26 NOVEMBER 1943
EASTERN FRONT: The Red Army has driven the Germans out of Gomel, north of the Pripet Marshes, and was chasing them along a 100-mile front in White Russia. This powerful and well-timed blow now cracked the Wehrmacht's winter line, and the Germans were forced out of the deep belts of well-equipped dugouts where they had intended to spend the winter in comparative comfort. Now they were being hounded into the marshes and forests where the snow was deep and the partisans lie in wait for the unwary. The German high command admited that the Russians were;
"..trying to interfere with our disengaging movements."
MEDITERRANEAN: The British transport HMT
'Rohna' was sunk by a German guided bomb in the Mediterranean Not wanting to give the enemy any information about its success, the American and British military did not acknowledge the sinking. The secrecy prevailed even after the war. About 2,200 American servicemen boarded the
'Rohna', which had been designed to carry 100 passengers in comfort, in Oran, Algeria. The largest single unit was the 853rd Engineer Aviation Battalion, which was going to India to build runways. The
'Rohna' left Oran and joined a convoy sailing from Great Britain. Since the departure was on Thanksgiving Day, the crew provided a holiday repast that didn't stay down long as the ship rolled through the swells. Seasickness, however, would be the least of their problems.
At 4:30 p.m. the next day, German bombers based in occupied France attacked the convoy. The attack lasted for an hour, and most soldiers saw none of it. All were ordered below, in many cases levels below deck. In additional to conventional bombs, German aircraft had Henschel 293 guided bombs. The large explosive was fitted with aluminium wings, rudders and rocket propulsion, and the bombardier guided it with radio signals. At about 5:15 p.m., a guided bomb struck the
'Rohna' near the waterline on the port side, blowing a hole through both sides of the ship. It hit near where much of the 853rd was berthed. About 300 were killed by the blast itself. It is impossible to determine how many survived but couldn't get out of the ship before it sank. Attempts to abandon ship were disastrous. Many of the lifeboats and rafts were frozen by rust or paint to their moorings. Instead of life vests, which would hold heads out of the water if the wearer was unconscious, soldiers had inflatable life rings. Many drowned while wearing them. Seas were rough enough to inhibit visibility, and night fell shortly after the attack. Five ships criss-crossed the water searching for survivors, who bobbed in and out of sight of the searchlights. The 853rd had 30 officers and and 93 enlisted men when the
'Rohna' left port. Now, 495 were gone, and 14and of the survivors were injured. As well, 134 British and Australian officers and Indian crew members died. The total death toll was 1,149. But the British, French and American defending aircrew made the following claims; 6 He 177A-3s lost and 3 He 177A-3s were destroyed in crash landings, all from II./KG 40. A further aircraft was claimed destroyed by the AA gunners aboard an LCI. The defenders lost a single Beaufighter.
Two Macchi 205s of II./JG 77 were scrambled on a recon flight of a castle where a partisan HQ was suspected.
GERMANY:
Battle of Berlin: RAF Bomber command again sends bombers against Berlin, striking the city center. 443 Lancasters and 7 Mosquitos to Berlin and Stuttgart (diversion). Both forces flew a common route over Northern France and on nearly to Frankfurt before diverging. The German controllers thought that Frankfurt was the main target until a late stage and several bombers were shot down as they flew past Frankfurt. Only a few fighters appeared over Berlin, where flak was the main danger, but the scattered condition of the bomber stream at Berlin meant that bombers were caught by fighters off track on the return flight and the casualties mounted. 28 Lancasters were lost, 6.2 per cent of the force, and 14 more Lancasters crashed in England. The weather was clear over Berlin but, after their long approach flight from the south, the Pathfinders marked an area 6-7 miles north-west of the city centre and most aircraft bombed there. Because of Berlin's size, however, most of the bombing still fell within the city boundaries and particularly on the semi-industrial suburb of Reinickendorf; smaller amounts of bombing fell in the centre and in the Siemensstadt (with many electrical factories) and Tegel districts. 2-3000 civilians were killed in the raid. In addition, the Berlin Zoo was heavily hit, killing most of the animals but several large and dangerous animals - leopards, panthers, jaguars, apes - escaped and had to be hunted and shot in the streets. The diversionary raid on Stuttgart was carried out by 157 Halifaxes and 21 Lancasters. 6 Halifaxes lost, 3.4 per cent of the force. The bombing was very scattered and caused little damage but part of the night-fighter force was drawn off from the Berlin operation.
At Intersburg during an inspection of the new Me 262 jet fighter with the designer, Professor Willy Messerschmitt, Adolf Hitler asked the professor if the new jet could carry bombs. Messerschmitt gave him the answer that he had given Goring on 2 November. After being told it could carry 2200lb or 1100lb bombs, Hitler proclaimed that he had found his 'blitzbomber' that could keep the Allies off the beaches whenever the landings would happen. From this point on - in Hitler's mind - the Me 262 was expected to be a fighter-bomber and not the fighter so desperately needed. Messerschmitt ignored the 'will' of the Fuhrer and busily worked to put the machine into production as a fighter. Milch, upon reading intel reports on US bombers also pressed on with production of the Me 262 as a fighter. Though Milch made agreeable noises about building a fighter-bomber, little or nothing was done to that end.
350 B-17s, 77 B-24s and 13 B-17PFF aircraft attacked the port of Bremen. 22 B-17s and 3 B-24s were lost but only 4 to defending fighters. 128 B-17s were dispatched to Paris but aborted because the target was covered in cloud. These missions were escorted by 28 P-38s and 353 P-47s with the loss of 4 Thunderbolts.
Hptm. Wilhelm Fulda succeeded Hptm. Graf Resugier as Gruppenkommandeur of II./301.