This day in the war in Europe 65 years ago

[Njaco]

5 March 1943

EASTERN FRONT: Von Manstein's attack continued as elements of 4.Panzerarmee mauled the retreating Soviet forces west of Izyum. However the attack could not be forced over the Donets River as the ice near Izyum was breaking up, preventing bridging operations. German troops advanced to Kharkov and Byelgorod.

GERMANY: The Battle Of The Ruhr: The British opened their night-time bombing offensive - as per the 'Casablanca Directive' - with a raid on Essen and the Krupp Works in the Ruhr area by 422 twin and four engined bombers. With the heavy attack on the Ruhr main city of Essen, the RAF Bomber Command started an air offensive against the Rhine-Ruhr area which was to last 4 months. Between this date and the middle of July, Bomber Command delivered concentrated attacks against all of the major industrial cities of the Ruhr.

157 Lancasters, 131 Wellingtons, 94 Halifaxes, 52 Stirlings and 8 Mosquitoes went to Essen. 14 aircraft were lost. It was on this night that Bomber Command's 100,000th sortie of the war was flown. A new combination of RAF bombing aids and techniques were used to devastating effect on Essen, the home of Krupps. The use of 'Oboe' blind-bombing system and H2s navigation and bombing radar enabled targets to be marked with some accuracy by the Pathfinder force. About 160 acres of factory space were destroyed, causing damage which in some cases would take years to repair. The only tactical setback to this raid was that 56 aircraft turned back early because of technical defects and other causes. 3 of the 'early returns' were from the 8 Oboe Mosquito marker aircraft upon which the success of the raid depended but the 5 Mosquitoes which did reach the target area opened the attack on time and marked the centre of Essen perfectly. The Pathfinder backers-up also arrived in good time and carried out their part of the plan. The whole of the marking was 'blind' so that the ground haze which normally concealed Essen did not affect the outcome of the raid. The Main Force bombed in three waves - Halifaxes in the first wave, Wellingtons and Stirlings in the second and Lancasters in the third. Two thirds of the bomb tonnage was incendiary and one third of the high explosive bombs were fused for long delay. The attack lasted for 40 minutes and 362 aircraft claimed to have bombed the main target. These tactics would be typical of many other raids on the Ruhr area in the next 4 months. Reconnaissance photographs showed 160 acres of destruction with 53 separate buildings within the Krupps works hit by bombs. A map from Essen shows the main area of damage to have been between the Krupps works and the city centre. The local report states that 3,018 houses were destroyed and 2,166 were seriously damaged. The number of people killed is given in various reports as between 457 and 482; at least 10 of these were firemen. If the higher figure is correct, the previous record number of people killed in an air raid on Germany - 469 in the 1000 bomber raid on Cologne in May 1942 - was exceeded. Small numbers of bombs fell in 6 other Ruhr cities.

7 aircraft were sent minelaying in the Frisian Islands without loss.

MEDITERRANEAN: In Italy, RAF Liberators, under operational control of US 9th Bomber Command, bombed the harbor at Naples during the night. All operations by 9th Bomber Command were then suspended for 7 days so the crews could rest.

NORTH AFRICA: JG 77 recorded the first loss of their new Bf 109G-6s.

WESTERN FRONT: A Ju 88A-5 of Blindflugschule 4 took off from Kastrup and soon suffered an engine failure. When it reached an altitude of 10 meters, it stalled and crashed into the Oresund approximately 100 meters north of Hammers Kudthus, killing the crew of 4.

 

[Njaco]

6 March 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Convoy battle SC-121 was fought. uboat.net - U-boat Operations - Convoy Battles Convoy SC-121 with the American escort group A3 (Cdr Heineman) consisting of the cutter 'Spencer', the destroyer 'Greer', the British corvettes 'Dauphin' and 'Dianthus' and the Canadian corvettes 'Rosthern' and 'Trillium' were heading to the UK. In the convoy is also the rescue ship "Melrose Abbey". The convoy initially avoids the patrol lines Burggraf and Wildfang but then runs into U-405. The convoy has a lot of stragglers who have difficulties in keeping up with the convoy due to the bad weather. The escort group A3 is in bad shape also, taking up the escort of SC-121 only a few days after the disaster of ON-166. Most of the escort vessels have problems with their equipment and need urgent repairs or even dry-docking. Before dark a sharp course change is ordered in an attempt to shake off the boats but without result: U-566 and U-230 make contact and the latter sinks one ship in the night. This event goes unnoticed in the heavy gale and the rescue ship is not warned. One merchant ship recovers survivors but in doing so becomes a straggler himself and this ship is sunk towards morning by the U-591.

EASTERN FRONT: Red Army troops captured Gzhatsk, between Vyazma and Rzhev.

Oblt. Hans Beisswenger, Staffelkapitaen of 6./JG 54, shot down 2 Russian LaGG-3 fighters near Lake Ilmen. However while attacking a third, his Bf 109G-2 "Yellow 4" was rammed by the Soviet ace Starshii Leitenant Ivan Kholodov (26 victories) of 32 GIAP VVS. Kholodov successfully baled out but Beisswenger crashed to his death. "Beisser" Beisswenger was credited with 152 victories in over 500 missions. He recorded all but one of his victories over the Eastern Front. Also from JG 54, Georg Munderloh went missing in action.

Another Experte was lost when Gerhard Hubner a 20 victory pilot with JG 52 was killed in action against the Soviets.

NORTH AFRICA: Feldmarschall Rommel, with a mixed German / Italian force, launched an expected attack on the Mareth Line near Medenine, Tunisia. There were 4 thrusts by Rommel toward Medenine, which were repulsed by the Britsh Eighth Army. It was concieved as the second phase of a counter-attack which began with the Battle of Kasserine Pass last month. The Desert Fox could not even surprise the Allies for they had broken his coded messages and seen his tanks on the move. Allied strengths had quadrupled in the last 10 days, and this gave Eighth Army a decisive strength on the battlefield. Rommel had no more than 160 tanks against his enemy's 400 and with 3 fighters wings operating from forward airfields, the Allies had air superiority. 35 Allied planes strafed and bombed installations in the Mareth Line as Rommel's sttack was defeated. When the attack began, Montgomery was waiting in well-sited defensive positions. The British had time to camuouflage a line of AA guns across Rommel's path. Cool British gunners held their fire until the panzers were within close range of the hidden guns, then loosed a holocaust of armour-piercing shells. The Germans were soon pinned down and subjected to a withering assault from tanks and the air. The British used only one squadron of tanks at Medenine, but their AA guns cost Rommel 52 of his panzers. Rommel renewed the attack in the afternoon and, once again, failed to make any headway against the thick defenses. By the end of the day Rommel had less than 100 tanks left. The British had blunted the attack and in doing so may have found the tactic that could stop the panzers: massed artillery and AA fire combined with air raids.

1(F)./122 sent a sortie to the Bone-Oran area and one Ju 88D-1/Trop failed to return in the vicinity of Algiers. The Junkers was intercepted by RAF No. 48 Sqdrn Spitfires about 20km from Cap Djinet and crashed into the sea. The crew was seen to have bailed out but Oblt. Alois Kiefer and 3 others were missing.

WESTERN FRONT: Fifteen B-24s from the US 44th and 93rd BG flew a diversionary raid on a bridge and U-Boat facilities at Brest while 71 B-17s of the US 1st BW were dispatched against the power plant, bridge and port area at Lorient. 3 B-17s were shot down by Fw 190s of III./JG 2.

 

[Njaco]

7 March 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: All day on the 7th U-228, U-230, U-409, U-591 and U-634 keep contact with Convoy SC-121 but the gale makes any successful attacks impossible.

EASTERN FRONT: Von Manstein redirected 4.Panzerarmee westward and now attacked northeast from around Krasnograd in an attempt to link up with SS Panzerkorps. A He 111 belonging to 4(F)./122 crashed on take-off from Sarabus and 4 were killed.

WESTERN FRONT: Uffz. Hans-Joachim Fast of 2./JG 26 was killed in a flying accident. He had destroyed only 5 Allied aicraft during his short combat career.

3(F)./122 at Schipol reported the following strength: 8 Ju 88D-1s, 4 Ju 88D-5s and a single Fw 58C-2.

14 Wellingtons and 6 Halifaxes laid mines in the Frisians. 2 aircraft lost.

 

[Hugh Spencer]

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[Njaco]

8 March 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The weather improves over Convoy SC-121 and the boats of the newly formed gruppe Ostmark make contact. In the morning U-527's attack but misses the convoy. In the evening U-190, U-527, U-591 and U-642 each sink a straggler.

In an attempt to improve communications security, German U-Boats began operating with a fourth rotor on their Enigma equipment. This created some problems for the Allies but the code breakers were able to break the new system with minimal effort.

EASTERN FRONT: As the jaws of von Manstein's pincer attack began to close on the Red Army forces outside Kharkov, Soviet troops took Sychevka between Rzhev and Vyazma. Lt. Udo Cordes of 9(Eins.)./KG 3, under foul weather conditions, was able to destroy 5 locomotives.

GERMANY: 170 Lancasters, 103 Halifaxes and 62 Stirlings attacked Nuremberg, 8 aircraft lost. This distant raid had to be marked by a combination of H2S and visual means. The Pathfinders had no moon to help them and, although there was no cloud, they found that haze prevented accurate visual identification of the target area. The truth was that both marking and bombing spread over more than 10 miles along the line of the attack, with more than half of the bombs falling outside the city boundaries . This result would be typical of raids carried out beyond the range of Oboe during this period. Nuremberg reports that more than 600 buildings were destroyed and nearly 1,400 were damaged, including the M.A.N. and Siemens factories. Railway installations were also hit. Figures given for the dead vary from 284 to 343. Sergeant D.R.Spanton, a mid-upper gunner in a 7 Sqdn Stirling, had a fortunate escape on this night. After his aircraft crossed the English coast on the return flight, Spanton realised that he was the only man in the plane. The remainder of the crew, a new crew in this Pathfinder squadron, had baled out earlier, possibly because of suspected fuel shortage, and the pilot left the plane flying on automatic pilot. Spanton had not heard the order. He parachuted safely over Kent and the empty Stirling later crashed into the Thames estuary. The remainder of the crew, presumably thinking they were parachuting over France, had actually come down in the sea and were all drowned. Sergeant Spanton went on to fly a further 12 operations but his plane was lost on the night of 24/25 June 1943 in a raid on Wuppertal and the presence of his name on the Runnymede Memorial probably indicates that he died in the sea on that occasion.

MEDITERRANEAN: Northwest African Strategic Air Force B-17s and B-24s attacked shipping between Tunisia and Sicily, claiming the destruction or the heavy damage of several motor vessels.

NORTH AFRICA: Fighters of the North African Tactical Air Force flew several recon and patrol missions along the British 1st Army battlefront while Western Desert Air Force P-40s and Spitfires hit the rear of columns attacking Medenine from the west.

During the morning, 4 Spitfires of the US 307th FS / 31st FG took off from their Le Kouif base to fly a recon mission over the front. At 09:35 hours they were bounced by at least 5 Fw 190s from 4./JG 2. At the moment the Germans attacked, the American formation was re-forming and Lt. Woodlief Thomas had slowed down to return to his position as wingman to Lt. Jerry Collinsworth. Lt. Collinsworth recalled the early moments of the combat;

"Unknown to any of us, at least 3 Fw 190s were coming up off the 'deck' from behind to attack us....I was just barely past Woody (Thomas)when I heard guns and upon looking toward him I discovered he was already on fire and, without uttering a word, he crashed to the ground about 500 feet below."

Thomas had fallen victim to 4./JG 2's Staffelkapitaen, Oblt. Kurt Buhligen. Buhligen recorded the victory as occuring at 09:38 hours, about 35km northwest of II./JG 2's base, Kairouan. Two of the Spitfire pilots (including Lt. Collinsworth) tried to escape by flying into cloud, but the American formation leader, Lt. Merlin Mitchell, became engaged in a low-level, turning dogfight with a few of the Fw 190s. However he was outnumbered and was shot down by Oblt. Buhligen, Lt. Lothar Werner or Uffz. Heinz Schulze, all of whom made claims for Spitfires at low-altitude. Meanwhile Lt. Collinsworth was dogfighting with Uffz. Erich Engelbrecht. Uffz. Engelbrecht tried to escape his pursuer and flew towards Kairouan but did not make it back to base. He was caught by Lt. Collinsworth and tried to Split 'S' at about a height of 50 feet and slammed his Fw 190 'White 1' into the ground at 350mph. Uffz. Engelbrecht perished in the crash. Uffz. Engelbrecht had just turned 23 and had shot down 2 aircraft in Tunisia. Uffz. Alfred Sonntag also fell victim to the US Spitfires and was probably shot down by Lt. Mitchell. Uffz. Sonntag was flying Fw 190A-4 'White 7' and was wounded. Lt. Mitchell survived the combat and was captured by the Germans. He spent some time with II./JG 2 at Kairouan and was photographed sitting at a table with Oblt. Buhligen and other pilots from JG 2.

WESTERN FRONT: Sixteen B-24s of the US 2nd BW raided Rouen while 67 B-17s of the US 1st BW attacked the marshalling yard at Rennes escorted by 3 squadrons of Spitfires along with the new P-47s from the US 4thFG, making their first appearance of the war. The Fw 190s of I. and III./JG 26 led by Hptm. 'Pips' Priller, attacked the Spitfires while II./JG 26 led by Hptm. 'Wutz' Galland intercepted the bombers. Hptm. Prillers fighters successfully attracted the escorts while Gallands fighters tore into the bombers. The fierce head-on attack immediately sent 2 of the lead Liberators down in flames, one destroyed by Ofw. Willi Roth. Thirteen B-24s eventually dropped 39 tons of bombs on Rouen, considerably disrupted by the well executed attack of the German fighters as 54 B-17s hit the target at Rennes dropping about 135 tons of bombs. Uffz. Peter Crump, after his first pass at the bombers, narrowly avoided colliding with the falling bombs of the bombers. 3 bombers were shot down along with 2 RAF Spitfires. The 2 Gruppen of JG 26 lost 3 Fw 190s in the action.

16 Mosquitoes went to railway centres at Tergnier and Aulnoye in France and at Lingen in Belgium. 1 Mosquito was lost.

4 Mosquitoes went to the Ruhr and 16 Wellingtons were minelaying in the Frisians. No losses.

 

[Njaco]

9 March 1943

EASTERN FRONT: Fighting around Kharkov intensified as the SS Panzerkorps of General Hausser advanced on the city from the west and north while the Soviet 25th Guards Rifle Division held Taranovka against determined attacks by the 48.Panzerkorps to the south.

NORTH AFRICA: Feldmarschall Erwin Rommel departed Tunisia for Germany. He met with Mussolini in Rome then with Hitler. Hitler, fearing that his 'best general' would be defeated in Tunisia, recalled Rommel, leaving von Arnim in charge of the Axis forces in Africa. Rommel would never return to that theatre.

GERMANY: 142 Lancasters, 81 Halifaxes and 41 Stirlings attacked Munich, 8 aircraft were lost. The wind caused this raid to be concentrated on the western half of Munich rather than on the centre of the city but much damage was caused. 291 buildings were destroyed, 660 severely damaged and 2,134 less seriously damaged. These included many public buildings - 11 hospitals, the cathedral,4 churches and 14 'cultural' buildings for example but also 3 wholesale and 22 retail business premises were completely destroyed and no less than 294 military buildings were hit, including the headquarters of the local Flak brigade, which was burnt out. The most serious industrial damage was at the BMW factory where the aero-engine assembly shop was put out of action for 6 weeks. Many other industrial concerns were hit, including 141 back-street-type workshops which were destroyed. The detailed Munich reports show that 208 people were killed and 425 injured. The dead included - 2 party officials on duty, 10 soldiers, 1 Hitler Youth boy serving at a Flak site, 2 policemen and 4 foreigners. The local Flak fired 14,234 rounds of ammunition - 2,314 of 105mm, 8,328 of 88mm and 3,592 of 20mm. 7 night fighters were reported as being on duty in the Munich area but only one bomber, unidentified because of its explosion in the air, was shot down over the city.

WESTERN FRONT: 15 Mosquitoes bombed the Renault works at Le Mans and scored direct hits. 1 Mosquito was lost. 8 Mosquitoes went to the Ruhr and 62 aircraft laid mines off Kiel and in the Frisians. 3 Wellington minelayers were lost.

 

[Njaco]

10 March 1943

EASTERN FRONT: One of the more outstanding young pilots of III./SG 2 'Immelmann' on the Eastern Front, Oblt. Helmut Fickel, flew his first mission near Poltawa.

Rommel arrived in the Ukraine from Rome and was summoned to take tea with the Fuhrer where he did his best to convey the gravity of the situation in Tunisia. He begged Hitler to allow the evacuation of the Axis troops to Italy where they could be re-equipped for the defense of Europe. Hitler refused to listen. Hitler accused his once-favorite soldier of 'pessimism' and ordered him on sick leave until he was ready to lead a hypothetical attack on Casablanca. Rommel had a similar response from Mussolini yesterday. Il Duce was worried about the effect on Italian opinion should Tunisia fall and offered Rommel another division. The offer was refused.

GERMANY: 2 Mosquitoes went to Essen and Mulheim.

MEDITERRANEAN: Allied bombers raided Salerno.

NORTH AFRICA: There was heavy fighting at Ksar Rhilane, southest of Mareth, Tunisia. LeClerc's Free French troops fought off determined Axis attacks which were heavily supported from the air. B-17s bombed El Aouina airfield and the La Marsa landing ground, destroying several parked airplanes and hit the town of Gafsa. Fighters escorted the B-17s and carried out numerous recon missions.

Thirty-six P-38s from the US 1st FG escorted bombers and were involved in combat with 15 Bf 109s. Hptm. Friedrich-Karl Muller of Stab I./JG 53 shot down a Lightning for his 108th victory and 3 minutes later Uffz. Alfred Scharl of 2./JG 53 also claimed a P-38.

7 pilots, including Hptm. Hans-Jurgen Westphal and Fw. Emil Babenz, formerly of the disbanded 11./JG 26, were transferred to JG 53 with Fw. Babenz posted to 1./JG 53.

NORTHERN FRONT: An Fw 190A-3 belonging to 14 (jabo)./JG 5 was slighly damaged in a RAF bombing raid on Petsamo.

WESTERN FRONT: A RAF Beaufighter took off for a patrol of the Bay of Biscay. It was piloted by the Free French pilot Max Guedj, DFC, who had adopted the nom de guerre of Lt. Maurice to safeguard his Jewish family remaining in France. His navigator was F/L Charles Corder. They were on their 71st operation together. Over the Bay they found, attacked and destroyed a Ju 88. However return fire from the Junker's gunner severly damaged the Beaufighter. Guedj was wounded during the attack and communications was disabled. With the situation appearing hopeless, Corder crawled forward to assist Guedj where he was able to get a radio bearing and gave Guedj a course to their base in Cornwall, 180 miles away. One of the 2 engines had failed and Guedj had difficulty keeping control, forcing him to fly a few feet above the sea. Just before they reached the English coast, the second engine caught fire which soon spread to the cockpit. Corder transmitted an SOS and fired distress flares to attract attention of those ashore. As they approached Cornwall, it was clear that the aircraft had either to ditch in the heavy seas or try to clear the cliffs. Guedj just managed to clear the cliffs by a few feet before making an emergency landing as the second engine finally failed. Corder's navigation had been so accurate that they managed to crash-land on their own field at Predannack. For their actions in recovering the aircraft, Guedj would be the first French airman to recieve the DSO.

The US 4th FG flew another mission in their new P-47C Thunderbolts. Aircraft-to-aircraft communication proved impossible because of VHF radio malfunctions in the Thunderbolts.

20 Lancasters and 15 Stirlings went minelaying over a wide area from Biscay to Swinemunde in the Baltic. 2 Lancasters were lost.

 

[Hugh Spencer]

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[Njaco]

11 March 1943

EASTERN FRONT: General Hausser of the SS Panzerkorps reached Kharkov. This city of ruins, liberated only a month ago by the Red Army, was once again threatened by the Germans. Geneal Hausser who, against Hitler's orders, extricated his panzers from the then doomed German garrison in the city, had led his men back to crush the Soviet Third Tank Army and established himself at the approaches to the city. He sealed off the city and was preparing to attack.

Lt. Wilhelm 'Willi' Batz of JG 52 scored his first victory while the Staffelkapitaen of 4./JG 52, Ofw. Willi Nemitz was awarded the Ritterkreuz. Ofw. Nemitz, who had the nickname 'Altvater' (Old Father) because of his age - 32 years old - had 54 kills against the Allies at this time.

GERMANY: 152 Lancasters, 109 Halifaxes and 53 Stirlings attacked Stuttgart, 11 aircraft were lost. The raid was not successful. The Pathfinders claimed to have marked Stuttgart accurately but the Main Force was reported to have been late arriving. The first use by the Germans of dummy target indicators was also reported. Most of the bombing fell in open country but the south western suburbs of Vaihingen and Kaltental were hit. 118 buildings, nearly all houses, were destroyed, 112 people were killed and 386 were injured. The only industrial damage reported was to a small packing store at the Bosch factory.

NORTH AFRICA: In Tunisia, US fighters escorted medium bombers and attacked guns, vehicles and tanks in the Sedjanane, Jefna and Bedja areas.

UNITED KINGDOM: A Doriner Do 217E, held in the beam of a searchlight, was attacked by a Beaufighter of RAF No. 219 Sqdrn and eventually crashed at High Grange Farm, Great Stainton near Darlington. The crew all baled out and were captured, two of them injured and were detained in the Military Hospital and 2 were detained at the Police Station in Stockton. A Ju 88A-14 from 9./KG 6 was shot down by fire from a Beaufighters and crashed into the sea off Blyth. All the crew were killed.

A fighter bomber raid took place on Hastings, Sussex.

WESTERN FRONT: 11 Stirlings and 3 Lancasters laid mines in the Frisians and the River Gironde without loss.

 

[Hugh Spencer]

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[Njaco]

12 March 1943

EASTERN FRONT: Heavy fighting was still reported in Kharkov as the Germans cleared the Russians from the city. The Germans released mobile forces from the city fight and drove south in an attempt to cut off Soviet forces southwest of the city. Further to the north, the Germans abandoned and the Red Army occupied Vyazma as Heeresgruppe Mitte continued its limited withdrawls to shorten their front. The pilots of 7./JG 26 around Leningrad were ready for operations and began flying missions. No enemy fighter contact was reported.

GERMANY: 158 Wellingtons, 156 Lancasters, 91 Halifaxes, 42 Stirlings and 10 Mosquitoes attacked Essen. 23 aircraft lost. This was another very successful Oboe-marked raid. The centre of the bombing area was right across the giant Krupps factory, just west of the city centre, with later bombing drifting back to the north western outskirts. Photographic interpretation assessed that Krupps received 30% more damage on this night than on the earlier successful raid of 5/6th March. Nearly 500 houses were also destroyed in the raid. The number of people killed is variously reported between 169 and 322 with 198 probably being the most accurate figure, made up of 64 men, 45 women, 19 children, 4 soldiers, 61 foreign workers and 5 prisoners of war. German records say that one third of the bombs dropped on this night did not hit Essen and that 39 people were killed in other towns with Bottrop just north of Essen being the worst hit but these towns were all close to Essen and there was often no clear division between overlapping built up areas. During the RAF raid on Essen, Hptm. Manfred Meuer, Staffelkapitaen of 3./NJG 1 shot down 4 RAF bombers to bring his score to 23 victories.

NORTH AFRICA: Preparations of the British Eight Army in Tunisia for a flanking attack began. In an attempt to outflank the Mareth Line, Montgomery moved the 2nd New Zealand Division and the 8th Armoured Brigade south from Medenine opposite Wilder's Gap.

Northwest African Air Force B-17s bombed the docks and marshalling yards at Sousse. B-26s pounded supply dumps and scored near misses on bridges at Enfidaville while B-25s bombed shipping between Tunisia and Sicily. Fighters escorted the bombers and carried out attacks on ground targets, destroying several vehicles in the Pichon area and south of Pont-du-Fahs. RAF Wellingtons bombed the Tunis docks during the night.

Lt. A. A. Davis of the US 31st FG downed one Fw 190 and damaged another. The same day Lt. Mosby damaged a Fw 190.

UNITED KINGDOM: FW190 fighter bombers raided London.

WESTERN FRONT: US 8th AF Mission No. 42: 72 B-17s were dispatched by the 1st BW against the Rouen-Sotteville marshalling yards. The bombers dropped 156.5 tons of bombs on the target. There were no losses and no claims on this mission. Good fighter escort was a major factor in this no-loss mission. 18 B-24s of the US 2nd BW flew a diversionary raid with no losses or claims. The US 4th FG flew 43 sorties in their Spitfire Mk Vs and flew a fighter sweep. One Spitfire was shot down near St. Omer although 3 Spitfires were claimed by pilots of JG 2.

12 Mosquitoes bombed an armaments factory at Liege and scored direct hits. 1 Mosquito was lost.

9 Stirlings were minelaying in the Frisians without loss.

 

[Njaco]

13 March 1943

EASTERN FRONT: Hitler, while visiting Heeresgruppe Mitte's HQ in Smolensk, narrowly avoided assassination, in a plot called 'Operation Flash'. Back in the summer of 1941, Major General Henning von Tresckow, a member of General von Bock's Heeresgruppe Mitte, was the leader of one of many conspiracies against Hitler. Along with his staff - Lt. Fabian von Schlabrendorff and 2 other conspirators, both of old German families who believed Hitler was leading Germany to humiliation - Tresckow had planned to arrest the Fuhrer when his visited the Army Group's HQ at Borisov in the Soviet Union. But their naivete in such matters became evident when Hitler showed up surrounded by SS bodyguards and driven in one of a fleet of cars. They never got near him. The second attempt was to be made during a luncheon, but Hitler and Feldmarschal von Kluge were seated next to one another and Tresckow feared hitting his commander. This day Hitler planned to fly back to Rastenburg, Germany from Vinnitsa. A Stopover was planned at Smolensk, during which the Fuhrer was to be handed a parcel bomb by an unwitting officer thinking it was a gift of liquor for 2 senior officers at Rastenburg. All went according to plan and Hitler's Fw 200 transport plane took off - the bomb was set to go off somewhere over Minsk. At that point, co-conspirators in Berlin were ready to take control of the central government at the mention of the word 'Flash'. Unfortunately, the bomb never went off at all - the detonator was defective. The detonator for the bomb, a British Plastic C, failed to ignite due to its sensitivity to low temperatures.

Helmut Brunke of JG 51 was killed in action. The fighter pilot had 8 victories against the Allies.

GERMANY: The German Army High Command issued the preliminary orders for Unternehmen 'Zitadelle' - the plan to eliminate the Soviet held salient centered on Kursk.

MEDITERRANEAN: Hptm. Heinrich Setz, Gruppenkommandeur of I./JG 27 was killed in action. Hptm. Hans-Joachim Heincke was named acting Gruppenkommandeur. But the most serious loss for JG 27 this day was Lt. Wilhelm Crinius of 3./JG 27, who was shot down by a RAF Spitfire off the Tunisian coast becoming a prisoner of war. At the time of his capture, Lt. Crinius had 114 victories against enemy aircraft.

NORTH AFRICA: Northwest African Air Force B-25s were sent against shipping northeast of Bizerte but failed to locate a target. US fighters hit positions and troop movement in the Mareth Line area. 34 P-40s of the US 57th FG flew top cover and fighter sweeps and engaged about 25 Bf 109s in combat. The 57th claimed 4 Bf 109s destroyed but lost 4 planes including 3 pilots.

Lt. Ernst-Wilhelm Reinert of II./JG 77 had a very successful day in the skies over the Mareth Line. In the morning he destroyed a P-40 and in the afternoon he destroyed 5 P-39s. In total JG 77 wiped out 7 P-39s while the experienced US 33rd FG was reduced from 75 to 13 fighters and withdrawn to Morocco. In spite of their much higher losses, the Allies managed to increase the number of aircraft in Tunisia from 600 in January 1943 to 1,500 in mid-March 1943.

Oblt. Siegfreid Freytag, Staffelkapitaen of 1./JG 77 was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of II./JG 77.

NORTHERN FRONT: The Finnish Air Force received the first 16 Bf 109G-2 fighters purchased from Germany. They were a considerable improvement to the Finnish fighter plane inventory.

WESTERN FRONT: US Eighth AF Mission No. 44: 78 B-17s of the US 1st BW were dispatched against the Rouen-Sotteville marshalling yards again. Due to bad weather, the bombers were recalled before they left England. 28 B-24s of the US 2nd BW were dispatched on a diversionary mission over the North Sea but were also recalled.

51 Wellingtons and 17 Lancasters laid mines between Lorient and Kattegat. 3 aircraft lost.

 

[Njaco]

14 March 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: A six day series of sea battles began. Convoys 'HX 229' and 'SC 122' were attacked by a large wolfpack of 20 German U-Boats. Through B Dienst, the Germans had enough intelligence to find the convoys and sink 21 ships. Almost half of the U-Boats participating in this, "The Biggest Convoy Operation of the War - Against HX 229 and SC 122" - as it is titled in the Germany Naval History - scored results and only one U-Boat was lost. The German claim was for 32 ships sunk totaling 136,000 tons, comparing with the British record of only 21 ships but aggregating 141,000 tons plus the A/S trawler 'Campo Bello'. The British Admiralty Monthly A/S reported, "The Germans never came so near to disrupting communication between the New World and the Old as in the first twenty days of March 1943."

EASTERN FRONT: Major Hubertus von Bonin's III./JG 52 moved from Nikolayev to Kertsch IV.

MEDITERRANEAN: In Italy during the night, RAF Liberators under the operational control of the IX Bomber Command, hit the harbour at Naples.

The submarine HMS 'Turbulent' was lost with all hands (62 casualties). She may have been mined or the victim of a depth charge attack by a Ju 88 and the Italian destroyer 'Arditi' in the Bay of Naples or mined somewhere along the east coast of Sardinia.

NORTH AFRICA: Weather cancelled all missions except Northwest African Air Force fighter recon in the Enfidaville-Sfax area and between Tunisia and Sicily. Fighters flew cover and swept over the battle area. The US 85th and 87th FS of the US 79th FG flew their first combat mission when 12 P-40s escorted 11 B-25s on a mission against the Mareth Line.

WESTERN FRONT: 13 Wellingtons were minelaying in the Frisians without loss.

 

[Njaco]

15 March 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The Canadian owned, British registered CPR passenger liner SS 'Dutchess of York' 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: The Germans recaptured the city of Kharkov after bitter street fighting. A special communique from Hitler's HQ last night claimed that 3 picked divisions of Waffen SS - the 'Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler', the 'Totenkopf' and the 'Das Reich', strongly supported by the Luftwaffe - had retaken the city in an encircling attack from the north and west. One of the first actions of the German troops on entering Kharkov was the murder of 200 people in a hospital. Afterwards they set fire to the building. The German successes stemmed from the counter-offensive launched by von Manstein on 22 February when he caught the Russians by surprise while they were overextended in their great advance to the west following their victory at Stalingrad. North of Kharkov, a new German attack was developing against Byelgorod, the fortress town on the railway to Kursk and there was every indication that the Germans intended to try and recapture Kursk.

After achieving his 47th victory while flying a Fw 190A-4, Fw. Otto Kittel of 2./JG 54 made an emergency landing 60 km behind Russian lines. After landing on an open, icy field, he immediately set out for some woods he saw in the distance. Sitting in the woods for a short break, he searched his pockets and found 3 'drops' and 2 cigarette packets but no matches. He also had a gun, a clock and a compass. In his haste to leave his landing site, he had forgotten his supplies and his gloves. Bitterly cold and underclothed, he crossed the frozen Ilmen Lake and after 3 days without food, reached the German lines.

At StG 1, Oblt. Gustav Pressler was made Geschwaderkommodore in place of Oblt. Walter Hagen.

NORTH AFRICA: In Tunisia, B-25s, escorted by P-40s of the US 79th FG (the group's first operation in the theatre) bombed Zarat. Fighters also flew strafing and bombing raids against ground targets. Northwest African Strategic Air Force B-26s with fighter escort, attacked the landing ground at Mezzouna. B-25s followed with an attcak on the same target. Fighters of the Northwest African Tactical Air Force flew recon over the battle area as the units of the US II Corps prepared to attack east from the Gafsa area. In the Mediterranean, B-17s with fighter escort, hit shipping off northern Tunisia.

After II./JG 2 had 150 kills for a loss of 18 aircraft, the unit began to withdraw from the North African theatre and took its Fw 190s to France.

Lt. Cobb of the US 31st FG claimed a Bf 109. Surprisingly, Lt. Cobb observed the Messerschmitt crash-land and the German pilot, wearing khaki shorts, got out and waved.

WESTERN FRONT: 11 Venturas bombed La Pleine airfield in Brittany. 1 Ventura was lost in the sea.

 

[Hugh Spencer]

16th March 1943
16 Mosquitoes attacked railway workshops at Paderborn, nearly 200 miles inland from the coast, and scored direct hits. 1 'Mossie' lost.
12 Wellingtons went minelaying in the Frisian Islands without loss.

 

[Njaco]

16 March 1943
EASTERN FRONT: Armoured Waffen SS units of Heeresgruppe Sud (von Manstein) finished the recapture of Kharkov. Kharkov changed hands for the third time in the war as German forces destroyed organized resistance in the shattered city. Meanwhile further north, Red Army forces captured Kholm and Zharkovskiy, as Heeresgruppe Mitte continued its withdrawl.

The Staffelkapitan of 9./JG 3, Lt. Wilhelm Lemke, destroyed a Russian LaGG 5 to bring his score to 100 kills. Lt. Udo Cordes of 9(Eins)./KG 3, again under foul weather conditions, destroyed 6 locomotives and a complete fuel train.

NORTH AFRICA: Montgomery's Eighth Army began probing the approaches to the Mareth Line as it prepared to open its main offensive in Tunisia. General Montgomery made no attempt to follow up his recent success at Medenine. The Mareth Line was his objective and no one doubted this was going to be a tough nut to crack. P-40s flew fighter-bomber operations against German positions as British ground forces conducted limited attacks preliminary to the main assault against the Mareth Line.

Further north General George S. Patton, new commander of US II Corps, assembled his staff for a last briefing in a dimly lit schoolroom that served as II Corps HQ. Patton's message left his officers speechless;

"Gentlemen, tommorrow we attack. If we are not victorious, let no man come back alive."

At 57, Patton was already a legend among the American soldiers. He successfully used a combination of showmanship, bravado, and severity to galvanize the sloppy Americans into a trim and effective fighting force. The British Command still harboured doubts that the Americans were capable of mounting a major offensive against the Axis so II Corps was tasked with drawing the Axis forces away from the Mareth Line while Montgomery tried to break through it.

The objective for II Corps was a string of towns and hill masses beginning at Gafsa, 180 miles south of Tunis and 105 miles northwest of Mareth, where the British Eighth Army was pounding Rommel's line. The US advance began that night. At first, the Americans met almost no resistance, arriving at Gafsa. The Italian garrison had pulled out and retreated into the hills beyond El Guettar.

 

[Njaco]

17 March 1943
EASTERN FRONT: The Gruppenkommandeur of JG 54, Hptm. Hans Philipp reached the 200 kill mark, becoming only the second Luftwaffe pilot to reach this score behind Hermann Graf at this time.

GERMANY: Oblt. Horst von Riesen was appointed Geschwaderkommodore of KG 1 in place of Major Heinrich Lau.

WESTERN FRONT: Major Martin Kastner's II./KG 40 moved from Soesterberg to Gilze Rijen and in late May 1943 began conversion to Me 410 destroyers.

NORTH AFRICA: In Tunisia, P-40s flew scramble and fighter-bomber missions and sweeps over Sedjenane, Cap Serrat and the Sidi Nsir area and attacked ground forces east of Gafsa.

Spearheaded by Major General Orlando Ward's US 1st Armoured Division, Patton's II Corps took Gafsa but were denied the satisfaction of victory when the Axis forces withdrew without a fight. Urging on his tankers and their attached 60th Regimental Combat Team, Patton was soon raging at the enemy's alliance with "General Mud"; heavy rains stopped his tanks and trucks for two days.

The British continued to probe the Mareth Line defenses during the night. On one such mission the 201st Guards Brigade ran into a minefield and then got involved in hand-to-hand fighting with the Germans. The 6th Battalion of the Grenadier Guards lost 24 officers and 300 men in this struggle.

 

[Hugh Spencer]

18th March 1943
12 Venturas attacked an oil refinery at Maasluis but their bombs just missed the target. 12 further Venturas turned back from raids to targets in France. No aircraft were lost.

 

[Njaco]

18 March 1943
GERMANY: Reichsmarschall Goring summoned the aircraft manufacturers Professor Willy Messerschmitt, Ernst Heinkel and Claude Dornier to a conference and accused them of their inability to develop a fighter to counter-act the RAF Mosquito. He decided that a special anti-Mosquito unit must be formed and started searching for the appropriate officer to lead the group. The seeds of a little known Luftwaffe unit, JG 50, were born.

During the morning, Lt. Heinz Knoke and Lt. Dieter Gerhardt of I./JG 1, practiced a new tactic for the defending German fighters. Flying Bf 109s loaded with a 100lb bomb, the Leutenants practiced dropping the bombs on a sack being towed by a Ju 88 off Heligoland. Lt. Gerhardt's third bomb scored a direct hit and it was decided that the next time the Americans sent bombers to Germany, they would be in for a surprise.

It didn't take long for an oppourtunity. US Eighth AF Mission No. 45 was 76 B-17s of the US 1st BW and 27 B-24s of the US 2nd BW sent against the submarine yards at Vegesack and the Bremen Vulkan Schiffbau shipbuilding yards on the Weser near Bremen, dropping 268 tons of bombs on the target. This mission marked the first successful combat use of automatic flight control linked with bombsights.

The pilots of I./JG 1 at Jever - including Lt. Knoke and Lt. Gerhardt who were unable to load their Bf 109s in time with bombs - were ordered to scramble and intercepted the bomber formations. Lt. Knoke led his flight in a head-on attack and badly damaged a B-24 from the US 93rd BG. Banking around, Lt. Knoke continued to attack until the Liberator exploded. It was Lt. Knoke's 5th kill. Lt. Gerhardt destroyed his first B-24 off Heligoland. Shortly after the B-24 fell from the sky, Lt. Gerhardt was shot down into the sea. He managed to bail out but died of his wounds, floating in his liferaft. The U-Boat pens were heavily damaged from the raid, destroying 7 U-Boat hulls and demolishing much of the shipyard.

EASTERN FRONT: Von Manstein's attack came to a close as the 'Grossdeutchsland' Division attacked Byelgorod northeast of Kharkov and the spring thaw and its accompanying sea of mud took over. During von Manstein's offensive, the overextended Red Army suffered 40,000 casualties and lost at least 600 tanks and the Germans succeeded in stabilizing the southern half of the Eastern Front. However the blow was nowhere near as devastating as the attacks in the summer of 1941. The Soviet Army was coming of age and able to fight with the Germans on a more level field.

Hermann Kiworra of JG 52 was killed in action. He had downed a total of 27 enemy aircraft during his wartime flying career.

Fw. Otto Kittel of 2./JG 54 reached German troops. After he returned to his Gruppe, he was promoted to Oberfeldwebel and recieved the German Cross In Gold.

NORTH AFRICA: Elements of Patton's US II Corps finished capturing Gafsa and advanced toward El Guettar.

On the British battlefront in front of the Mareth Line, Montgomery put his plan of attack into action. The Mareth Line ran from Wadi Zigzaou - a deep trench 22 miles from the sea - to the Matmata hills. The Wadi and the Matmata Hills were formidible barriers but a stretch of open desert called the Dahar lay west through a narrow pass, the Tebaga Gap, toward El Hamma and Gabes. The line was built by the French - against the Italians in Lybia - and consisted of minefields, anti-tank ditches, barbed wire and carefully concealed artillery positions stretching from the sea to the Matmata Hills. Although told Dahar was impassable, Monty's men had found a way with the Long Range Desert Group which had patrolled through Wilder's Gap, past Tebaga and into the El Hamma plain.

The Wadi Zigzaou defenses were manned by the Italians who had the 164th Light Division on one side of them and the 19th Light Division on the other. The 15.Panzerdivison was 5 miles behind the wadi with 50 panzers.

The attack was a combination of frontal attack on the line and a flanking movement west of the Matmata Hills. The plan called for XXX Corps - Monty's 'Right Hook' - to attack on the eastern flank with 3 divisions to draw Rommel's reserves to this part of the line. The New Zealanders and other units - the 'Left Hook' - would sweep around to the west to break through the German line behind the Matmata mountains. Montgomery had amassed 27,000 men of the 2nd New Zealand Division and attached units and 200 tanks on the southern flank of the Eighth Army. Monty felt he was ready and with the Americans starting their show, his would begin.

 

[Njaco]

19 March 1943
UNITED KINGDOM: An unsuccessful night raid was made on Norwich, England.

EASTERN FRONT: German troops of the 'Grossdeutchsland' Division reached Byelgorod but were still battling with Soviet resistance in the northern approaches to Kharkov.

The pilots of 7./JG 26 encountered the Russian Air Force when they engaged LaGG-3s near Leningrad. No fighters were lost on either side in this engagement. But another Eastern Front Geschwader did lose a pilot when Fw. Helmut Friese of 7./JG 52 was killed in combat. He had shot down 8 enemy aircraft.

WESTERN FRONT: A night-fighter belonging to 11./NJG 3 ditched in the North Sea off Hanstholm. The Ju 88C-6 sank and the crew drowned. Oblt. E. Hosel abd radio operator Obgefr. A Kaffl were found washed ashore near Thyboron and were laid to rest in Lemvig cemetary. Obfw. P. Keyer was found washed ashore in Norway and laid to rest in that country.

NORTH AFRICA: In Tunisia, the 2nd New Zealand Division - Montgomery's 'Left Hook' - began moving in a 200 mile march toward Ksar Rhilane in preparation for Monty's attack on the Mareth Line. With numerous wadis along their way, the advance soon narrowed to a one tank front. Soon the hills gave way to soft, powdery sand which sank the trucks up to their axles. The long column crawled slowly northward, leaving a wake of billowing dust. The Germans took notice.

Whilst at anchor in port at Tripoli, the destroyer HMS 'Derwent' was hit by a Motobomba (circling torpedo) launched by an Italian aircraft. She was beached with her engine room flooded and although salvaged and returned to England, she was never repaired. Chief Officer George Preston Stronach evacuated the fuel and ammunition laden SS 'Ocean Voyager' after it was bombed and braved flames to save 4 men.