This day in the war in Europe 65 years ago

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24 June 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: 'U-200' (Type IXD2) was sunk southwest of Iceland by 2 depth charges from a British Liberator aircraft (Sqdn. 120/H). 67 dead (all crew lost). The dead included 7 members from the German special force "Brandenburg" unit.

'U-119' (Type XB) was sunk in the Bay of Biscay northwest of Cape Ortegal, Spain by ramming and depth charges from the British sloop HMS 'Starling' ( CO was the famous Commander Walker RN).

'U-194' (Type IXC/40) was sunk in the North Atlantic southwest of Iceland by a homing torpedo from an American Catalina aircraft (VP-84/G). Previously it had been recorded that 'U-194' was sunk south of Iceland, by depth charges from a British Liberator aircraft (Sqdn. 120/H). This attack, however, resulted in the sinking of 'U-200'.

'U-449' (Type VIIC) was sunk at 1600hrs on 24 June, 1943 in the North Atlantic, northwest of Cape Ortegal, Spain by depth charges from the British sloops HMS 'Wren', 'Woodpecker', 'Kite' and 'Wild Goose'.

EASTERN FRONT: The Russians retreated from Kupyansk on the Oskol River east of Kharkov. Lt. Walter Nowotny of 9./JG 54 destroyed 10 Russian aircraft during the day.

GERMANY: 251 Lancasters, 171 Halifaxes, 101 Wellingtons, 98 Stirlings and 9 Mosquitoes attacked Wuppertal, 34 aircraft lost. This attack was aimed at the Eberfeld half of Wuppertal, the Barmen half of the town having been devastated at the end of May. The Pathfinder marking was accurate and the Main Force bombing started well but the creepback became more pronounced than usual. 30 aircraft bombed targets in more western parts of the Ruhr; Wuppertal was at the eastern end of the area. These bombing failures were probably a result of the recent run of intensive operations incurring casualties at a high level. However, much serious damage was again caused to this medium sized Ruhr town. The post-war British survey estimated that 94% of the Elberfeld part of Wuppertal was destroyed on this night and Wuppertal's own records show that more bombs fell in Elberfeld than had fallen in Barmen on the last raid. 171 industrial premises and approximately 3,000 houses were destroyed; 53 industrial premises and 2,500 were severely damaged. Approximately 1,800 people were killed and 2,400 injured.

There was a dramatic incident in Gelsenkirchen, 20 miles north of Wuppertal when an RAF 4 engined bomber crashed into the hall of a building which had been taken over by the Wehrmacht. The bomber blew up 'with a terrific explosion'. A German officer, 13 soldiers, the caretaker of the building and 5 Dutch trainee postal workers were killed and 2 more soldiers died later.

4 Mosquitoes went to Duisburg and 4 Stirlings minelayng in the River Gironde without loss.

MEDITERRANEAN: 36 B-25s (10 of the 445th BS, 12 of the 446th BS ) took off to bomb the Olbia Venafiarita air drome in Northern Sardinia. 36 P-38s of the US 82nd FG were escort. The field, taxi strip and dispersal area were well covered. Five fires were seen as the formation left the target. One flak position was silenced in the northwest corner. Ten to twelve Bf 109's and MA-202's with yellow spinners were seen above the target. 4 aircraft were destroyed on the ground and one attacking aircraft was shot down by S/Sgt. Joseph C. Kovis. 2nd Lt. Louis Curdes, USAAF, 82nd FG, 95th FS shot down an Italian Mc.202 over Golfo Aranci, Sardinia.

The United States naval vessel Tug YT-211 was damaged by a storm in the North African area.

1(F)./122 was relieved at Ottana by 3(F)./33 and transferred to Montpellier/South France for rest and refit. The last elements of 1.(F)/122 departed Sardinia about 10 days later. A Me 410A-1 belonging to 2(F)./122 was shot down by a Spitfire from RAF No. 111 Sqdn after a chase south of Cape Passero.

Lancasters of No. 5 Group Bomber Command returned to base after a remarkable mission which took them to the shores of Lake Constance to bomb the Zeppelin factory at Friedrichshafen on the night of 20-21 June, then to Bilda, in Algeria from whence, after a day's rest, almost all of the original force of 60 went on to attack the Italian naval base at La Spezia on the way home. Eight remained in Algeria awaiting repair. La Spezia had to be bombed blind as its defenders covered the harbour with a dense smokescreen. "Shuttle" bombing was an interesting development and certainly confused the enemy's defences, but it was unlikely to be used regularly because of the difficulties of servicing Lancasters in North Africa.

NORTH AMERICA: From a Boeing B-17 flying at 40,200 feet, Lt. Col. W.R. Lovelace, M.D., made the highest parachute jump ever made in the United States.

UNITED KINGDOM: The Luftwaffe attacked the North-East of England during the night. Eight IB clusters and seventeen HEs including four of 1000kg fell over widespread areas encompassing Brunswick Avenue, Holderness Road and Mytongate. Residential, industrial and railway property damage also widespread. 51 fires were started and 23 people were killed. The first anti-personnel, or butterfly bombs were dropped, insignificant looking weapons with great destructive power if handled or disturbed. They were so small that they could get into any crevice. although there were about 100 casualties, including 23 dead, there was not a serious incident created through inquisitive people handling anti-personnel missiles. The casualties came from high explosive bombs and other causes. Central Hull was one target, Bond Street, Jarratt Street, Albion Street, Savile Street were also hit. The Royal Institution, long the centre of much of Hull's cultural life, was destroyed. The main fire station also suffered. 1,000 houses were damaged, 400 seriously.

WESTERN FRONT: Four German sail planes belonging to Fl.Pl.Kdo. A 7/XI were destroyed by fire near Lønstrup. The fire in the hangar, owned by "Dansk Svæveflyveunion", was observed at 02:30 hours in the morning. Luftwaffe rented the hangar and used it to hangar three single seat and one double seat sail planes used for training. A team of Luftwaffe soldiers had been training on 23/6 and had just left for Frederikshavn in the evening. The hangar was therefore unmanned as it was only used when the weather was fit for sail flying. When the Danish police searched the tomb it became clear that the fire had been started on purpose as the remains of a fire was found next to the Kranish. The Danish police investigated the matter but those responsible for the fire were never caught.

25 June 1943

EASTERN FRONT: The Russians retreated from Kupyansk on the Oskol River east of Kharkov. The Soviets attacked east of Kharkov and below Soblüsselburg (Leningrad front), and claimed that the Luftwaffe had started big petrol fires in a raid on Astrakhan.

The Jewish ghetto at Czestochowa, Poland was annihilated and its inhabitants sent to Auschwitz after an abortive attempt at resistance.

GERMANY: US VIII Bomber Command Mission Number 67: 275 B-17s made scattered attacks on targets of opportunity in NW Germany when primary targets at Bremen and Hamburg were obscured by clouds. 167 aircraft bombed targets and claimed 62-11-40 Luftwaffe aircraft but lost 18 B-17s. Of 7 YB-40 escort bombers dispatched only 4 were able to accompany the formations to the target area.

The Ruhr and Rhineland areas of western German were declared war zones and Dr. Robert Ley, a senior German government official, ordered the evacuation of over a million women, children, invalids and old people. The action followed the stepping-up of the Allied air offensive against Germany, with the RAF unloading about a thousand bombs a night on the Ruhr alone. The raids were said to have demoralized soldiers whose families were in the bombed areas.

This week's "shuttle" bombing of the Friedrichshafen radar factory in southern Germany added a new dimension to Allied air power, soon to be further intensified by the US Eighth Army Air Force now based in Britain. But what the Goebbels-controlled newspapers referred to as "the Battle of the Ruhr" still pre-occupied the German authorities, who said that the Rhineland and the Ruhr were "in the front line". A German radio broadcast said that the damage caused by the RAF "simply goes beyond human imagination". In his diary, Goebbels recorded his view that the British aircraft industry and the RAF have wrested air supremacy from the Luftwaffe.

214 Lancasters, 134 Halifaxes, 73 Stirlings, 40 Wellingtons and 12 Mosquitoes attacked Gelsenkirchen, 30 aircraft lost. This was the first raid to Gelsenkirchen since 1941 when it had been one of Bomber Command's regular oil targets, although, being in the middle of the Ruhr, this town had often been hit when other targets were attacked. The target was obscured by cloud and the Oboe Mosquitoes, for once, failed to produce regular and accurate marking since 5 of the 12 Oboe aircraft found that their equipment was unserviceable. The raid was not a success. Dusseldorf reported 24 buildings destroyed and 3,285 damaged but 2,937 of these suffered only superficial blast damage. 20 industrial premises were hit and 4 of them suffered total production loss but no large fires were involved and the loss in production lasted for no longer than 2 weeks. 16 people were killed.
Bombs probably fell on many other Ruhr towns. Solingen, nearly 30 miles from Gelsenkirchen, recorded 21 people killed and 58 injured on his night.

MEDITERRANEAN: Allied air attacks on Sicily increased as raids concentrated on airfields around Messina. North-west African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) Wellingtons bombed docks and marshalling yard at Olbia, Sardinia during the night. On the following day B-17s dropped over 300 tons of bombs on Messina, Sicily, bombing the marshalling yard, the W and N part of town, warehouse area and part of commercial quay.

UNITED KINGDOM: At Chequers, Churchill had been watching films taken during RAF raids on Germany. Suddenly, he sat up and said to his guest, the Australian cabinet minister Richard Casey:

"Are we beasts? Are we taking this too far?" Casey answered: "We didn't start it. And it was them or us."

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General Dwight David Eisenhower was appointed to command US Land Forces in Europe.

Black American troops ran rioting through the streets of Bamber Bridge, Lancashire last night, firing back at American military police who had fired on them. One man was killed and four wounded, including a white American officer. The trouble began in the Old Hob Inn, when American military police attempted to arrest a group of black GIs as it closed. A fight broke out as they walked back to the US Eighth Army Air Force camp. The MPs drew their guns and fired, hitting one man, and later returned in two trucks. The GIs armed themselves and there was a gun battle into the small hours. Local people ran for cover.

A Hurricane fighter crash-landed in a field known as Quarry Field, on Milfield Desmesne Farm, 1 mile W of Milfield Village at about 10.18. The plane had developed engine trouble. The pilot was uninjured.

WESTERN FRONT: A JU 88A-4 belonging to 10./KG 30 touched down in a barley field belonging to "Nykro" farm, southwest of Hjallerup. It skidded along and ended up lying across Lyngdrup bæk brook. The emergency landing was due to engine failure, and the Ju 88 was 20% damaged and the crew was unharmed.

33 aircraft were sent minelaying in the Frisians and off French ports. 1 Lancaster was lost.

26 June 1943

EASTERN FRONT: 'U-20' was attacked by an escort with depth charges. The boat unsuccessfully tried to attack a Soviet submarine hunter off Tuapse, but was attacked itself with 8 depth charges and then kept submerged by aircraft for 4 hours. Afterwards the boat had to return to base due to mechanical failures.

An uprising of Jews in the Czestochowa ghetto was crushed as Germans brought overwhelming force against the town. The Germans captured thirty grenades, eighteen pistols and two rifles.

Soviets attacked east of Kharkov and below Soblüsselburg (Leningrad front), and the Luftwaffe started big petrol fires in a raid on Astrakhan the previous night. The Finnish High Command stated that after heavy artillery preparation Red Army units had penetrated Finnish positions near Rukajaervi, but claimed that the ground had been regained in counter-attacks. Russian aircraft, without loss, made heavy night attacks on the rail junction of Orsha (E. of Smolensk) and the port of Taman, on the Kerch peninsula loading to the Crimea. It was announced in Moscow that in the week June 19-26 hundreds of Soviet aircraft had been in action almost every night against enemy aerodromes and rail communications, some 600 enemy planes being believed destroyed or damaged on the ground.

GERMANY: Two bomber pilots, Major Werner Baumbach and Major Hajo Herrmann of III./KG 30 and currently operating NJVK over Berlin, finally gained an audience with Reichsmarschall Goering to advance a new idea. They discussed the RAF's night bombing raids and how they could defend against the bombers. Major Herrmann's proposal was to illuminate the German cities so that they could be seen from the air and to equip special night-fighter aircraft for their interception. These aircraft would be fast single-engined Bf 109s and Fw 190s equipped with 85 gal. fuel tanks for extra endurance. The tactic called for the bombers to be silhouetted against the glowing cities by searchlights or 'Mattscheibe' (ground glass screen) - searchlights playing their beams on the bases of clouds - and have the fighters attack without ground support or communications. This was so the RAF could not listen in and the Luftwaffe pilots could actually see their targets without radar. Goering agreed to this proposal and ordered an experimental commando unit be formed. The bomber pilots quickly rounded up 3 Bf 109s and 9 Fw 190s and their pilots - mostly from Herrmann's experimental unit NJVK - and volunteers that were former bomber pilots and teachers from flying schools. The unit was given the code-name Stab./Nachtjagdversuchskommando Herrmann.

The jet aircraft He 280 V-2 suffered an engine failure and was destroyed in a crash landing.

MEDITERRANEAN: During the night Royal Air Force (RAF) heavy bombers, under IX Bomber Command control, bombed Messina, Sicily. Wellingtons bombed the Bari, Italy oil refinery during the night.

A detachment of the 68th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 44th Bombardment Group (Heavy) based at Shipdham, England began operating from Benina, Libya with B-24s.

At 0955 hours, the 'Toufic Allah' was sunk by 'U-81' with 48 rounds from the deck gun 40 miles WSW of Beirut. At 1410, the 'Nelly' (approx. 80 tons) was sunk by 'U-81' with 30 rounds from the deck gun.

UNITED KINGDOM: Air Marshall Trafford L Leigh-Mallory was given responsibility for drafting air plans for the invasion of the Continent. His deputy was Brigadier General Haywood S Hansell, Jr.

WESTERN FRONT: US Eighth Air Force Mission Number 68: 165 B-17s were dispatched against the Vilacoublay, France air depot. 12 hit the target while 6 hit the secondary target, Poissy Airfield, and 39 bombed Tricqueville Airfield. The bombers claimed 17-5-10 Luftwaffe aircraft and lost 5 B-17s and 14 others were damaged. 5 YB-40 escort bombers took off to accompany the heavy bombers but none were able to complete the attack. At 17:45 hours, the Fw 190s of JG 2 led by Major Egon Mayer met the B-17s over Liseaux and destroyed 5 of them in a few minutes with head-on attacks. An hour later, the Fw 190s of II./JG 26 were caught by surprise by the P-47s of the US 56th FG and within minutes, II./JG 26's Gruppenkommandeur Major Wilhelm-Ferdinand Galland, Oblt. Heinz Hoppe and Fw. Gunther Scholz had bagged one Thunderbolt each. 12 minutes later Major Galland had tacked another P-47 of the 56th onto his scoreboard for his 46th victory. By the end of the day, 7 Thunderbolts and 5 B-17s had been downed, the lone JG 26 loss being a III./JG 26 aircraft downed by the US 4th FG near Dieppe.

Operating from West Malling, RAF No. 315 (Polish) Sqdrn took part in another Ramrod as escort to 12 Bostons on Abbeville airfield along with 10 aircraft from RAF No. 308 Sqrdn. The whole operation went according to plan with no incidents. 12 aircraft of RAF No. 317 (Polish) Sqdrn led by S/LDR. KORNICKI took off for IBSLEY to take part in Ramrod 108 as part of the withdrawal cover wing. Other pilots did photo-attacks and air-to-air firing during the day.

12 aircraft of RAF No. 317 (Polish) Sqdrn led by S/LDR. KORNICKI took off at 0850 hours to take part in Circus 39. They were over Lizard at 0901 hours and saw Typhoons for ahead. They crossed coast at Landeda at when the wing turned left to the target. Bombing was not seen. No enemy aircraft were seen on the ground or in the air.

Resistance fighters led by a British agent, Michael Trotobas, blow up a German locomotive plant.

Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring gave up his duties as commander of Luftflotte 2 in order to concentrate on his duties as Commander-In-Chief South.

4 Mosquitoes went to Hamburg and 3 to Duisburg. 16 Wellingtons went minelaying off Lorient and Brest, 1 aircraft lost.

27 June 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: 'U-518' was strafed and attacked with four depth charges by the British Sunderland aircraft W6005 (RAF No. 201 Sqdn., pilot F/O Brian E.H. Layne, RNZAF) west of Cape Finisterre. 'U-518' was damaged so badly that she had to return to base and subsequently survived another air attack 3 days later while inbound.

EASTERN FRONT: One of the last great Jewish ghettos in Poland at Lwow has now been destroyed. S Lt-Gen Fritz Katzmann rounded up the remainder of this city's Jews, an estimated 20,000, and shipped them off to camps, mainly to the extermination centres of Auschwitz and Belzec. But the SS came up against stiff resistance from those Jews strong enough to fight. They fought back with smuggled Italian handguns, and in the end 500 of them took to the sewers. The Germans were unaware of the Jews' secret weapon. In the last days, they released thousands of lice infected with deadly spotted fever, which they had saved up for the final reckoning.

'U-18' encountered a Soviet submarine in the Black Sea, but neither boat attacked.

MEDITERRANEAN: USAAF bombers attacked German airfields at Eleusis and Hassani, near Athens. B-24s hit airfields at Kalamaki and Eleusis, Greece, damaging buildings, runways, and parked airplanes and claimed 7 fighters shot down. During the night, Wellingtons bombed the marshalling yard and port area of Naples, Italy.

US HQ 57th Fighter Group and it's 64th, 65th and 66th Fighter Squadrons transferred with P-40s from Tunisia to Malta.

RFA 'Abbeydale' damaged by 'U-73'. 'U-73' was then depth charged in the Mediterranean by escorts. Due to heavy damage, the boat had to return to base.

'U-81' fired a spread of two torpedoes at the 'Michalios' and hit her with one torpedo in the stern. The stern broke off, causing the ship to sink within two minutes three miles west of Latakia. The U-boat had missed the vessel, misidentified as the Greek steam merchant 'Livathos' (1667 tons), at 1457 hours with a first spread of two torpedoes. The U-boat was then attacked by shore-based guns in the Mediterranean off Latakia

UNITED KINGDOM: The British Chiefs of Staff circulated the paper "German Long-Range Rocket: Evidence Received from All Sources", concluding that German rocket development was taking place at Peenemünde, with manufacturing to start soon in the nearby factory area.

WESTERN FRONT: RAF No. 315 (Polish) Sqdrn provided rear cover for 16 Group Beaufighters attacking a convoy off Hague.

15 Lancasters and 15 Stirlings went minelaying in the Frisians, off Pallice and in the River Gironde. 1 Lancaster lost.

28 June 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: 'U-172' fired a spread of two torpedoes at SS 'City of Vernon' (Master Malcolm Douglas Loutit),from convoy OS-49, and observed a hit in the forward hold. The ship settled and sank by the bow at 07.07 hours south-southeast of St. Paul Rocks. The U-boat misidentified her victim as 'Cornish City'. The master, 43 crew members and eight gunners were picked up by the Brazilian coastal tanker 'Aurora M'. and landed at Recife on 4 July.

EASTERN FRONT: A rigger named Stahlsmeier was sent to 14(Jabo)./JG 5 in Finland. He was to fit ETC 501 bomb racks to the unit's Fw 190s. SC 250 and SC 500 bombs were used by aircraft of 14(Jabo)./JG 5. A reasonably simple modification was done to convert the Fw 190 fighters to fighter-bombers. They were given the ETC 501 rack under the fuselage, round peices of metal were installed inside the inner edges of the wheel walls to secure the rack and the wheel doors were removed. Some of the Jabos were fitted with the exhaust of the Fw 190A-5. All of 14(Jabo)./JG 5's Fw 190s had the mid-wing MG FF cannon and associated underwing bulges removed. There were never more than 3 Fw 190A-2s on strength.

GERMANY: 267 Lancasters, 169 Halifaxes, 85 Wellingtons, 75 Stirlings and 12 Mosquitoes attacked Cologne, 24 aircraft lost. The circumstances of this raid did not seem promising. The weather forecast said that Cologne would probably be cloud-covered although there might be a break. The Pathfinders had to prepare a dual plan. The target was cloud-covered and the less reliable sky-marking system had to be employed. Only 7 of tyhe 12 Oboe Mosquitoes reached the target and only 6 of these were able to drop their markers. The marking was 7 minutes late in starting and proceeded only intermittently. Despite all these setbacks the Main Force delivered its most powerful blow of the Battle of the Ruhr. The result was Cologne's worst raid of the war. 43 industrial, 6 military and 6,368 other buildings were destroyed; nearly 15,000 other buildings were damaged. Listed as ' completely destroyed' were : 24 schools, 16 churches, 15 major administrative buildings, 11 hotels, 8 cinemas, 7 post offices, 6 large banks, 2 hospitals and 2 theaters. The cathedral was seriously damaged by high explosive bombs. The casualties in Cologne were 4,377 people killed, approximately 10,000 injured and 230,000 forced to leave their damaged homes. The number of dead was greater than in any previous Bomber Command raid of the war on any target. The 'number of dead' record had thus increased nearly tenfold since the opening of the Battle of the Ruhr over 3 months earlier.

UNITED KINGDOM: A change in the design of the US National Star Insignia applied to US aircraft added white rectangles on the left and right sides of the blue circular field to form a horizontal bar, and a red border stripe around the entire design. This replaces the white star in blue circle insignia.

The prototype Hawker Tempest MK II (LA 602) flies today. With a 2,526-h.p. Bristol Centaurus engine it will be the RAF's most powerful piston-engined fighter. With extra fuel tanks it has a range of 1,640 miles.

MEDITERRANEAN: During the night, Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) Wellingtons bombed the Messina, Sicily marshalling yards and Villa San Giovanni. The following day, 97 B-17s hit Leghorn with 261 tons of bombs severely damaging industrial and railway installations; B-25 Mitchells with 25 P-38s for escort, hit airfields near Olbia, Sardinia and Alghero, Sicily, B-26 Marauders attacked the landing ground at Milis, Sardinia, and fighters hit the airfield at Decimomannu, Sardinia.

The US 27th and 71st Fighter Squadrons, 1st Fighter Group transferred with P-38s from Chateaudun-du-Rhumel, Algeria to Mateur, Tunisia. The US 58th Fighter Squadron, 33rd Fighter Group transferred with P-40s from Menzel Temime, Tunisia to Pantelleria Island.

WESTERN FRONT: The US VIII Bomber Command flew Mission Number 69. 185 B-17s and six YB-40s were dispatched against the locks and submarine pens at Saint-Nazaire, France; 158 hit the target between 1655 and 1713 hours local; they claimed 28-6-8 Luftwaffe aircraft; eight B-17s were lost and 57 others were damaged. This mission was escorted partway to the target by 130 P-47s. Fifty other B-17s were dispatched against Beaumont-le-Roger Airfield; 43 bombed the target between 1736 and 1740 hours local; six B-17s were damaged.

Eight aircraft of RAF No. 317 (Polish) Sqdrn did convoy patrol from early morning. At 1825 hours eleven aircraft, again led by S/LDR. KORNICKI, F. took off to take part in a Circus 40.

Hptm. Walter Hoeckner was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of II./JG 1, taking over command from acting Gruppenkommandeur Hptm. Robert Olejnik.

4 Mosquitoes went to Hamburg and 6 Stirlings went minelaying in the River Gironde without loss.

29 June 1943

GERMANY: After making a tour of fighter stations in the West, Reichsmarschall Goering reported,

"To achieve any decisive success against American formations of between 100 and 200 four-engined bombers, the fighter forces must out-number the enemy by 4 to 1. Successful defense against such formations, therefore, requires the commitment of 600 to 800 fighters on each occasion....The morale of the pilots is excellent; their performance, considering their numerical weakness, cannot be stressed too much and the leaders are well up to their task. Provided they receive new reinforcements, the prospects of the day-fighter can be viewed with complete assurance."

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MEDITERRANEAN: Royal Air Force (RAF) heavy bombers hit the airfield at Reggio di Calabria, Italy. Wellingtons during the night raid ferry slips and marshalling yard at Messina, Sicily.

UNITED KINGDOM: The US 548th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 385th Bombardment Group (Heavy) arrived at Great Ashfield, England from the US with B-17s. The squadron will fly it's first mission on 17 Jul 43.

The Defence Committee of the British War Cabinet ordered Peenemünde, Germany to be bombed on the heaviest scale. Recent aerial reconnaissance had identified the area to be a center of rocket research and development.

London reports that Germany is reported to have recalled all U-boats in anticipation of the Allied invasion of Europe.

The award of the Albert Medal was gazetted in London to AB Eynon Hawkins (b.1920), RN, who organized a group of fellow survivors in the water pending their rescue, keeping them from their blazing merchantman and helping two men in trouble.

WESTERN FRONT: VIII Bomber Command Mission Number 70: 108 B-17s were dispatched against the air depot at Villacoublay, France and another 40 against the airfield at Tricqueville, France. Neither groups hit the target due to heavy cloud cover and returned to base. They claimed 0-3-3 Luftwaffe aircraft and 14 B-17s were damaged. Another 84 B-17s were dispatched against the aeroengine works at Le Mans, France. 76 hit the target between 1959 and 2003 hours local. Both of the 2 YB-40s dispatched as escorts were forced to abort. The lack of success of the YB-40's in this and previous missions in Jun 43 convinced Lieutenant General Ira C. Eaker, Commanding General Eighth Air Force, that if the escort bomber was to succeed it must be able to carry bombs and must be endowed with the same flight performance as the B-l7.

The USN and USAAF finally got their acts together and issued a joint instruction, Army-Navy Aeronautical Specification AN-1-9a, dated 29 June, with the effective date of 1 September 1943, specifying the addition of white horizontal triangles to the national star insignia. The whole insignia was to be outlined in red.

16 Wellingtons were sent to lay mines off Lorient and St Nazaire, 1 aircraft lost.

30 June 1943

EASTERN FRONT: The commander of the Polish Home Army, Gort-Rowecki was arrested by the Germans in Warsaw. Bor-Komorowski replaced him.

Preparations were being made in the Ukraine for a massive test of strength between the Red Army and the Wehrmacht. Hitler had planned Operation 'Citadel' to break the stalemate on the eastern front by pinching out the huge Russian salient around Kursk. He amassed a vast army with nearly a million men and 2,500 tanks under the command of General Model and General Hoth. But Stalin, alerted by the "Lucy" spy-ring, built a deep web of defensive positions.

MEDITERRANEAN: During the night over 60 Wellingtons hit the area NW of Cape San Marco, Italy and the marshalling yard and surrounding area at Messina, Sicily. In Sicily the following day, B-17s bombed the airfields at Palermo and Boccadifalco, B-25s hit the airfield at Sciacca, and B-26s struck the airfield at Bo Rizzo. Northwest African Coastal Air Force (NACAF) airplanes sank 2 schooners off of Sardinia and damageed a vessel off the W coast of Italy.

Thirty six B-25s (12 of the 445th) took off to bomb aircraft on the Sciacca airdrome. The visibility was very poor and a number of the crews were unable to see the target. Some hits were reported on the west and east dispersal areas with a large billow of smoke in the southeast area. Four enemy aircraft were seen which did not attack. One was destroyed by the escort. 1Lt Charles D. Lungren of the 447th BS reported,

"A funny thing happened on our way out. We were to bomb our target after the 310th---a difference of some 45 minutes in target times. We were just off the Tunisian coast when the 310th, coming back, flew under us. An ME -109 was trailing them — probably to spot their field if he could. The poor guy didn't see us coming and the first thing he knew he was headed for the big middle of a whole flock of B-25s and P-38s! You could almost hear his tires squealing as he threw on his brakes and made a quick turn around. Last we saw of him, he was leading a big whirlpool of P-38s out to catch him. I never found out if they got him, but his chances were pretty slim!"

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Worried that Italy might defect from the Axis after its defeats in North Africa, the Luftwaffe moved two operational command stations from the Russian front to southern Italy. The move followed Allied air raids on Messina, in Sicily, and Livorno, on the Italian mainland. In London, Winston Churchill talked in a broadcast of Italian speculation about where the coming invasion would land. "It is no part of our business to relieve their anxieties," he said.

UNITED KINGDOM: Aircraft of RAF No. 300 (Polish) Sqdrn which took part in the mining operation of the previous night were flown form Harwell to base. Fourteen sorties of RAF No. 317 (Polish) Sqdrn were made for convoy patrol from early morning.

In the evening the Polish Army Choir gave a concert in Lincoln, by kind permission of his worship the Mayor.

The US VIII Fighter Command became independent of Royal Air Force (RAF) operational control. All fighter groups were placed under control of the 4th Air Defense Wing.

Signposts were to be re-erected in rural areas of Britain, now that the danger of invasion has receded. Tank traps, anti-tank trenches and barbed wire entanglements would be removed where they were no longer necessary. Lord Mottisone said that on a windy day at least ten young women had had their frocks ripped on barbed wire within 300 yards of the House of Lords. Anti-tank blockades in the streets were the cause of accidents.

War production in Britain was at its highest since hostilities began. There were now nearly five million men and women employed in the munitions industries, and output of weapons was at its peak. The biggest of all was the aircraft industry, expanded to 1,600,000 workers, 40% of them women, which was turning out 26,000 planes a year, including 7,000 bombers. Fighting vehicles were being produced at the rate of 7,400 tanks and 24,000 armoured cars this year. It is calculated that 90% of single and 80% of married women of working age are in industry or the auxiliary forces. Over one million people over 65 are working. Average weekly wages reached £7/8/7 in aircraft factories and £6/18/3 for men (£3/9/10 for women) in engineering. But highly skilled piece-workers fitting aero engines can be earning up to £20 a week or more. Hours worked have been reduced from the 70 or more a week in 1940, as accidents and fatigue lowered productivity. The maximum recommended was 55 hours a week for men, 50 for women, with one day off a week and one week's paid holiday a year. Committees were set up to increase efficiency. Twice-weekly broadcasts of Music While You Work raised production by 15% for the next hour.

The British published aircraft losses incurred to date, with Axis losses of 18,031 aircraft and RAF losses of 9,906 aircraft. During June approximately 1,801 RAF Bomber Command aircrew were lost, either POW's or killed in action.

WESTERN FRONT: Total German submarine sinkings of merchant shipping in the Atlantic during the month amounted to 18,000 tons. German submarine losses during the month were 17.

Ju 88A-4 belonging to 4./KG 30 crashed in a field belonging to Thomas Petersen of Perbøl Mark north of Krusaa and was 50% damaged.

RAF Serrate operations - fighter interception by homing onto enemy transmissions, combined with airbourne interception radar to give range indications - began against German night-fighters.

1 July 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: With only a token force of seven U-boats remaining in the North Atlantic now that the "air gap" has been closed, British naval and air forces were being deployed to tackle the enemy in the Bay of Biscay. Substantial damage had been inflicted, and two weeks ago Admiral Dönitz ordered submarines to cross the bay submerged and in pairs. More effective U-boat detection devices, plus Allied ability to read German codes, was still putting the German navy on the defensive, however. A particular target for the Allies were the "milch cows", U-boat tankers which were used for refuelling other boats.

On the night on 1 Jul, 1943, the unescorted SS 'Tutoya' (Master Acácio de Araújo Faria) was hit by one torpedo from 'U-513' and sank by the bow in a few minutes off the coast of São Paulo. The master and six crew members were lost. 17 survivors in a lifeboat and 6 men on a raft made landfall at the coast and a second boat with 7 occupants was towed into the harbour of Santos by a motorboat.

EASTERN FRONT: In preparation for Unternehmen 'Zitadel', many Luftwaffe units were moved into the Ukraine. The fighters of the Stab, I. and III./JG 52 were one of the first ordered from the Black Sea coast.

GERMANY: Messerschmitt designer Kurt Tank at Hannover-Langenhagen flew the first prototype of a specialized two-seat night-fighter of a wooden construction, The Focke-Wulf Ta 154 'Moskito'. Without any armament or equipment, the aircraft reached a speed of 635km/h at 6,000 meters.

Major Werner Streib became Geschwaderkommodore of NJG 1 replacing Oberst Wolfgang Falck.

Hitler addressed his major commanders at his Wolf's Lair headquarters in Rastenburg, briefing them on the upcoming offensive against the Kursk salient. He set July 4 for the offensive to begin. German objectives were to take high ground in front of start positions prior to main attack on the 5th.

MEDITERRANEAN: Royal Air Force (RAF) Halifaxes hit Catania, Sicily railway yards. During the night Wellingtons bombed barracks and a railway station at Cagliari, Sicily.

NORTH AMERICA: The US 3d Antisubmarine Squadron (Heavy), 25th Antisubmarine Wing, based at Ft. Dix Army Air Base, New Jersey with B-24s, ceased flying ASW missions. The 16th Antisubmarine Squadron (Heavy), 25th Antisubmarine Wing, based at Charleston Army Air Field, South Carolina with B-25s, ceased flying ASW missions.

UNITED KINGDOM: Great Britain enjoyed her sixth day without sighting an enemy plane, while Mustangs and Typhoons shot up twenty locomotives in sweeps over Northern France to cap a record month of aerial warfare in which the Royal Air Force alone dropped at least 13,500 tons of explosives on German targets.

This day marked the 3rd Anniversary of the formation of the RAF No. 300 (Polish) Sqdrn, and a celebration was held on the station for the occasion. A presentation of awards was made to flying personnel, a communal lunch was held in No. 3 Hangar, followed by an Exhibition of the work of the Squadron`s mechanics. Following this at 16.00 hours, a performance of "Wloszka Fala" took place in the Airmen`s Institute, and at 18.00 hours a Garden Fete was held on the playing field. No flying took place whatever.

RAF No. 309 (Polish) Sqdrn were drawn up on parade on the airfield to await the arrival of the Polish Air Force Colours made secretly by Polish women in Poland and smuggled by undergrounds service to Britain, and due to be held by the Unit for three months. Colours and escort arrived by air at 1530 hrs and were received with due ceremony. The escort with Colours took up position on the runway, and the Squadron marched past and paid compliments. The colours were then escorted to Squadron Headquarters to be placed in safe custody. Four shipping Recce. sorties carried out along Dutch coast.

A memo by Major General Barney Mc Giles for General Henry H "Hap" Arnold, Commanding General, USAAF, stressed great need for more fighter escort for strategic bombing missions. The present ratio of less than 1 fighter group to 4 heavy bomber groups was held to be completely insufficient and a minimum ratio of 1 to 2 was suggested.
....Eden announced that Empire casualties in first three years of war were 92,089 killed, 226,719 missing, 88,294 wounded and 107,891 captured.

WESTERN FRONT: Due to the success of 1./SAGr 128, there had been a proposal by the General der Luftwaffe beim ObdM for another Fw 190 equipped See-Jagd-Staffel, to be designated 3./128. However, this proposal was never carried out, and 1./SAGr 128, occasionally supported by 8./JG 2, remained the only long-range single-engined German fighter unit operating over the Bay of Biscay.

Over Holland, the fighters of I./JG 1 met American P-47 Thunderbolts for the first time. Lt. Eberhard Burath commented;

"The days passed with defensive patrols, sea recon and repeatedly alarms without contact with the enemy. But on 1 July there was something new in the sky; in the vicinity of Hoek von Holland we met up for the first time with Thunderbolts. From a distance they looked disconcertingly similar to the Fw 190. What they were able to fire from their 8 squirters I frequently came to feel later on."

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During the combat, Fw. Martin Lacha destroyed one of the P-47s, piloted by Col. Arman Peterson, the C/O of the US 78th FG, who had led the group since its formation in the US in May 1942. The American group claimed four Fw 190s, probably got another and damaged five others for the loss of one man.

8./KG 101 based at Cognac was redesignated as the Erg.Sta.(Nacht) SKG 10.

12 Lancasters went minelaying in the Frisian Islands, no losses.

2 July 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The unescorted 'Empire Kohinoor' was torpedoed and sunk by 'U-618' about 250 miles SW of Freetown. Six crewmembers were lost. The master, 72 crewmembers and eight gunners were rescued. The first boat was rescued by destroyer HMS 'Wolverine' and landed at Takoradi. The second boat was rescued by the British merchantman 'Gascony' and the third landed at Lumley Beach, Sierra Leone on 7 July.

At 0008 hours, the unescorted 'Bloody Marsh' was on her maiden voyage, when the ship´s torpedo indicator sounded after detecting the approach of a torpedo from 'U-66'. The master ordered a course change to hard left, but 30 seconds later the torpedo struck the port side at the engine room, destroying the room completely, flooding the compartment and killing one officer and two men on watch below. The hull was ruptured on the port side from midship to the engine room. As the tanker settled slowly by the stern, gradually losing headway, the after gun crew reported a conning tower but could not open fire because the explosion had jammed the gun. The forward gun did not get into action because it could not be brought to bear. Most of the ten officers, 40 men and 27 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in, one 3in and eight 20mm guns) left the ship in four lifeboats and three rafts, with the exception of the armed guard commander and three of his men. 20 minutes after the attack, a second torpedo struck the port side amidships, broke the ship in two and immediately sank the tanker about 75 miles east of Savannah, Georgia. The four armed guards jumped overboard as the water reached the after gun platform. At 06.00 hours, a Navy blimp sighted the survivors and signaled that help was on the way. USS SC-1048 picked them up at 0900 and landed them at Charleston, South Carolina.

'U-543' (Type IXC/40) was sunk in the mid-Atlantic SW of Tenerife by depth charges and a homing torpedo from an Avenger aircraft (VC-58) of the US escort carrier USS 'Wake Island'.

EASTERN FRONT: Submarine "Sch-422" of the Polar Fleet and White Sea Flotilla was mined and then finished by surface ASW ships, close to Maakur lighthouse, in Varde area.

.A Ju 88 of 4.(F)/122 suffered problems with one engine (cause unknown) and was escorted while over the Black Sea by a Do 24. Another Ju 88D-1 of 4.(F)/122 crashed in the Kerch area due to engine failure.

The pilots and crew of III./JG 54 gave up their airbase at Taman and moved to the airfield at Ugrim.

Among the losses for the Luftwaffe on the Eastern Front was Harald Frenzel (8 victories) of JG 3.

MEDITERRANEAN: The US 15th Air Force launched a series of heavy raids against airfield in southern Italy in preparation for the invasion of Sicily. US 9th Air Force dispatched B-24 Liberators to bomb airfields at Lecce, Grottaglie and San Pancrazio Salentino. Jafu Sud-Italien responded by sending fighters from 10./JG 3 and II./JG 27 to intercept. Engaging the bombers near Lecce, several Experten added to their scores. From 10./JG 3, Lt. Otto Wessling destroyed 2 Liberators to bring his score to 64, Oblt. Franz Daspelgruber gained his 46th kill and getting their first kills were Uffz. Hans-Ulrich Jung and Lt. Hans Zwick. Another B-24 was destroyed by Fw. Uwe Krais for his 15th. Hptm. Ernst Boerngen of 5./JG 27 reached a score of 25 after bringing down 2 Liberators while single victories were credited to Lt. Karl-Heinz Kapp of Stab II./JG 27, Fw. Heinrich Steis and Lt. Josef Torfer from 4./JG 27, Lt. Willy Kienrsch of 6./JG 27 and Uffz. Karl Kampe of 5./JG 27. Despite all this claiming, only 4 bombers were lost.

In Sicily, Ninth Air Force B-25 Mitchells hit the airfield and surrounding area at Sciacca. P-40s, escorting the bombers to Sciacca, shot down a fighter and damaged one. The fighters of 5./JG 77 engaged the escorting Kittyhawks in the morning near Sciacca. Two P-40s were lost. Claiming credit for destroying the P-40s were Lt. Egon Graf von Beissel for his 2d kill and gaining first kills were Uffz. Friedrich Walter and Uffz. Schubert. At about the same time, Lt. Armin Kohler shot down a B-25 for his 23d kill.

Northwest African Strategic Air Force Wellingtons hit Palermo and Cagliari during the night and Northwest African Tactical Air Force B-25s hit Castelvetrano during the day.

WESTERN FRONT: The US 8th Air Force was ready to start operating over 1000 heavy bombers from English air fields for the first time in the war.

3 Mosquitoes went to Cologne and 2 to Duisburg. 32 aircraft went minelaying in the Frisians and off Brittany ports without loss.

3 July 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Two German submarines were sunk by RAF aircraft: Type IXC submarine 'U-126' was sunk about 385 nm (713 km) west of the German submarine base at Saint-Nazaire, France by depth charges from a Wellington Mk. XII, aircraft "R" of No. 172 Squadron, based at RAF Limavady, County Derry, Northern Ireland. All hands (55 men) in the U-boat were lost. Type VIIC submarine 'U-628' was sunk about 331 nm (613 km) west-southwest of the German submarine base at Saint-Nazaire, France by depth charges from a Liberator Mk. IIIA, aircraft "J" of No. 224 Squadron, based at RAF St. Eval, Cornwall, England. All hands (49 men) in the U-boat are lost.

'U-199' shot down a USN VP-74 Mariner. Around 18.15 hours, 'U-359' and 'U-466' were attacked by a USAAC Liberator west of Oporto, Portugal. The aircraft strafed them and dropped 3 bombs that fell between the boats, which both fired at the aircraft and crash-dived undamaged at 18.26 hours. The Germans had observed AA hits on the bomber and it apparently crashed shortly after the attack, killing its entire crew of 10.

'U-420' was attacked by an RCAF 10 Sqn Liberator and two men were killed (Bootsmann Heinz Grosser, Matrosengefreiter Willi Noeske) with one more wounded when the boat was hit with a Fido homing torpedo. She was severely damaged and arrived at Lorient on 16 July.

EASTERN FRONT: Soviet air attacks on German airfields caused heavy damage and disrupted preparations for the coming offensive against the Kursk bulge. German leaders delayed the opening of the attack by an additional day to recover from the attacks. On the night of the 3rd July German Army sappers cleared and taped paths through some of the minefields, in preparation for Unternehmen 'Zitadel', the Battle of Kursk. Testimony to the expertise of the Großdeutschland engineers was the fact that ten men of the 2nd Engineer Company lifted and made safe a total of 2,700 mines which worked out at a rate of a mine a minute by each man! On the same night the Red Army captured a sapper of the 6th Infantry Division - Private Fermello - after a skirmish, who informed the Soviets of the start time of the offensive which was to be at 3am on 5 July. The Germans' goal during 'Zitadel', was to pinch off a large salient in the Eastern Front that extended 70 miles toward the west. Field Marshal Günther von Kluge's Army Group Center would attack from the north flank of the bulge, with Colonel General Walther Model's Ninth Army leading the effort, General Hans Zorn's XLVI Panzer Corps on the right flank and Maj. Gen. Josef Harpe's XLI Panzer Corps on the left. General Joachim Lemelsen's XLVII Panzer Corps planned to drive toward Kursk and meet up with Field Marshal Erich von Manstein's Army Group South, Col. Gen. Hermann Hoth's Fourth Panzer Army and the Kempf Army, commanded by General Werner Kempf. Opposing the German forces were the Soviet Central Front, led by General Konstantin K. Rokossovsky, and the Voronezh Front, led by General Nikolai F. Vatutin. The Central Front, with the right wing strengthened by Lt. Gen. Nikolai P. Pukhov's Thirteenth Army and Lt. Gen. I.V. Galinin's Seventeenth Army, was to defend the northern sector. To the south, the Voronezh Front faced the German Army Group South with three armies and two in reserve. The Sixth Guards Army, led by Lt. Gen. Mikhail N. Chistyakov, and the Seventh Guards Army, led by Lt. Gen. M. S. Shumilov, held the center and left wing. Stalin was intent on attacking the Germans in a pre-emptive strike but General Zhukov insisted on letting the Germans attack first and wearing themselves down on the defenses he had planned. These defenses were of a scale never seen before for a battle and the Russians immediately had put the military and 300,000 of the local civilian population to work laying a massive array of tank traps, minefields, anti-tank guns and dug in tanks and other defensive positions in anticipation of the German attack. The minefields were specially designed to channel the armored formations into dug in antitank defenses and it was hoped that the Germans would burn themselves out trying to break through the defenses. The Russians without a doubt knew of the impending German offensive with the massive build up of German armor and troops around the salient and through their "Lucy" spy network in Germany and also from ULTRA codes intercepted by the British and passed on to Stalin. It was obvious anyway that this would be the next German point of attack as the "bulge" presented too tempting a target for the Germans to ignore and the Russians saw this as a catalyst to start their own summer offensive.

GERMANY: 293 Lancasters, 182 Halifaxes, 89 Wellingtons, 76 Stirlings and 13 Mosquitoes attacked Cologne, 30 aircraft lost. The aiming point for this raid was that part of Cologne situated on the east bank of the Rhine. Much industry was located there. Pathfinder ground marking was accurately maintained by both the Mosquito Oboe aircraft and the backers-up, allowing the Main Force to carry out another heavy attack on Cologne. 20 industrial premises and 2,200 houses were completely destroyed. 588 people were killed, approximately 1,000 were injured and 72,000 bombed out. Twelve crews of RAF No. 300 (Polish) Sqdrn were briefed for the operations over Cologne, eleven completing the mission, and one aircraft Captained by F/L STADTMULLER, had to abandon the mission due the loss of oxygen through a leak in the distributor, and his bomb load was brought back to base. The remainder pressed home their attacks, and under very favorable weather conditions, reported many fires in the target area on their return to base, the glow of which could be seen for 70/80 miles on the return journey. Another aircraft piloted by F/S LECH, unfortunately had to jettison the bomb owing to the bomb doors not opening when over the target.

The night saw the first operations of a new German unit, Jagdgeschwader 300, equipped with single-engined fighters using the Wilde Sau (Wild Boar) technique. In this, a German pilot used any form of illumination available over a city being bombed - searchlights, target indicators, the glow of fires on the ground - to pick out a bomber for attack. Liaison with the local flak defences were supposed to ensure that the flak was limited to a certain height above which the Wild Boar fighter was free to operate. RAF crews were not used to meeting German fighters over a target city and it was some time before the presence of the new danger was realized. The reports on this night from 4 bombers that they had been fired on over the target by other bombers were almost certainly the result of Wild Boar attacks. The new German unit claimed 12 bombers shot down over Cologne but had to share the 12 available aircraft found to have crashed with the local flak, who also claimed 12 successes.

4 Mosquitoes went to Duisburg and 4 to Hamburg. 14 Stirlings went minelaying in the Frisians, 2 Stirlings lost.

MEDITERRANEAN: B-25s hit the airfield at Comiso, Sicily. P-40s flew escort over Sicily and over Pantelleria Island in the Mediterranean, claiming the destruction of 1 fighter. During the night, Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) Wellingtons attack Olbia, Sardinia and Trapani, Sicily. The following day, B-17s and B-25s hit Chilivani, Italy, and the airfields at Monserrato and Alghero, Sardinia. In Sardinia, fighters hit radar stations at Pula and Alghero, while B-26's bomb the airfields at Milis and Capoterra. In Sicily, Northwest African Tactical Air Force (NATAF) A-20's hit the area around Marsala and airfields at Sciaccay and Trapani.

Thirty six B-25s (12 of the 445th) took off to bomb the airdrome at Alghero. Four large buildings on the west and east perimeter were hit. One fire north of the landing ground and one large fire and column of black smoke were seen at the southeast corner of the field. Two twin engine aircraft in front of the hangar were destroyed by direct hits. Forty two P-38s from the 82nd fighter group were our escorts. The flak was heavy, slight and inaccurate. The formation was attacked by 10 to 12 enemy fighters after leaving the target. Three Bf 109's and one RE-2001 was shot down by the bombers.

Despite their dwindling numbers, the Luftwaffe continued to fight heroically in the Med theater. During the day, fighters from I./JG 77 destroyed 5 P-40s while II./JG 77 attacked B-17s and a roving recon Mosquito. Intercepted by Bf 109s led by Siegfreid Freytag, the Mosquito was shot down, becoming the first of its kind to be destroyed by the Luftwaffe in the Mediterranean.

UNITED KINGDOM: Lieutenant General Jacob L Devers, Commanding General European Theater of Operations, US Army (ETOUSA), in a report to General Henry H "Hap" Arnold, praised the proficiency of the VIII Bomber Command bombardiers but stressed a dire need for high-altitude gunnery training.

Comedian Bob Hope and singer Frances Langford visited the US 78th FG at Duxford.

2 Ju 88D-1s of 3(F)./122 failed to return from a night recce to the area between Eastbourne and the Isle of Wight.

4 July 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The 'Pelotaslóide', escorted by the Brazilian submarine chasers 'Jacuí'
and 'Jundiaí', was hit by two torpedoes from 'U-590' and sank five miles north of Salinas, Brazil.

EASTERN FRONT: In preparation for the offensives at Kursk to start the next day, German forces launched a series of "reconnaissance in force" to drive in the Russian outpost lines. The 2.SS Panzerkorps, 3.Panzerkorps, and the 11.Panzerdivision stormed the Russian positions, making advances through the rest of the day, but the Russians resisted fiercely and slowed the German advances. Hoth's 3.Panzerkorps advanced on the Soviet positions around Savidovka, Alekseyevka and Luchanino. At the same time at Butovo the Soviet 199th Guards Rifle Regiment were attacked by 3rd Battalion Panzer Grenadier Regiment in torrential rain and the high ground around Butovo was taken by 11.Panzerdivision. To the west of Butovo the going proved tougher for the 3.Panzerdivision who met stiff Soviet resistance and did not secure their objectives until midnight. Meanwhile 2.SS Panzerkorps were launching preliminary attacks to secure observation posts for the next days fighting and again were met with stiff resistance until assault troops equipped with flame-throwers cleared the bunkers and outposts. At 2230 hrs the Soviets hit back with a fierce artillery bombardment which, aided by the torrential rain, slowed the German advance. At this time Georgi Zhukov had been briefed on the information about the start of the offensive gained by German prisoners and decided to launch a pre-emptive artillery bombardment on the German positions. German aerial preparations for the Kursk offensive began at 03:00 hours on the morning of the 4 July as the Luftwaffe began its bombardment of the Russian positions followed by an artillery bombardment. At 14.45 hrs Stukas belonging to the five Ju 87D Gruppen of Luftflotte 4 bombed an area around Butovo two miles long and 500 yards deep. The attack lasted ten minutes and as the dive bombers turned for home German artillery and Nebelwerfers opened up on the Red Army positions. The Luftwaffe's participation in Unternehmen 'Zitadel' entailed VIII Fliegerkorps under General Hans Seidemann with 1,000 bombers, fighters and ground-attack aircraft, supporting the thrust from the Byelgorod region to the south. The Luftwaffe planned to screen the Wehrmacht's panzers from the Soviet Il-2 armoured tank-busting aircraft. The thrust from the north would be assisted by 1.Fliegerdivisionen at Orel, led by Generalleutnant Paul Deichmann, with about 700 aircraft. As the panzers advanced, Ju 52s would fly in supplies. Fighetr cover would be four Gruppen of Fw 190s on the northern bulge around Kursk - I./JG 51, III./JG 51, IV./JG 51 and one Gruppe from JG 54. On the southern front would be four Gruppen of Bf 109s, mainly II./JG 3, III./JG 3, I./JG 52 and III./JG 52.

GERMANY: Just after midnight of 3/4 July Major Herrmann led his new 'Wilde Sau' commando unit, Stab./Nachtjagdversuchskommando Herrmann, on its first night mission against RAf bombers heading for Cologne. Taking off with 12 Fw 190s equipped with 66 gal. drop tanks for endurance to intercept bombers heading for the Ruhr, Herrmann realized that the bombers were actually headed for Cologne. This was unfortunate as part of the 'Wilde Sau' plan was to have a flak-free zone over which the fighters could operate - this night's area being over the Ruhr and not over Cologne. Despite this setback, Herrmann ordered his unit to attack the bombers anyway. Flying through heavy flak from friendly ground units, the 'Wilde Sau' destroyed 12 heavy bombers while losing only one of their own. The new tactic was a success.

MEDITERRANEAN: Prime Minister-in-Exile General Wladyslaw Sikorski and other members of Poland's ruling elite die when their plane crashes immediately after takeoff from the airport at Gibraltar. With the Soviet Union and Axis alike potentially benefiting from Sikorski's demise, there would be no shortage of conspiracy theories in the aftermath.

Royal Air Force (RAF) Halifax aircraft bombed the Catania, Sicily, railroad yards during the night. Also during the night, Wellingtons hit Trapani, Sicily and Lido di Roma, Italy. In Sicily, B-17s and B-26s hit the airfields at Catania and Gerbini. B-25's bombed 2 satellite airfields near Gerbini and hit the airfield at Comiso, Sicily. Northwest African Tactical Air Force (NATAF) A-20 and medium bombers hit airfields at Comiso, Trapani, Sciacca, and Castelvetrano. P-40s escorted bombers and convoy and flew sea-search for a missing pilot. Allied fighters claimed 3 Bf 109's shot down. 4 P-40's were lost. The following is an eye witness account of the mission by one of the crew members of the 446th BS:

"For our Fourth of July celebration we were assigned to bomb the Gerbini A/D in Sicily. We had some trouble finding the target and the Germans and Italians sent up plenty of flak. We dropped our bombs and started away from the target, lagging because our plane had been shot up. 10-12 enemy fighters came in to finish us off, but instead of our being finished we got two of them. A 20 mm shell exploded in the pilot's compartment and injured Lt. Axson, our pilot, who fell forward putting the plane into a steep dive. Everybody and everything that wasn't tied down fell in a heap on the floor. The co-pilot, Lt. Coffey, straightened the plane out and brought it to an emergency field on Cape Bon. When we got there we had practically no gas left and we then found out that Lt. Coffey had also been hit and injured, but he had said nothing about it. All in all it was an exciting Fourth."

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James A. Shields, T/Sgt.

There was a successful British commando raid on German military airbases on Crete.

'U-375' attacked Convoy KMS-18B 10 miles north of Cape Tenez, Algeria and sank the 'St Essylt' and 'City of Venice'. The 'City of Venice' was carrying 292 troops of the 1st Canadian Division for the Operation 'Husky', the invasion of Sicily. The master, ten crewmembers and ten troops were lost. HMS 'Honeysuckle', 'Rhododendron', 'Teviot' and 'Restive' rescued 147 crewmembers, 22 gunners, 282 troops and ten naval personnel.

WESTERN FRONT: The Eighth Air Force in England hit three targets on Mission 71. 192 B-17s were dispatched against aircraft factories at Le Mans and Nanes, France. 166 made a very effective attack and claimed 52-14-22 Luftwaffe aircraft. US loses were 7 B-17s with 1 damaged beyond repair and 53 others damaged. Eighty three other B-17s were dispatched against submarine yards at La Pallice, France. 71 hit the target between 1201 and 1204 hours and claimed 0-1-0 Luftwaffe aircraft. 1 B-17 was lost and 1 was damaged. Bombing was extremely accurate.

3 Mosquitoes went to Duisburg and 13 Stirlings went minelaying off La Pallice and in the River Gironde without loss.

5 July 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: A group of 3 inbound U-boats ('U-170', 'U-535' and 'U-536') was attacked by the British Liberator aircraft BZ751 (53 Sqdn RAF/G, pilot F/S W. Anderson, RNZAF) near Cape Vilano, Spain. The boats evaded the first attack and only 'U-536' was strafed in a second because the depth charges hung-up. The leading 'U-536' then gave the signal to crash-dive, but 'U-535' remained surfaced for unknown reasons and had to face the next attack alone. Despite AA hits in the wings, fuselage and tailplane of the Liberator, the boat was straddled by 8 depth charges just abaft the conning tower and sank with all hands. Due to the damages and a wounded crewman, the aircraft immediately had to leave the area and safely reached its base.

EASTERN FRONT: Unternehmen 'Zitadel': After much delay and preparation, the Germans launched their summer offensive against the huge bulge in the front centered around Kursk. The 9.Armee (General Model) was to strike the northern shoulder while the 4.Panzerarmee (General Hoth) and Army Detachment Kempf struck from the south. Many of the German Panzer formations had been reinforced with powerful new weapons. Four new armored fighting vehicles would see action here. The Tiger tank was very heavily armored and carried the feared 88mm gun. The Panther, mounting a long 75mm gun as powerful as the Tiger's 88, was also introduced. Finally, a massively armed and armored assault gun, the Elefant, mounting a long 88mm gun, was also included in the new arsenal to bust through the Russian antitank positions. Finally, the Germans introduced a lightly armored, but powerfully armed (a long 88mm gun) assault gun, called the Nashorn for dealing at long range with the Soviet tanks. Ten minutes before the Offensive was to begin, the Soviets launched their own bombardment with 600 guns, mortars and Katyusha rocket launchers which lasted for thirty minutes. The weight of shells fired during this bombardment was heavier than that fired during the whole of the Polish and French campaigns. A second Russian battery opened up but was ineffectual in disrupting German assembly areas. Some of General Model's troops were caught in the open and could not start their attack until 90 minutes after their scheduled start time. On the northern side of the bulge, 9.Armee opened the attack with an 80 minute barrage. This was followed by an infantry assault by the 23 Corps into the positions of the 148th and 8th Rifle Divisions. Meanwhile, the 41. and 47.Panzerkorps, heavily supported from the air, struck the 15th and 81st Rifle Divisions. None of these attacks gained more than 8 kilometers (5 miles) at a cost of 200 tanks. On the southern side of the bulge, the offensive would be conducted by the 4.Panzerarmee and Army Detachment Kempf. The attacks by 4.Panzerarmee were spearheaded by two very powerful formations - the 48. (nearly 600 tanks) and 2.SS Panzerkorps (over 600 tanks). Both planned to attack along roads which converged on the town of Oboyan and then Kursk. AD Kempf was to attack in the Belgorod area and secure the eastern flank of the offensive. The 'Großdeutschland'
division made the best progress advancing towards its objective of Oboyan forcing the Russian 3rd Mechanized Corps back to the River Pena. A grand total of 119 Panthers of the 10th Brigade went into battle with the 'Großdeutschland' division. 65% of those went out of action, either damaged or destroyed, on the first day. The attacks quickly became bogged down in the extensive mine fields. The 10th Brigade had further problems in that early morning rain had turned their march route into a quagmire. They managed to extract themselves and make limited advances, but failed to reach its first day objective of the Psel River. 2.SS Panzerkorps under the command of Paul Hausser progressed quite well using a tactic known as the "Panzerkiel" which was basically spearheaded by the heavy Tiger I tanks followed up by MK IV and MK III tanks. Hausser's corps was made up of three panzer divisions – the 1st 'Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler' (Adolf Hitler's bodyguard), 2nd SS 'Das Reich' (The Empire) and 3rd SS 'Totenkopf' (Death's Head). Although all three were technically Panzergrenadier divisions, each had more than 100 tanks when 'Zitadel' began. Before the Luftwaffe could launch raids against the Red Air Force, the Soviets launched a pre-dawn raid with more than 400 aircraft against 5 Luftwaffe airfields near Kharkov. At the airfields, the bomber and fighter units were crowding the runways, waiting for the order to take-off. Then German radar units reported hundreds of Russian aircraft heading to the bases. Commanders had all their bombers kept on the ground and cleared the way for Bf 109s to launch. At Mikoyanovka airfield, the fighters of JG 54 managed to get into the air before the Russian aircraft reached the base. Fighters from JG 3 followed. Gaining height, the two Geschwaders descended upon the Russian bombers, fighters and ground-attack aircraft. Soon 120 Russian aircraft went flaming to earth. Lt. Rudolf Rademacher of I./JG 54 claimed 7 shot down and Oblt. Emil Bitsch, Staffelkapitaen of 8./JG 3 destroyed 6 Russian planes. Two pilots with II./JG 3 reached the 150 kill mark. Gruppenkommandeur Major Kurt Brandle downed 4 Il-2s and a Yak-1 while Oblt. Joachim Kirschner, Staffelakpitean of 5./JG 3 reached 150 during one of 9 Russian aircraft shot down. Hptm. Hans-Ulrich Rudel's squadron of 9 tank-busting Ju 87G-1s of 1./StG 2 were assigned to support the 3rd SS 'Totenkopf' . During his first mission, Rudel knocked out 4 Soviet tanks and by evening, his score grew to 12.

"We are all seized with a kind of passion for the chase from the glorious feeling of having saved much German bloodshed with every tank destroyed."

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At the same time, because of Rudel's success, Panzerstaffeln (Tank Destroyer Squadrons) were formed. As evening approached, a final combat was fought between the Fw 190s of Luftflotte 6 and a Soviet bomber force. The German fighters claimed 45 victories. The III./JG 54 was the first to engage and Fw. Hubert Strassl claimed a pair of the big Il-4 bombers. He then downed 2 more from low altitude. Returning to base at Orel, Strassl had claimed a remarkable 15 victories in a single day. The Germans claimed 432 Soviet aircraft destroyed for only 26 of their own.

MEDITERRANEAN: In Sicily, B-24s attacked the harbor, harbor installations, railway yards, and oil storage at Messina while B-25s hit the airfields at Sciacca and Biscari. Royal Air Force (RAF) heavy bombers struck railroad yards at Catania, Sicily.

NASAF Wellingtons bombed the airfields at Villacidro, Sardinia and Catania, Sicily during the night. In Sicily, NASAF fighters, medium and heavy bombers hit main and satellite airfields at Gerbini and radar stations at Marsala and Licata; Northwest African Tactical Air Force (NATAF) light and medium bombers hit Sciacca and airfields at Trapani, Comiso and Biscari.

War Diary of: 1Lt. Daniel R. McDuff, pilot:

"The boys had a very tough mission, raiding the Gerbini Airfields. Some big shot somewhere had his head up and locked and "ordered" that they follow the course he prescribed. It was a honey. They were to approach the target area from the south, going west of it so that, when they got well north of it, a turn to the right would bring them southwest to the target. They were to make a 270° turn to the left after dropping their bombs, fly west a way, then go back off the island to the south the same way they had come in. And it was a long way from the target to the coast! It would be just begging for trouble. And they got it. Shapiro was shot down and crashed on the island---DeMoss, who followed him down to give him what protection he could, said Shap crashed and burned—not a chance to live through it. Bradley, of the 446th, was shot down abut 8 or 10 miles off the coast of Sicily, and several others were shot up pretty bad. Cohagen and his crew took a beating---as did his passenger, Capt. R.W. Manly, who got various and sundry pieces of flak here and there and nearly had the top of one of his fingers torn off. Cohagen landed at Tunis and left him in the hospital there. He is not back yet, but should be in a few days. Apparently there was nothing really serious."

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'U-593' attacked Convoy KMS-18B NE of Cap Bengut and sank the ship of the convoy commodore, the 'Devis'. She had 289 Canadian troops and two British landing crafts (LCTs) on board for the Operation 'Husky', the invasion of Sicily. 52 soldiers were lost. One of the LCTs sank with the ship; the other was damaged but remained afloat. The master, the convoy commodore, six naval staff members, 38 crewmembers, eight gunners and 237 soldiers were picked up by HMS 'Cleveland' and landed at Bougie.

NORTH AMERICA: The first turbojet engine developed for the U.S. Navy, the Westinghouse I9A, completed its 100-hour endurance test.

WESTERN FRONT: 4 Mosquitoes went to Cologne and 4 to Hamburg.34 aircraft went minelaying off French ports and in the Frisians, 1 Stirling and 1 Wellington lost.

6 July 1943

EASTERN FRONT: Unternehmen 'Zitadel' Day 2: By the second day of the Kursk offensive, German troops had penetrated 20 miles into Russian territory, at a high cost on both sides. Major attacks began again midday in the south. The southern pincer of 4.Panzerarmee (Hoth) advanced some 12 miles, with both sides incurring heavy casualties. A small salient containing the 67th and 52nd Guard Rifle Division had developed the previous day between the 48th and 2.SS Panzerkorps. 48.Panzerkorps (the 'Großdeutschland' division in particular) dealt with these units, forcing them to withdraw with serious losses. However, when the advance hit the second echelon positions, GD was stopped cold. Meanwhile, 3.Panzerdivision reached the Psel River only to discover that rain and steep muddy banks made fording the river impossible. This redirected the attacks to the east where elements of the 3rd Mechanized Corp (1st Tank Army) were engaged in heavy fighting and serious losses were sustained by both sides. By the end of the day, the Corps had lost 30% of its armor strength. 2.SS Panzerkorps continued on towards Prokhorovka with the 3rd SS 'Totenkopf' leading the advance and smashing all resistance to the west of the town. 2.SS Panzerkorps ran into the 5th Guard Tank Corps when its attacks resumed. The very formidable formation forced the Russians to engage in a fighting withdrawal. Meanwhile, the 2nd Guard Tank Corp struck the right (eastern) flank of the Germans forcing the 3.Panzerdivision to redirect its efforts on that axis. This sent alarm bells ringing in the Soviet camp and they knew that if 2.SS Panzerkorps broke out, the balance of armor would tip in the Germans favor. They decided to deploy the rest of the 5th Guards Tank Army to destroy the SS armored divisions. Further to the east, Army Detachment Kempf had three of its panzer divisions (6th, 7th and 19th) attacking in a northeasterly direction. The attackers succeeded in pushing back the left flank of the 81st Guard Rifle Divisions, but stopped dead in its tracks after crossing the River Donets upon reaching the backup positions occupied by the 73rd and 78th Guard Rifle Divisions. Several Antitank Gun Brigades were dispatched to the new line. Fighting to the north in the 9.Armee sector was stalemated. The German "Elefant" assault tanks were unable to live up to expectations due to effective Soviet infantry attacks. Soviet armored formations counterattacked forcing the Germans to defend their meager gains of the previous day. The attacks came in uncoordinated and the Germans were able to deal with the attacks. A second day of operations for the Luftwaffe supporting the offensive found 205 Russian planes destroyed, most by JG 51 in the northern sector. Fw. Herbert Strassl of III./JG 51 was promoted to Oberfeldwebel. During the day he downed another 4 Soviet aicraft, the victories coming in 2 missions. III./JG 51 met LaGG-5s and MiG-3s and Strassle claimed 2 LaGG-5s and a MiG-3. Later that afternoon III./Jg 51 again engaged LaGG-5s and MiG-3s. Strassl added on t his scorebard and Oblt. Maximillian Mayerl of 9./JG 51 claimed a LaGG-5 at the same time. By the end of the day. Fw. Herbert Strassl had added 10 planes to his score.

Hptm. Gunther Rall was given command of III./JG 52.

MEDITERRANEAN: In Sicily, B-24s struck satellite airfields at Gerbini and hit the airfields at Biscari and Gerbini while P-4Os escorted bombers and carried out dive-bombing operations. Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) Wellingtons hit Gerbini Airfield and 2 satellites during the night. During predawn hours and throughout the day, light and medium bombers of the NATAF bombed airfields at Biscari, Sciacca, Trapani, and Comiso. NASAF B-17s again hit Gerbini Airfield and 3 satellite fields. B-25s bombed Biscari Airfield. At Biscari the majority of the bombs dropped on the field with excellent results. One JU 52 was hit while trying to take off. The escort was 24 P-38s and Spitfires from Malta furnished a high cover.

Submarine HMS 'Saracen'sank the Italian merchant 'Tripoli' (1166 BRT) near the island of Monte Cristo.

The 'Shahjehan' in Convoy MWS-36 was torpedoed and damaged by 'U-453' NE of Benghazi, Cyrenaica. The ship was taken in tow but sank. One service personnel was lost. The master, 77 crewmembers, 20 gunners and 229 troops (military, naval and RAF personnel) were picked up by HMS 'St Monance' and the river gunboat HMS 'Aphis' and landed at Benghazi.

NORTHERN FRONT: 'U-629' set up an automatic weather station on Bear Island.

WESTERN FRONT: 4 Mosquitoes went to Cologne and 3 to Dusseldorf. 36 aircraft went minelaying off Biscay ports, 1 Lancaster lost.

7 July 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The Battle of the South Atlantic continued as German submarine 'U-185' sinks three merchant ships off the coast of Brazil.

EASTERN FRONT: Unternehmen 'Zitadel' Day 3: In the north, Model's forces concentrated their attacks in the area around Ponyri. 18th Panzer and 292nd Infantry Divisions hit the 307th Rifle division and were initially repulsed. A full day of heavy fighting in the village saw sections of the town change hands several times. By the end of the day, the town was split between the two combatants. Meanwhile, the 41.Panzerkorps struck toward Ol'Khovatka, an area surrounded by dominant high ground, only to be met by elements of the 2nd Tank Army. Both sides suffered serious losses and neither gained their objectives in the stallmate. In the south, Army Detachment Kempf continued to make modest headway against the 7th Guard Army. Four additional infantry divisions were assigned to shore up the Soviet positions. On the other (western) flank, 48.Panzerkorps was attempting to move forward only to be confronted by large tank formations Vatutuin was hoping to attack with. A large salient had developed between 2.SS Panzerkorps right (east) and AG Kempf's left (west) flank. 3rd SS 'Totenkopf' was dispatched to guard that vulnerable position, leaving only the 1st 'Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler' and 2nd SS 'Das Reich' panzer Divisions for attacks. Because of the serious resistance on the road to Oboian, these formations redirected to the northeast and advanced, making modest progress, toward Prokorovka. Over the battlefield, the air battle became desperate. German forces were concentrating on their ground support efforts and the Red Air Force had recovered from their initial trouncing at the optining of the offensive to contest the Germans. The Soviet fighter sweeps took a serious toll on the bomb laden German planes. But the fighters of Luftflotte 6 claimed 74 victories and Ofw. Strassl of 8./JG 51 made 6 of these claims. Oblt. Paul-Heinrich Dahne of 2./JG 52 destroyed a Russian plane over the frontlines, giving I./JG 52 800 kills for the war and 6000 kills for the Geschwader.

GERMANY: 10./JG 11 was formed at Husum with Oblt. Heinz Sahnwaldt appointed a Staffelkapitaen.

4 Mosquitoes went to Cologne and 4 to Dusseldorf without loss.

NORTHERN FRONT: After a heavy engagement with Soviet fighters, JG 5 suffered damaged planes and missing pilots. A Bf 190G-2 flown by Fw. Josef Sommereger of 1./JG 5 went missing in action. The Staffelkapitaen of 14(Jabo)./JG 5 Hptm. Wilhelm Strakeljahn had to crash land his Fw 190 at Petsamo due to AA fire. He was uninjured.

8 July 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: A B-24 Liberator of the 2d Antisubmarine Squadron (Heavy), AAF Antisubmarine Command based at Port Lyautey, French Morocco, sank German submarine, 'U-232' off Portugal. All 46 men on the U-boat were lost.

EASTERN FRONT: Unternehmen 'Zitadel' Day 4: Model's 9.Armee made an all out effort to make an impression on the Russian defenses in the north. The 4.Panzerdivision, the last fresh panzer unit in the army was committed to the attack along with all available air support. After a bitter day of fighting with heavy losses reported by both sides, no appreciable movement was seen in the front line. To the south, 4.Panzerarmee continued its attacks. On the left (west), 48.Panzerkorps, with the 'Großdeutschland' panzerdivision in the lead, struck directly up the Oboian road. The battered 3rd Mechanized Corp was unable to contain the German attacks and grudgingly gave ground. 6th Tank Corp struck the left flank of GD which distracted the Germans long enough for Vatutin to organize fresh troops in front of the main attack, which prevented the Germans from obtaining a clean breakthrough. To the east, 2.SS Panzerkorps started the days attacks by redirecting their attacks away from the Oboian axis toward Prokorovka to the northeast. The attack started at the same time Vatutin planned an attack by the 10th Tank Corps into what he though would be the German right flank. Instead, the two forces met in a meeting engagement. Both sides took grievous losses in men and machines in the ensuing battle which raged for most of the day. The Russian attack began in the morning, moving west in an attempt to cut the Begorod-Oboian highway. Along the woods north of Belgorod, Gruppenkommandeur Hptm. Bruno Meyer, flying a Hs 129B of IV./SG 9, spotted moving Russian tanks and large concentrations of troops in the attack on the German flank. Meyer radioed to base that he saw at least 40 tanks and, "....dense blocks of infantry, like a martial picture from the middle ages." and ordered the rest of his Gruppe up from Mikoyanovka to assault the Russian attack. The Luftwaffe immediately scrambled 4 squadrons, a total of 64 Hs 129s, to Meyer's coordinates. Using high-velocity 30mm cannons, the planes swept the forest, pumping shells into the rears of the tanks. Within a few minutes, half a dozen tanks were destroyed and burning. Fw 190 fighters joined the fray, strafing infantry and bombing wherever the Soviets were clustered. Follow up attacks by squadrons led by Major Matuschek, Oblt. Oswald, Oblt. Dornemann and Lt. Orth along with attacks on the infantry by Major Druschel's Fw 190 jabos, soon destroyed the Russian brigade and they retreated into the woods. The Soviet armoured assault had been blunted solely through air power. Army Detachment Kempf advanced 8 kilometers north, capturing Melikhovo, finally breaking cleanly through the first defense lines of the 7th Guards Army. The Soviet Guardsmen simply withdrew to the second line in good order and redoubled their efforts to harass the German right (east). Despite the success of SG 9 north of Belgorod, this fourth day of battle brought German domination in the air to an end. The Luftwaffe was no longer able to automatically gain air superiority over a spot on the battlefield and roving swarms of Red fighters struck hard against the German planes. The Germans were able to execute a mere 650 sorties to the Soviet 1500. Soviet claims for the day were 304 tanks and 161 aircraft; the Germans, 400 tanks and 193 aircraft.

GERMANY: 282 Lancasters and 6 Mosquitoes of 1, 5 and 8 Groups went to Cologne, 7 Lancasters lost. The Oboe sky marking was accurate and another successful raid followed, the north western and south western sections of the city being the worst hit. 19 industrial and 2,381 domestic buildings were destroyed in areas which had not been severely bombed until now. 502 civilians were killed but the fatalities at a prisoner of war camp and an artillery barracks which were both heavily bombed are not known. A further 48,000 people were bombed out, making a total of 350,000 people losing their homes during this series of 3 raids in 1 week.

8 Mosquitoes went to Duisburg and 46 aircraft went minelaying off Texel, Brittany and the Biscay coast, 1 Wellington minelayer lost.

At a meeting in the Supreme Headquarters, Hitler promised his support for continued production of the Me-264 to Messerschmitt, but only for maritime uses. At the same time he dropped his plan to bomb the US east coast, because "the few aircraft that could get through would only provoke the populace to resistance."

MEDITERRANEAN: In Sicily, B-24s attacked the Catania railway station, telegraph and telephone buildings, and industrial area; B-25s hit the airfields at Biscari and Comiso and nearby areas; and P-40s attacked Biscari Airfield and escorted bombers over Sicily. NASAF Wellingtons bombed airfields at Comiso and Catania during the night. During the day, B-17s, B-25s, and B-26s made several strikes against Gerbini and its satellite fields. 48 P-38s of the 82nd fighter group were escort. P-38s strafed radar installations in the eastern part of Sicily. Two Siebel ferries were strafed just off the coast. Northwest African Tactical Air Force (NATAF) light bombers hit Sciacca Airfield while medium bombers hit airfields at Biscari and Comiso. A-36s attacked trucks, a train, railroads, highways, a sulfur plant, and a marshalling yard at several points in Sicily.

War Diary of Lt. Daniel R. McDuff, 447th BS:

"On the way - and just shortly after we left Malta - we could see the largest collection of boats of all sizes I have ever imagined! It's size is almost unbelievable…Boats lined up and scattered around for as far as the eye could see. A lot of power, there, and I have a feeling someone is going to get a taste of that power somewhere and soon! Just before we got to the Tunisian coast we passed right between two more convoys - big ones - in fact I don't think I've every seen a herd of cows with as many cows in it as that convoy had boats! I look for the invasion sometime between the 10th and 12th of July. We shall see!"

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UNITED KINGDOM: The USAAF 479th Antisubmarine Group was activated at RAF St. Eval, Cornwall. It would be equipped with two squadrons of B-24s.

The 354th, 357th and 358th Fighter Squadrons, 355th Fighter Group, arrived at Steeple Morden, England from the US with P-47Ds. They will fly their first combat mission on 14 Sep 43.

NORTHERN FRONT: The British Home Fleet sailed strong units off Norway as a distraction for upcoming operations in the Mediterranean. The Germans did not notice them.

9 July 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: 'U-508' attacked Convoy ST-71 60 miles SW of Lagos in the Gulf of Benin and torpedoed the 'De La Salle' and 'Manchester Citizen'. The ships were sunk by coup de grâce at 0425 and 0452. The master, 129 crewmembers, 12 gunners and 97 passengers from the 'De La Salle' were picked up by corvette FS 'Commandant Detroyat' and the British SS 'Calabar' and landed at Lagos. Eight crewmembers and two passengers were lost. Twelve crewmembers, two gunners and 14 Krooboys from the 'Manchester Citizen' were lost. The master, 44 crewmembers, eight gunners and 23 Krooboys were picked up by 'Commandante Detroyat' and landed at Lagos.

The unescorted 'Samuel Heintzelman' was torpedoed and sunk by 'U-511' in the Indian Ocean. The U-boat dived after firing torpedoes and not observed the results, but they heard underwater explosions and found no trace of the ship after surfacing, only debris floating in the water and lying on deck. All eight officers, 34 crewmen, 27 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in, one 3in and eight 20mm guns) and six passengers on board were lost. The 'Samuel Heintzelman' was reported missing after being seen the last time on 4 July and it was first believed that she had been sunk by a Japanese surface raider. On 30 September, wreckage of the ship was found off Minni Minni village, Maldive Islands and two empty lifeboats had been spotted the day before.

'U-953' was attacked by an aircraft killing one and wounding two of its crew.

'U-642' shot down an RAF 210 Sqdn Catalina. The boat was attacked by the Catalina about 250 miles west of Lisbon. AA fire hit the port side of the aircraft during the attack run, damaging the wing, the engine and a fuel tank and wounding the nose gunner. Due to the damages, only the three depth charges on the starboard side were dropped but did not damage 'U-642', which crash-dived after the attack and did not observe how the burning Catalina ditched shortly afterwards. Two crewmen were lost in the crash and another died the next day from a heart attack. 7 survivors were picked up after 4 days by HMS 'Swale' and taken to Casablanca.

'U-435' was sunk west of Figueira, Portugal by four depth charges from an RAF 179 Sqn Wellington.

'U-590' was sunk near the Amazon Estuary by depth charges from a USN VP-94 Catalina aircraft.

EASTERN FRONT: Unternehmen 'Zitadel' Day 5: The Germans were becoming bogged down. Hitler's desperate attempt to change the course of the war by destroying the Soviet armies in the Kursk salient, was grinding to a halt as Soviet tanks, cunningly constructed defences, and swarms of Sturmoviks blunted the pincer attacks of General Hoth from the south and General Model from the north. Fighting at Kursk had taken on a significant and, for the Germans, a frustrating pattern. Unlike the previous two summers, the Russians did not collapse when subjected to the German armored onslaught. This summer the Germans were confronted by an enemy who contested every inch of ground and when forced to withdraw did so in good order to freshly prepared defenses. More worrisome, the Soviets had shown to be very aggressive in hammering the flanks of the German attacks. The confident, swaggering, facade of invincibility was beginning to show cracks as the battle dragged on. Vatutin was determined to stop the Germans. He ordered both the 5th Guards Tank and 5th Guard Armies to concentrate in the Prokorovka area and prepare for a coordinated attack against the Germans. He also heavily reinforced his right (west) facing the 48.Panzerkorps with fresh anti-tank brigades and infantry division. He also committed the fresh 69th Army in front of Kempf between the 7th and 6th Guards Armies. The main effort for the day came from 48.Panzerkorps up the Oboian road. With all of the air support that could be mustered. The unit, spearheaded by the 'Großdeutschland' Panzerdivision pushed forward making good progress. That progress came to an abrupt end at Novoselovka when they ran into heavily reinforced 309th Rifle Division. Meanwhile, the 6th Tank Corp continued to attack the German flank. The Germans continued to drive forward. In the north, the attacks by 9.Armee were on the wane. Despite desperate attempts to crack the Russian, lines, no headway was made and losses were high. To the south, Army Detachment Kempf made little progress being faced by fresh reinforcements. 2.SS Panzerkorps made some progress on the road to Prokorovka, pushing the depleted formations of the 3rd Mechanized and 10th Tank Corps ahead of them while the battered 2nd Tank Corps harassed their flank. Oblt. Werner Hohenberg of 8./JG 52 bailed out of his aircraft after it became damaged from Soviet AA fire. He was rescued by friendly infantry and began a long stay in hospital. But Fw. Ernst Lohberg of 7./JG 52 (22 victories) was listed as missing in action and presumed dead. The fighters of JG 54 lost Uffz. Hans-Joachim Happatsch of 2./JG 54 (20 victories) when he was killed in combat.

GERMANY: Goebbels vowed that Allied bombing would be avenged by a new secret weapon.

218 Lancasters, 190 Halifaxes and 10 Mosquitoes attacked Gelsenkirchen, 7 Halifaxes and 5 Lancasters lost. This raid was not successful. TheOboe equipment failed to operate in 5 of the Mosquitoes and a 6th Mosquito dropped sky-markers in error 10 miles north of the target. Gelsenkerchen reported that its southern districts were bombed and assumed that the main raid was on the neighbouring towns of Bochum and Wattenscheid, also to the south, which received many more bombs than did Gelsenkirchen. G itself suffered 10 industrial firms hit, including the all important synthetic oil refinery at Scholven but damage in all places was only light. 41 people died in Gelsenkirchen.

MEDITERRANEAN: General Guzzoni was now in command on Sicily with the Italian 6th Army.

In Sicily during the night, Northwest African Strategic Air Force Wellingtons bombed the airfields at Catania, Gerbini, and Comiso and Northwest African Tactical Air Force planes hit Sciacca and Milo Airfields. During the day, Ninth Air Force B-24s bombed airfields at Maleme, Crete, and Comiso and Taormina while B-25 Mitchells hit Sciacca landing ground and Biscari Airfield and dispersal areas and P-40s escorted bombers over Castelvetrano, and Milo Airfields. Northwest African Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses, B-25s, B-26 Marauders, and fighters attacked other targets, including Sciacca and Biscari Airfields, Gerbini satellite field, and Cape Passero Island radar stations. This pre-invasion air bombardment of Sicily provided air superiority over the enemy.

2,590 Allied ships headed for Sicily to mount the first amphibious assault on Occupied Europe - Operation 'Husky' - while transport aircraft and gliders from North African bases inserted troops from the British 1st Airborne and US 82nd Airborne Divisions, beginning half an hour before midnight. The Allied forces for Operation 'Husky' were gathered around Malta. The invasion of Sicily would begin with airborne landings tonight. These would include the US 505th PIR landing at Gela.

NORTH AMERICA: The US Navy orders a version of the Consolidated Catalina from the new New Orleans factory. This mark will have two 0.50-in nose guns, search radar in a radome above the cockpit and amphibious undercarriage. They will be designated PBY-6A and 900 were ordered.

UNITED KINGDOM: A German air raid against England succeeds in hitting the movie theater in East Grinstead, killing 12 civilians.

HQ US 355th Fighter Group arrived at Steeple Morden, England from the US to join the three squadrons that arrived yesterday.

WESTERN FRONT: 4 Mosquitoes went to Nordstern and 18 aircraft went minelaying in the Frisians and off Texel without loss

10 July 1943

EASTERN FRONT: Unternehmen 'Zitadel' Day 6: In the north, Model's 9.Armee attack grinds on, but the attacks were half hearted and it became obvious to all that they have failed. The offensive on this sector was terminated. The Germans lost over 400 tanks and took 50,000 casualties for no apparent gain. The badly depleted 48.Panzerkorps made attacks to clear their flanks on this day. 3.Panzerdivision attacked the remnants of the 6th Tank Corp, while 'Großdeutschland' Panzerdivision attacked the 10th Tank Corps. Meanwhile, the 11.Panzerdivision struck up the Oboian road and began relieving 1st SS 'Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler' Panzerdivision of some of its line so that it could be concentrated further east. On the other flank, Army Detachment Kempf still attempted to move north but had to contend with attacks on its right and left flanks. In the center,the 2.SS Panzerkorps would be concentrated for an all out attack on the Porokorvka axis. As 1st 'Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler' and 2nd SS 'Das Reich' Panzerdivisions regrouped, 3rd SS 'Totenkopf' Panzer, commanded by SS Maj. Gen. Hermann Priess, was to establish a bridgehead over the Psel River, west of Prochorovka. The initial attack failed, but in the afternoon, all three divisions lunged forward and the corps was able to establish jump off positions for the attack. General Mikhail E. Katukov's First Tank Army had been unable to prevent the Germans from reaching the river. His VI Tank Corps, originally equipped with more than 200 tanks, had only 50 left. But the Germans had gained just five miles at the expense of 25,000 men, 200 aircraft and 200 tanks.

In the early morning, a Russian LaGG-5 fell under the guns of Lt. Erich Hartmann, Staffelkapitaen of 7./JG 52 for his 33d kill.

MEDITERRANEAN: Operation 'Husky' Day 1: Shortly after midnight, 147 C-47s with their gliders in tow bucked 30-35mph winds heading toward Sicily. They would be the vanguard of the greatest sea borne invasion the world had yet seen. Regrettably, everything fell apart quickly. The planning for Operation 'Husky' was immaculate. The vast convoy - which had set out from ports in Egypt, North Africa, Malta and the United States - assembled exactly on cue. Only the unseasonal storm delayed H-Hour, but by no more than an hour while the convoy sorted itself out. For a few desperate hours, with a sudden storm churning the Mediterranean into a mass of huge white-capped waves, disaster threatened the greatest seaborne invasion of the war. The slow transports were met by heavy anti-aircraft fire as they came in. Sixty-nine of the gliders were released early and could not reach land, drowning 252 soldiers. Two more transports were shot out of the sky and 10 turned back without releasing their tows. Twelve of the gliders did manage to land at the correct place. While this was taking place, a reinforced regiment (3045 men) from the US 82nd Airborne Division were heading toward their landing zones behind Gela. The plan for this force was to fly over Malta and then make a turn to the left and head into Sicily. Most of the inexperience flight crews missed Malta (even though it was lit up like a Christmas tree to assist navigation this night) and the paratroops came in out of formation and widely scattered. This coupled with the high winds resulted in many injuries as well as exacerbating the scatter. Of the 137 British Airspeed Horsa gliders released, 69 came down in the sea, drowning some 200 men. A further 56 landed in the wrong part of Sicily and only 12 reached the target area - a vital bridge south of Syracuse. The airborne chaos was to the Allies' advantage in one sense. The sudden presence of so many paratroopers had the effect of confusing the defenders, convinced that the invasion was on an even bigger scale than they had first thought, and reserves were held back from the beach-heads. The British 8th Army (under General Montgomery) landed just south of Syracuse, spearheaded by commandos and Special Air Service (SAS) units as well as elements of the XXX Corps and XIII Corps. Heavy surf made navigation for the small landing craft difficult and many missed their designated target beaches (some by as much as 6000 yards). However, there was little resistance and the landings went well. The US 7th Army (under General Patton) made their landings west of (on the left flank) of the British in the Gulf of Gela. The initial landings included rangers and elements of the 3rd, 1st and 45th Infantry Divisions. The only mishap of this landing was the destruction of the destroyer 'Maddox' which was sunk by a Stuka dive bomber. The only serious opposition encountered by the Americans was at Gela when the 1st US Division and a tank battalion were, after an unimpeded landing, met with a counter attack by German troops and armour. The response of the Axis was poor. Italian coastal units surrendered en masse. Mobile reserve groups were slow to react to the invasion. Italian Mobile Group 'E' was the first to attack and hit the town of Gela around 0900. The 16th Infantry Regiment, supported by fire from the cruiser 'Boise' stopped the attack and forced the Italians to retreat. The Germans had two divisions on the island, the 15th Panzer Grenadier and the 'Herman Goering' (HG) Panzer Division. The former was a well-trained and experienced unit but except for a kampfgruppe facing the British, they were not in a position to have an impact on D-Day. The HG Division however, was in an excellent position to crush the American beachhead. Although they were extremely well equipped (including 14 Tiger tanks), they were ineptly led. Their counterattack did not get organized until the afternoon. They too were met by naval gunfire and the men of the 'Big Red One' and retreated in considerable disorder. 1st Division "Big Red One" under Gen. Terry Allen had landed at the fishing village of Gela, spearheaded by Darby's Rangers. By the end of the first day, the Allies were well established on shore, although somewhat disorganized and scattered. On one American beach-head, US Rangers captured an Italian command post only to find the telephone ringing. A US war correspondent who had been stationed in Rome before the war answered in Italian. "Where are the Americans?" asked the voice at HQ. "Americans? Its all quiet here." the correspondent replied.

Soon after the landings, German fighters in Sardinia were recalled to the battlefront. 39 Bf 109s of II./JG 51 responded immediately and joined up with Stab. and II./JG 27 and II./JG 77 at Trapani and began operations against the Allied landings. By the end of the first day, 6 Allied bombers were shot down at a cost of 4 Bf 109s destroyed including the aircraft of the Gruppenkommandeur of I./JG 77. Numerous airfields were unusable as the Allies pounded the air strips into rubble.

'U-371' fired torpedoes at Convoy ET-22A about 30 miles east of Bougie and damaged the 'Matthew Maury' and 'Gulfprince' (in station #22). The convoy was about eight hours out of port. 'Gulfprince' was struck by one torpedo on the starboard side at the #7 tank. The torpedo penetrated 20 feet into the empty but non-gas-free tank before exploding. The explosion ripped a 20-foot hole in the side, destroyed the steering engine, brought down the main mast and started fires in the tanks carrying fuel. The engines were secured and the ship listed to starboard. Within minutes the complement of eight officers, 28 crewmen and 27 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in, one 3in and eight 20mm guns) abandoned ship in two lifeboats, three rafts and by jumping overboard. All men were picked up by trawler HMS 'Sir Gareth' and the British SS 'Empire Commerce', but one of the armed guards later died from burns on board. A salvage crew boarded the vessel and the tugs HMS 'Weazel' and 'Hudson' towed her to Algiers, arriving on 12 July. Rather than declaring the vessel a total loss, the US War Shipping Administration bought her and chartered the tanker to the US Navy for use as a mobile storehouse in North Africa. In March 1945, the tanker was laid up at Taranto and was sold to Italy on 20 Feb 1948 for scrapping. The 'Matthew Maury' was struck by one torpedo in the stern. The explosion blew off the propeller, bent the shaft and flooded the #5 hold. The ship went out of control and gradually lost way. The eight officers, 35 crew men, 28 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, one 3in and eight 20mm guns) and seven passengers went to their boats stations but did not abandon ship. Two British corvettes stood by and later towed the ship to Bougie.

WESTERN FRONT: The USAAF's VIII Bomber Command in England flew Mission Number 72: 121 B-17s and five YB-40 Flying Fortresses were dispatched to the Caen/Carpiquet Airfield and 64 B-17s were dispatched to the Abbevile/Drucat Airfield, both in France. 34 hit Caen at 0832 hours while 36 hit Abbeville at 0729-0735 hours. They claimed 17-7-6 Luftwaffe aircraft. One B-17 was lost after a single pass by Lt. Helmut Hoppe, Staffelkapitaen of 4./JG 26. In a second raid, 101 B-17s were dispatched against Le Bourget Airfield, Paris with escort provided by 18 squadrons of RAF Spitfires and 8 squadrons of US P-47s but the mission was abandoned due to cloud cover.

11 JULY 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Destroyers HMCS 'Iroquois', HMS 'Douglas' along with frigates HMCS 'Moyala' and 'Swale' were escorting the troopships 'Duchess of York', 'California' and 'Port Fairy' from Plymouth to Freetown, South Africa when they were attacked by 3 German Focke Wulf 200 'Kondor' high-altitude bombers at about 2100 hrs 200 miles off of Vigo, Spain. The German bombing accuracy was excellent and both 'California' and
'Duchess of York' were hit and burned furiously. The consorts evacuated both ships and the 2 damaged liners were sunk by gunfire and the convoy continued on to an unscheduled stop at Casablanca. Twenty-seven lives were lost in this incident. 680 survivors were rescued from 'Duchess of York' by 'Iroquois'. 'Duchess of York' was the 2nd and last of the 4 CPR Duchess-class liners lost during the war. The 1st was 'Duchess of Atholl' on 12 Oct 42; several other CPR liners were also lost.) She was a veteran of the evacuations from Norway and France and had traveled widely on hazardous routes. She was regarded as a lucky ship. During one of her 6 voyages to North Africa she had survived a hit by an unexploded bomb. The Duchess-class liners had been designed with a flat-bottomed hull for travelling up the St.Lawrence River, which gave them a significant roll. This characteristic trait caused them to be dubbed "The Drunken Duchesses". The 2 survivors, 'Duchess of Bedford' and 'Duchess of Richmond', were renamed 'Empress of France' and 'Empress of Canada' after the war. The CPR lost 14 of its original 22 ships during WW II. 'Empress of Britain' (42,348 tons) was the largest Allied passenger liner to be sunk and the biggest merchant ship loss of the war.

EASTERN FRONT: Unternehmen 'Zitadel' Day 7: The fight at Kursk approached its climax as the Germans redoubled their efforts to break Vatutin's lines south of Kursk. 48.Panzerkorps on the left (west) probed the Russian infantry and antitank formations making limited progress. On the right (east), Army Detachment Kempf was able to concentrate its armor and make a 12-kilometer drive north toward Prokorovka and forcing the Russians to abandon several previously formidable positions. During the evening, SS General Paul Hausser readied his divisions for an assault on Prokorovka. 3rd SS 'Totenkopf' anchored the left flank of the corps while 1st SS 'Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler' was in the center, assembled west of the town between a rail line and the Psel. 2nd SS 'Das Reich' moved into its attack zone on the corps' right flank, which was several kilometers south of Tetrevino and southwest of Prokorovka. 3rd SS 'Totenkopf' had crossed the river on pontoon bridges and reached the bridgehead. Katukov launched continuous attacks on the Totenkopf units on the north bank of the river. In the center, 2.SS Panzerkorps advanced toward Prokorovka. The 1st 'Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler' SS Panzerdivision advanced up the road with 2nd SS 'Das Reich' Panzerdivision on its right. The Russians decided to deploy the rest of the 5th Guards Tank Army to destroy the SS armored divisions. The advance came to a sudden stop as the 1st SS troopers ran into the elite and fresh 9th Airborne Division outside the town. The arrival of these Russian forces signaled the fact that the Russians were committing their armored reserves, and that from July 11 on the Germans would have to content with these. By July 11th, The 1st 'Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler' SS Panzerdivision was down to about 100 tanks, assault guns, and tank destroyers (not including observation tanks). The division reported that there were "heavy downpours which severely hampered combat operations" and that the roads were "in very poor shape". At the German positions at Orel, the Russians counterattacked at the German's weakest point, in front of 2.Panzerarmee between Kzyn and Bolchow, heading for Karatschew. To be able to cope with the new danger, Model (now in command of both 9.Armee and 2.Panzerarmee) desperately needed reinforcements to patch up holes in his defensive lines. The transfer of units from 'Großdeutschland' Panzerdivision allowed more or less to control that sector. To the east and northeast of Orel, the Russians made relatively slow progress, but nevertheless they pressed very hard.

For his 34th victory, Staffelkapitaen Lt. Erich Hartmann of 7./JG 52 downed a Russian LaGG-5 in the afternoon. But the Geschwader lost another experte when Alfred Lehmann (20 victories) was killed in combat.

MEDITERRANEAN: Operation 'Husky' Day 2: As reinforcements came slowly ashore, the Axis forces in the American sector attempted to make a coordinated attack against the beaches. The Italian Livorno Division and the 'Herman Goering' (HG) Panzer Division managed to make a reasonably coordinated attack in the Gela area. This attack was initially met by the small bands of General Gavin's paratroops along the Biazza Ridge. Vastly outgunned and outnumbered, the American paratroops beat back the HG tankers. In the center, the HG Panzer Division column was making for Gela. This attack was met by naval gunfire. The destroyer 'Beatty' alone fired 800 rounds of high explosive into the advancing Germans. However, they continued on and were only stopped by the direct fire from the 1st Division's own artillery which was set up on the beaches south of Gela. On the left, Darby's Rangers were confronted with the Italian attack. This attack was broken up by fire from the cruiser 'Savannah' (ordered up by Patton himself). Upon leaving the rangers, Patton said, "...kill every one of those bastards."

In the British sector, the only organized fighting force was a group of 15th Panzer Grenadiers (KG Schmalz). These few Germans had all they could handle in making a fighting withdraw in front of the British army. The British on the other hand were having a difficult time in dealing with all of the Italians surrendering to them and in securing Syracuse.

In the air, Ninth Air Force B-24s hit airfields at Vibo Valentia, Sicily and Reggio di Calabria, Italy and B-25s hit airfields at Trapani, Milo and Bo Rizzo, and areas between Sciacca and Enna, Sicily. P-40s escorted bombers and provided beach cover as invasion forces pushed inland. During the night, NASAF planes hit Milo and Sciacca Airfields and numerous tactical targets during the day, including town areas, vehicle convoys, bridges, trains and roads; NASAF B-17 Flying Fortresses bombed the Catania marshalling yard while B-26 Marauders hit Milo Airfield and Gerbini satellite airfields; and B-25s and P-38 Lightnings hit Sciacca Airfield and the town of Caltanissetta.

12 July 1943

ATLANTIC OCEAN: A B-24 of the 1st Antisubmarine Squadron (Heavy), AAF Antisubmarine Command, based at Port Lyautey, French Morocco, sank 'U-506' with 7 depth charges in the Atlantic west of Vigo, Spain. The U-boat was located by 10cm radar which the Germans could not detect. About 15 men were seen in the water after the boat broke in two and the B-24 crew dropped a liferaft and a smoke flare to assist the survivors.

Three Beaufighters attacked 'U-441'. 10 men were killed and 13 more wounded, including most of the naval officers. The Flak boat was strafed by three British Beaufighter aircraft (248 Squadron RAF) in the Bay of Biscay. This action let to the abandonment of the Flak boats and all were reverted to their original configuration.

EASTERN FRONT: Unternehmen 'Zitadel' Day 8: As Army Detachment Kempf continued to make progress in their drive toward Prokorovka and 48.Panzerkorps struggled toward Odoain all eyes turned to the developments southwest of Prokorovka. The Germans started their attack at dawn. Simultaneously, the Soviets had launched their massed armor forward. The terrain in this area is gently rolling which reduced visibility to a few hundred yards. This resulted in extremely short engagement ranges, typically around 200 meters. This coupled with Vatutin's orders that his tankers should race their tanks to point blank range so they had a chance to penetrate the German tank's armor guaranteed massive carnage. At 08:30 am Rotmistrov gave the code-word 'Steel' and the 5th Guards Tank Army began its attack. Soon hundreds of Soviet tanks, carrying infantry, rolled out of Prokorovka in waves of T-34s and T-70s, straight at the startled Germans. The Soviet units that participated in the battle at Prokorovka were the 18th and 29th Tank Corps, along with a separate detachment under General Trufanov. These units combined were able to field about 421 tanks, assault guns, and tank destroyers. Only one panzerdivision, the 1st SS 'Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler' fought this battle while the other two were on the flanks of the LSSAH (Totenkopf on the left, and largely across the Psel River, and Das Reich on the right) and were fighting their own separate battles. The 2.SS Panzerkorps zone of battle was approximately 9 miles wide with the SS panzerdivisions fanned out. The corps had a total of 211 operational tanks - 3rd SS 'Totenkopf' had 94 tanks, 1st SS 'Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler' had only 56 and 2nd SS 'Das Reich' possessed just 61. Only 15 Pkfw Mk VI 'Tiger' tanks were still in action and there were no SS Panthers available. The 3 SS divisions attacked Prokorovka shoulder to shoulder, jammed into terrain between Psel and the railroad. The only formation to make headway for the Germans was the 3rd SS 'Totenkopf' on their left. They were able to break through the screening force and advanced several kilometers on one side west side of the Psel River. Vatutin threw fresh formations in front of the onrushing enemy, but they were stopped only when attacks on their left flank forced them to react in that direction. On the other side of the river, 1st SS 'Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler' was fighting for its life. Trapped between the Psel River and a railroad embankment to the east, the division could not maneuver and became entangled in a deadly short range duel with the Soviet armor. The carnage was catastrophic as the two behemoths ground themselves to dust. A Soviet attack by the 181st Tank Regiment was defeated by German tanks, one of which, the 13th (Heavy) Company of the 1st SS 'Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler' , was commanded by 2dLt Michael Wittmann. None of the 'Tigers' were lost but the 181st Tank Regiment was annihilated. On the left, 2nd SS 'Das Reich' became entangled with 2nd Guard Tank Corps. Like their comrades to the west, these two formations also devoured one another in the fires of battle. The fighting came to an end as tremendous thunderstorms moved into the area. The bloody ground was further soaked by the rain turning the battlefield into a massive quagmire. Both sides had huge losses. Half of the tanks which started the day's fight were now burning wrecks. The Soviet charge, straight at the German panzers over open ground, was suicidal. The 1st SS 'Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler' permanently lost a grand total of 7 AFVs. A further 25 were damaged and sent to repair shops, only 1 of which was a 'Tiger'. The Soviets, on the other hand, permanently lost at least 134 AFVs with a further 125 temporarily lost due to damage. Total tank losses due to combat at Prokorovka come out to 32 German against 259 Soviet. At the end of the day Hitler ordered the Kursk battle be discontinued. The north face had degenerated into static warfare before the Germans even got through all the defensive lines. On the south face, the Germans enjoyed some forward progress, but at a tremendous cost. Loses in AFVs, vehicles, and men were high enough to soak up a significant portion of the offensive power of the German armored divisions. The salient that the armored units pushed forward could not be adequately protected due to a lack of infantry divisions. Thus, the German offensive was contained and stalled. Further to the north opposite Orel, the Bryansk and West Fronts began a massive offensive. This coupled with the invasion at Sicily forced the Germans to call an end to the slaughter at Kursk. For the first time in the war, a deliberate and thoroughly planned German offensive had failed to achieve even an operational, let alone a strategic breakthrough.

MEDITERRANEAN: Operation 'Husky' Day 3: The bulk of the 15.Panzerdivision arrived on the left (west) flank of the American sector and began applying pressure against the 3rd Infantry Division. By this time Combat Command A of the 2nd Armored Division (CCA/2 Armored) had arrived to support the 3rd. The HG Panzerdivision was withdrawing but still in contact with the US 1st and 45th Divisions. In the British sector, the 8th Army continued to advance nearly unopposed as the regimental kampfgruppe (KG Schmalz) from the 15th Panzer Grenadiers remained the only organized resistance. The Italian army in Sicily continued to disintegrate. British and US forces joined up at Ragusa, having captured 6 airfields, the port of Syracuse and 10 other towns.

In Sicily during the night, Northwest African Strategic Air Force Wellingtons pounded Trapani, Marsala, Mazara del Vallo, and Montecorvino-Rovello Airfield and the Northwest African Air Force Troop Carrier Command dropped paratroops in front of the forward lines in the battle area. More than 20 C-47 Skytrains failed to return from the mission. During the following day, B-17 Flying Fortresses hit Messina railroad bridges, medium and light bombers hit Gerbini satellite fields, Agrigento, Canicatti, and Milo Airfield. Fighters hit trucks, trains, troops, tanks, and other targets of opportunity during sweeps over Sicily. Northwest African Tactical Air Force fighters and light bombers hit Milo Airfield, Sicilian beaches, Termini harbor and town, Ninfa rail junction, several trains, numerous vehicles, and communications targets throughout Sicily. Northwest African Coastal Air Force aircraft fly convoy escort and carried out shipping strikes in Tyrrhenian Sea and west of Corsica and Sardinia.

USAAF Ninth Air Force B-24s attacked the harbor, ferry slip, and marshalling yard at Reggio di Calabria, and the ferry slip and railroad yards at Villa San Giovanni. Royal Air Force heavy bombers bombed Reggio di Calabria Airfield.

Gruppenkommandeur Siegfried Freytag of II./JG 77 was shot down over Gela by US P-38s. He bailed out successfully but landed with wounds that put him out of action for several months.

'U-409' was sunk in the Mediterranean NE of Algiers, by depth charges from destroyer HMS 'Inconstant'. 'U-561' was sunk in the Straits of Messina, by torpedoes from HM MTB 81.

WESTERN FRONT: 295 Lancasters of 1, 5 and 8 Groups attacked Turin, 13 aircraft lost. The main weight of this raid fell just north of the centre of Turin in clear weather conditions. The only report obtainable from Italy states that 792 people were killed and 914 injured. This was Turin's highest number of air raid fatalities during the 10 raids made on the city by Bomber Command during the war. Among the RAF casualties on this night was Wing Commander J. D. Nettleton, commander of 44(Rhodesia) Squadron, who had won the Victoria Cross for the low level daylight raid on Augsburg in April 1942. Nettleton's Lancaster was shot down by a German night fighter over the Channel while returning from Turin. He and his crew all died and their names are on the Runnymede Memorial.

22 Wellingtons went minelaying off Brest, Lorient and St Nazaire without loss.