World War II in real time

Day 1095 of World War II, September 9th 1942

Air War over Europe

During the day, RAF Bomber Command dispatches six Mosquitos to attack three cities without loss: three bomb Osnabruck and one each bomb Bielefeld and Munster.

During the night of 9/10 September, RAF Bomber Command dispatches aircraft to lay mines: five each mine Gironde Estuary, Heligoland Bight and Kattegat. One Lancaster is lost.

Lieutenant General Henry H "Hap" Arnold, Commanding General USAAF, submits to the Chief of Staff a plan (AWPD-42) estimating the size of the air force necessary to attain air ascendancy over the enemy and outlining suggestions for the use of these forces in the several theaters; this plan, which by 17 November 1942 has been approved by the War Department and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, includes the buildup of the depleted 8th Air Force in the U.K. and contains the seeds of the Combined Bomber Offensive.

Battle of the Atlantic

590 miles Northeast of St. John’s. Newfoundland, U-755 sinks US weather ship USS Muskeget on Weather Station No. 2 (all 116 crew, 1 Public Health Service officer and 4 US Weather Service civilians killed). At 3.28 PM 875 miles North of Antigua, U-66 sinks neutral Swedish Peiping (3 killed, 31 survivors reach a Caribbean island after a week).

In the evening, U-584 (1 of 12 U-boats in “Vorwarts” wolfpack) makes contact with convoy ON-127 (32 merchant ships with escorted by 2 Canadian destroyers HCMS St-Croix & HCMS Ottawa and 4 corvettes HCMS Amherst, HCMS Arvida, HCMS Sherbrooke & HCMS Celandine).

Battle of the Mediterranean

85 miles Northeast of Tobruk, RAF torpedo bombers sink Italian hospital ship Arno (previously Australian WWI-era troopship HMAT Wandilla).

North African campaign

Photo: A newly-arrived Sherman tank being loaded onto a 'Z' craft to be taken ashore at Port Tewfik, Egypt, 9 September 1942



Photo: Tank crews receiving instruction on the Grant tank, 9 September 1942



Pacific War

ALEUTIAN ISLANDS CAMPAIGN

(11th Air Force): 1 B-26 patrols Tanaga and Adak.

NEW GUINEA CAMPAIGN

Kokoda Track, Papua - Australians retreat 2 miles from Efogi and begin preparing new defenses at Menari. US aircraft from Port Moresby slow down the Japanese advance to allow the Australians time to prepare their positions. As the disaster at Efogi sinks in, more troops are sent up the Track from Port Moresby and reinforcements are ordered up from the Australian mainland (25th Infantry Brigade arrives at Port Moresby).

(5th Air Force): P-40s strafe the Galaiwa Bay area on Goodenough. In New Guinea, A-20s, in support of encircled Australian ground forces, strafe and bomb troops in the Efogi Spur area; and the 8th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, V Bomber Command, moves from Townsville, Australia to Port Moresby 14 Mile Drome with F-4s.

SOLOMON CAMPAIGN

Japanese Lieutenant General HYAKUTAKE Seikichi, commander of the 17th Army, lands at Tassafaronga, Guadalcanal. Elements of the 2nd Division are also landed. Hyakutake’s presence on the island indicates some importance now attached to the battle for this island and Henderson Field. His previous HQ was at Rabaul, New Britain Island, Bismarck Archipelago, and he controlled operations in New Guinea.

The IJN sends 26 "Betty" bombers and an unknown number of "Zeke" fighters to attack Guadalcanal at noon. USMC F4F Wildcats intercept and shoot down seven "Bettys" and three "Zekes;" the Marines lose four F4Fs. On Guadalcanal, Fighter-1, the grass-surfaced auxiliary fighter airfield, is declared operational.

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA

(10th Air Force): HQ 7th BG moves from Dum-Dum to Karachi, India.

UNITED STATES

At 6 AM in the Pacific off the coast of Oregon, Warrant Officer Nobuo Fujita takes off in his “Glen” floatplane from Japanese submarine I-25, flies inland and drops 2 incendiary bombs into the forest on Wheeler Ridge, Mount Emily. The intention is to start fires but rain-soaked brush renders the bombs ineffective. 1 small fire is put out by the US Forest Service. This is the only bombing of mainland USA in WWII. Nobuo Fujita will return to Oregon several times between 1962 and 1995 as a goodwill ambassador. Some of Fujita’s ashes are now buried at the bomb site.

Day 1097 of World War II, September 11th 1942

YouTube (Hitler Finally Fed Up with his Army)



Eastern Front

The ruined city of Stalingrad was in immediate danger of falling to the Germans. German 6.Armee commander General Friedrich Paulus had fought off Zhukov's hastily-prepared counter-attack and was working his way towards the heart of the city against stubborn resistance. Russians guns, safe on the eastern bank of the Volga, were pounding the Germans, whose latest communique said that the;

"fortified belt of steel" around Stalingrad had to be taken "piece by piece" from the Russians, "who resist fiercely and desperately to the end."

German 6.Armee commander General Friedrich Paulus is summoned to Chancellor Adolf Hitler's headquarters ("Werewolf") to explain why 6.Armee hasn't taken Stalingrad. Paulus tells Hitler that an attack will go in with 11 divisions, three of them panzer, on 13 September. The Russians have only three infantry divisions, parts of four others, and two tanks brigades against him. Stalingrad should crack, he says and Hitler is pleased.

Battle of the Atlantic

Battle of convoy ON-127 - in the middle of the North Atlantic 800 miles West of Ireland. At 00.16 AM, U-404 damages Norwegian tanker SS Marit II which continues to USA with the convoy (2 killed). At 1.35 AM, U-218 blows a 30 foot hole in Norwegian tanker MV Fjordaas which is able to return to the Clyde, Scotland, arriving on September 15 (no casualties). At 11.50 AM, U-96 sinks 3-masted Portuguese fishing schooner Delães in the vicinity because U-96 “hears Asdic signals from the ship”. At 7.25 PM, U-584 sinks Norwegian MV Hindanger (1 killed, 40 survivors picked up by Canadian corvette HMCS Amherst).

250 miles South of the Azores, Kapitänleutnant Rolf Mützelburg allows the crew of U-203 to swim in the sea but he dies when he dives off the conning tower and hits the ballast tank (saddle tank) below the waterline.

In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, within sight of onlookers on Cap-Chat, U-517 sinks Canadian corvette HMCS Charlottetown (9 killed, 55 survivors picked up by minesweeper HMCS Clayoquot).

Battle of the Baltic

In the Gulf of Bothnia near the Finnish Åland Islands, Soviet submarine S-13 sinks Finnish collier SS Hera and also sinks a lifeboat full of survivors. Another lifeboat escapes to one of the Åland Islands.

Battle of the Caribbean

U-514 attacks ships in Bridgetown harbour, Barbados, sinking Canadian SS Cornwallis in shallow the waters. SS Cornwallis will be raised and repaired at Trinidad and Mobile, Alabama, returning to service in August 1943.

Canada

With so many young men involved in the war effort, there is a critical shortage of labor across Canada and the government announces that all women, single and married, born between 1918 and 1922, are required to register with the Unemployment Insurance Commission. The Calgary, Alberta, manager of the Commission explains that the women would not necessarily be given employment immediately, but that their experience and skills would be classified in case they are required for necessary war work. Across the Canadian prairies, hundreds of people, including teachers, bankers, lawyers, clergymen and schoolchildren, volunteer to assist with bringing in the harvest. In Drumheller, Alberta, as in towns all across the prairies, the local Board of Trade organizes busses and cars to take the volunteers to farms where they work with local farmers to harvest the grain and build granaries to store it.

Pacific War

ALEUTIAN ISLANDS CAMPAIGN

(11th Air Force): A weather, photo, and patrol aircraft draws AA fire over Chichagof Harbor, Attu and also covers Tanaga, Amchitka, and Semichi. HQ 343d Fighter Group is actived at Elmendorf Field, Anchorage.

Aleutian Islands. The US airfield Adak Island is completed and begins bombing raids against Japanese-held Kiska Island, 250 miles West.

Photo: Longview Army Airfield, Adak Island, Alaska, 11 September 1942



PORTUGUESE EAST AFRICA

Allied/Japanese diplomatic personnel exchanges at Lourenço Marques, Portuguese East Africa (now Maputo, Mozambique). Japanese liner Kamakura Maru leaves for Singapore with 870 Japanese diplomats while British SS El Nil returns to Britain with 400 diplomats (including the embassy staff from Tokyo).

SOUTH PACIFIC AREA

(Joint Chiefs of Staff): combat control groups are authorized for New Caledonia and Fiji; these units, under immediate control of the Commanding General of US Army Forces in the South Pacific (COMGENSOPAC), are to take over local operational direction of fighter aircraft and all other units in the combat team. Lost after an escort mission against Guadalcanal is A6M2 piloted by Murakami.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA

(5th Air Force): A-20s and B-26s hit Efogi and Menari in the Owen Stanley Range and Buna Airfield; B-17s, along with RAAF Hudsons, attack 2 destroyers 20 miles (32 km) E of Normanby ; a B-17 scores a direct hit on the stern of the destroyer Yayoi, which later sinks.

AUSTRALIA

General Douglas MacArthur, Commander in Chief Southwest West Pacific Area, submits a plan to Australian General Sir Thomas Blamey, Commander in Chief Allied Land Forces Southwest Pacific Area and Commander in Chief Australian Military Force, for accelerating operations in New Guinea. While Australians, upon receiving reinforcements, are to attack to drive the Japanese back on the Kokoda Track, a regimental combat team of the U.S. 34th Infantry Division is to execute a wide flanking movement to the east to get behind the Japanese at Wairopi and thus hasten their expulsion from New Guinea.

SOLOMON CAMPAIGN

Battle of Edson’s Ridge, Guadalcanal - Based on intelligence from his raid at Taivu 3 days ago, US Marine Colonel Edson believes the Japanese attack will come from the South of Henderson Field and he places 840 troops to block their approach on Lunga Ridge (a low, narrow coral ridge with dominating views, 1 km long between 2 rivers). Japanese bombers attack Lunga Ridge during the day, confirming Edson’s hunch.

NEW GUINEA CAMPAIGN

8 miles Northwest of Vakuta Island 120 miles North of Milne Bay, Papua, US B-17 and B-25 bombers sink Japanese destroyer Yayoi with a direct hit in the stern (68 killed, 83 survivors reach Normanby Island 75 miles South). The other destroyer Isokaze suffers minor damage due to near-misses and abandons the attempt to evacuate stranded troops from nearby Goodenough Island.

MAKASSAR STRAIT

In the Makassar Strait between Borneo and Celebes, US submarine USS Saury is recharging batteries on the surface in the dark. At 9 PM, USS Saury spots and sinks Japanese auxiliary aircraft transport Kanto Maru with 3 torpedoes (39 killed).

INDIAN OCEAN

In the evening in the Indian Ocean, German armed merchant cruiser Michel stops British MV Empire Dawn (in ballast to Trinidad from Durban, South Africa) with a barrage of shellfire that continues despite signals that the crew is abandoning ship (22 killed, 22 survivors taken prisoner on Michel).

Day 1099 of World War II, September 13th 1942

YouTube (Stalingrad, Hitler's Obsession)



Eastern Front

Germans launch an infantry assault on Stalingrad supported by aerial and artillery bombardment. They make slight progress, due to dogged Soviet resistance and terrain devastated by Luftwaffe bombing over the last 2 weeks, but manage to capture an airfield just West of the city.

Air War over Europe

Overnight, RAF mounts a big raid on Bremen, Germany, with 446 aircraft (Lloyd dynamo works and Focke-Wulf factory knocked out for 1-2 weeks; 7 historical buildings, 6 schools and 2 hospitals hit in the city centre; 70 civilians killed, 371 injured). 15 Wellingtons, 2 Lancasters, 1 Halifax, 1 Hampden, 1 Stirling & 1 Whitley are lost.

Battle of the Atlantic

Convoy PQ-18 150 miles Northwest of Bear Island. U-408 sinks Soviet SS Stalingrad and American SS Oliver Ellsworth. Luftwaffe reconnaissance aircraft from Banak, Northern Norway, spots the convoy and torpedo bombers from Banak use a new tactic of coordinated torpedo attack to sink 8 more steamers.

Photo: Billowing smoke marks the end of the ammunition ship SS Mary Luckenbach, seen from the deck of the escort carrier HMS Avenger (D14), during convoy PQ 18 to Russia, 13 September 1942. The ship was attacked by several German aircraft, and was hit by an aerial torpedo. The impact of the torpedo struck the ship's cargo of 1,000 tons of TNT. The explosion was so violent the ship was basically vaporized along with the entire crew. The last known location of the ship was 75 degrees north, 10 degrees east



Convoy ON-127 1300 miles West of Ireland, 600 miles East of Newfoundland. US air escort from Newfoundland keep the U-boats away from the main convoy but at 2.36 PM U-594 sinks a straggler, Panamanian SS Stone Street (13 killed, captain taken prisoner by U-594, 38 survivors on 2 rafts rescued on September 19 by SS Irish Larch).

Overnight, 290 miles Northeast of Ascension Island, U-156 rescues survivors from British troopship Laconia (carrying 1809 Italian POWs plus 1032 Allied civilians and military personnel). At 1.25 AM, Korvettenkapitän Hartenstein radios for assistance to Admiral Dönitz, who orders 2 U-boats to the scene and requests Vichy French to send warships. At 6 AM on his own initiative and without seeking Dönitz approval, Hartenstein radios in English a general request for help from all ships.

U-506 sinks neutral Swedish MV Lima 150 miles off the coast of Liberia, West Africa (3 dead, 30 survivors).

Battle of the Caribbean

100 miles West of Grenada, U-558 fires 3 torpedoes at convoy TAG-5, sinking Dutch SS Suriname (13 killed, 69 survivors rescued by a US patrol craft) and British SS Empire Lugard (all 47 hands picked up by Norwegian MV Vilja).

50 miles Northeast of Barbados, U-512 turns US tanker SS Patrick J. Hurley (carrying 75,000 barrels of gasoline and 60,000 barrels of diesel oil) into a burning wreck with shellfire from the deck gun (17 killed, 22 survivors picked up after 7 days by Swedish SS Etna, 23 survivors picked up on 4 October by British SS Loch Dee).

45 miles East of Trinidad, U-515 sinks British SS Ocean Vanguard at 2.27 AM (11 dead, 40 survivors picked up by Norwegian MV Braga) and Panamanian SS Nimba at 6.34 AM (20 killed, 12 float on a raft and wreckage for 12 hours until picked up by US destroyer USS Barney at 6.30 PM).

Photo: Panorama of convoy showing torpedo explosion (?). The AWM description describes it as a bomb explosion, there is, however, no anti-aircraft fire. AWM caption: "Barents Sea. 1942-09-14. A bomb from a Junkers 88 aircraft explodes at 1.30pm, close alongside Hunt class destroyer HMS Wheatland as Tribal Class destroyer HMS Eskimo speeds between convoy lanes. Note the concentration of ships, in convoy number PQ-18, carrying supplies to Russia by the Arctic route. These convoys were under almost constant attack by enemy planes and submarines, and losses were heavy"



North African campaign

Operation Agreement - To help relieve the pressure on Eighth Army in the Alamein area, a combined operations raid was planned on Tobruk to destroy installations and shipping. An attack would be launched from the landward side by the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG), while simultaneously the destroyers 'Sikh' and 'Zulu' together with coastal forces craft would land Royal Marine and Army units from the sea. AA cruisers 'Coventry' and 'Hunts' provided cover. During the night of the 13th/14th, a few troops got ashore but 'Sikh' was soon disabled by shore batteries. Hit repeatedly by the shore guns, the 'Sikh' was disabled and taken in tow by her sister ship, HMS 'Zulu'. When the tow cable was parted by a shell hit, she drifted into the line of fire once more. On top of this, seven German dive-bombers attacked the stricken vessel which had to be abandoned. Loss of life amounted to 15 officers and over 100 ratings. The few survivors were taken prisoner when they reached the shore. British desert raids also reached Benghazi and Barer.

Major David Stirling of the British Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) and the Special Air Service (SAS) Unit lost a quarter of his men after his modest plan for the raid is inflated into a full scale assault. The plan went against everything that Stirling believed is essential for a successful raid. He is forced to swell his ranks with newcomers, all of whom are not SAS trained; the element of surprise could not be achieved because a large force is being used and, finally, the use of a pre-arranged time table clamped the SAS's mobility resulting in the inability to strike as and when the opportunity presented itself.

During the night of 13/14 September, US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24s attack Tobruk, in Libya, and shipping in Bengasi harbor.

Pacific War

ALEUTIAN ISLANDS CAMPAIGN

The U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) 11th Air Force dispatches an LB-30 Liberator and two P-38 Lightnings to fly a photo reconnaissance, antisubmarine coverage and strafing mission over Japanese-held Kiska Island lakes and harbor; a tender in the harbor is slightly damaged, one Japanese float fighter is downed; a P-38 is hit by antiaircraft fire and fighters damage the LB-30.

14 B-24s of the 21st and 404th Bombardment Squadrons move up to Adak .

CHINA

U.S. Lieutenant General Joseph W. Stillwell, Commander-in- Chief U.S. China-Burma- India (CBI) Theater of Operations and Chief of Staff to Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek, present a proposed plan of operations to Chiang Kai-Shek for the USAAF Tenth Air Force's China Air Task Force, calling for the defense of ferry routes from India to China as its primary mission.

ENTRECASTEAUX ISLANDS

USAAF 5th Air Force P-40s strafe P-40s strafe buildings on Goodenough Island which is off the eastern extremity of Papua New Guinea.

NEW GUINEA CAMPAIGN

On the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea, the Japanese fire mortars and artillery at the Australian defenders at Ioribaiwa but the night is uneventful.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA

(5th Air Force): B-26s pound the airfield at Lae. B-17s unsuccessfully attack a cruiser SE of Rabaul. P-40s strafe buildings on Goodenough.

PACIFIC OCEAN

In the Solomons Sea, USAAF 5th Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses unsuccessfully attack a Japanese cruiser southeast of Rabaul, New Britain Island, Bismarck Archipelago.

SOLOMON CAMPAIGN

Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley, Commander South Pacific Area and South Pacific Force, orders the 7th Marine Regiment, now on Espiritu Santo Island in the New Hebrides Islands, to reinforce the Guadalcanal garrison. Staff officers of the Imperial Japanese Army's 17th Army at Rabaul, New Britain Island, Bismarck Archipelago, scout Guadalcanal aboard an "Irving" reconnaissance aircraft.

Despite interception by 28 F4F Wildcat fighters from Henderson Field, they report the airstrip held by the Japanese. Colonel OKA Akinosuke, commander of the 124th Infantry Regiment, again radios Lieutenant General Kawaguchi Kiyotake, Commanding Officer 35th Brigade, to ask for a delay in his attack against the west flank of the Lunga Perimeter. The answer is No!

Colonel Merritt Edson, Commander of the 1st Marine Raider Battalion, regroups his units on the Bloody Ridge after the fighting last night. He pulls back 200 yards (183 meters) to stronger positions that will be unfamiliar to the Japanese. His line consists of small combat groups of approximately platoon strength at 100 yard (91 meter) intervals. He cannot man a continuous line. Colonel Merrill B. Twining, Assistant Operations Officer of the 1st Marine Division, visits the line and recommends immediate replacement of these troops. The division Reserve, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment moves up, but are not into place by nightfall.

At 1830 hours the Japanese attack again. By 2130 hours Marine 75 mm artillery is dropping 200 yards (183 meters) in from of the line. By 2200 hours, the 105 mm guns are also involved. Division Command Post (near Henderson Field) is under sniper fire. Major Kenneth Bailey, a company commander in the 1st Marine Raider Battalion, brings forward a resupply of grenades and ammunition at 0300 hours. Reserves are fed into the line around 0400 hours. The Japanese 7th Company, 4th Regiment, breaks though a gap in the U.S. lines and reaches the Fighter 2 (Kukum Strip) about 0530 hours and are stopped by Headquarters Company and Company D. Daylight brings the attacks to a near stop. General Kawaguchi finds that the 1 Battalion did not find the front line, but its commanding and executive officers are dead; Colonel Oka has not attacked despite orders; the attack against the eastern perimeter did not take place either. Colonel Matsumoto, from the 17th Army, radios back to Rabaul on New Britain Island, Bismarck Archipelago, on 14 September that the major attack will occur tonight due to the heavy jungle. The Battle of Edson's (Bloody) Ridge has already happened.
During the day, aerial reinforcements arrive:

(1) pilots from USS Hornet ferry 18 F4F Wildcats to the island;
(2) in the afternoon, 12 SBDs of the USN's VS-3 and six TBFs of VT-8, both assigned to the USS Saratoga, are flown to Henderson Field while the Saratoga returns to Hawaii fro repairs. Four of the 18 new F4Fs are lost in air battles during the day. There have been a total of 60 new planes join the Cactus Air Force during the last three days.

Day 1101 of World War II, September 15th 1942

Eastern Front

Stalingrad - There is grim fighting all day as Germans try to push into the city. They especially want to place artillery on the dominating heights of Mamayev Kurgan, from which they can shell ferries bringing Soviet troops across the Volga, but an NKVD rifle battalion manages to hold on to the top of Mamayev Kurgan despite bitter fighting. German infantry advances down the Tsaritsa River gorge towards the Volga, again threatening to cut the soviet defenses in two.

Photo: German soldiers of the 24th Panzer Division in action during the fighting for the southern station of Stalingrad, September 15, 1942



Continuation War

Photo: Finnish anti-tank gun firing at enemy nests in the Continuation War. The topmost person in the picture is Veikko Riikoinen from the village of Selkie, Finland



Photo: Captured Soviet Polikarpov I-153 fighter in Finnish service



Air War over Europe

12 RAF Bomber Command Bostons bombed the whaling factory ship Solglint in Cherbourg harbor; the ship is set on fire and gutted. No Bostons are lost.

26 RAF Bomber Command aircraft laid mines in the Frisian Islands.

Battle of the Atlantic

450 miles Northeast of Ascension Island, U-68 sinks Dutch SS Breedijk (2 killed, 37 survivors in 3 lifeboats are picked up over the next 8 days and a boat with 13 survivors reaches French West Africa). At 11.30 AM 290 miles Northeast of Ascension Island, U-506, U-507 and Italian submarine Cappellini begin arriving to assist U-156 rescuing hundreds of survivors who have been floating since the sinking of British troopship Laconia in the evening of September 12. The submarines, on the surface, start towing lifeboats towards the coast of West Africa.

Photo: Shuttle service for shipwrecked persons from the Laconia between U156 (foreground) and U507 (background)



100 miles Southwest of the Faroe Islands, a British Armstrong Whitworth Whitley bomber (RAF 58 Squadron, Coastal Command) sinks U-261 trying to break out into the Atlantic on the first patrol, 7 days after leaving Kiel, Germany (all hands lost).

In the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, U-517 fires 4 torpedoes at convoy SQ-36 sinking Norwegian SS Inger Elisabeth (3 killed, 23 survivors reach shore in lifeboats) and Dutch SS Saturnus (1 killed, 35 escape in 2 lifeboats and reach the shore).

In the Bjaerangsfjord, Norway, Free French submarine Junon lands 10 British commandos (No. 2 Commando) and 2 Norwegian corporals (Norwegian Independent Company 1) to destroy the German-held power station at Glomfjord (Operation Musketoon).

Battle of the Caribbean

100 miles East of Trinidad, U-515 sinks Norwegian MV Sørholt (7 killed, 31 survivors reach Trinidad 2 days later). At 3.17 PM near Tobago, U-514 sinks British SS Kioto (20 killed, 54 rescued by Trinidad government ship Trinidad and landed at Tobago).

Battle of the Mediterranean

Italian frogmen enter the harbor at Gibraltar and place limpet mines on British SS Ravens Point, which sinks in shallow water (will be repaired and leave Gibraltar on December 27, 1942).

North African campaign

Photo: Vickers Light Tank AA Mk 1, a stop-gap anti-aircraft tank armed with four 7.92mm Besa machine guns, 15 September 1942



Photo: Staff officers examine a newly-arrived Sherman tank sitting on a DIAMOND T (M19) tank transporter, 15 September 1942



Photo: Industrious poses are adopted for the camera at a Royal Artillery battery command post, 15 September 1942



United States

Photo: Lunch of the first tank landing ship, LST-301, at the Boston Naval Shipyard, Massachusetts (USA), on 15 September 1942



Pacific War

ALEUTIAN ISLANDS CAMPAIGN

The USAAF 11th Air Force dispatches a B-17s and a B-24 to fly armed reconnaissance over Japanese-held Kiska Island, and bomb buildings in the Constantine Harbor area of Amchitka Island; American fighters strafe Kiska Island Camp area and shoot down four intercepting Japanese aircraft.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO

In the air, USAAF 5th Air Force B-17s bomb the harbor and airfields at Rabaul on New Britain Island.

JAPANESE OCCUPIED PORTUGUESE EAST INDIES

The Australian corvette HMAS Kalgoorlie arrives in Betano Bay, Portugese Timor with 14 soldiers and 15 tons of supplies for the “Sparrow Force.” The “Sparrow Force” consists of the 2/2 Independent Company Australian Imperial Force, and survivors from the 2/40th Battalion, 22nd Brigade, 8th Division Australian Imperial Force, who did not surrender to the Japanese, plus local East Timorese guerillas.

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA

(10th Air Force): HQ 341st BGroup (Medium) and the 490th and 491st Bombardment Squadrons are activated at Karachi, India with B-25s; also assigned are the 11th and 22d Bombardment Squadrons at Kunming, China and Karachi respectively with B-25s.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA

(5th Air Force):B-17s bomb the harbor and airfield at Rabaul. B-17E "Frank Buck" 41-2659, force lands, but it is later repaired and returns to service. The 19th Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 22d Bombardment Group (Medium), moves from Woodstock to Iron Range, Australia with B-26s.

NEW GUINEA CAMPAIGN

Kokoda Track, Papua - At Ioribaiwa Ridge only 25 miles from Port Moresby. With stalemate in the center and on one flank, Japanese bring up their reserve on the other side looking to outflank the Australian positions through the jungle. They also run into the Australian line creating havoc and disrupting the defenses. The Australians throw in their reserve, 2/25th Battalion, but they cannot dislodge the Japanese.

SOLOMON CAMPAIGN

In the Coral Sea between Santa Cristobel and Vanatu (300 miles Southeast of Guadalcanal), Japanese submarine I-19 fires 6 torpedoes, sinking 1 US aircraft carrier and 1 destroyer and severely damaging a battleship which are escorting 6 troop transports carrying 7th Marine Regiment to Guadalcanal. US aircraft carrier USS Wasp is hit by 3 torpedoes and burns out of control (194 killed, 1969 survivors rescued by other warships including 366 wounded). US battleship USS North Carolina is badly damaged and has to return to Pearl Harbor for repairs. US destroyer USS O'Brien suffers minor damage and heads to USA for repairs (via Vanatu Island and Noumea Island) before sinking near Fiji on October 19, 1942. US warships drop 80 depth charges but I-19 escapes unharmed.

Photo: The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CV-7) burning and listing after she was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-19, on 15 September 1942, while operating in the Southwestern Pacific in support of forces on Guadalcanal. Note that the wartime censor has removed the CXAM-1 radar antenna, only its lower frame is still visible



Photo: The U.S. Navy Sims-class destroyer USS O'Brien (DD-415) is torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-19 during the Guadalcanal Campaign, on 15 September 1942. The aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CV-7), torpedoed a few minutes earlier, is burning in the left distance. The last of I-19's torpedoes hit the battleship USS North Carolina (BB-55).



Photo: The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CV-7), listing and with smoke pouring from oil and gasoline fires caused by three torpedo hits in the starboard side from the Japanese submarine I-19. Her list has been corrected to 4 degrees by transferring oil and her head has been brought round so that the wind blows from the starboard side and drives the smoke off the ship and away from the control areas on the island

Day 1103 of World War II, September 17th 1942

Eastern Front

At Stalingrad, there is continued fighting at the Mamayev Kurgan heights, Central Station (which changes hands several times), the grain elevator in the South of the city and Pavlov’s house in the North. Germans make most progress down the Tsaritsa River gorge towards the Soviet landing stage where troops are brought across the Volga River.

Photo: Infantry in front of Stalingrad.- Infantry and self-propelled guns in readiness for attack on Height 102 between the city center and the industrial district of Barikady



Battle of the Atlantic

Laconia Incident - The same American B-24 Liberator bomber from Ascension Island again bombs Axis submarines with survivors from British troopship Laconia (torpedoed by U-156 on September 12), this time forcing U-506 to dive while transporting 142 Laconia survivors on deck. Vichy French cruiser Gloire and sloops Annamite & Dumont d'Urville arrive from French ports in West Africa, taking on board 415 Italians and 668 Allied survivors from the submarines. In all, 98 crew, 133 passengers, 33 Polish guards and 1394 Italian prisoners are lost from Laconia during the initial sinking and over the next 4 days (it is not known how many die as a result of the US bombing of the submarines).

Battle of the Atlantic

200 miles Northwest of the Cape Verde Islands, U-109 sinks British collier SS Peterton (9 killed, captain taken for interrogation by U-109, 11 survivors picked up by British SS Empire Whimbrel, 22 survivors in a lifeboat picked up after 49 days by British minesweeping trawler HMS Canna).

Battle of the Caribbean

41 miles north of Georgetown, Guyana, U-515 sinks American SS Mae (1 killed, 40 31 crew and 9 gunners in 3 lifeboats picked up 6 hours later by Norwegian SS Sørvangen).

Battle of the Mediterranean

Off Misrata, Libya, British submarine HMS United sinks Italian salvage vessel Rostro and Italian auxiliary submarine chaser V39/Giovanna.

US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb shipping in Pylos Bay and shipping and piers near Sphakia, and in Khalones and Pylos Islands.

United States

Army Brigadier General Leslie Groves is put in command of the Manhattan Engineer Project. This project is the cover name for the atomic bomb project and, under his direction, the basic research is carried out, mainly at Columbia University in New York, New York, and the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. Due to overstated concern for security and simple chauvinism, he is strongly opposed to sharing any information with the British.

Photo: The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Rhind (DD-404) off the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Norfolk, Virginia (USA), on 17 September 1942



Pacific war

AUSTRALIA

U.S. General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander South West Pacific Area, accuses Australian troops in New Guinea of a "lack of efficiency"

BISMARK ARCHIPELAGO

On New Britain Island, USAAF 5th Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses, carrying out single-bomber attacks, bomb airfields at Rabaul.
- Rear Admiral Ugaki recalled September 16/17, 1942 night air raid:

"The noise of gunfire and small arms was terrible. Anyway it was a night of little sleep. Now, I can see the effectiveness of night raids." He also noted the Japanese anti-aircraft fire was ineffective, 'Outragiously uncontrolled and unskilled'. At his suggestion, officers and crews from battleships Yamato and Mutsu were sent to Rabaul to train gunners.

NEW GUINEA CAMPAIGN

By 1100 hours local, Australian forces have withdraw to Imita Ridge on the Kokoda Track in Northeast New Guinea. Japanese ground forces, halted within sight of Port Moresby, are unable to attack without reinforcements and supplies, neither of which are available.

In Northeast New Guinea, USAAF 5th Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb Lae, and hit a beached cargo vessel at Salamaua; RAAF Beaufighters and USAAF P-39 and P-400 Airacobras and P-40s strafe and bomb a concentration of Japanese landing barges at Buna and Sanananda Point.

INDIAN OCEAN THEATRE - BATTLE OF MADAGASCAR (OPERATION STREAM LINE JANE)

The Vichy Governor-General of Madagascar receives and rejects the proposed armistice terms from the British.

NEW HEBRIDES

Photo: The U.S. Navy light cruiser USS Juneau (CL-52), probably at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, circa 17 September 1942. The 28 mm quadruple gun and the 127 mm/38 turret belong to the destroyer USS Laffey (DD-459) which transported survivors of the aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CV-7), which was sunk by a submarine on 15 September 1942

Day 1105 of World War II, September 19th 1942

Eastern Front

North of Stalingrad, XIV Panzer Corps on the ground and Luftwaffe dive bombers in the air again repel attacks by Soviet 24th and 66th Armies and 1st Guards Army. Heavy fighting continues in the city, but German infantry do not make much progress without Luftwaffe support which has been diverted to the Northern sector.

Photo: German tanks pause in their advance to Stalingrad having successfully destroyed several Russian tanks, smoke from which can be seen rising on the right of the photograph



Air War over Europe

Overnight, 118 RAF bombers (72 Wellingtons, 41 Halifaxes, 5 Stirlings) inaccurately attack Saarbrücken, Germany (13 houses destroyed, 27 houses damaged, 1 man killed). 3 Wellingtons and 2 Halifaxes are lost. 68 Lancasters and 21 Stirlings inaccurately bomb Munich, Germany (3 Lancasters and 3 Stirlings lost).

Battle of the Atlantic

50 miles Southwest of Lisbon, Portugal, U-552 sinks British anti-submarine trawler HMS Alouette (17 dead and 27 survivors).

U-156 bounces back from the Laconia incident and sinks British SS Quebec City at 3.46 PM with a torpedo, 7 rounds from the deck gun and 58 rounds from the 37mm anti-aircraft gun, 500 miles Southwest of Liberia (5 killed, 38 crew and 3 gunners picked up by British destroyer HMS Decoy).

Battle of the Caribbean

300 miles Northeast of Barbados, U-516 sinks US MV Wichita (all 40 crew and 10 gunners lost).

60 miles East of Martinique, U-512 sinks neutral MV Monte Gorbea despite identifying her as Spanish (23 crew and 29 passengers killed, 23 crew and 4 passengers reach Martinique in a lifeboat).

Battle of the Mediterranean

During the night of 19/20 September, US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb the Pylos Bay area, Pylos Island and Khalones.

Arctic naval operations

Convoy PQ-18 reaches Murmansk in the Kola Inlet. Despite losing 13 freighters, 28 merchant ships arrive safely and the convoy is considered a success by the British and Soviets, establishing again the viability of the Northern convoy route for supplies to USSR. No Allied warships have been lost while 3 U-boats have been sunk and about 30 Luftwaffe torpedo bombers shot down.

United States

The auxiliary aircraft carrier USS Chenango is commissioned. She is the tenth ACV in commission.

Pacific War

CHINA

B-25 Mitchells of the USAAF Tenth Air Force's China Air Task Force strike Lungling; the raid is ineffective due to bad weather but results in the discovery of much Japanese activity which further
reconnaissance reveals as part of a heavy movement of troops and supplies along the Burma Road toward the Salween front.

NEW GUINEA CAMPAIGN

On the Kododa Track in Papua New Guinea, an Australian patrol attacks the Japanese post spotted yesterday and destroys it. The troops then set up an ambush and wait for the night.

USAAF Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs and B-26 Marauders strafe and bomb the airfield at Lae, Northeast New Guinea.

- the 7th Fighter Squadron, 49th FG, moves from Batchelor, Australia to Port Moresby with P-40s.

PACIFIC OCEAN

USAAF Fifth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses attack cargo vessels in the Bismarck Sea near Umboi (Rooke) Island which lies between New Guinea and New Britain Island. In the Solomon Sea, USAAF Fifth Air Force fighters strafe a whaling vessel off Goodenough Island.

SOLOMON CAMPAIGN

On Guadalcanal, Major General Alexander Vandegrift, Commanding General 1st Marine Division, establishes continuous defense lines and divides the Lunga area into ten sectors.

USN - Commander Patrol Wing 1 departed Kaneohe, Hawaii, for the South Pacific to direct the operations of patrol squadrons already in the area. Headquarters were first established at Noumea, New Caledonia, and subsequently at Espiritu Santo, Guadalcanal, and Munda.

BOUGAINVILLE STRAIT

In the Bougainville Strait, off Papua, US submarine USS Amberjack damages Japanese transport ship Shirogane Maru (3 killed). Shirogane Maru will be towed to Shortlands Island, grounded to prevent sinking but ultimately abandoned.

Day 1107 of World War II, September 21st 1942

Eastern Front

Most of southern Stalingrad is now in German hands, except for the vast grain elevator, held by 30 Guards and 18 Sailors. Soviet Sailors used as infantry win a tremendous reputation with friend and foe alike for their tenacity, as those at Stalingrad are Arctic Fleet veterans. After three days of continuous fighting the Soviet 92nd Naval Rifle Brigade captured an important strongpoint - an elevator. Having removed their peacoats and wearing only their striped undershirts, subunits of naval infantrymen rose to the counterattack 10 to 12 times a day fighting with fire and bayonet. There were but 20 to 30 persons left in the companies, and there were 17 in 1st Company, 4th battalion (CO,Senior Lieutenant G.S. Filimonov). In just two days 17 seamen repelled 14 attacks, destroyed eight tanks and over 150 Germans. Senior Lieutenant F.S.Zhukov, the communist battalion commander, killed 18 Germans. Petty Officer 2nd Class V.V. Borisoglebskiy hit three tanks with an anti-tank rifle, and Red Navy Seaman V.N.Balatsin, a Komsomol member, annihilated two tanks. Communist Red Navy Seaman A.L. Kudrevatyy,who allowed the Germans to get within 25 to 30 meters of his position, cut down 26 of them with fire from his machinegun. Machinegunner I.V. Repin destroyed an enemy tank and killed 10 Germans with an anti-tank rifle he picked up from the battlefield. The brigade's military commissar, S.N.Shapin, was mortally wounded in the fighting.

Air War over Europe

Two RAF Bomber Command Wellingtons laid mines off Kiel.

Nine RAF Bomber Command Wellingtons laid mines in the Great Belt, the strait between the main Danish islands of Zealand and Funen.

North African campaign

German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel hands over command of Italian-German Panzer Army to General Georg Stumme and proceeds to Germany

Battle of the Atlantic

20 miles off the coast of British Guyana, U-175 sinks Yugoslavian SS Predsednik Kopajtic (3 dead, 25 survivors.

Between Greenland and Jan Mayen Island, U-606 approaches convoy QP-14 but is attacked by a Norwegian Catalina floatplane (330 Sqdn RAF/Z, pilot Lt C.J.A. Stansburg) with 4 depth charges that cause little damage. U-606 shoots down the Catalina (all 8 crew including 2 wounded are rescued by British destroyer HMS Marne).

Battle of the Baltic

German submarine U-446 (Type VIIC), allocated to the Danzig (training) flotilla 8, is sunk by a mine near Kahlberg in the Gulf of Danzig

Battle of the Mediterranean

8 miles off Mehedia, Tunisian, British submarine HMS Unruffled sinks Italian auxiliary minesweeper Aquila with the deck gun at 1.05 AM and Vichy French merchant Liberia (previously Greek Cape Corso) with torpedoes.

United States

The prototype Boeing XB-29-BO Superfortress, USAAF s/n 41-002, msn 2482, makes its first flight at Boeing Field, Seattle, Washington.

Photo: Boeing XB-29-BO (S/N 41-002, the first XB-29 built)



Pacific War

ALEUTIAN ISLANDS CAMPAIGN

9 B-24s, 2 B-17s, and 1 LB-30, accompanied by 15 P-39s and 20 P-40s, abort a Kiska bombing mission due to weather; photo reconnaissance suggests that Chichagof Harbor, Attu is abandoned.

BURMA

The British go on the offensive with the Indian 14th Division advancing in the Arakan River, from Chittagong via Cox's Bazar down the Mayu peninsula. The intention is to seize the peninsula, then from
there to Akyab and seize Japanese airfields that the British fear may be used to bomb Calcutta and other Indian cities. The troops of General Lord Archibald Wavell, British Commander-in- Chief India, troops are not ready for jungle warfare, and he lacks the seaborne component planned for this operation. He launches it anyway, even though the Arakan "is not fit to fight in." To reach Akyab, British and Indian troops must traverse more than 160 miles of mangrove swamps, river and rice paddies.

NEW GUINEA CAMPAIGN

In Papua New Guinea, artillery of the Australian 14th Field Regiment sited at Ower's Corner, about 3 miles (4,6 kilometers) south of Imita Ridge, pounds the Japanese all day.

In the air, RAAF Kittyhawks bomb and strafe bridges and targets of opportunity along the Buna-Kokoda trail. The two RAAF Kittyhawk squadrons at Milne Bay, Nos 75 and 76, are relieved by the USAAF's 35th and 36th Fighter Squadrons flying P-39 Airacobras.

A-20s bomb and strafe occupied areas at Menari, Efogi, Nauro, Yodda, and Kokoda; P-40s strafe AA positions, huts, and barges at Buna and Salamaua and bomb and strafe Wairopi bridge, strafe buildings at Yodda, the airfield at Buna, and AA positions and other targets along the Buna-Kokoda trail; 1 B-25 bombs the N end of Buna Airfield and the coastal end of Sanananda track. B-17s bomb the airfield and shipping at Rabaul, New Britain

TRUK LAGOON

55 miles South of Japanese naval base at Truk Lagoon, US submarine USS Trout sinks Japanese auxiliary net layer Koei Maru.

CHINA

85 miles East of Shanghai, China, US submarine USS Grouper sinks Japanese merchant Tone Maru.