September 2nd, 1942 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The Hawker Tempest fighter (HM 595) makes its maiden flight. Originally titled the Typhoon Mk V, it can reach 435 mph. (22)
U-256 shot down RAF Whitley aircraft, Squadron 77/H.
Convoy PQ-18 sails from Scotland.
BELGIUM: Six RAF Bostons attack the Terneuzen oil refinery at Ghent without loss.
NETHERLANDS: Three RAF Bomber Command aircraft lay mines in the Frisian Islands.
GERMANY: RAF Bomber Command dispatches 200 aircraft of five types to attack Karlsruhe; 177 bomb the target and eight aircraft were lost. The Pathfinders were accurate and this was a successful raid with an estimated 200 fires burning at the same time. Reconnaissance photographs showed much residential and some industrial damage. A very short report from Karlsruhe says only that 73 people were killed and that three public buildings in the city centre were hit. Five Mosquitos hit targets of opportunity in five cities.
U-273 is launched. U-527 and U-710 commissioned.
POLAND: Dzialosyce: Polish police, Ukrainian militia and German Gestapo slaughter 2,000 Jews and deport the remaining 8,000 to Belzec death camp.
Soviet aircraft bomb Warsaw.
BALTIC SEA: The German submarine U-222 is sunk west of
Pillau, East Prussia in position 54.25N, 19.30E, after a collision with U-626. Only 3 of the 45 crewman survived.
U.S.S.R.: Soviet submarine "M-97"of the Baltic Fleet, Ladoga and Onega Flotillas is sunk by surface ASW ships, North of Hogland Is. (Sergey Anisimov)(69)
German Army Group A (Heeresgruppe A) continues to press toward Novorossisk and Grozny. The threat to Novorossisk increases and German and Romanian forces from the Crimea cross Kerch Strait and join other Axis forces in the area.
The Russian 11th and 17th Armies advance near Novorossiysk.
Germany launches a major drive against partisans in the district of Mogilev.
EGYPT: By dawn, Rommel realizes
that his drive on Alam Halfa Ridge is failing. He himself suffers stomach
trouble, nausea, and blocked nasal passages, adding to his misery. As he drives
to the front, he sees tanks unable to move from lack of fuel and men unwilling
to leave foxholes for fear of air attack. At one point, Rommel has to dive into
a foxhole and a shell splinter rips through the blade of a shovel lying on the
lip of a trench, and a piece of red hot metal falls beside him. Rommel needs
more supplied to advance. A 300-truck convoy is sent to him. It gets caught by 7
Armoured Division's light tanks, which destroy 57 vehicles. The Germans are down
to one day's petrol. Rommel returns to his HQ, to discuss things with Luftwaffe
General Kesselring. The latter promises more airstrikes, but says the 500 tons
of petrol promised per day is "consuming itself" on the way up in the
tanks of vehicles bringing it up over the appalling roads and tracks. Of the
5,000 tons of petrol Italian Marshal Ugo Cavallero, Chief of the Supreme General
Staff, has promised, 2,600 tons has been sunk, 1,500 tons is stuck in Italy, and
the prospect of the remaining 1,000 tons arriving is slim. That night, Rommel
scratches out a report to Berlin saying that he has decided to call off the
offensive and retreat to his start line. As soon as Rommel's radiomen begin to
send the message, the RAF arrives to hammer the place. The desert floors shakes
from 4,000-pound (1814 kilogram) bombs that fling lumps of stone into the air,
adding to the death and destruction.
In the air, US Army, Middle East Air Force B-25
Mitchells bomb aircraft and a landing ground and, with the RAF, attack troops
and vehicles in the battle area around Alamel-Halfa ridge; and P-40s fly escort
and sweep missions over the battle area in conjunction with the RAF.
LIBYA: US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberators hit docks and jetties at Tobruk.
MALAYSIA: In Singapore, Japanese troops recapture two Australian and two British POWs who have escaped captivity. Major General FUKUEI Shempei orders the POWs shot, a violation of the Hague and Geneva Conventions. Further, the shooters will be Indian Sikh POWs. The four are executed in the afternoon.
PACIFIC OCEAN: The USN submarine USS
Guardfish (SS-217) sinks a Japanese merchant cargo ship 13 miles (21 kilometres)
southeast of Chikyu Mizaki, Hokkaido, Japan, in position 42.08N, 141.15E.
NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, the Australians on the Kokoda Track move back to Templeton's Crossing. At Buna, the remaining 1,000 Japanese soldiers of the 41st Battalion land. In Milne Bay, the Australian troops continue to clear the north coast of the bay; during the morning, the Australian destroyer HMAS Arunta (I 30) escorts the transport Tasman into the bay and both leave later in the day. The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) at Rabaul, New Britain Island, Bismarck Archipelago, was notified and during the night, two Japanese destroyers sail into the bay to sink the two Australian ships but they were long gone.
P-400 Airacobras of the Allied Air Forces bomb and strafe forces in the Kokoda and Alola areas as the Japanese continue to push toward Port Moresby.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: The IJN sends 18 G4M "Betty" bombers escorted by 22 A6M "Zeke" fighters to bomb Henderson Field on Guadalcanal at 1200 hours. USMC F4F Wildcat pilots intercept and shoot down 3 G4Ms and 4 "Zekes." During the day, USN and USMC SBD Dauntlesses and USN TBF Avengers attack an IJN supply convoy en route to Guadalcanal damaging 1 ship. And, RAAF Beauforts attack IJN shipping at Faisi, Bougainville.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: Aleutian Islands The US 11th Air Force dispatches 6 bombers and 12 P-38 Lightnings to fly cover and photo reconnaissance over Nazan and Kuluk Bays on Adak Island, and Amchitka and Semisopochnoi Islands.
CANADA: U-517 sighted Quebec-Labrador convoy NL-6 escorted by corvette HMCS Weyburnand minesweeper HMCS Clayoquot as well as a second convoy LN-7 (SS Donald Stewart, Ericus and Canatco)escorted by corvettes HMCS Shawinigan and Trail. The two convoys were headed on practically reciprocal courses. Just as U-517 fired at Donald Stewart, HMCS Weyburn sighted her and attacked with 4-inch gun. U-517 dived and Weyburn attempted to depth charge. However, the throwers jammed and only two were dropped. Failing to gain contact HMCS Weyburn proceeded to assist the burning Donald Stewart which sank with the loss of 3 crewmembers, HMCS Trail rescued the remaining crew. Donald Stewart, which was loaded with aviation gasoline, stored in drums and dry cement intended for the new Air Force based being built at Goose Bay. The loss of this relatively small ship significantly delayed the construction of the runways at Goose Bay.
U.S.A.: Submarine USS Harder commissioned.
It is announced that President Roosevelt, at the request of the Brazilian Government, had appointed an American technical mission of industrial engineers to visit Brazil to assist in the expansion of the Brazilian industrial war machine.
The first Consolidated
C-87 Liberator Express, cargo
aircraft, is delivered to the USAAF">USAAF. (Ron
Babuka)