August 14th, 1942 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyer HMS Cambrian laid down.
Destroyer HMS Opportune commissioned.
Boom defence vessel HMS Barnard is laid down.
ASW trawler HMS Barnard is Mullet.
U.S.S.R.: The German 6th Army has almost finished
clearing the elbow of the Don River in Russia. Because of a lack of mobile forces the
Germans consider that too many potential prisoners have escaped to the east.
Black
Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: Shipping loss: MS
"TSch-405 "Vzrivatel"" - by field artillery, close to
Eupatoria (later raised) (Sergey Anisimov)(69)
Italian Navy 12th Flotilla operating on Lake Ladoga: MAS 527 engages three Soviet gunboats, sinking an 800-ton Bira class gunboat. (Arturo Lorioli)
LIBYA: US Army Middle East Air Force (USAMEAF) B-24s bomb the harbour at Tobruk during the night of 14/15 August.
NEW GUINEA: USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses of the Allied Air Forces attack shipping off Gona.
The US submarine S-39 (SS-144), commanded by Francis E. Brown, ran aground on a reef off Rossel Island, S.E. of New Guinea No hands lost. (Joe Sauder)
AUSTRALIA: USS S-39 grounded on submerged rocks off Rossel Island, crew rescued by Australian minesweeper HMAS Katoomba and taken to Townsville.
Minesweeper HMAS Gawler commissioned.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: Guadalcanal: 3 IJN G4M "Betty" bombers from Rabaul circle and photograph Henderson Field just above the range of the Marines 90 mm AA guns.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: A US 11th Air Force B-24 Liberator trying to fly photo reconnaissance over Tanaga and Adak Islands aborts over Kiska Island due to weather.
CANADA: HMCS Halifax (K237), a Flower-class corvette, arrived with the Halifax to Aruba convoy HA-3. The HA (Halifax-Aruba) Canadian oil convoys were only run during 1942. The eastern Canadian wartime economy was critically dependent on Caribbean sources of oil and, in order to ensure its safe arrival, in Mid-May 1942, eight corvettes were diverted from the transatlantic convoy system to escort tankers to and from Venezuela. Between January and June 1942, the German U-boat campaign against US East Coast shipping was at its zenith and dozens of scare tankers were sunk. However, amidst this carnage, although the Canadian tanker convoys were attacked, they moved regularly and did not suffer any losses at all. Finally, once the US instituted a full convoy system, which encompassed Canadian tanker shipments, the Canadian oil convoys ceased and the RCN escort were reassigned to other duties.
U.S.A.: Lieutenant General Dwight D Eisenhower, Commanding General, European Theater of Operations US Army (ETOUSA), is appointed Commander in Chief, Allied Expeditionary Forces.
The 30-minute daily radio show, "The Show Without a Name," hosted by Garry Moore, debuts on the NBC Red radio network at 0900 hours Eastern. It is an effort to crack the morning show dominance of "Arthur Godfrey Time" on CBS radio and "The Breakfast Club" with Don McNeill on the NBC Blue network. A prize of $500 is offered to name the show and it is renamed "Everything Goes" ca. March 1943. The show remains on the air until November 1943.
Corvette USS Prudent is laid down.
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-598 attacked Convoy
TAW-12J, sinking SS Empire Corporal and SS Michael Jebsen and damaging SS
Standella.
ICELAND: US 2d Lieutenants Joseph D Shaffer (33d Fighter Squadron, P40) and Elza E Shahan (27th Fighter Squadron, P38) jointly shoot down an Fw 200 Condor off the coast of ICELAND. This is the first aerial victory of the USAAF in the European Theater of Operations (ETO).