17 June 1942
ATLANTIC OCEAN: German
Operation Drumbeat continues with
'U-129' sinking an armed U.S. freighter off the north coast of Cuba. Off Virginia Beach, Virginia, a U.S. collier in a convoy is sunk by a mine laid by
'U-701'. (
Syscom)
MEDITTERANEAN: After parting company with convoy HG.74, destroyer HMS
'Wild Swan' is damaged in an air attack by Ju 87s and sinks after colliding with a Spanish fishing vessel (three of which also sank after being hit by the aircraft) S of Bantry Bay at lat.49 52N long. 10 44W. (
Syscom)
NORTH AFRICA: The British 4th Armored Brigade loses 30% of its tanks in an attack on Sidi Rezegh. (
Syscom)
At dawn over the desert, a brace each of Tomahawks and Hurricanes, claimed near Gambut attacking German panzers in the Lybian desert, took the
Staffelkapitaen of 3./JG 27, Oblt. Hans-Joachim Marseilles' score to 99. He was exhausted and ready to call it a day but encouraged by the other three members of his
schwarm; "
Come on, Joachim, now for the hundreth!", he felt honorbound to oblige. A lone hurricane shot down into an AA emplacement south of Gambut airfield made Oblt. Marseilles only the 11th LW fighter pilot to reach the century mark -but the first to achieve this total solely against the western Allies. He even found time to go into a steep climb 3 minutes after dispatching the low-level Hurricane in order to add number 101 (a high flying Photo-recon Spitfire, which, if identified correctly, was the first for the Geschwader since the Battle of Britain), before returning to Ain-el-Gazala, which I./JG 27 had re-occuppied just 24 hours earlier. The "Star of Afrika" destroyed the 6 Allied aircraft, all within the space of 10 minutes. Returning to base, Oblt. Marseilles was so tired and weary looking that his commander, Major Neumann, ordered him,
"You are going on leave, at once!"
Marseilles objected, stating the need for fighters against the British retreat, but Major Neumann responded,
"You're off! You've been summoned to the Fuerher's HQ."
He immediately went on a 2 month leave. That evening 21.Panzerdivision swung north to face the coast road and the coast. Rommel himself led the drive, which reached the RAF Gambut base by 22.00 hours, catching 15 servicable aircraft and their fuel on the ground. Half an hour after midnight, Rommel's tanks reached the coast. Tobruk was cut off. Leaving behind a garrison of some 30,000 troops, the British 8th Army withdrew from Tobruk.
NORTH AMERICA: German submarine
'U-202' lands four agents on Ponte Verdra Beach south of Jacksonville, Florida. These agents are part of the team that landed on Long Island on 13 June. (
Syscom)
YANK, the weekly magazine for the U.S. armed services, begins publication. (
Syscom)