This Day in the War in Europe: The Beginning

[Njaco]

October 20 Monday
ASIA: Japanese luxury ocean liner "Hikawa Maru" departed Yokohama for Seattle.

New Japanese Prime Minister Tojo makes a speech: "Japan stands at the crossroads of its rise or fall."

Japanese aircraft carrier IJN "Zuikaku" ("Happy Crane") departed Saeki for Sukumo Bay. IJN "Shokaku" arrived at Terajima Strait.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Sailing with a small convoy of two tankers and one escort, the British steam tanker "British Mariner" was torpedoed and damaged beyond repair by the U-126, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Ernst Bauer, approximately 80 miles southwest of Freetown, Sierra Leone in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. Of the ship's complement, 3 died and 48 survivors were picked up by a British tug. The 6,996 ton "British Mariner" was carrying ballast and was bound for Curaçao.

EASTERN FRONT: There is heavy fighting near Mozhaysk and Malayaroslavets in the Moscow sector. The Germans capture Borodino and are now 60 miles from Moscow. Stalin declares a state of siege in Moscow. He appeals to all workers "to keep calm and orderly and to render the Red Army defending Moscow all possible help." It also says that all enemies of public order are to be handed over at once to court martials and that all provocateurs, spies and other enemies inciting riot are to be shot on the spot. Boldin takes command of Soviet 19th Army.

Soviet General Fedyuninsky launched an attack south of Lake Ladoga with 70,000 troops and 97 tanks in an attempt to break through the Leningrad siege. They make little progress against dug-in German troops on the swampy terrain. German Field Marshal von Leeb makes his own move in the area, heading Southeast from Lake Ladoga to the important rail and road junction at Tikhvin to cut off the supply route to Leningrad.

While Manstein had burst into the Crimea the other Armies of Army Group South, fighting on the mainland, had advanced farther to the east between the Dnieper and Donets. Kleist's Panzer Group, now renamed 1.Panzerarmee, had been pursuing the defeated enemy and was now lining up to attack Rostov. The three fast divisions (60.Infanterie-Division (mot), 13.Panzer-Division and the SS-Infanterie-Brigade (mot.) "Liebstandarte der SS Adolf Hitler" penetrated into the town, which then had 500,000 inhabitants, and pushed straight on to the Don. The 1st Battalion ""Leibstandarte."" stormed across the Rostov railway-bridge and captured it intact. The 60.Infanterie-Division (mot) meanwhile covered the exposed flank of the Corps by a dashing drive far to the east and south-east, and captured Aksayskaya, while units of 13.Panzer-Division vigorously pursued the retreating enemy from the west. Rostov, the gateway to the Soviet oil paradise, was in German hands. Naturally the Soviet General Staff made every possible effort to recapture Rostov from the Germans and to bar Kleist's Panzer Army from access to the Caucasus. As a result of Mackensen turning to the south a gap had arisen between 17.Armee and 1.Panzerarmee, a gap which, in view of the shortage of forces, could not be immediately closed. Here was Timoshenko's opportunity. He struck at the gap and into the rear of III.Armeekorps (mot).

Elements of the German 6.Armee reach the outskirts of Kharkov but stubborn resistance by the Soviet 38th Army prevents the city's capture.

The German 1st Mountain Division seized Stalino from the Soviet Twelfth Army. The 20th Bersaglieri Battalion forces the Russian the 383rd Rifle Division to abandon the Ukrainian steel manufacturing city of Stalino. The situations for the Soviets became very serious on the northern flank of the 383rd Rifle Division, around the suburban railroad station of Stantsia Stalino, where the Italians were advancing. With the capture of Grishino and Grodovska from the 296th Rifle Division, the Pasubio Division had maneuvered to the north of the Celere Division, thus securing the left flank of the Bersaglieri and cavalrymen. General Marazzini decided it was an opportune time to attack the 383rd Rifle Division's unprotected flank, in the vicinity of Yasinovataya. A reinforced battalion from the 291st Rifle Regiment, under 1st Lieutenant Shcherbak, was sent to the threatened area. The Soviet battalion fought bitterly to prevent an Italian breakthrough and delayed them long enough to allow the "Miners" Division to retreat. Nevertheless, the XX Bersaglieri Battalion captured Stalino Station. Threatened by the Italians to the north, and with Germans vanguards already in Stalino, the Russians had no choice but to abandon the city. Thus the principal armaments-making centre in the Donets area, the most, important industrial region of the Soviet Union, was in German hands.

In reprisal for partisan attacks the Germans executed 2,324 Serbian men and boys in the Yugoslavian town of Kragujevac, including 300 boys who were herded out of the First Boys High School on the previous day. Local German authorities announced that the mass execution was in response to a recent attack that saw 10 Germans killed and 26 wounded. Furious at partisan activity, Adolf Hitler had previously decreed that for every German soldier killed in attacks, 100 civilian would be executed, and for every German wounded, 50 would be executed.

GERMANY: The weather continued to interfere with Bomber Command's activities and it wasn't until the night of the 20th/21st, when 284 aircraft were in action, that any sizeable number of missions was flown. On that night, Bremen was raided by 153 aircraft, Wilhelmshaven by 47 aircraft, Emden by 36 and Antwerp by 35 (none of which attacked because of complete cloud cover). The remaining sorties were Gardening and Nickelling.

President Tiso and Slovakian delegation meet with Hitler.

MEDITERRANEAN: Operation Cultivate: After sundown, British cruiser HMS "Latona" and destroyers HMS "Kingston", HMS "Encounters", and HMS "Nizam" departed Alexandria, Egypt for Tobruk, Libya, returning in the early hours of the next day. To protect them, British cruisers HMS "Ajax" and HMS "Galatea" and Australian cruiser HMAS "Hobart", escorted by destroyers HMS "Griffin" and HMS "Jaguar", bombarded German coastal guns near Tobruk.

The Italian Spica-class destroyer escorts 'Aldebaran' and 'Altair' sink after hitting mines in the Aegean.

NORTH AMERICA: Aircraft carrier USS "Hornet" (Yorktown-class) was commissioned into service commanded by Captain Marc Mitscher.

Canada's Prime Minister William King and war ministers commit two battalions to the defence of Hong Kong.

War games and exercises were held at the Presidio in San Francisco, California.

UNITED KINGDOM: The United Kingdom and France concluded a Treaty of Mutual Assistance with Turkey.

"Regarding the Japanese Air Force, which many people, he said, were inclined to discount as a second-rate body equipped with obsolete aircraft and lacking skilful and daring pilots, Air Vice-Marshal Pulford said that he certainly does not underrate its capacity. When it was suggested to him that it might be compared with the Italian Air Force, he pointed out how completely the R.A.F. gained the mastery of the skies of the Middle East even when the Italians possessed great numerical superiority. He thinks that what the R.A.F. has done in the Middle East it could certainly do in the Far East against the Japanese. One of the best Japanese fighters is the 'O' naval fighter, but the Brewster Buffaloes at present with the R.A.F. in Malaya and Burma would have no difficulty in dealing with them. The Japanese, he said, have two bombers of the Mitsubishi type, one of which is used by the Navy and one by the Army -they are about equal in performance to the Whitley bomber in the R.A.F. He believes that Messerschmitt 109s are being produced in limited numbers in Japanese factories." — "The Times", Oct 20, 1941, p. 4, col. 7

Churchill tells the Defense Committee that he does not believe that the Japanese would go to war with both the United States and Great Britain.

WESTERN FRONT: In Occupied France the German commandant Lt-Col Karl Holz is assassinated by French resistance members. Fifty hostages are shot in reprisal. A similar incident in Bordeaux occurs, including reprisal shootings, on the 22nd.

RAF Fighter Command flew a Rhubarb operation. RAF Bomber Command sends 35 aircraft to attack Antwerp overnight.

.

 

[Old Wizard]

 

[parsifal]

20 OCTOBER 1941
Known Reinforcements
Axis
Type IXc DKM U-508
[NO IMAGE FOUND]

Allied
S (Stalinec) Class Sub VMF S-56

Losses
U-126 torpedoed tkr BRITISH MARINER (UK 6996 grt) resulting in the tkr's total loss. The ship was empty at the time, on passage from Freetown to Curacao. A crew of 51 were embarked, 3 of whom would be lost in the attack. At 0554 hrs, the U-boat attacked a small convoy of two tkrs and one escort about 80 miles SW of Freetown and fired one torpedo at each tanker from a distance of 400 meters. The first torpedo struck the tkr aft of the mast in the engine room. The propulsion of the second torpedo failed and it sank to the bottom. U-126 fired a third torpedo, which was a surface runner and missed. The U-boat tried to follow the second tkr, but was chased away by the escort and later by an aircraft.

The BRITISH MARINER was abandoned by her crew, but was later reboarded and towed to Freetown by the Dutch tug DONAU, arrving on 22 October. Three crew members were lost. The master, 44 crew members and three gunners were picked up by the British tug and landed at Freetown.

The tkr was declared a total loss and transferred to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT), which used her as oil hulk in Freetown harbour. The hulk was finally broken up in 1951.

UBOATS
Arrivals
Unknown: U-559

Departures
Kiel: U-577

At Sea 20 October 1941
U-38, U-66, U-68, U-71, U-73, U-75, U-77, U-79, U-82, U-83, U-84, U-85, U-93, U-97, U-101, U-103, U-107, U-108, U-109, U-123, U-125, U-126, U-132, U-202, U-203, U-206, U-208, U-371, U-374, U-432, U-502, U-553, U-558, U-563, U-564, U-568, U-569, U-573, U-576, U-577, U-751

41 Boats

OPERATIONS
East Front
Arctic
Submarine TIGRIS departed Murmansk for Holy Loch, where she arrived on 3 November.

Northern Waters
In the early morning hours during a gale, CA LONDON dragged her mooring and hit CA KENT, which in turn also dragged her mooring hitting BB MALAYA. BB MALAYA departed Scapa Flow escorted by DDs BEDOUIN and PUNJABI for the Clyde. On meeting DDs LAFOREY and LIGHTNING, which had been detached from escort duty with CV VICTORIOUS, DDs BEDOUIN and PUNJABI returned to Scapa Flow. The BB continued to the Clyde with LAFOREY and LIGHTNING. LAFOREY put into Stornoway on the 20th to land a crw member, injured in the gale. The DD put back to sea at later that day and re-joined the BB.

DD SOUTHWOLD departed Scapa Flow to embark the Engineer in Chief at Scrabster and returned to Scapa Flow later the same day. DD CHARLESTOWN departed Scapa Flow for Loch Alsh on completion of docking and repairs.

West Coast
Convoy ON.28 departed Liverpool escorted by DDs SABRE and WESTCOTT, corvettes ALISMA and KINGCUP, and ASW trawlers MAN O.WAR and WELLARD. The trawlers were detached on the 23rd and DD VENOMOUS relieved DD WESTCOTT which was detached. On the 25th, the EG was detached when relieved by USN DDs BERNADOU, DUPONT, LEA, MACLEISH, and SAMPSON. DD LEA was detached on the 30th. The USN TG further reinformed on the 31st by US Coast Guard cutter CAMPBELL and USN DDs BABBITT, BUCK, LEARY, LUDLOW, and SCHENCK. The US forces were detached on 3 November when the convoy was dispersed.

British steamer CORDELIA was damaged by mining off Great Castle Head, Milford Haven. The tanker arrived at Milford Haven on the 20th.

Med/Biscay
ML cruiser LATONA and destroyers KINGSTON, NIZAM, and ENCOUNTER departed Alexandria on serial five of the CULTIVATE operation. The ships arrived back at Alexandria on the 21st.

Gunboat GNAT bombarded an enemy gun battery near Tobruk during the night of 19/20 October. The gunboat departed Tobruk with the A lighters after dark on the 20th to return to Alexandria.

CLs AJAX, HOBART, and GALATEA departed Alexandria with DDs GRIFFIN and JAGUAR to bombard enemy gun batterys near Tobruk during the night of 20/21 October.

The bombardment was conducted during the night of 20/21 October.

RAN DD VENDETTA departed Alexandria for Singapore and passed through the Suez Canal on the 21st. The DD was refitting at Singapore in December. She departed Singapore on 2 February in the tow of destroyer STRONGHOLD.

Spica Class TB ALTAIR (RM 620 grt) struck a mine in the Gulf of Athens,. The torpedo boat later sank in tow. ALTAIR with AMC BARLETTA and TB s LUPO and MONZAMBANO were escorting a convoy of steamers CITTA DI AGRIGENTO, CITTA DI MARSALA, TAGLIAMENTO), and SALZBURG.

Spica Class TB ALDEBARAN (RM 620 grt) going to her assistance also struck a mine and was sunk. The mines were part of a minefield of fifty mines laid by submarine RORQUAL on the 8th.

Spica Class on review pre-war, The first three boats from left to right are the ALTAIR, ALDEBARAN andANTARES.

Submarine PORPOISE departed Gibraltar for Alexandria with stores and personnel.

DD DUNCAN and ASW trawlers ST NECTAN and ARCTIC RANGER departed Gibraltar to provide additional escort for tanker VELMA en route to Gibraltar, escorted by corvettes JONQUIL and COREOPSIS. The Tanker arrived on the 22nd, escorted by the DD and the two corvettes.

Central Atlantic
CLA HERMIONE departed Gibraltar to search for a tanker reported by a/c. The cruiser returned to Gibraltar on the 25th without having made contact.


Pacific/Australia
RNZN CL ACHILLES departed Auckland to escort a US liner to the Equator. The light cruiser departed the escort on the 27th for Suva, arriving on the 31st.

Malta
AIR RAIDS DAWN 20 OCTOBER TO DAWN 21 OCTOBER 1941
Weather Fine.

1101-1137 hrs Air raid alert for three enemy aircraft which fly down the east coast 15 miles off shore; a fourth aircraft follows on but turns back while still 50 miles away. Five Hurricane fighters are airborne; no interceptions.

OPERATIONS REPORTS MONDAY 20 OCTOBER 1941

ROYAL NAVY P31 arrived from Gibraltar and United Kingdom. Porpoise sailed for Alexandria with stores and personnel.

 

[Njaco]

October 21 Tuesday
ASIA: The Foreign Office in Tokyo sends the following message to the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C.:

"The new cabinet differs in no way from the former one in its sincere desire to adjust Japanese-United States relations on a fair basis. Our country has said practically all she can say in the way of expressing of opinions and setting forth our stands. We feel that we have now reached a point where no further positive action can be taken by us except to urge the United States to reconsider her views. We urge, therefore, that, choosing an opportune moment, either you or Wakasugi let it be known to the United States by indirection that our country is not in a position to spend much more time discussing this matter. Please continue the talks, emphasizing our desire for a formal United States counter-proposal to our proposal of 25(?) September."

ATLANTIC OCEAN: German submarine U-123 damaged British armed merchant cruiser HMS "Aurania" with a torpedo 400 miles west of Ireland at 0428 hours. A lifeboat launched sank with 2 killed, 3 rescued by destroyer HMS "Croome", and 1 captured by U-123. "Aurania" was escorting Allied convoy SL-89 and would be successfully towed to port for repairs. In the evening the boat was attacked by a British Sunderland aircraft with two bombs. U-123 suffered slight damage. At 2200 hours, German submarine U-82 attacked the same convoy, sinking the ships "Serbino" (14 were killed, 51 survived) and "Treverbyn" (all 46 aboard were killed).

EASTERN FRONT: Rain and light snow turn roads in Western USSR to deep mud which hampers movement of wheeled movement of trucks, horse-drawn artillery and wagons and some tracked vehicles. This rasputitsa (quagmire season) and overextended German supply lines begin to slow the Panzer's advance on Moscow. In the south, German 11.Army is attacking through the Perekop isthmus. German 6.Armee is fighting its way into Kharkov. Units of 6.Armee capture Stalino in the industrial Donets Basin. At Kharkov, the workers at the massive Kramatorsk heavy-machine factory finish packing the last of their factory onto rail cars for the journey east. The men unable to find places on the train walk 20 miles to the nearest railhead to find transport there. The Germans were seven miles behind them.

Stalin names General Zhukov, the savior of Leningrad, commander of all military forces in the Moscow area.

On this date The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 718 adult male, 1,063 adult female, and 586 children, all Jews, were killed in Vilnius, Lithuania for a total of 2,367 people. In Kragujevac, Yugoslavia, Germans and local fascist militiamen massacre 2,300 Serbs in reprisal for recent partisan attacks.

GERMANY: Quote by Adolf Hitler:

"....when Russia collapses and England makes peace it would be only a nuisance to have Japan involved",

regarding Japanese reluctance to join the war versus Russia.

RAF Bomber Command sends 136 aircraft to attack Bremen overnight.

MEDITERRANEAN: The cruisers HMS "Aurora" (Captain W. G. Agnew) and HMS "Penelope" (Captain A. D. Nicholl) arrived in Malta and with the destroyers HMS "Lance" and HMS "Lively" formed a small squadron known as Force K. For some reason Force K always seemed to go to sea on a Saturday.

German submarine U-79 hit British gunboat HMS "Gnat" with a torpedo 30 miles northwest of Bardia, Libya at 0334 hours, blowing away 20 feet of her bow but caused no casualties. She loses all power and but is eventually towed back to Alexandria by destroyer HMS "Griffin". Her hull is beached, but repair (consideration being given to welding "Cricket's" bow to "Gnat's" stern) is not possible so she is left beached where she would serve as a stationary anti-aircraft gun platform.

Operation Cultivate: British cruiser HMS "Abdiel" and destroyers HMS "Napier", HMS "Hasty", and HMS "Decoy" departed Alexandria, Egypt with supplies for Tobruk, Libya, returning with men of the Australian 9th Division in the early hours of the following day.

Vichy French vessel "Divana" was severely damaged by British aircraft off Tunisia and beached.

NORTH AFRICA: Air Marshal Arthur Coningham takes command of RAF Desert Air Force.

NORTH AMERICA: In tests with MAD (Magnetic Airborne Detector) equipment, a PBY Catalina from NAS Quonset Point, Rhode Island, locates the USN submarine USS S-48. The tests are carried out in cooperation with the National Defense Research Committee.

Arthur H. Compton holds a meeting in Schenectady, NY with Ernest O. Lawrence, J. Robert Oppenheimer, George Kistiakowsky, and James B. Conant reviewing The MAUD Report and the most recent US work. The Uranium Committee discusses Seaborg's contention that he could devise a large-scale remote process to chemically separate 94 (soon to be named plutonium) from uranium. The meeting ends by concluding that an atomic bomb could be made.

Diplomat Averell Harriman, on his return from Moscow, reported to the US President that, "the Russians would fight on no matter what territory may be overrun by the invader." They "would need substantial quantities of munitions and raw materials."

NORTHERN FRONT: German forces complete conquest of Hiiumaa (Dago) Island in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Estonia.

PACIFIC OCEAN: The following message is sent from the Japanese representative in Davao, Mindanao Island, to Tokyo: "As an air base for central Mindanao district, 300 men are being managed by Americans, and the ground is now being leveled. An underground hangar and underground oil tanks are planned; however, the material for this is delayed so that building on this is not progressing as planned. Already several times a week planes are flying here, and it seems they are expecting large heavy bomber planes too, very soon."

UNITED KINGDOM: The Luftwaffe conducted a sharp attack on the North-East Coast. More than twenty-five places were affected in the North. On the Tyne two fires were started at Newcastle, and two people killed, while at Hebburn a first-aid post was damaged and thirteen people were killed. Further down the coast at South Hylton, Sunderland, there were two fatal casualties, while at Ryhope fires were started and a number of houses damaged, three people here were killed and two more lost their lives at New Seaham. On Teesside bombs at Stockton did little damage, but at Redcar, where ten people were killed. Nine of its leading citizens were killed when two HE fell near the Municipal Buildings and destroyed the Zetland Club Headquarters where eighteen of its members were. The dead included the Mayor of Redcar Alderman C. Harris, Mr Arthur Pickering, the chairman of the local bench and Dr Alfred Skirrow Robinson.

WESTERN FRONT: RAF Fighter Command flew sweeps as RAF Bomber Command sends 17 aircraft on coastal sweeps during the day. RAF Bomber Command sends 12 aircraft to attack Boulogne overnight.

.

 

[Old Wizard]

 

[parsifal]

21 OCTOBER 1941
Known Reinforcements
Axis
Type IXc U-163

Type VIIc U-253

Allied
Flower Class Corvette HMCS EDMUNDSTON (K-106)

Flower Class Corvette HMCS THE PAS (K-168)

Bar Class Boom Defence Vessel HMS BARBRIDGE (Z-222)
[NO IMAGE FOUND]

BPB 70' type MGB 21
[NO IMAGE FOUND]

Fairmile B ML-295
[NO IMAGE FOUND]

MMS I Class coastal MSW MMS-56
[NO IMAGE FOUND]

Losses
Tug HELEN BARBARA (UK 250 grt (est)) was abandoned and lost in heavy weather in the Nth Sea.
[NO IMAGE FOUND]

Convoy SL-89
U-82 attacked convoy SL-89 and managed to sink two ships from the convoy

U-82 sank the Steamer SERBINO (UK 4099 grt) with the loss of 14 of her 65 crerw. She was on passage from Mombasa to Liverpool via Freetown carrying sisal and some other general cargo. She had been part of SL:-89. At 2203 hrs the SERBINO was hit amidships by one torpedo from U-82 and sank west of Fastnet. Eleven crew members and three gunners were lost. The master, 49 crew members and one gunner were picked up by Corvette ASPHODEL and landed at Gourock.

U-82 also sank Steamer TREVERBYN (UK 5281 grt) whilst she was carrying iron ore with a crew of 48 aboard. All 48 were to be lost in the attack At 2231 hrs the TREVERBYNin convoy SL-89 was hit amidships by one torpedo from U-82 and sank in 3 minutes SW of Cape Clear. The master, 35 crew members and ten gunners were lost.

UBOATS
Arrivals
Kirkenes: U-132
Lorient: U-108

Departures
Lorient, France: U-106, U-129, UA

At Sea 21 October 1941
U-38, U-66, U-68, U-71, U-73, U-75, U-77, U-79, U-82, U-83, U-84, U-85, U-93, U-97, U-101, U-103, U-106, U-107, U-109, U-123, U-125, U-126, U-129, U-202, U-203, U-206, U-208, U-371, U-374, U-432, U-502, U-553, U-558, U-563, U-564, U-568, U-569, U-573, U-576, U-577, U-751, UA

42 Boats

OPERATIONS
North Sea
CA BERWICK, having completed engine repairs, departed Rosyth for Scapa Flow, where she arrived later that day. DD ELECTRA also departed Rosyth for Scapa Flow. The DD joined DD ANTELOPE and both arrived at Scapa Flow early on the 22nd.

Steamer HILDA (Ex-SD 1237 grt) was sunk by the RAF five miles west of Ymuiden.
[NO IMAGE FOUND]

Northern Patrol
MSWs FITZROY, ELGIN, LYDD, and ROSS of the MSW Sqn 4 and MSW trawlers RONALDSAY, CAVA, and CAPE NYEMETSKI departed Scapa Flow for the Faeroes for a clearance sweep. The ships arrived in the Faroes on the 22nd and began the clearance work on the 23rd. On the 24th, MSWs KELLET and SELKIRK arrived in the Faeroes from Aberdeen to assist in the work.

SW Approaches
At 0428 hrs, u-123 fired a spread of three torpedoes at AMC HMS AURONIA whilst she was she was sailing as an escort for SL89 in the SW Approaches, on passage from Halifax to the Clyde. She was straggling behind the convoy with a group of four other AMCs and was sighted by the Uboat under the command of Reinhard Hardegan. Of the three torpedoes that were fireed, , two of them hit the AURONIA in the bow and under the bridge. The ship began to flood at the Number 3 hold, causing a list to port that eventually reached 25 degrees. The AURONIA cargo of empty drums acted to keep her afloat, and the captain was able to reduce the list to 15 degrees and get underway again. Meanwhile, other convoy escorts had chased U-123 way from the scene. During the confusion a lifeboat had been launched containing six men, but it swamped upon hitting the water. One of the escorting Hunt Class DDs HMS CROOME, picked up three of the men, but was unable to locate the others. Some hours later U-123 came across the sinking lifeboat, with a single survivor, and took him prisoner. The story of this man is interesting, as he was interrogated by Hardegan and managed to convince the U-boat commander that the ship was lost, influencing Hardegan no to press home his attacks. Meanwhile, AURONIAas escorted back to Rothesay Bay by the sloop TOTLAND, arriving on 23 October. The Germans claimed that she had been sunkm but she was repaired in 1942 and converted to a rpair ship, taking part in the D-Day landings and serving in her role into the Cold War after the RN purchased her outright.

AURANIA lying in Rothesay Bay on 24 October 1941, after having been damaged in the Atlantic

Channel
MLs MANXMAN and WELSHMAN departed Loch Alsh on the 12th and embarked mines at Milford Haven on the 13th. The ML cruisers departed Plymouth on the 21st and laid minefield HG off Lorient late that night.

Med/Biscay
U-79 sank Insect Class Gunboat HMS GNAT (RN 625 grt) 30 miles NE of Bardia. At 0334 hrs HMS GNAT was hit in the bow by a torpedo from U-79. The bow was blown away to the 6in gun and the badly damaged ship towed to Alexandria, where she was beached. The ship was declared a total loss, but used as AA platform in the harbour defence until scrapped in 1945.

DDs GRIFFIN and JAGUAR were detached from CruSqn 7 and DDs KINGSTON and NIZAM were detached from ML cruiser LATONA to assist the crippled gunboat GNAT. However, all ships were ordered to turn eastward to avoid threat of air attack during daylight hours. DDs GRIFFIN and JAGUAR were to remain in the vicinity of Mersa Matruh and were joined by DDs ERIDGE and AVONVALE. These DDs contacted the gunboat before sunset.

The gunboat was towed by DD GRIFFIN, escorted by DD JAGUAR and ASW whalers SOUTHERN MAID and KLO. Off Mersa Matruh, the tow was turned over to tug ST MONACE. DDs JAGUAR, AVONVALE, and ERIDGE returned to Alexandria arriving on the 22nd. DD GRIFFIN joined destroyer JERVIS to conduct an anti-submarine sweep ahead of whaler KOS 19 and tanker TONELINE, which had departed Tobruk at dark on the 22nd. The gunboat arrived at Alexandria on the 23rd.

Later, an attempt was made to weld GNAT's stern onto CRICKET's bow, but this was unsuccessful.

DDs JERVIS, JUPITER, and KANDAHAR departed Alexandria to bombard the enemy near Tobruk. The bombardment was completed during the night of 21/22 October.

When U.75was reported by a/c, at 1052 on the 22nd, DDs JUPITER and KANDAHAR were detached to hunt. A further report was received some five hours later. DD JUPITER, short of fuel, was sent into Alexandria. DD DECOY departed Alexandria to join destroyer KANDAHAR in the hunt. Also, sloop FLAMINGO, which had departed Alexandria earlier for Port Said, was diverted to hunt for the submarine. DDs KANDAHAR and DECOY arrived at Alexandria on the 23rd. Sloop FLAMINGO was detached to continue her voyage to Port Said to return to the Suez Escort Force.

ML cruiser ABDIEL and DDs NAPIER, HASTY, and DECOY departed Alexandria on serial six of the CULTIVATE operation, returning to Alexandria on the 22nd.

ASW trawler WOLBOROUGH and steamer GEBEL KEBIR departed Alexandria with Motor launch ML.1061 on serial 8 of the CULTIVATE operation. The steamer was damaged by the LW off Tobruk and was towed into harbour by the trawler. Two MLs intended as escorts were also attacked by the LW at dusk on the 22nd, sustaining superficial damage. Both arrived at Tobruk.

RM DDs DA NOLI, ZENO, and PESSAGNO departed Benghazi for Augusta on the 20th after a troop carrying mission. The DDs were attacked early on the 21st, 15 miles nth of Benghazi by submarine.

Submarine RORQUAL laid mines off Sardinia during the night of 21/22 October. The submarine laid ten mines SE of Cavioli Island and 40 mines SE of Cape Ferrato. Steamer SALPI (FI 2710grt) was sunk two miles east of Cape Ferrato on this minefield on 9 February.
[NO IMAGE FOUND]

Submarine UNIQUE arrived at Malta from patrol. Dutch submarine O.24 arrived at Gibraltar from patrol in the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Central Atlantic
CVL EAGLE and CVE ARGUS with DDs FORESIGHT, FORESTER, and FURY departed Gibraltar to the United Kingdom. Local escort was provided by DDs VIDETTE and LAMERTON that day only and ZULU and SIKH until 24 October. EAGLE was attacked by U.83 west of Gibraltar on the day of departure.

Pacific/Australia
FFL DD TRIOMPHANT departed Suva on the 17th and arrived at Bora Bora on the 21st. The DD was damaged in a very minor collision in harbour. On the 21st, the DD sailed from Bora Bora, arriving at Papeete, Tahiti on the 22nd.

Malta
AIR RAIDS DAWN 21 OCTOBER TO DAWN 22 OCTOBER 1941
Weather Fine.

0822-0847 hrs; 1023-1040 hrs; 1328-1342 hrs Air raid alerts: two for single enemy aircraft which pass close to the coast. On the third alert two enemy fighters cross the Island at 30000 feet. Ten Hurricanes are scrambled at a time but there were no interceptions.

1835-1901 hrs Air raid alert for six enemy bombers approaching from the north singly. Only two cross the coast and 500kg drop bombs in the Mosta-Naxxar-Gharghur area and in the sea. Two Hurricanes are scrambled but there are no interceptions.

OPERATIONS REPORTS TUESDAY 21 OCTOBER 1941

ROYAL NAVY Unique returned from patrol off Naples having sunk a Citta AMS. Aurora, Penelope, Lanceand Lively of Force K arrived.

AIR HQ Arrivals 4 Wellington. Departures 3 Beaufort. 38 Squadron 11 Wellingtons attacked a storage depot at Naples. 69 Squadron Marylands special patrols; Maryland special search. 1 Blenheim patrol east Sicilian coast. 104 Squadron 13 Wellingtons attacked a storage depot at Naples. 107 Squadron 6 Blenheims attacked two merchant vessels north east of Ras Maamoura.

 

[Njaco]

October 22 Wednesday
ASIA: Japanese Prince Takahito married Yuriko Takagi.

The First air raid exercises are carried out in Tokyo which included its first practice blackout.

IJN "Kaga" sailed from Ariake Bay to Hososhima, eastern Kyushu.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: German submarine U-68 sank British oiler RFA "Darkdale", serving as an oil storage vessel (with 3000 tons of fuel oil, 850 tons of aviation fuel, 500 tons of diesel and lubricating oil) off St. Helena in the South Atlantic at 0142 hours. All 37 crew and 4 gunners on board are killed in the explosion but the Captain, Chief Engineer and 4 crewmen are ashore. U-68 had been spotted the day before by a civilian on the island but his report was not taken seriously. "Darkdale" was the first British ship to be sunk south of the Equator in WW2.

An aircraft dropped two bombs on U-203 in the North Atlantic; the boat survived but suffered some damage.

EASTERN FRONT: German 2.Panzerarmee, resupplied with fuel and ammunition, continued the northeastward advance on Moscow, Russia. German 4.Panzer-Division renews the attack near Mtensk where they have been held since October 10 but they are again held by well dug-in Soviet infantry. The 258.Infanterie-Divisionen (Major General W. Hellmich) succeeded, by means of a daring stroke of Major Lübke's 2nd Battalion, 479th Infantry Regiment, in taking Naro-Fominsk on the Roslavl—Moscow main road. A penetration had thus been made into Moscow's second line of defense, 43 miles from the city itself. South of Naro-Fominsk, the 3.Infanterie-Division (mot.) (General der Artillerie Curt Jahn) thrust across the Nara with 29th Motorized Infantry Regiment and gained a seven-mile-wide bridgehead. The 8th Motorized Infantry Regiment, the sister regiment of the 29th, not only repulsed all Russian counter-attacks, but itself mounted an immediate counter-attack and annihilated a strong Russian combat force. They took 1700 prisoners, including 52 officers. They were members of battalions raised in Moscow, or workers' militia, or Ukrainians. Many of them shouted, "Voyna kaputt "—the war is lost—and later they denounced their political commissars who had torn their insignia of rank off their shoulders. Another 20 miles farther south the 98.Infanterie-Division (Lieutenant General Erich Schröck) likewise succeeded in leaping across the main obstacle of Moscow's second line of defense—the strongly reinforced Nara river. On its eastern bank the division swung north in order to clear the big road bridge of Gorki on the highway to Podolsk and Moscow, in co-operation with the 19.Panzer-Divisionen (Lieutenant General O. von Knoblesdorff). The 19.Panzer-Divisionen from Lower Saxony had crossed the river north of Gorki and its 27th Panzer Regiment successfully repulsed all Soviet counterattacks. With the capture of Naro-Fominsk and the crossing of the Nara above and below Gorki the last rampart to the south-west of Moscow was breached in three places. The dam built with the sweat, blood, and tears of half a million women, old men, and children, the dam that was to have stopped the German flood, was riddled. But as they were waiting for the German tanks to arrive, the tanks which now had no other obstacles to face except the ragged and half-starved local defense levies, the weather came to their rescue in this sector too. Rain turned the ground into mud. The mud became impenetrable. Field-Marshal von Bock ordered his forces to halt and wait for the ground to freeze hard so that their vehicles could move again.

In the south German 11.Armee is attacking through the Perekop isthmus. Stavka appoints Admiral Levchenko to take command of all Soviet forces in the Crimea.

An explosion at the Romanian Command Headquarters in Odessa, Ukraine killed 67, including Romanian Major General Ion Glogojanu, commander of the Romanian 10th Division, and 51 of his staff (Sixteen officers - twelve being Royal Romanian Army officers and four German Kriegsmarine officers - were killed, together with thirty-five soldiers and nine civilian officials (including a pair of interpreters in German service). The explosion was caused by a time-delayed bomb left by Soviet Coastal Army personnel during the evacuation. Antonescu ordered 100 Jews and Communists would die for each enlisted man and 300 for each officer killed in this explosion.

Romania denounced the Second Vienna Award. This pact, which was forced upon Romania by Germany and Italy on August 30, 1940, awarded northern Transylvania to Hungary.

GERMANY: RAF Bomber Command sends 123 aircraft to attack Mannheim overnight.

MEDITERRANEAN: Operation Cultivate: At Alexandria 0345 hours the British 2nd Battalion Black Watch boarded 2 destroyers ("Hotspur" and "Kingston") and the mine laying Cruiser "Latona". HQ Coy was aboard "Kingston", with Major Green and a small party on the "Latona", and the rest of the Battalion on the "Hotspur". The Black Watch sailed at 0530 hours. The voyage was recorded as being uneventful. At 1700 hours the fighter escort of 24 Tomahawks was picked up off Sollum. The ships tied up at Tobruk at different parts of the harbour at 2230 hours. After embussing the battalion was driven to the reserve Brigade area around Fort Pilastrino about 4 miles from the harbour.

NORTH AFRICA: General Morshead departs by sea from Tobruk to Egypt with Australian forces. General Scobie of British 70th Infantry Division assumes command of Tobruk defenses. 70th Division consisted of 14th Infantry Brigade (1 Beds and Herts, 2 Yorks and Lancs. 2 BW), 16th Infantry Brigade (2 Leicesters, 2 Queens, 2 Kings Own) and 23rd Infantry Brigade (1 Essex, 1 DLI, 4 Border). 32nd Army Tank Brigade under Brigadier A. C. Willison was made up from 1st Royal Tanks, 4th Royal Tanks, and 7th Royal Tanks). There was also a squadron of Armoured Cars operated by the Kings Dragoon Guards.

PACIFIC OCEAN: Final flight of 26 B-17's under Lieutenant Colonel Eugene Eubank arrived in Hawaii. Lieutenant Colonel Eubank, had received a commendation from the Secretary of War for planning and executing the flight of 21 airplanes from Hamilton Field, Calif., to Hickam Field, Hawaii, on the night of May 13-14, 1941. He was later ordered to an unannounced overseas station, and upon completion of that assignment went on temporary duty at Albuquerque, N.M., pending his assignment to the Second Air Force at Fort George Wright, Wash., in August 1942.

The battleships USS "Oklahoma" (BB-36) and USS "Arizona" (BB-39) were damaged in a collision in the Hawaiian Operating Area.

Troop convoy WS 11X arrives Bombay en route to Colombo-Singapore from the UK.

WESTERN FRONT: The assassination of Colonel Karl Hotz in Nantes, France two days prior brought reprisal deaths of 48 French civilians (mostly communist resistance fighters) with the promise of 50 more deaths if the assassin was not caught. He was shot six times as he walked past the cathedral yesterday morning, two of the bullets hitting his neck. The shooting of a German major in Bordeaux, France brought 100 arrests and 50 immediate executions. German forces execute 27 hostages at Chateaubriant and 20 hostages at Nantes. General Stülpnagel, commander of the German occupation forces, described the killers as "cowardly criminals, paid for by England and Moscow". So far - after an enthusiastic round-up which netted the prefect of Loire, the commandant of the Nantes gendarmerie and three perfectly innocent policemen - they have not been found. Marshal Philippe Pétain and Admiral François Darlan broadcast an appeal to the French nation calling restraint from any actions against the occupying German troops which could bring down reprisals on hostages. So far 131 Frenchmen have been executed as hostages.

RAF Bomber Command sends 28 aircraft to attack Brest and Le Havre overnight.

.

 

[Old Wizard]

 

[parsifal]

22 OCTOBER 1941
Known Reinforcements
Axis
Type VIIc DKM U-406

Neutral
Benson Class DD USS BRISTOL (I) (DD453)

Losses
MSW trawler ALDER (RN 560 grt) was grounded and declared a total loss on the east coast of Scotland.
[NO IMAGE FOUND]

U-68 sank the Fleet Oiler DARKDALE (UK 8145 grt) in the Sth Atlantic, whilst the vessel was moored at the St Helen anchorage with a load of fuels. 41 of the vessel's 50 strong crew were to be lost in the attack. At 0142 hrs the DARKDALE was torpedoed and sunk by U-68 while anchored as a storage ship in Jamestown harbour, St. Helena. The tanker caught fire after being hit by a torpedo, exploded and sank. 38 crew members and three gunners were lost. The master, five crew members and three gunners survived the sinking, but only two of the men had actually been aboard when the ship was hit and were rescued by harbour craft after jumping overboard.

Convoy SC-48
SC 48 continued without further loss, the 31 ships arriving at Liverpool on 22 October 1941. The 11 stragglers which had become separated in the storm on 10 October had been gathered up by CAMROSE and ROSTHERN. Led by Commodore Sanders in CASTALIA and with just two corvettes as escort this group was able to make the crossing without interference, arriving in Britain 10 days after the main body.

Convoy HG-75
Convoy HG.75 departed Gibraltar escorted by sloop ROCHESTER (SO ), CAM ship ARIGUANI, and corvettes BLUEBELL,CAMPION, CARNATION, HELIOTROPE, LA MALOUINE, and MALLOW.

UBOATS
Arrivals
Kirkenes: U-752
St. Nazaire: U-553

Departures
Arendal: U-571
Kiel: U-133
St. Nazaire: U-74

At Sea 22 October 1941
U-38, U-66, U-68, U-71, U-73, U-74, U-75, U-77, U-79, U-82, U-83, U-84, U-85, U-93, U-97, U-101, U-103, U-106, U-107, U-109, U-123, U-125, U-126, U-129, U-133, U-202, U-203, U-206, U-208, U-371, U-374, U-432, U-502, U-558, U-563, U-564, U-568, U-569, U-571, U-573, U-576, U-577, U-751, UA

44 Boats

An aircraft dropped two bombs on U-203 in the Nth Atlantic inflicting minor damage on the vessel.

OPERATIONS
North Sea
DD INTREPID departed London for Sheerness after refitting. The DD departed Sheerness on the 23rd and arrived at Scapa Flow on the 25th.

Northern Patrol
ML PORT QUEBEC, escorted by DD NEWARK, laid minefield SN.24 C.

West Coast
BB MALAYA departed the Clyde escorted by DD LIGHTNING for the Clyde to join Force H. DD LAFOREY was delayed for docking to repair weather damage. The BB was joined by destroyers HAVELOCK and HARVESTER for escort. BB MALAYA and DDs LIGHTNING, ZULU, and SIKH arrived at Gibraltar on the 27th. ZULU and SIKH detached from the returning carriers EAGLE and ARGUS to join the MALAYA Gp on the 27th Upon meeting BB MALAYA and DD LIGHTNING, DDs ZULU and SIKH also joined the BB and LIGHTNING and escorted them to Gibraltar, arriving on the 27th. DDs HARVESTER and HAVELOCK were detached from BB MALAYA and joined the carriers. The two carriers and the DDs arrived in the Clyde on the 26th.

Western Approaches
Convoy ON.29 departed Liverpool. The convoy was joined on the 23rd by DDs BROKE, BUXTON, VERITY, and WOLVERINE, corvettes BEGONIA, CAMELLIA, EGLANTINE, LARKSPUR, MONTBRETIA and MOOSE JAW, and ASW trawlers BUTE, CELIA, HAMLET, and MACBETH, and KING SOL. DD VERITY, corvette BEGONIA, and the naval trawlers were detached on the 26th. USN DD WILKES and RN corvettes EYEBRIGHT, KENOGAMI, LETHBRIDGE, MAYFLOWER, NANAIMO, and PRESCOTT joined on the 28th. The remaining ships of the original escort were detached on the 28th. DD BROADWAY and corvettes ACONIT, COBALT, GALT, and WINDFLOWER joined on 4 November. The escorts were detached on 5 November when the convoy was dispersed.

Med/Biscay
British steamers CITY OF LINCOLN, DUNEDIN STAR, and EMPIRE GUILLEMOT departed Malta on the 22nd to make independent passage to Gibraltar. After being forced to return to Malta on the 16th due to engine problems, Steamer EMPIRE GUILLEMOT was also able to sail on the 22nd for Gibraltar.

ML cruiser LATONA and DDs KINGSTON, ENCOUNTER, and HOTSPUR departed Alexandria on serial seven of the CULTIVATE operation. MSW whaler SOIKA's LL sweep gear had been cut in an air raid at Tobruk. The cable fouled on HOTSPUR's propeller. The DD was able to return to Alexandria at reduced speed. The ships returned to Alexandria on the 23rd.

Corvette PEONY departed Haifa with armed boarding vessel CHANTALA and steamer BRITISH COLONEL for Alexandria. Corvette ERICA escorted cable ship BULLFINCH from Alexandria to Port Said. The corvette then departed Port Said and escorted mine carrier GURNA from Port Said to Haifa.

On the 22nd Sub URGE damaged Italian steamer MARIGOLA off the east coast of Tunisia.

Steamer MARIA POMPEI (FI 1407 grt) was sunk on a mine at Cattaro.
[NO IMAGE FOUND]

Nth Atlantic
Convoy HX 156
Convoy HX.156 departed Halifax escorted by DD ANNAPOLIS. The DD was relieved on the 24th by USN DDs BENSON, HILARY P. JONES, NIBLACK, REUBEN JAMES, and TARBELL.

Central Atlantic
DD GURKHA and RNeN DD ISAAC SWEERS departed Freetown on the 15th with convoy 90. After refuelling at Bathurst, the DDs proceeded to Gibraltar, arriving on the 22nd.

Red Sea/Indian Ocean
RAN CA AUSTRALIA departed Colombo after embarking mines from a lighter in the harbour. She proceeded to Mauritius where she refueled. After refueling, she proceeded to the Kerguelen Islands on 1 November. After searching the various islands by landing party and aircraft, eighteen mines were laid in Gazelle Basin, Long Island Sound, Island Harbour, and Tucker Strait. Crozet Islands were searched on 6 and 7 November. HMAS AUSTRALIA arrived at Durban on 11 November.

Pacific/Australia
USN BBs OKLAHOMA and ARIZONA were damaged in a collision in the Hawaiian Operating Area.

Malta
RECONNAISSANCE REPORT ON AIRCRAFT IN SICILY
Catania: 62 aircraft including 23 fighters, 32 bombers and 7 JU 52 transport planes.

• Augusta: 22 aircraft including 8 Cant 506s and 4 Cant 501s afloat, 6 Cant 506 and 2 Cant 501 on the slipway.

AIR RAIDS DAWN 22 OCTOBER TO DAWN 23 OCTOBER 1941
Weather Fine.

0714-0735 hrs Air raid alert for two enemy aircraft which approach at great height, skirt the east and south coasts, turn eastwards and fly over the Island one mile north of Delimara. Heavy AA guns fire a single barrage at 23000 feet. Eight Hurricanes are scrambled; no interceptions.

0859-0925 hrs Air raid alert for three Macchi 200 fighters which approach from the north at 27000 feet and carry out recon, passing over Grand Harbour, Luqa and Kalafrana before receding northwards. Nine Hurricanes are scrambled but do not intercept. AA guns do not engage.

1242-1304 hrs Air raid alert for 12 enemy a/c including Macchi 200s and Breda 65s which approach the Island at 23000 feet. Four Macchis dive down over Imtarfa to 1000 feet to machine-gun Ta Qali aerodrome, wounding two civilians and two RAF ground crew. There is no damage to a/c. HAA at Targa and Ta Qali fire barrages and Bofors engage; no hits claimed. Six Hurricanes are scrambled; no interceptions.

1656-1718 hrs Air raid alert for nine enemy fighters with in-line engines approaching from the north. Five Hurricanes are scrambled to intercept. Two of the raiders remain at 17000 feet while the rest dive down to attack the Hurricanes individually at 11000 feet over St Paul's Island. A 'thrilling dogfight' ensues watched by troops on the ground. F/O Matthews is attacked and hit by three different enemy fighters. His Hurricane is hit in the starboard and port wings and also near the glycol tank but manages to land safely. Sgt Owen's a/c is shot down in flames; he manages to bale out and is rescued from the sea, while S/Ldr Barton and Sgt Branch circle round the dinghy to protect him. Three other Hurricanes fire short bursts at the enemy but make no claims.

2236-2330 hrs Air raid alert for two enemy bombers approaching the Island. Only one crosses the coast and drops a large number of 2kg anti-personnel bombs on the Qormi area. The other drops bombs in the sea 30 miles north of the Island before returning to base.

OPERATIONS REPORTS WEDNESDAY 22 OCTOBER 1941

ROYAL NAVY Empire Guillemot, Dunedin Star and City of Lincoln sailed for Gibraltar at 1000 hrs.

AIR HQ Arrivals 1 Sunderland. Departures 1 Flamingo, 1 Sunderland, 2 Wellington. 18 Squadron 6 Blenheims attacked a military barracks at Homs. Sgt Woodburn failed to return. 69 Squadron 3 Marylands special patrols; 1 Maryland patrol Kerkennah-Tripoli. 104 Squadron 1 Wellington attacked Naples. 4 Wellingtons attacked shipping at Tripoli.

 

[Njaco]

October 23 Thursday
ASIA: IJN "Kaga" was relieved as the flagship of Carrier Division 1 of the Japanese Navy First Air Fleet. IJN "Akagi" was made the flagship of Carrier Division 1 and departed Yokosuka Naval Yard dock.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: An incredibly strange event befell U-106 on this date. When the replacement watch opened the tower hatch in rough seas they found out that the entire previous tower watch of 4 men had been washed overboard. [Oberleutnant zur See Werner Grüneberg, Fähnrich zur See Herbert Von Bruchhausen, Oberbootsmannmaat Karl Heemann, Matrose Ewald Brühl]

EASTERN FRONT: The Soviet attempt to break out of Leningrad, Russia south of Lake Ladoga was halted by the Germans. The German XXXIX.Armeekorps (mot.) (General of Panzer Troops R. Schmidt) captures Malaia Vishera in heavy fighting southeast of Leningrad. Meanwhile, 120 kilometers to the east, the German advance on the rail and road junction at Tikhvin continues. General Mikhail Khozin, commanding Soviet 54th Army which is attacking from the East to link up with the breakout, realizes the danger and diverts 2 rifle divisions to defend Tikhvin. Two divisions of the Soviet 54th Army were dispatched to reinforce Tikhvin.

Heavy fighting as German Army Group Center continues to push toward Moscow. After spending an excessive amount of time reconstituting his army around Vyazma, von Kluge moved his divisions up to the front very slowly, despite the pressing need for infantry to support the 4.Panzerarmee. The 258.Infanterie-Divisionen (Major General W. Hellmich) launched a series of small probing attacks at Naro-Fominsk but was stopped cold by the 1st Guards Motorized Rifle Division. The 3.Panzer-Division of the German 2.Panzerarmee moves through Bolkhov to outflank Soviet defenses at Mtensk 27 miles away. The road to Tula (the last Soviet defenses before Moscow) is now open. Parts of 3.Panzer-Division and 4.Panzer-Division with Infanterie-Regiment Großdeutschland (Oberst Walter Hörnlein) were ready to strike across the Suzha north-west of Mtsensk. The river was crossed and the defeated Russian forces vigorously pursued. Chern was taken—only 56 miles from Tula. But then the mud took command here too. The advance was slowing down. That in turn gave the Russian rearguards time to destroy the bridges along the road and to lay minefields on both sides of it. But Guderian refused to be defeated by nature and made a characteristic decision: he united all armor of XXIV.Armeekorps (mot.) (General of Panzer Troops Geyr von Schweppenburg), parts of the 75th Artillery Regiment and the 3rd Rifle Regiment, as well as the " Grossdeutschland " Infantry Regiment, into a fast vanguard formation under the energetic Colonel Eberbach and instructed them to disregard everything else but go ahead and take Tula.

In the south German 6.Armee and 17.Armee were attacking in the Kharkov sector and German 11.Armee was attacking through the Perekop isthmus.

Soviet Marshal Josef Stalin reorganized the Soviet army command system giving Colonel General Georgy Zhukov command of central zone operations. Marshal Semyon Timoshenko was shifted to southern front while Marshals Semyon Budyonny and Kliment Voroshilov were charged with formation of new Soviet armies.

Oblt. Walther Dahl of II./JG 3 shoots down three Russian aircraft. But other Russian front Geschwaders aren't so lucky. During the day's air battles, JG 52 loses twenty-three victory Experte Ewald Dühn, when he is shot down and killed as is Heinz Schawaller, who has twelve victories flying with JG 53.

Odessa massacre: Romanians continue murdering Jewish civilians in retaliation for the Soviet time-bomb blast yesterday. 19,000 Jews are herded to a square, doused with petrol and burned. Another 20,000 are taken to the village of Dalnik. Groups of 50 are shot in antitank ditches but this is too slow; the rest are locked in 4 warehouses and machine-gunned from outside. The survivors, many wounded, are left until the following day.

GERMANY: The German government banned the emigration of Jews.

RAF Bomber Command sends 114 aircraft to attack Kiel overnight.

MEDITERRANEAN: Overnight, British warships leave Alexandria, Egypt, to shell Axis positions on the Mediterranean coast. British cruisers HMS "Ajax", HMS "Neptune", and HMS "Hobart", escorted by destroyers HMS "Eridge" and HMS "Avonvale", departed Alexandria, Egypt and bombarded Bardia, Libya. Meanwhile, also from Alexandria, British destroyers HMS "Napier", HMS "Nizam", HMS "Jupiter", and HMS "Hasty" bombarded Sollum, Egypt. All return safely to Alexandria next day.

The first of the two Mesovouno massacres was carried out by the Wehrmacht in the Greek village of Mesovouno.

There was a Heavy Axis air raid during the siege of Malta.

NORTH AFRICA: RAF bombers attack Benghazi and Tripoli.

The 2nd Black Watch Battalion was taking over from 2/15 Australians. An advanced party of the 2nd BW passed on information concerning the whole of Tobruk defences. Unfortunately 3 members of "C" Coy were wounded after stepping on a "money-box" Italian mine.

NORTHERN FRONT: Finnish forces take defensive positions in front between lakes Ladoga and Onega after heavy action with new Siberian 114th Division.

PACIFIC OCEAN: "Tatsuta Maru" arrived at Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii at 1000 hours and disembarked American nationals who wished to return to the US due to the rapidly deteriorating US-Japan relations. Two Japanese intelligence agents who carried instructions for the consulate and a supply of radios for civilian spies already in place on Oahu, Hawaii were also disembarked.

German merchant raider "Kormoran" completed taking on 4,000 tons of diesel oil and 6 months of supply from supply ship "Kulmerland" off Cape Leeuwin, Australia.

USAT Tasker H Bliss arrives in Manila with 10 more pilots for the 24th P.G.

UNITED KINGDOM: Charles de Gaulle met with leaders of resistance movements, asking them to bide their time and protect the lives of innocents. General de Gaulle asks resistance members to stop murdering German military personnel, to avoid further retaliation against the French populace.

The prospect of shipping British divisions to Russia is abandoned.

WESTERN FRONT: RAF Bomber Command sends 12 aircraft to attack airfields in France in poor weather during the day with poor results. RAF Bomber Command sends 26 aircraft to attack Le Havre, Brest, and Cherbourg overnight.

.

 

[Njaco]

October 24 Friday
ASIA: Soviets halt aid to Nationalist Chinese government.

Nine Ki-43s of the 59th Sentai flew the first operational mission by this aircraft, a sortie over Henyang.

The three Squadron Leaders of the AVG, Robert Sandell (1st Sq.), John Newkirk (2nd Sq.) and Arvid Olson (3rd Sq.) flew a reconnaissance mission into Thailand for signs of a Japanese build-up, but found nothing.

Japanese aircraft carrier IJN "Soryu" departed Yokosuka. Japanese aircraft carrier IJN "Zuikaku" departed Sukumo Bay for Saeki Bay and arrived the same day.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Battle of convoy HG-75: German submarine U-563 attacked Allied convoy HG-75 300 miles west of Gibraltar at 0038 hours, damaging British destroyer HMS "Cossack" with a torpedo; 159 were killed, 60 survived. At 0636 hours, U-564 joined in on the attack, sinking British ships "Carsbreck", "Ariosto", and "Alhama"; 30 were killed, 96 survived. After some successful attacks in the morning against convoy HG-75, U-564 was attacked twice in the evening, first by an aircraft with one bomb and 3 hours later by an escort with depth charges. The boat sustained no damage.

EASTERN FRONT: Major Soviet counterattacks fail in the Leningrad sector. After the fall of Mtensk, an ad hoc formation of 4.Panzer-Division under Colonel Heinrich Eberbach (Kampfgruppe Eberbach) moved from Mtsensk, Russia northward toward Moscow, advancing 18 miles to Chern, on the road to Tula. The last remnants of the Bryansk Pocket surrender. German 9.Armee, freed from the operation, moves to support 3.Panzerarmee at Kalinn but fails to jump start the stalled offensive there. German 3.Panzergruppe was heavily engaged in Kalinin sector. In the south German 1.Panzerarmee was advancing through the Donbas while German 11.Armee was attacking through the Perekop isthmus. The Germans rapidly encircle the major Ukrainian industrial city of Kharkov in the Eastern Ukraine. After five days of heavy fighting Kharkov falls to a coordinated attack by the German 6.Armee and 17.Armee of Army Group South. Infantry divisions from 6.Armee and 17.Armee, using horse-drawn artillery and supplies, take Kharkov without any tanks or armored vehicles which have been diverted for Operation Typhoon. However, most heavy industry has been moved East beyond the Ural mountains (over 70 factories dismantled and loaded onto 320 trains) and the city is defended only by Soviet 216th Rifle Division. The Soviet 28th Army withdraws in good order. This city would change hands four times during the course of the war.

The Luftwaffe conducts the last raid on Moscow with only eight airplanes. But the air force is successful in other ways when the Kommodore of JG 3, Major Günther Lützow, shoots down his one hundredth aircraft, becoming the first pilot since Oberst Werner Mölders to ever do so. Like Oberst Mölders, Major Lützow is immediately banned from any further operational flying.

Odessa massacre continues. At 1700 hours, Romanian troops set fire to 3 warehouses at Dalnik containing the survivors, mainly women and children, from yesterday's machinegunning. A fourth building with the men is left until tomorrow.

GERMANY: Adolf Eichmann approves a scheme to gas Jews using exhaust fumes in specially adapted vans.

OKH briefs Hitler on planning for advance to the Caucasus.

RAF Bomber Command sends 70 aircraft to attack Frankfurt and 12 aircraft to attack Emden overnight.

MEDITERRANEAN: Operation Cultivate: After sundown, British minelaying cruiser HMS "Abdiel" and destroyers HMS "Kandahar", HMS "Kingston", and HMS "Griffin" departed Alexandria, Egypt with troops and supplies for Tobruk, Libya, returning with troops of Australian 9th Division early in the next day.

NORTH AFRICA: The last combat between a Gloster Gladiator and a CR-42 occurs near Ambazzo, when a 3 Squadron RSAAF (Royal South African Air Force) intercepts an Italian fighter.

British vessel "Empire Guillemot" sunk by Axis bombers.

The taking over process at Tobruk continued amid air raids albeit well away from the 2nd Black Watch Battalion area. The handing over was recorded by the Australian CO for broadcasting over the Australian networks. Colonel Rusk the CO spoke along with Captain Stirling and Piper Ogilvie played on his chanter. The 2/15 Australians started leaving at 2015 hours for Egypt. Captain Dalrymple became the Divisional, and Lt McLeod the Brigade, liaison officers. D Coy and the rear party arrived.

NORTH AMERICA: Franklin Roosevelt hosted Princess Märtha of Sweden (Crown Princess of Norway) at his home in Hyde Park, New York, United States.

PACIFIC OCEAN: MacArthur requests an additional US $3 million (US $43.6 million in 2008 dollars) to build facilities at Del Monte (Mindanao) and five other airfields.

Admiral Tom Phillips appointed CinC RN Eastern Fleet.

CAPT H. M. L. Waller, DSO and Bar, RAN, was appointed to HMAS "Perth", (cruiser).

UNITED KINGDOM: No. 137 Squadron RAF begins operations over Europe equipped with the Westland Whirlwind.

WESTERN FRONT: 50 communists were executed by the Germans at Camp Souge, France in retaliation for the killing of German occupation administrator Hans-Gottfried Reimers three days prior, bringing to 100 those killed in the last 24 hours.

RAF Bomber Command sends 18 aircraft on coastal sweeps off Dutch coast while RAF Fighter Command flew sweeps.

.

 

[Old Wizard]

 

[parsifal]

23 OCTOBER 1941
Known Reinforcements
Axis
Type VIIc DKM U-593

Neutral
Elco 77' type USS PT-63

Allied
Bangor Class MSW HMS BOOTLE (J-143)

Elco 77' type MTB-321
[NO IMAGE FOUND]

Losses
Convoy HG-75
The convoy was reinforced by DD LAMERTON and DDs COSSACK, LEGION, and VIDETTE sent to assist the convoy. DD COSSACK was torpedoed by U.563 west of Gibraltar late on the 23rd, with the loss of one rating killed. 153 other crew members were missing. Four ratings died of wounds. Incredibly the DD did not sink immediately.

At least 26 crewmembers were taken off the ship as wounded. The survivors were rescued by DD LEGION and sloop COMMANDANT DUBOC. Corvette CARNATION was able to pass a towing line to DD COSSACK with destroyer LEGION standing by.

UBOATS
Arrivals
Salamis: U-79

At Sea 23 October 1941
U-38, U-66, U-68, U-71, U-73, U-74, U-75, U-77, U-82, U-83, U-84, U-85, U-93, U-97, U-101, U-103, U-106, U-107, U-109, U-123, U-125, U-126, U-129, U-133, U-202, U-203, U-206, U-208, U-371, U-374, U-432, U-502, U-558, U-563, U-564, U-568, U-569, U-571, U-573, U-576, U-577, U-751, UA

43 Boats

OPERATIONS
Baltic
VMF SC.323 sank steamer BALTENLAND (Ger 3724 grt) in the Baltic.

Northern Patrol
MSWs SALAMANDER and HALCYON arrived at Seidisfjord to refuel on the 22nd and departed again on the 23rd for Scapa Flow, where they arrived on the 26th.

MSWs HARRIER and BRITOMART arrived at Seidisfjord at 1800 from Spitzbergen to refuel. They departed and arrived at Scapa Flow on the 25th.

Northern Waters
An Albacore aircraft from CV VICTORIOUS did not return from exercises near Rona off Scapa Flow. The crew were lost. In the same exercise, a Fulmar of 800 Sqn from CV INDOMITABLE also failed to return. The crew of this a/c were also lost.

BB PRINCE OF WALES and DDs ELECTRA and EXPRESS departed Scapa Flow at 0700 for the Clyde, arriving predawn on the 24th. Vice Admiral Curteis transferred his flag to BC RENOWN. and Admiral Sir Tom S. V. Philips, KCB, raised his flag was Commander in Chief, Eastern Fleet. BB PRINCE OF WALES and DDs HESPERUS, EXPRESS, and ELECTRA departed the Clyde at 1500 for the Far East. DD LEGION, after refuelling in the Azores, joined the screen on the 28th. DDs EXPRESS and ELECTRA were detached to Ponta Delgada to refuel. On the DDs' return to the screen on the 29th, DDs LEGION and HESPERUS were detached. DD HESPERUS to return to the UK and LEGION to Gibraltar.

Med/Biscay
CLs AJAX, NEPTUNE, and HOBART with DDs NAPIER, NIZAM, JUPITER, HASTY, ERIDGE, and AVONVALE departed Alexandria to bombard enemy positions at Bardia. NAPIER, NIZAM, JUPITER, and HASTY were detached and conducted a bombardment of Sollum. The CLs, escorted by DDs ERIDGE and AVONVALE, bombarded Bardia. The ships all returned to Alexandria on the 24th.

CLA CARLISLE departed Alexandria to return to the Red Sea for duty in the Suez Escort Force. The ship arrived at Suez on the 25th.

Submarine TRIUMPH sank caique PANGIOTIS (Ex-Gk 120 grt) and damaged caique AGHIA PARASKEVA in the Gulf of Petali.
[NO IMAGE FOUND]

Submarine TRUANT sank steamer VIRGINIA S. (Ex-Gk 3885 grt) from a convoy of steamer VIRGINIA S. and tankers BALCIK and BALKAM, escorted by escort ship ARBOREA. The submarine also claimed damage on the escort, which was not hit.
[NO IMAGE FOUND]

Submarine RORQUAL laid mines off Cavoli.

Unescorted merchant ships DUNEDIN STAR and CITY OF LINCOLN, en route to Gibraltar from Malta, were attacked without success by RA a/c t off Bone.

Steamer ACHILLE (FI 2415 grt) was sunk by British bombing, N.W. of Ustiea,.

.
Nth Atlantic
Convoy SC.51 departed Sydney CB escorted by AMC WORCESTERSHIRE and corvettes BATTLEFORD, DUNVEGAN, and SOREL. The corvettes were detached on the 25th when the convoy was joined by corvettes ARROWHEAD, CHILLIWACK, POLYANTHUS, PRIMROSE, SNOWBERRY, and TRAIL. Corvette POLYANTHUS was detached on 2 November and the rest of the corvettes on 4 November. DDs MALCOLM, SARDONYX, and WATCHMAN joined on 4 November and corvettes ARABIS, DAHLIA, and MONKSHOOD, and ASW trawlers NORTHERN GEM and NORTHERN SPRAY. Corvettes ARABISD and MONKSHOOD were detached on 7 November. On 8 November, the AMC, DD SARDONYX, and corvette DAHLIA were detached. The convoy arrived at Liverpool on 9 November.


Malta
AIR RAIDS DAWN 23 OCTOBER TO DAWN 24 OCTOBER 1941
Weather Fine.

2236-2344 hrs Air raid alert for two enemy bombers approaching the Island. The first drops bombs in the sea without crossing the coast. The second crosses the coast near Grand Harbour, circles round and drops incendiary bombs on the Valletta and Sliema areas before turning out to sea and dropping high explosive bombs in the sea five miles off the coast. Two Hurricanes are scrambled; no interception.

0422-0525 hrs Raid no 905 Air raid alert for the approach of four enemy bombers which drop high explosive bombs in the sea 15-30 miles north of the Island. Two bombs are also dropped on Gozo. One raider crosses the coast and drops 250kg high explosive bombs on Senglea and Marino Pinto, damaging the Royal Engineers yard, demolishing the roof of a store and starting a fire which is quickly extinguished. One bomb is dropped close to St Nicola Ack Ack position. The electricity supply in the Marsa area is cut off. Bombs dropped during the raid are reported as being heavier than usual. Two Hurricanes are scrambled; no interception.

OPERATIONS REPORTS THURSDAY 23 OCTOBER 1941

AIR HQ Departures 1 Sunderland, 2 Wellington. 18 Squadron 5 Blenheims attack a chemical works at Cotrone. 38 Squadron 3 Wellingtons carried out a nuisance raid on Naples. 3 Wellingtons carried out a nuisance raid on Tripoli. 69 Squadron 3 Marylands on special patrols; 1 Maryland on patrol and special search of Tunisian coast. 107 Squadron 4 Blenheims attacked a merchant ship. 221 Squadron 1 Wellington on shipping search.

 

[parsifal]

24 OCTOBER 1941
Known Reinforcements
Neutral
Accentor Class Coastal MSW USS AGRESSOR (AMc-64)
[NO IMAGE FOUND]

Allied
Isles Class ASW Trawler HMNZS INCHKEITH (T-155)

Mk2 Class LCT 133
[NO IMAGE FOUND]

Losses
MSW trawler EMILION (RN 201 grt) was sunk on a mine in the vicinity of B.6 Buoy, Barrow Deep. There were no casualties on the trawler.
[NO IMAGE FOUND]

MSW trawler LUCIENNE JEANNE (RN 264 grt) was sunk by a mine in the vicinity of B.6 Buoy, Barrow Deep.
[NO IMAGE FOUND]

Convoy HG-75
DD DUNCAN departed Gibraltar on the 24th with medical supplies and a surgeon to treat the wounded of HMS COSSACK. DD DUNCAN was to then join convoy OS.9G.

Tug THAMES and corvette JONQUIL departed Gibraltar on the 24th to assist the destroyer. The DD was towed by tug THAMES and escorted by corvettes JONQUIL and CARNATION. Tribal Class DD HMS COSSACK (RN 1854 grt) finally sank on the 27th. Corvette JONQUIL took off the last of the crew on the DD. The tug THAMES had been diverted to assist damaged AA ship ARIGUANI, but tug ROLLICKER was en route to assist. DD DUNCAN departed Gibraltar on the 24th and, after providing assistance to the stricken DD COSSACK, refuelled at Ponta Delgada on the 30th. She then sailed to join the convoy OS.9.

U-564 fired a full broadside of torpedoes at the convoy, with the following results:

U.564 sank steamer CARSBECK (UK 3670 grt), Nineteen crew and four gunners were lost on the steamer CARSBECK. She was transporting Spanish iron to Liverpool.

The Steamer ARIOSTO (UK 2176 grt), the convoy commodores ship was hit by one of the 3 torpedoes that hit the convoy. Of the crew of 45, 6 were dead or missing. The ship was carrying a load of cork and iron ore.

Steamer ALHAMA (UK 1352 grt). . The entire crew of 33 aboard the steamer were rescued. At the time of her loss, the ship was transporting onions, tartaric acid, wines and cork to the UK.
[NO IAGE FOUND]

The U-Boat also claimed damaging two other steamers. After mounting successful attacks on the convoy, U-564 was attacked twice in the evening, when an an unidentified aircraft dropped one bomb, then three hours later the boat was depth charged by an escort. She was not damaged in these attacks.

UBOATS
Arrivals
Salamis: U-371

At Sea 24 October 1941
U-38, U-66, U-68, U-71, U-73, U-74, U-75, U-77, U-82, U-83, U-84, U-85, U-93, U-97, U-101, U-103, U-106, U-107, U-109, U-123, U-125, U-126, U-129, U-133, U-202, U-203, U-206, U-208, U-374, U-432, U-502, U-558, U-563, U-564, U-568, U-569, U-571, U-573, U-576, U-577, U-751, UA

42 Boats

OPERATIONS
North Sea
DD MONTROSE departed Sheerness at 0713 for Scapa Flow, via Methil, to work up. The DD arrived at Methil on the 25th and after landing trial parties departed again. She arrived at Scapa Flow later that day.

Northern Waters
DD ANTELOPE departed Scapa Flow for Scrabster with the Engineer in Chief aboard. After this duty, the destroyer returned to Scapa Flow.

Med/Biscay
RM sloop CORRISPONDENTE BETA sighted steamer EMPIRE GUILLEMOT (UK 6463 grt) off La Galita Island near Cape Bon. The sloop was able to guide RA bombers to the steamer which was sunk. Ten crew and one gunner were lost on the steamer. Twenty eight crew and five gunners were taken prisoners.
[NO IMAGE FOUND]

ML cruiser ABDIEL and DDs KANDAHAR, KINGSTON, and GRIFFIN departed Alexandria on serial nine of the CULTIVATE operation. The ships returned to Alexandria on the 25th.

Submarine TETRARCH arrived at Malta from Alexandria with stores and kerosene.

British steamer CLAN FERGUSON departed Malta to proceed independently to Gibraltar. The steamer was attacked by the RA shortly after leaving Malta and was recalled and arrived back on the 25th.

Submarine TRUANT damaged Italian steamer PADENNA (1589grt) off Bari.

Submarine TRIUMPH attacked Spanish steamer ISORA in the Aegean, but no hits were made.
Central Atlantic
The Gibraltar section of convoy OS.9 was detached from the main convoy, escorted by sloops LEITH and FOWEY and corvette STONECROP. DD WILD SWAN departed Gibraltar on the 25th to join the convoy. DDs GURKHA and ISAAC SWEERS departed Gibraltar on the 28th to join. Convoy OS.9G arrived at Gibraltar on 1 November.

Malta
AIR RAIDS DAWN 24 OCTOBER TO DAWN 25 OCTOBER 1941
Weather Fine.

1015-1026 hrs Air raid alert for three enemy aircraft which cross the Island at great height. Fourteen Hurricanes are scrambled but the raiders retreat before there is any interception.

1356-1407 hrs Air raid alert for two Macchi fighters which approach from the north, cross the coast near Grand Harbour, pass over Kalafrana and turn away to recede northwards – probably on reconnaissance. Seven Hurricanes are scrambled but cannot reach sufficient height to intercept; there is no engagement by Ack Ack guns.

OPERATIONS REPORTS FRIDAY 24 OCTOBER 1941

ROYAL NAVY Tetrarch arrived from Alexandria with stores and kerosene. Clan Ferguson sailed independently for Gibraltar.

AIR HQ Arrivals 1 Maryland, 2 Sunderland, 9 Wellington. Departures 1 Beaufighter, 7 Wellington. SD Flight1 Wellington search for convoy. 18 Squadron 5 Blenheims attacked a factory at Licata. 69 Squadron 3 Marylands special patrols. Photoreconnaissance Castel Vetrano and Tripoli. 104 Squadron 4 Wellingtons attacked Naples; 2 recalled due to bad weather. 6 Wellingtons attacked Tripoli. 830 Squadron Fleet Air Arm 2 Swordfish searched for missing Wellington; search unsuccessful.

 

[Njaco]

October 25 Saturday
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Battle of convoy HG-75: Italian submarine "Galileo Ferraris" attacked Allied convoy HG-75 500 miles west of Gibraltar and was discovered by a British Catalina aircraft. Although depth charges fail to explode, "Galileo Ferraris'" is damaged by machinegun fire. British destroyer HMS "Lamerton" arrives but is hit with a 4 inch shell from "Galileo Ferraris'". The superior firepower of HMS "Lamerton" forces the submarine to scuttle (6 killed, 44 crew rescued). Later in the same day, German submarine U-563 attacked HG-75, but she was driven away by British corvette HMS "Heliotrope".

RCAF Eastern Command makes first attack on a U-boat off Newfoundland.

South and Northeast Greenland Patrols were merged and renamed Greenland Patrol and designated as U.S. Navy Task Group 24.8 of the Atlantic Fleet.

U.S. Navy Task Force 14, under command of Rear Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, formed around the aircraft carrier USS "Yorktown" (CV 5), battleship USS "New Mexico" (BB 40), light cruisers USS "Savannah" (CL 42) and USS "Philadelphia" (CL 41), and nine destroyers, departed Portland, Maine, to escort a convoy ("Cargo") of British merchantmen.

U.S. Navy Task Unit 4.1.3, under command of Commander Richard E. Webb, escorted convoy HX 156. The destroyer USS "Hilary P. Jones" (DD 427) carried out depth charge attacks on a suspicious contact but after spying a school of porpoises ceased fire.

EASTERN FRONT: The German drive on Moscow was almost completely halted due to bad weather. The German 78.Infanterie-Divisionen (Lieutenant General C. Gallenkamp) finally reached Mozhaisk, long after the panzers. Remnants of the Bryansk pocket surrender, with over 100,000 troops from Soviet 3rd Army, 13th Army, and 50th Army killed or taken prisoner.

As German victories had now rendered Nikolai Voznesensky's first war production plan redundant, a new economic plan was published for what was left of Soviet territory in the centre and east of the country. General Golikov appointed Commanding Officer 10th Army as it reforms.

Lt. Ostermann of 7./JG 54 shoots down a Russian aircraft. Shortly after 0930 hours in the morning Oblt. Hannes Trautloft of JG 54 downs a Russian Pe-2. Later in the afternoon he adds a Soviet SB-2 bomber to his score.

On this date The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 1,776 adult female and 812 children, all Jews, were killed in Vilnius, Lithuania for a total of 2,578 people. Odessa massacre continues. Romanian troops shell the fourth warehouse at Dalnik building, containing all the male Jews.

GERMANY: Erhard Wetzel, an official in charge of race questions for the Ministry of Occupied Eastern Territories wrote Hinrich Lohse, Reich commissioner for the Ostland, suggesting that personnel from the former euthanasia program be allocated to construct gas installations for eliminated deported Jews who are unfit for work.

Ciano and Hitler discuss further Italian participation on the Russian Front.

MEDITERRANEAN: Operation Cultivate: Overnight, British minelaying cruiser HMS "Latona" and destroyers HMS "Hero", "Hotspur" and "Encounter" leave Alexandria, Egypt, for Tobruk, Libya. At 2105 hours, they are attacked by 10 German Stukas and 2 Italian S.79 medium bombers 35 miles East of Tobruk. HMS "Latona", carrying 1000 Polish troops into Tobruk, is hit by a 500-kg bomb which destroys the engine room (20 crew and 7 soldiers killed). HMS "Hero" and "Encounter" take off survivors and return to Alexandria. HMS "Latona" sinks at 2230 hours when fire ignites the magazine. HMS "Hero" is damaged by near misses of 3 bombs (under repair at Alexandria for 4 weeks). 7234 Australian 9th Division troops and 727 wounded have been taken out of Tobruk during Operation Cultivate, and 7138 replacements brought in.

Marshal Rydz-Smigly secretly departs for Poland via Slovakia in an effort to join Polish underground forces.

NORTH AFRICA: At Tobruk a Brigade conference was held at 0900 attended by Lt Col Rusk to discuss the Brigade takeover of the Eastern sector. The 2nd Black Watch Battalion was to replace the Queens Royal Regt as the right forward battalion of the sector. Bombing of the town was again taking place in the evening when the rear party of the Australians left. The fortress was now manned by British and Polish troops with a few Czechs.

NORTH AMERICA: The US State Department issued a bulletin denouncing German practice of rounding up and executing civilians in retaliation of partisan attacks. US President Roosevelt released a formal statement condemning the reprisal executions carried out by the Nazis in occupied Europe. "The practice of executing scores of innocent hostages in reprisal for isolated attacks on Germans in countries temporarily under the Nazi heel revolts a world already inured to suffering brutality," the statement read.

Aircraft carrier USS "Hornet" is commissioned.

US offers initiative to end Finnish participation in the war.

Assistant Secretary of State for Latin American affairs Adolf A. Berle spoke on the Nazi plan for a Church of Germany. Berle said that "It is said that this sort of thing may go on in Europe, but that it cannot affect America. But it so happens that we have long known that the Nazi group in Germany planned to conquer the entire world. It is not easy for Americans to realize that any group of people could seriously undertake world conquest, or that by any possibility they could carry it out. Yet, the fact is that they have planned it; and it is known to everyone who has had any contact with German affairs. The fact also is that they probably can carry it out unless there is resolute determination on the part of the remaining free nations to stop that conquest."

PACIFIC OCEAN: A Canadian brigade under the command of Brigadier John Lawson MC sailed from Vancouver, Canada to reinforce the garrison on Hong Kong.

UNITED KINGDOM: The British battleship "Prince of Wales" sails the Clyde for the Far East. Admiral Tom Phillips is aboard and will command the newly constituted British Far East Fleet. The new British Far East Fleet is to be created around the "Prince of Wales".

Lord Mountbatten, recalled from goodwill tour of US and no longer assigned to skipper RN aircraft carrier "Illustrious", returns to London to head Combined Operations.

WESTERN FRONT: The Luftwaffe loses one of its most colorful pilots. With his unit relocated to the Western Front to re-equip with the Bf 109Fs, Oblt. Franz von Werra, Gruppenkommandeur of I./JG 53, suffers engine failure and crashes off the Dutch coast. Von Werra is killed. Oblt. Von Werra was forced down over Kent on 5 September, 1940 and sent to Canada as a POW. He escaped and returned to Germany through the USA and resumed combat flying. His final victory score against the Allies is twenty-one kills. Hptm. Ignaz Prestele is placed as acting Gruppenkommandeur in Oblt. von Werra's place.

RAF Fighter Command flew Rhubarb operations over the Continent.

.

 

[Old Wizard]

 

[parsifal]

25 OCTOBER 1941
Known Reinforcements
Axis
Type XB DKM U117

Type IXc DKM U-171

Type VIIc DKM U-437

Neutral
Hornet class CV YORKTOWN (CV-8)

Aloe class Net tender USS SANDALWOOD (AN 32)
[NO IMAGE FOUND]

Allied
Kiwi Class ASW Trawler HMNZS KIWI (T-102)

BPB 63' type MA/SB 36
[NO IMAGE FOUND]

Losses
Convoy HG-75
Sloop COMMANDANT DUBOC joined the convoy on the 25th.

While preparing to attack the convoy, U-563 was attacked by one of the escorts, the RN corvette HMS HELIOTROPE. The boat was forced to submerge preventing her attacks on the convoy but was not damaged by the depth charges dropped by the corvette.

UBOATS
Arrivals
Brest: U-558

Departures
Kirkenes: U-132
St. Nazaire: U-552, U-567

At Sea 25 October 1941
U-38, U-66, U-68, U-71, U-73, U-74, U-75, U-77, U-82, U-83, U-84, U-85, U-93, U-97, U-101, U-103, U-106, U-107, U-109, U-123, U-125, U-126, U-129, U-133, U-202, U-203, U-206, U-208, U-374, U-432, U-502, U-552, U-563, U-564, U-567, U-568, U-569, U-571, U-573, U-576, U-577, U-751, UA

43 Boats

OPERATIONS
Northern Waters
BB ROYAL SOVEREIGN, escorted by DDs ANTELOPE and DULVERTON, departed Scapa Flow for the Clyde having completed her work up after refit. The ships arrived in the Clyde on the 26th. The BB entered dock at Greenock prior to proceeding to the Mediterranean. ANTELOPE departed the Clyde that evening to return to Scapa Flow, where she arrived on the 27th.

CA LONDON departed Scapa Flow for the Tyne for refitting. The CA arrived later that day. Cruiser LONDON was refitting from 30 October to 25 January 1942.

West Coast
Convoy OS-10
Convoy OS.10 departed Liverpool.

Channel
During the night of 25/26 October, ML cruisers WELSHMAN laid minefield JX A off St Valery en Caux and MANXMAN laid minefield JX B off St Valery sur Somme in the England Channel.

Med/Biscay
ML LATONA and DD HERO, HOTSPUR, and ENCOUNTER departed Alexandria on serial ten, the last, of the Cultivate operation. Abdiel Class ML Cruiser LATONA (RN 2650 grt) was sunk by the LW late on the 25th. On 25 October the ships supporting Tobruk operation came under air attack north of Bardia. LATONA, carrying 1,000 Polish troops, was hit in the engine room by a bomb from a Ju87 of I./StG1. This started a fire which soon raged out of control. DDs HERO and ENCOUNTER came alongside to assist and evacuated most of the troops and crew. LATONA remained afloat for a further two hours, before the after magazine exploded, sinking the ship. Four officers, 16 crew members and 7 soldiers were killed.

DD HERO was damaged by a near miss while standing by LATONA and her speed was reduced to ten knots. The DD was later able to increase speed to twenty knots and arrived at Alexandria on the 26th. DDrs ENCOUNTER and HERO took the LATONA survivors to Alexandria. HERO was under repair for four weeks.

This was the last cultivate serial in which 7138 troops had been transported to Tobruk and 7234 troops and 727 wounded were brought back to Alexandria.

CLs AJAX, NEPTUNE, and HOBART with DDs JERVIS, JAGUAR, JUPITER, KIMBERLEY, HASTY, NAPIER, and NIZAM departed Alexandria on a bombardment operation. Due to the loss of cruiser LATONA, the bombardment was cancelled. JERVIS, JAGUAR, KIMBERLEY, and JUPITER were detached to assist LATONA and escorted DD HERO to Alexandria. The cruisers, with DDs NAPIER, NIZAM, and HASTY bombarded Bardia prior to returning to Alexandria.

Force K of light cruisers AURORA and PENELOPE and DDs LANCE and LIVELY departed Malta to intercept a convoy of Italian steamer CAPO ORSO, German steamer TINOS, and DD STRALE which departed Benghazi on the 25th. No contact was made and Force K returned to Malta on the 26th. The convoy arrived at Brindisi on the 28th.

Submarine THUNDERBOLT arrived at Malta from patrol.

Submarine TRIUMPH sank steamer MONROSA (FI 6703 grt) in the Aegean from a convoy of steamers MONROSA and SANTAGATA, escorted by DD SELLA and TB SIRIO en route from Pireaus to Candia. The submarine was damaged in the counterattack.

Submarine TRUSTY made an unsuccessful attack on a steamer in the central basin.

Central Atlantic
A British Catalina from Gibraltar damaged Archimede class submarine FERRARIS (RM 970 grt) west of Gibraltar. DD LAMERTON, supporting convoy HG.75, was sent to attack the submarine. The submarine scuttled herself as the destroyer arrived on the scene. Forty four survivors were picked up. LAMERTON was damaged by a short of one of her
3. 9 inch shells.

Corvettes COREOPSIS and anti-submarine trawlers ST NECTAN and LADY SHIRLEY departed Gibraltar escorting tankers BRITISH FREEDOM and VELMA and then join tanker COWRIE, which arrived at Gibraltar on 6 November.

Malta
AIR RAIDS DAWN 25 OCTOBER TO DAWN 26 OCTOBER 1941
Weather Fine.

0941-0957 hrs Air raid alert for three enemy fighters approaching the Island at 27000 feet and cross the Island, on reconnaissance. Four Hurricanes are airborne but there is no engagement.

1152-1245 hrs Raid 909 Air raid alert for four enemy Cant 1007 bombers escorted by 16 fighters approaching the Island from the north. Only the bombers cross the coast and drop sixteen 250kg bombs on Grand Harbour, including in Kalkara Creek and French Creek. Seven houses are damaged and three civilians injured. A stick of four bombs hits the fuel depot at Fort San Salvatore, causing an intense fire.

A terrific barrage is put up over Grand Harbour. Seven Hurricanes are scrambled and reach 17000 feet to the north east of Grand Harbour where they spot the bombing formation slightly ahead and below. The bombers turn to port and the Hurricanes attack the bomber on the right flank from the stern, damaging it badly and stopping its port engine. One Hurricane engages a Macchi 200 fighter, leaving it with smoke pouring out. The wreckage of one Macchi is later found in the sea. The Hurricane of Sgt E Knight fails to return; a search is in progress. The body of an Italian fighter pilot is later recovered from the sea.

OPERATIONS REPORTS SATURDAY 25 OCTOBER 1941

ROYAL NAVY Thunderbolt arrived from patrol for docking. Clan Ferguson was recalled owing to her being attacked by enemy aircraft sixty miles west of Malta. She re-entered harbour at 0900 hrs but no serious damage was sustained. Force K sailed to intercept three enemy destroyers.

AIR HQ Arrivals 3 Blenheim. Departures 1 Clare, 1 Sunderland, 10 Wellington. S/D Flight 1 Wellington special search. 18 Squadron 5 Blenheims attacked barracks at Misurata. 69 Squadron 3 Marylands special patrols. 1 Blenheim patrol east Sicilian coast. Photoreconnaissance south western Sicily. 104 Squadron 3 Wellingtons on nuisance raid of Arab quarters in Tripoli. 107 Squadron 6 Blenheims attacked targets on the Zuara-Benghazi road.

 

[Njaco]

October 26 Sunday
ASIA: IJN "Soryu" Arrived at Kagoshima. Flag of Carrier Division 2 moved from "Hiryu" to "Soryu".

The Japanese flew a reconnaissance sortie over Kyedaw to perform reconnaissance on the AVG. Five P-40s made a fruitless effort to intercept them.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Battle of convoy HG-75. At 03.54 hours, U-83 badly damages British fighter catapult ship HMS "Ariguani" with a torpedo (2 killed, survivors taken off by British corvette HMS "Campion" including those rescued 2 days ago from torpedoed steamer SS "Carsbreck"). HMS "Ariguani" will be towed to Gibraltar, decommissioned, repaired and returned to service as a merchant ship in January 1944. U-71 fires 4 torpedoes at an unidentified escort boat (all miss). The escort then counterattacks with depth charges for 7 hours, severely damaging U-71 which is forced to return to base.

EASTERN FRONT: Leningrad Front and Soviet 54th Army swap commanders. General Fedyuninsky, the better fighting general, moves from Leningrad to take command of 54th Army which is now defending against the German advance on the railhead at Tikhvin. General Mikhail Khozin is relieved of 54th Army to take charge in Leningrad (he is familiar with the area having commanded Leningrad Front in 1938).

German Army Group Center continues to push toward Moscow against stiffening resistance. Soviet government declares Tula under state of siege, with emergency measures for defending the city and suppressing unrest.

Hptm. Gordon Gollob, Gruppenkommandeur of II./JG 3 claims his eighty-fifth victory while Walter 'Gulle' Oesau becomes the third Luftwaffe fighter pilot to reach one hundred kills, only two days after the Kommodore of JG 3, Major Günther Lützow, reached his one hundredth. Hptm. Gollob is awarded the Eichenlaub on his return to base.

Pigeon-keepers at Kiev, Ukraine, are executed on the assumption that the birds could be used to carry messages.

GERMANY: Tonight the RAF Bomber Command attacks Hamburg with 115 bombers.

MEDITERRANEAN: Tito meets with Mihailovic without reaching agreement on coordination of resistance operations.

NORTH AFRICA: The relief of the Australians at Tobruk ended as the British 70th Division, the Polish Carpathian Brigade and supporting armored units begin to settle in their new positions. At least one ship, the minelayer HMS "Latona", has been lost to Stuka dive-bombers.

NORTH AMERICA: Armament officials told the American automobile industry that effective December 15, scarce materials such as chrome, nickel and aluminum could no longer be used for purely decorative aspects of cars.

NORTHERN FRONT: Finnish 8th Division of II Corps makes contact with 14th Division west of Lake Segozero.

PACIFIC OCEAN: The submarines USS "Narwhal" (SS 167) and USS "Dolphin" (SS 169) arrived off Wake Island on simulated war patrols.

WESTERN FRONT: RAF Fighter Command flew sweep and Rhubarb operations. RAF Bomber Command sends 17 aircraft to attack Cherbourg overnight.

.

 

[Old Wizard]

 

[Njaco]

October 27 Monday
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U.S. Navy Task Unit 4.1.6, under command of Commander George W. Johnson, screened Convoy ON-28. During the day, the destroyers USS "DuPont" (DD 152) and USS "Sampson" (DD 394) each carried out two depth charge attacks against suspected U-boat contacts.

EASTERN FRONT: German Army Group Center continues to push toward Moscow against stiffening resistance. Germans slowly make progress towards Moscow all along the Mozhaysk line. At the Southeast end of the line, Kampfgruppe Eberbach advances to Plavsk 37 miles from Tula (140 miles from Moscow). At the Northwest end of the line, 4.Panzerarmee finally defeats Soviet 316th Rifle Division at Volokolamsk 68 miles from Moscow (316th Rifle Division is reduced to only 3500 men but has delayed 4th Panzer Army for 2 weeks). In the middle of the line, the 11 infantry divisions of German 4.Armee come to a standstill. Feldmarschall von Kluge lies to his superior Feldmarschall Fedor von Bock, commander of Army Group Center, about the strength of Soviet defenses. Amazingly, von Bock allows 4.Armee to dig trenches and go on the defensive, losing all momentum towards Moscow. Operation 'Typhoon' gradually ground to a halt as Russian resistance stiffened and mud set in. Soviet forces launched multiple counter-attacks around Moscow, Russia, trying to blunt the German advance. The attacks are bloodily repulsed but do buy some time for the Russians. German troops were now positioned in the west at Volokolamsk 60 kilometers from Moscow and in the south at Plavsk 110 kilometers from Moscow.

German advances continue with the capture of the city of Kramatorsk, north of Stalino. Erich von Manstein's German 11.Armee broke through the mud and fog on the Perekop Isthmus into the Crimean Peninsula sending the Soviet 51st Army in retreat toward Sevastopol and Kerch.

In a new action Italians win praise from the German High Command for defeating attacks in the Donets Basin and capturing several hundred Russian prisoners.

"In the Donets Basin an attempt to retard our advance was prevented by Italian troops. The enemy was thrown back with heavy and bloody losses and left several hundred prisoners in the hands of our allies." German High Command Communique, 27 October 1941.

On this date The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 946 adult male, 184 adult female, and 73 children, all Jews, were killed in Vilnius, Lithuania for a total of 1,203 people. Jews of Sluzk, 60 miles south of Minsk, Belorussia, are annihilated by Einsatzkommando troops, half of whom are German, half Lithuanian. A black van that stops at the Jewish old people's home in Kalisz, Poland, is loaded with elderly and driven off. The van is specially outfitted to route carbon monoxide into the cargo area.

The destroyer HMAS "Norman", (CMDR Henry Burrell, RAN), embarked a British Trade Union delegation at Archangel, Russia, for passage to England.

Victor Talalikhin, the Soviet Union's first major air hero of World War II, is killed in action during a dogfight with German aircraft.

MEDITERRANEAN: British submarine HMS "Tetrach", one day out of Malta, hit an Italian naval mine and sank between Sicily and Tunisia; all 62 aboard were killed.

Palestinian leader Amin al-Husseini arrived in Rome for talks with Fascist leaders.

NORTH AMERICA: At a Navy Day speech, President Roosevelt, in reference to the torpedoing of the USS "Kearney", said, "Hitler's torpedo was directed at every American….was to frighten the American people off the high seas - to force us to make a trembling retreat", claiming that the "American spirit" was now "aroused".

The Winnipeg Grenadiers and Royal Rifles of Canada sail from Vancouver, British Columbia, heading to Hong Kong, on the military transport "Awatea" and destroyer HMCS "Prince Robert".

The Chicago Daily Tribune dismissed the possibility of war with Japan, editorializing, "She cannot attack us. That is a military impossibility. Even our base at Hawaii is beyond the effective striking power of her fleet."

PACIFIC OCEAN: USS "Arizona" entered the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, US Territory of Hawaii for overhaul, during which she would receive a mounting atop her foremast for future installation of a search radar.

Admiral Thomas Hart, having changed his mind on moving the US fleet at the Philippine Islands south to combine with the British allies, decided to base his main force in Manila Bay.

UNITED KINGDOM: Mountbatten replaced Roger Keyes as the British Chief of Combined Operations.

WESTERN FRONT: RAF Fighter Command flew a Rodeo operation and a Rhubarb operation.

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