September 3rd, 1942 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: London: A reciprocal lend-lease deal is signed by Britain, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and the Free French.
Submarine HMS Viking is laid down. Destroyer HMS Obdurate is commissioned.
On 27 August, the USN's transport USS Wakefield (AP-21, ex SS Manhattan) departed the Clyde estuary as part of Convoy TA-18, bound for New York City. During this evening, fire breaks out deep within the bowels of the ship and spreads rapidly. In the port column of the formation, Wakefield swings to port to run before the wind while fire-fighting begins immediately. Ready-use ammunition is thrown overboard to prevent detonation, code room publications are secured, and sick bay and brig inmates are released. The destroyer USS Mayo (DD-422) and light cruiser USS Brooklyn (CL-40) close to windward to take off passengers, a badly-burned officer, and members of the crew not needed to man pumps and hoses. Other survivors were disembarked by boat and raft, to be picked up by the screening ships. At 2100 hours, USS Brooklyn again comes alongside to remove the remainder of the crew, while a special salvage detail boards the ship.
On 5 September, towing operations commenced, and the transport nosed aground at McNab's Cove, near Halifax, Nova Scotia, at 1740 hours on the 8th. When fire-fighting details arrived alongside to board and commence the mammoth operation, fires still burned in three holds and in the crew's quarters on two deck levels. The last flames were extinguished 4 days later, and the ship was re floated on the 14th. While USS Wakefield was undergoing partial repairs in Halifax harbor, a torrential rainstorm threatened to fill the damaged ship with water and capsize her at her berth. Torrents of rain, at times in cloud-burst proportions, poured into the ship and caused her to list heavily. Salvage crews, meanwhile, cut holes in the ship's sides above the waterline, draining away the water to permit the ship to regain an even keel. For the next 10 days, the salvagers engaged in extensive initial repair work-cleaning up the ship, pumping out debris, patching up holes, and preparing the vessel for her voyage to the Boston, Massachusetts Navy Yard for complete rebuilding.
Temporarily decommissioned, the charred liner proceeded to Boston with a four-tug tow, and was declared a "constructive total loss." The Government purchased the hulk from the United States Lines and stripped the vessel to the waterline. The repairs and alterations began in the fall of 1942, and lasted through 1943. On 10 February 1944, USS Wakefield was recommissioned at Boston.
Channel Islands: British commandos captured seven German soldiers and seized codebooks during a raid on a lighthouse last night.
ENGLISH CHANNEL: Flying at 24,000 feet over the Channel off Shoreham, Sussex, yesterday, an 18-year-old Canadian Spitfire pilot shot a raider into the sea. Then he helped rescue the wounded German pilot. "I saw him inflate his dinghy," said the Canadian sergeant, "but he was too badly wounded to get into it. I circled over him until he was rescued by a naval launch which my companion and I in the Spitfire guided to the spot." (8)
Daily Herald
GERMANY: During the night of 3/4 September, the RAF Bomber Command dispatches 11 aircraft, seven Wellingtons, three Stirlings and a Halifax, to bomb Emden. Eight could only bomb through cloud on dead-reckoning positions; two Wellingtons are lost.
U-678 and U-679 are laid down. U-645 and U-646 are launched. U-638 is commissioned.
U.S.S.R.: Stalingrad: Units of the German 6.Armee (von Paulus) penetrate the city's western and northern suburbs after having joined up with forward elements of 4.Panzer-Armee (Hoth) advancing from the south.
Stalin orders an immediate attack to relieve pressure on the defenders.
SPAIN: Madrid: General Franco has fired three key ministers in a rebuff to Spain's Fascist party, the Falange. The most senior man to go is his own brother-in-law, Ramon Serrano Suner, the foreign minister and Falangist chief. His German sympathies have angered the Spanish army, which is fiercely nationalistic and resents the idea of being a pawn of Hitler. The new foreign minister is a general, Gomez Jordana.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA:U-375 sinks Palestinian vessels Miriram and Arnon.
USAAF OPERATIONS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (U.S. Army, Middle East Air Forces): B-24 Liberators attack a convoy at sea and B-25s hit troop concentrations, vehicles, and airfield installations in the battle area of Alam-el-Halfa, Egypt and behind enemy lines; P-40s, mostly operating with the RAF"> RAF, escort bombers and engage fighters in combat, claiming at least 1 shot down.
EGYPT: At El Alamein, Operation
BERESFORD is initiated by the 2 New Zealand Division and the British 132
Brigade; the objective is Rommel's weakest point, Munassib. 132 Brigade runs
into the determined paratroopers of the German Ramcke Brigade and the Italian
Folgore Division, both eager to prove their abilities. The advance turns into a
mess of confused communications, burning trucks, and disintegration when brigade
commander is wounded. The New Zealand, 21and 28 Battalions, do better, with the
force charging through their depression. The Maoris take 50 POWs, both take
their objectives, but run into heavy German resistance. The Germans suffer
another 2,450 casualties, lose 50 guns and 400 AFVs and 10,000 tons of fuel is
used up. Because of his losses, Rommel adopts Marshall Graziani's "Capisaldi"
(strong points) defence used in 1940 for the very same reasons, i.e., too weak
to attack, no resources for a mobile defence and an order not to retreat. A
final stand is set for El Alamein.
As Rommel's Panzers retreat, badly savaged and harassed all the way by the British infantry and the Desert Air Force, it is the turn of the Allies to capture the booty of war. The Germans and Italians were facing a serious fuel shortage when they attacked, and now the desert is littered with abandoned Axis vehicles.
British engineers have been assigned the task of disabling these tanks. One engineer, Sapper Irvine Adam of Paisley, near Glasgow, told how he was ordered to blow up a slightly damaged German tank, "I had just a minute to get away before it blew," he said.
U.S. Army, Middle East Air Forces B-25 Mitchells hit troop concentrations, vehicles, and airfield installations in the battle area of Alam-el-Halfa, Egypt and behind enemy lines; P-40s, mostly operating with the RAF, escort bombers and engage fighters in combat, claiming at least one shot down.
USAAF OPERATIONS IN THE CHINA-BURMA-INDIA THEATER OF OPERATIONS (10th Air Force): In French Indochina, China Air Task Force B-25 Mitchells dump bombs and pamphlets on Hanoi in the first US raid against that city; munitions, supplies, and several parked aircraft are destroyed or damaged; 9 interceptors pursue the B-25s for about 30 miles (48 km) but fail to make contact. For the next 3 weeks, bad weather and inaccurate Chinese weather forecasts severely limit bomber operations.
NEW GUINEA: On the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea, the Australians continue their withdrawal to and beyond Templeton�s Crossing.
In the Milne Bay area of Papua New Guinea, the Australians continue their advance against Japanese. During the night, two Japanese destroyers enter the bay and receive a report that there are only about 200 effective Japanese troops left to fight; as the two destroyers depart at about 2400 hours, they shell the shoreline without much effect.
In the air, USAAF 5th Air Force P-400 Airacobras bomb and strafe the Kokoda Pass area, hitting the airfield at Kokoda, and in the vicinity of Alola, Isurava, and Missima; B-25s Mitchells and A-20 Havocs attack the Mubo-Busama-Salamaua area in Northeast New Guinea.
AUSTRALIA: USAAF OPERATIONS IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (5th Air Force): Lieutenant General George C. Kenney assumes command of the 5th Air Force in Brisbane, Australia, where the 5th’s HQ is remanned; the 5th has not functioned as an air force since February 1942 while USAAF units served under the control of the American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command and later the Allied Air Forces. General Kenney retains command of the Allied Air Forces. In New Guinea, Japanese warships begin removing troops from Milne Bay area. P-400 Airacobras bomb and strafe the Kokoda Pass area, hitting the airfield at Kokoda and in the vicinity of Alola, Isurava, and Missima; B-25s and A-20 Havocs pound the Mubo-Busama-Salamaua area. A B-17 Flying Fortress strafes seaplanes at Faisi Island in the Shortland Islands.
JAPAN: Tokyo: The foreign minister Shigenori Togo, the only civilian in the cabinet, resigns "for personal reasons"; the war minister and premier, Hideki Tojo, takes over his portfolio for the time being.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: USMC SBD Dauntlesses bomb and strafe 34 Japanese landing barges off Santa Isabel Island and a USAAF 5th Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress strafes seaplanes at Faisi Island in the Shortland Islands.
On Guadalcanal during the evening, the first USMC R4D Skytrain lands at Henderson Field. Brigadier General Roy S. Geiger, USMC, and a small staff, will establish the advance HQ of the 1st Marine Air Wing which will have operational control of all Allied aircraft. The R4D departs with Marine wounded.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: USAAF OPERATIONS IN ALASKA (11th Air Force): In the Aleutian Islands, 6 bombers and 5 P-38 Lightnings are dispatched to bomb Kiska Island and fly air cover over Kuluk Bay, Adak Island but 5 bombers and 3 fighters abort due to weather; the others strafe seaplanes and boats in Kiska Harbor and nearby installations claiming 1-4 seaplanes destroyed on the water. This is the longest over-water attack flight thus far in World War II; the 2 fighters which reach the target area return from the 1,260 mile (2,028 km) round trip with only 40 US gallons (151 liters) of fuel left.
CANADA: Reciprocal Lend-Lease agreements with the United States and its armed forces are signed.
U.S.A.: The government announces agreements for Reciprocal Lend-Lease Aid to the United States and its Armed Forces by the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and the Free French.
Frank Sinatra bids adieu to the Tommy Dorsey Band and his Orchestra as he starts his solo singing career.
CARIBBEAN SEA: German submarine U-162 (Type IXC) fires torpedoes at the British destroyer HMS Pathfinder (G 19) but misses and was sunk about 157 nautical miles (291 kilometers) northeast of Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, British West Indies, in position 12.21N, 59.29W, by depth charges from the British destroyers HMS Vimy (D 33), Pathfinder (G 19) and Quentin (G 78); 49 of the 51 U-boat crewmen survive. The sub has been on three patrols credited for sinking 14 ships for a total of 82,027 tons. (Alex Gordon)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: German submarine U-705 (Type VIIC) was sunk about 367 nautical miles (679 kilometers) west of it's base at Saint-Nazaire, France, in position 46.42N, 11.07W, by depth charges from an RAF Whitley Mk. V, aircraft 'P' of No. 77 Squadron based at Chivenor, Devonshire, England; all 45 crewmen are lost. The boat has been on one patrol sinking an American freighter of 3.279 tons in the North Atlantic on 15 August. (Alex Gordon)