorffer of 6./JG 2 shot down 6 of the Warhawks. After breaking away from the fight, he spotted several P-38s strafing ground targets and he dove to attack them. Two P-38s were shot down by Hptm. Rudorffer, making a total of 8 kills in a span of 32 minutes. GC II/5 lost at least 3 P-40Fs in this combat and Adjudant Chef Verrier, Sgt. Chef Denaix and Sgt. Chef Borg did not return from the mission although no one was killed. In the engagement, Sgt. Chef Denaix was hit and forced landed 24 km east of Kasserine. The French pilots Hebrard, Moret and Denaix each claimed a Fw 190, but II./JG 2 had no losses.

GERMANY: 21 Wellingtons laid mines between Brest and Texel and 2 Mosquitoes raided Essen and Ruhrort with no losses. A map from Essen showed that the Oboe Mosquito's bomb load fell just north of the Krupps factory.

WESTERN FRONT: Because of his difficulties in converting to the Fw 190, Lt. Ludwig-Wilhelm Burckhardt, Staffelkapitaen of the Fw 190 equipped 6./JG 1, was shifted to the Bf 109 equipped III./JG 1, where he assumed command of 7 Staffel. This time, he was succeeded by Major Heinz Bar, who was appointed 6./JG 1's new Staffelkapitaen. III./JG 1 was equipped with the new Bf 109G-6/AS, equipped with DB 605 AS engines, specially trimmed for high-altitude operations. The unit was tasked to provide other Home Defense units, equipped with Fw 190s, with fighter cover against US fighter planes that escorted heavy bombers against Germany. This suited Lt. Burckhardt well. In III./JG 1, he reunited with Ofw. Herbert Kaiser, an old friend from JG 77 and made the acquaintance of Alfred Grislawski.

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10 February 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: RAF 'Whirlbombers' hit the disguised German raider 'Coronel' as she attempted to break out into the Atlantic. She put into Boulogne.

EASTERN FRONT: Volchansk and Chuguyev were taken by the Red Army. Soviet forces were now only 20 miles from Kharkov.

In the morning 3 Soviet divisions (72nd Rifle, 43rd Rifle and 63rd Guard) supported by 60 tanks and 400 guns advanced on the 262nd Spanish Regiment of the 'Spanish Blue Division' - the Battle of Krasni Bor. By 10:00 hours the battle had turned into chaos with disorganized attackers assaulting isolated pockets. Despite heroic defensive fighting by this regiment of Spanish volunteers, by 10:30 hours, II-262 HQ was overrun and Krasni Bor fell into Soviet hands. The battle ended the next day. The Soviets lost no less than 7,000 men (some sources quote up to 11,000 casualties), the Blue Division some 2,500 (60% of the men involved). Losses such as these, in a one day battle, in such a reduced area (some 7km by 5km) were not usually heard in WWII. The sacrifice of the 262 Regiment was a main event in stopping a general offensive aimed at the elimination of the threat against Leningrad and, if possible, to encircle a whole German Corps.

Hptm. Sommers, Staffelkapitaen of 7./JG 52 brought his score to 50 kills after downing a Russian fighter while Erich Hartmann of the same Staffel brought his score to 4 with a Douglas Boston Bomber destroyed near Slavyanskaya.

Oblt. Hans-Ulrich Rudel, Staffelkapitaen of 1./StG 2, flew his 1,000th mission and became a national hero to the German public. Rudel was then posted to the new, special "Panzerjagdkommando Weiss" unit formed in Briansk to test the newly-developed tank-busting version of the Ju 87D-3. The modified Stuka was armed with 2 Rhenmetall-Borsig 37mm (BK) flak 18 guns mounted in a special canopy under each wing with 6 rounds of ammunition and was developed at the Luftwaffe's experimental station at Rechlin.

WESTERN FRONT: 12 Venturas bombed Caen railway yards without loss but the escorting Spitfires had a fierce fight with German fighters. Four Spitfires were claimed destroyed by fighters from I./JG 2 with credit going to Hptm. Helmut-Felix Bolz of Stab I./JG 2, Lt. Joachim Bialucha of 2./JG 2 and Uffz. Walter Leber and Ofw. Friedrich Klopper of 3./JG 2.

The Lorient district in France was evacuated after becoming the target of recent heavy Allied bombings.

11 February 1943

EASTERN FRONT: Lozovaya was captured by Vatutin's Southwest Front. Hptm. Edwin Kerner of 4(F)./122 was killed during a Soviet air attack on Bagerovo.

NORTH AFRICA: Hptm. Hartmann Grasser's II./JG 51 moved from Gabes to Trapani.

WESTERN FRONT: 129 Lancasters, 40 Halifaxes and 8 Stirlings were sent to Wilhelmshaven and 3 Lancasters were lost. This was an interesting and important raid.The Pathfinders found that the area was completely covered by cloud and they had to employ their least reliable marking method, sky-marking by parachute flares using H2S. The marking was carried out with great accuracy and the Main Force bombing was very effective. Crews saw through the clouds a huge explosion on the ground, the glow of which lingered for nearly 10 minutes. This was caused by bombs blowing up the naval ammunition depot at Mariensiel to the south of Wilhelmshaven. The resulting explosion devastated an area of nearly 120 acres and caused widespread damage in the naval dockyard and in the town. Much damage was also caused by other bombs. It had not been possible to obtain details of the casualties from Wilhelmshaven. This raid represented the first blind-bombing success for the H2S radar device.

19 Bostons attempted attacks on railway targets over a wide area. 1 Boston lost.

2 Mosquitoes went to Bochum and Hamborn and 36 aircraft were minelaying from La Pallice to the Frisians.

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12 February 1943

EASTERN FRONT: German troops of Heeresgruppe A (von Weichs) evacuated Krasnodar in the Kuban and reached defensive positions in the Kuban brifgehead. Krasnodar was then captured by Red Army forces. Soviet forces west of the Don river liberated Shakhty, Kommunarsk and Krasnoarmeskoye.

Major Seiler's III./JG 54 boarded trains in Smolensk and headed for the airbase at Vendeville on the Western Front. They stopped first in Germany and picked up new Bf 109Gs and flew them to their new base. Soon after, 4./JG 54, led by Oblt. Graf Matuschka, followed the Gruppe to the Western Front, becoming subordinated to III./JG 26 at Wevelghem. 4./JG 54 replaced 7./JG 26 which was now on the Eastern Front.

NORTH AFRICA: In driving rain, the 7th Armoured Division crossed the Tunisian border in force, leaving the whole of Libya in Allied hands. With Rommel regrouping his Panzerarmee Afrika on the French-built Mareth Line, the next great battles could be expected shortly. General Montgomery was biding his time, re-equipping the 8th Army with supplies and weapons which were arriving in the newly-cleared port at Tripoli by the shipload. His first objectives were Medenine and Ben Gardane - both with valuable airstrips.

The Luftwaffe made another command change. Fliegerfuhrer Tunis, recently formed in January, and Fliegerfuhrer Afrika were combined to form Fliegerkorps Tunis and was subordinated to Luftflotte 2. Led by General Hans Seidemann, the command controlled the following units: Fliegerfuhrer 1 (Nord), Fliegerfuhrer 2 (Mitte), Fliegerfuhrer 3 (Sud), Fliegerfuhrer Gabes and the Verbindungsstaffel and Flugbereitschaft of Fliegerkorps Tunis.

GERMANY: 16 Mosquitoes attacked targets in Eastern Belgium and over the German border without loss. 2 Mosquitoes bombed Dusseldorf and Rheinhausen and 38 aircraft were minelaying off Heligoland and in the Frisians with no losses.

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13 February 1943

EASTERN FRONT: Soviet troops retake control of the Tostov-on-Don to Voronezh railway line with the recature of Novosherkassk.

Oblt. Gustav Denk of 5./JG 52 was killed in action. He had 67 victories.

Oblt. Dr. Ernst Kupfer, Gruppenkommandeur of II./StG 2 replaced Oblt. Paul-Werner Hozzel as Geschwaderkommodore of StG 2 (Gefechtsverband Hozzel), controlling parts of StG 1, StG 2 and StG 77. Hptm. Martin Moebus was made Gruppenkommandeur of II./StG 2.

WESTERN FRONT: Spitfire Mk Vs of the US 4th FG flew sorties on shipping patrols. One aircraft was lost and the pilot was killed. The Luftwaffe claimed 12 Spitfires destroyed throughout the day. Hptm. Wilhelm-Ferdinand Galland of JG 26 downed one Spifire west of Hardelot at 10:17 hours and another southeast of Le Touquet at 12:20 hours.

The ghost town of Lorient, evacuated by all non-essential personnel last week, was hammered again by the RAF during the night. when 466 planes dropped over 1,000 tons of bombs. 164 Lancasters, 140 Wellingtons, 96 Halifaxes and 66 Stirlings carried out Bomber Command's heaviest attack on Lorient during the war. The ordinary squadrons of Bomber Command, not reinforced for a 1,000 bomber type raid, dropped more than 1,000 tons of bombs for the first time. The raid was carried out in clear visibility and considerable damage was caused to the already battered town. Seven aircraft - 3 Wellingtons, 2 Lancasters, 1 Halifax and 1 Stirling - were lost. The reason for such intense attacks was to deny the port to packs of U-Boats using it as a base for attacks on merchant shipping. Around 1,000 sorties had been made on Lorient each month. St. Nazaire was also targeted, along with the U-Boat engine works at Copenhagen, hit by low-level Mosquitoes 17 days ago. Privately, the head of Bomber Command, Air Chief Marshal Harris, had misgivings about submarine pens as targets; "U-Boats using these bases are amply protected by concrete, bomb-proof shelters."

34 Venturas and 22 Bostons were sent in 5 different raids to attack Ijmuiden steelworks and ships at Boulogne and the lock gates at St Malo. Bombing was successful and no aircraft were lost.

14 February 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The SS 'Dutchess of York', a Canadian-owned, British-registered CPR passenger liner, was heavily damaged off Cape Finisterre, when she was bombed by Luftwaffe aircraft. She was sunk later in 1943 in another air attack in the same general area.

EASTERN FRONT: German troops of Heeresgruppe Don (von Manstein) evacuated Rostov and withdrew to the old Mius line. Russians soon captured Rostov, cutting off the German 17.Armee in the Kuban peninsula forcing the Germans to lines of communication west over the Kerch Straits into the Crimean peninsula. The Soviets now controlled the entire length of the rail line from Voronezh to Rostov. Drasnyy Sulin and Shakhty were also liberated.

GERMANY: The US 1st BW dispatched 74 B-17s against the Hamm marschaling yards. The mission was cancelled due to the weather and the aircraft were recalled before they passed the European coast. One B-17 was damaged although Uffz. Max Kolschek of 4./JG 1 tried to put in a claim of a B-17 destroyed but was denied.

90 Halifaxes, 85 Wellingtons and 68 Stirlings attacked Cologne, 3 of each type of aircraft were lost. The Pathfinder marking was again based on sky-markers dropped by H2S but it was only of limited success. 218 aircraft claimed to have bombed Cologne but local records suggest that less than 50 aircraft hit the target, mostly in the western districts. 2 industrial, 2 agricultural and 97 domestic premises were destroyed. 51 civilians were killed and 135 injured and 25 French workers died when their barracks at an old fort on the western outskirts of Cologne were bombed.

During the RAF raid on Cologne Hptm. Manfred Meuer, Staffelkapitaen of 3./NJG 1 destroyed 3 of the RAF bombers to bring his score to 14 kills.

MEDITERRANEAN: 152 Lancasters of 1, 5 and No. 8 Groups from England attacked Milan and carried out concentrated bombing in good visibility. Fires could be seen from 100 miles away on the return flight. No report was available from Milan. Italian defences were usually weak and only two Lancasters were lost on this raid. An unusual story is available, however, about a Lancaster of 101 Squadron which was attacked by an Italian CR 42 fighter just after bombing the target. The Lancaster was set on fire and the two gunners were both seriously injured, although they claimed to have shot down the fighter. The pilot, Sergeant I.H.Hazard, had to dive 8,000 feet to put out the fire and one member of the crew mistook instructions and baled out. The remainder of the crew completed the extinguishing of the fire, tended the wounded and eventually reached England. The only officer in the crew, Pilot Officer F.W.Gates the wireless operator, was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and Sergeant Hazard and the other members of the crew who helped to bring the Lancaster home all received Conspicuous Gallantry Medals, an unusually high number of awards of this decoration. Sergeant Hazard died with his Flight Engineer and Navigator when their Lancaster crashed in a flying accident in Yorkshire less than a month after the Milan incident and Pilot Officer Gates died when the Lancaster in which he was flying, with another crew, crashed when returning from Dortmund on 5th May 1943; the two air gunners in the crew appear to have survived the war.


NORTH AFRICA: The Germans launched its famous offensive on the Allies at Kasserine. 5.Panzerarmee (von Arnim) forced the retreat of the US 2nd Corps (Fredenhall) inflicting very heavy losses. The 10. and 21.Panzerdivisions attacked the Combat Command A of the US 1st Armoured Division at Faid Pass, and the Afrika Korps survivors attacked the French and Americans on an axis from Gafsa to Feriana to Kasserine. The Americans, positioned poorly between Faid and Sbeitla, broke and retreated in disorder as General von Arnim's forces shattered their lines. The Luftwaffe did its best but it could hardly facilitate the task of the Wehrmacht, which missed its strategic reserves.

Twelve Spitfires of the US 308th FS were escorting 9 A-20s, 6 P-39s and 6 P-40s. After one Spitfire returned to base early with a radio problem, the P-40s were attacked by 8 Fw 190s from JG 2. The Spitfires also attacked with 5 of them getting firing opportunities. However, none of the guns fired due to sand jamming them. There had been 2 days of blowing sand and it was not an uncommon problem. By the end of the day, fighters from II./JG 2 had claimed 11 Spitfires shot down with Oblt. Kurt Buhligen of 4./JG 2 again having a mulitple kill day with 4 Spitfires. Two other pilots from 4 Staffel, Lt. Lothar Werner and Ofw. Kurt Goltzsch each claimed 2 Spitfires destroyed.

A Ju 88D-1/trop belonging to 1(F)./122 was attacked north of Cap Bougeron by 2 Hurricanes of RAF No. 253 Sqdrn from Jemapes. RAF Sgt. Coran Perry Ashworth shot down the Junkers 20 miles north of Cap Bougeron. The entire crew went missing.

WESTERN FRONT: 6 out of 10 Mosquitoes accurately bombed Tours railway yards without loss.