August 6th, 1942 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: London: Britain renounces the 1938 Munich agreement.
Winston Churchill burst in on his top military adviser, Sir Alan Brooke, to announce his new idea for reorganizing the Middle East Command and reassigning its commander to lesser duties. (Laura Driuss)
Destroyer HMS Milne commissioned.
Frigate HMS Exe commissioned.
GERMANY: At a conference to Reich commissioners in Berlin, Göring put on record his attitude towards the occupation. "France could have quite another agricultural yield altogether if messieurs les paysans were compelled to work harder. Besides, the French population is so stuffed with food that it's a scandal ... I shout myself hoarse that I consider, when all's said and done, that occupied France is a conquered country. In old days things were simpler, there was plundering, whoever conquered a country could do what he liked with its wealth. Now they do things more humanely. For my part I go plundering .... Collaboration, it's only Monsieur Abetz who does it , not me! The collaboration of Messieurs les Français I see in only one light: let them deliver whatever they can until they can't deliver any more: if they do so voluntarily I'll say I'm collaborating; if they stuff their mouths all the same, then they aren't collaborating. The French must realise what's what. You'll object that there's Laval's foreign policy. Monsieur Laval pacifies Monsieur Abetz and I'm willing to allow Monsieur Laval the right to go into a Maxim's forbidden other Frenchmen. As for them, they've got to learn their lesson right now. Their cheek is unimaginable."
U-546 laid down.
U-641 and
U-642 launched.
U-634 commissioned.
U-905 and
U-907 ordered.
During training in the Baltic
U-612 collided with
U-444 killing two men from
U-612, which sank to the seabed. The boat was later raised and used for
training. [Obermaschinist Wilhelm Merz, Maschinenobergefreiter Gerhard Ehrlich]
(I WO Herbert A. Werner described the loss in his book Iron Coffins).
U.S.S.R.: The 17th Army of
Army Group A captures Tikhoretsk, Russia.
The Soviet city of Voronezh also falls to the German army.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Submarine HMS Thorn was sunk while attacking a convoy some 30 miles off Gavdos Island off SW of Crete in position 34.25N, 22.36E. At 1230 an escorting aircraft was seen to machine-gun the surface of the sea and the Italian torpedo boat Pegaso moved in to investigate. Four minutes after the aircraft attack, Pegaso picked up a contact and carried out seven attacks after which contact was lost. This attack most likely resulted in the loss of Thorn. Thorn declared overdue on 11 Aug 42.
U-77 damaged the Adnan and sank the Ezret near Cyprus.
LIBYA: US Army Middle East Air Force
(USAMEAF) B-24s hit the harbour at Tobruk.
EGYPT:
Cairo: General Harold Alexander is appointed C-in-C Middle East; Lt-Gen William
"Strafer" Gott succeeds Ritchie as commander of the Eighth Army.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: The USAAF 11th Air Force dispatches 3 B-24 Liberators, 2 B-17 Flying Fortresses and 10 P-38 Lightnings to provide air coverage for USN tenders to Nazan Bay, Atka Island; photo reconnaissance is flown over Attu Island.
CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Kenora
commissioned.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: - U-210
(Korvkpt Rudolf Lemcke CO) is sunk in the North
Atlantic south of Cape Farewell, Greenland, in position 54.24N, 34.37W, by ramming, depth
charges and gunfire from the RCN destroyer HMCS Assiniboine
(A/LCdr John Hamilton Stubbs RCN, CO). 37 of the 43 crewmen on the
U-boat survive. The 6 crew members lost include KptLpt Lemcke. The survivors are
picked up be HMCS Dianthus and Assiniboine.
HMCS Assiniboine's OS Kenneth William
Watson, RCN of Revelstoke, British Columbia
is killed. U-210 was a VIIC
type U-boat, built by F. Krupp Germaniawerft, AG, Kiel, launched 23 Dec 41,
commissioned 21 Feb 42, in service 6 months with no record of sinking any ships.
At the time U-210 was a
member of the Wolfpack, group "Steinbrick". U-210
was one of 18 U-boats attacking the 30-ship Sydney to Liverpool convoy SC-94,
which was being escorted by Assiniboine and six corvettes. At 1125, Assiniboine
visually detected a surfaced U-boat and a running battle ensued in heavy but
intermittent fog. After firing several salvoes from her main armament contact
was lost. At 1851, visual contact was re-established and Assiniboine engaged at
short range with small-calibre weapons and then rammed. U-210
returned a heavy fire of 37mm and 20mm rounds that resulted in one Canadian
sailor's loss, and thirteen others wounded. The U-Boat was eventually hit in the
conning tower by a 4.7-inch round, which killed all of the bridge staff. The
First Watch Officer dove the boat but soon resurfaced and re-engaged with 20mm
guns. Assiniboine responded with 4.7-inch gunfire, circled the wallowing
submarine and rammed again. The First Watch Officer had been wounded, so the
Engineering Officer gave the order to abandon the boat and she sank about two
minutes later. Assiniboine was heavily damaged during the ramming of U-210
and had to detach from the convoy. Her withdrawal, the largest and most capable
of the escorts, undoubtedly reduced the effectiveness of the escort force and
contributed to higher losses. Moreover, her damage could not be repaired and the
ship returned to service until Jan 43, during which time eleven major convoy
battles were fought in the North Atlantic. The destruction of one inexperienced
U-boat was in no way equal compensation, neither for the disastrous losses from
the convoy nor for the extended inoperability of a high-value escort. Although
Cdr Stubbs received a DSO for his part in the action, his decision to ram was
based on the erroneous notion that is was better to destroy a U-boat than to
ensure the safe arrival of the convoy. During the action the return fire from
the U-boat was heavy, a number of 40mm hits on Assiniboine ignited a petrol
storage outside the wheelhouse, CPO Max Leopold Bernays, the coxswain, remained
at his post executing some 141 helm orders given during the Ops.
- U-578 is last heard from today while in the Bay of Biscay. All hands, 49 men, are lost.
At 1719, the unescorted Rozewie was hit amidships by one torpedo from U-66 and sank in ten minutes. The master was taken prisoner by the U-boat. At 1438 the same day, U-155 had unsuccessfully attacked the Rozewie with 20 rounds from the deck gun, but was forced to break off the attack when the ship returned fire with her armament of one 152-mm gun and three machine guns. U-155 did not fired a torpedo because the ship was too small.