September 1st, 1942 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Women in the services are not the only ones in uniform these days. Female civilian workers, from nurses to bus conductors and Land Girls, have regulation outfits too.
The London Passenger Transport Authority Board's women conductors are easily recognizable in their jaunty pale grey jackets and slacks with blue piping. Of the 19,000 transport conductors in the capital - on buses, trams and trolley-buses - 8,000 are now women working under the same conditions as their male colleagues. For the first six months on the road they earn no more than £4/13/- a week, a man's minimum wage. Thereafter they work up to the same maximum of £4/19/- weekly.
Women who have chosen to work on the land are provided with practical khaki corduroy breeches, green pullovers and smart little khaki felt hats. There are now some 40,000 in the Women's Land Army, working outdoors in all weathers and often living is isolated areas far from home. During their 48-hour week they drive tractors, bring in the harvest, milk the cows and care for the livestock. A minimum wage for a man doing such work is £3 a week, but for the women it is 18/- after they have paid for board and lodgings. A Cornish farmer recently admitted: "After the land girl is trained she is certainly worth more than we pay for her". The more traditionally female nursing service is crying out for volunteers. In the spring of this year a call went out for 5,000 new recruits. Women can start as student nurses at £40 a year with board and lodging, or join as nursing auxiliaries and receive £55 yearly.
Thought the wages seem low in comparison with the pay packets taken home by men in similar work, for the majority of women their wartime income is considerably larger than any pre-war earnings. But the satisfaction that many of them derive from their jobs comes as much from the company as the pay. Camaraderie with other working adults can make a welcome change from housework and childcare.
GERMANY: RAF Bomber Command dispatches 231 aircraft of five types to bomb Saarbrücken. The Pathfinders illuminate and marked town which they believed to be Saarbr¸cken and the Main Force bombed accurately. A total of 205 aircraft claimed good bombing results. But the town bombed is Saarlouis, 13 miles (21 kilometers) to the northwest and situated in a similar bend of the River Saar. The small, non-industrial town of Saarlouis and the villages immediately surrounding are heavily damaged. The exact extent of this damage is not recorded but 52 civilians are killed. No bombs fell in Saarbr¸cken. Four bombers are lost.
U.S.S.R.: Heavy fighting in Stalingrad, where German units have reached the suburbs in some areas.
The Germans claim to have captured Kalach, 40 miles west of
Stalingrad.
Units of 1.Panzerarmee (First Panzer Army under General Ewald von Kleist) form a
bridgehead across the Terek river at Mozdok in the Caucasus.
Troops from the Russian 11th Army land on the Taman Peninsula from Kerch.
(Sergey Anisimov)(69)Baltic Fleet, Ladoga and Onega Flotillas: Shipping loss. SKR "Purga" - by aviation, close to Osinovets Is., at Ladoga Lake (later raised)
Also on Lake Ladoga, Italian 12th Naval Flotilla MAS 529 is engaged by two Soviet gunboats, but manages to break contact. (Arturo Lorioli)
CRETE: U.S. Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberators attack the harbor at Candia, scoring several direct hits on a vessel and hitting others.
EGYPT: Rommel's forces suffer
from a lack of supplies. One Panzer Division is out of fuel. The
15th Panzer makes no progress. The British 8th Armoured Division learns an
expensive lesson with German anti-tank guns.
In the air near El Alamein, Hauptmann Hans Joachim
Marseilles, the finest marksman in the Luftwaffe, shoots down 17 RAF aircraft
during three missions, the largest one-day total a fighter pilot will score
during the war. He is awarded Germany's highest decoration, the Diamonds of the
Knight's cross of the Iron Cross.
US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberators attack the harbor at Candia,
Crete, scoring several direct hits on a vessel and hitting others. 2 squadrons
of the 57th Fighter Group fly escort missions and sweeps with RAF. B-25
Mitchells, in conjunction with RAF light bombers, hit trucks and tanks in the
battle area of Alam-el-Halfa, Egypt.
JAPAN: Japanese Foreign Minister
TOGO Shigenori, taking the blame for Japan's failure to conclude a quick end to
the war, resigns and Prime Minister General TOJO Hideki assumes the post of
Foreign Minister. On the 17 September, TANI Masayuka is appointed Foreign
Minister.
The Japanese government creates the "Greater East
Asia Ministry," to run its empire. Headed by AOKI Kazuo, the function of
this ministry is to exploit the labor and resources of the conquered territories
as much as possible.
NEW GUINEA: On the Kododa Track in Papua New Guinea, the Japanese continue their assault on Australian troops but the Australians hold their ground. During the day, Australian troops in Milne Bay patrol forward up to a mile (1,6 kilometers) east of K.B. Mission.
USAAF P-40s of the Allied Air Forces hit an IJA HQ at Wagga Wagga on Milne Bay while P-400 Airacobras strafe Kokoda and Kokoda Pass in the Owen Stanley Range; and Australian ground forces continue a slow retreat over the range but make progress in Milne Bay offensive.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: The 6th Naval Construction Battalion (Seabees) land on Guadalcanal to maintain Henderson Field.
USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb and damage a Japanese flying boat support ship and a destroyer off Buka Island.
Throughout September 1942, Americans on Guadalcanal lack adequate fighter strength, although carrier planes that can be spared are employed at Henderson Field. A trickle of supplies to the garrison increases only slightly.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: In the Aleutians, US forces complete the occupation of Adak Island.
CANADA: U-125 sank SS Ilorin.
Corvette HMCS Fennel completed foc'sle extension refit New York.
U.S.A.: USCG was no longer responsible for merchant marine training programs. This responsibility was assumed by the War Shipping Administration.
A federal judge in Sacramento, California, upholds the wartime detention of Japanese-Americans as well as Japanese nationals.
Establishment of Air Force, Pacific Fleet, VAdm Aubrey W. Fitch, USN.
Submarine USS Tunny commissioned.
Destroyer USS Earle commissioned.
United States Army opens an training facility outside of Casper, Wyoming, on the only really big flat piece or ground in the vicinity. The air base would be used as a training base for B-17 and B-24 crewmen. Today, the original runways and many of the original hangers are still in existence, at what is now the Natrona County International Airport. (Pat Holscher)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The German submarine U-756 is sunk in the North Atlantic, in position 57.41N, 31.30W, by the RCN corvette HMCS Morden. All 43-men on the U-boat are lost.
U-756 was closing convoy SC 97 from astern to carry out a night surface attack when Morden detected her on radar. The corvette closed and attempted to ram but KptLt Harney outmanoeuvred her and submerged. Morden carried out 3 depth charge attacks that produced no evidence of a hit. It was only after the war that record reconstruction proved that U-756 had been destroyed.
The German submarine U-125 sinks an unescorted British merchant ship off Legu, Gold Coast in position 05N, 01W at 1106 hours local. Four of the 37 aboard survive.