September 8th, 1942 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: In England, the "Joint British American Directive on Day Bomber Operations Involving Fighter Cooperation" is issued; worked out between Major General Carl Spaatz, Commanding General US 8th Air Force, and the RAF, it consigns night bombing to the RAF and day bombing to the Eighth Air Force; the purpose is to achieve continuity in the bombing offensive and secure RAF fighter support for US bombers; General Spaatz orders all tactical operations to give way to activity in support of Operation TORCH (plan for Allied landings in North and Northwest and Africa in November 1942); processing of units of the newly created US Twelfth Air Force destined for North Africa takes priority over combat operations for the present.
London: In a speech described by MPs as one of "guarded optimism", Churchill told the Commons today that in his talks with Stalin he had promised the Soviet leader that the western Allies would come to his aid "as quickly as possible in the most effective manner without regard to the losses and sacrifices involved". That was as far as the British prime minister felt he could go in meeting Stalin's repeated demands for a second front in western Europe. At the outset of the talks Stalin had made it plain that he did not think the British and Americans were doing enough to take the weight off the Soviet armies facing the Nazi onslaught.
Canadian-Russian wheat agreement signed in London. Canada extended a credit of $10,000,000 to the Russian Government for the purchase of Canadian wheat and flour.
Destroyer HMS Undaunted is laid down. Sloop HMS Mermaid is laid down. Trawler HMS Liscomb commissioned.
Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill announces that the British heavy cruiser HMS Shropshire (83) will be transferred to the Royal Australian Navy as a replacement for the Australian heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra (D 93) lost in the Battle of Savo Island on 9 August 1942.
FRANCE: General de St. Vincent is dismissed by the Vichy government for failure to arrest Jews in his area. He has been the military governor of Lyons.
During the day, 12 RAF Bomber Command Bostons bomb Cherbourg and Le Havre docks without loss.
GERMANY: RAF Bomber Command bombs Dusseldorf in the Ruhr, dropping 4,000 pound (1814 kilogram) bombs. Bomber crews call these bombs "Cookies" while the press call them "Blockbusters."
During the night of 8/9 September, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 249 aircraft of five types to bomb Frankfurt-am-Main; 200 aircraft crews claimed to have “bombed” the target with the loss of ten aircraft. The truth is that the Pathfinders are unable to locate Frankfurt accurately and most of the bombs fell southwest of the city and in the town of Rüsselsheim, 15 miles (24 kilometers) away. Frankfurt reports only a few bombs, approximately six aircraft loads. with minor damage, one person dead and 30 injured. Bomber Command documents state that the Opel tank factory and the Michelin tire factory are damaged and that five aircraft bombed Mainz; two bombed Darmstadt; and individual aircraft bombed Duisburg, Hochst, Russelheim and Wiesbaden,
ARCTIC OCEAN: Soviet submarine "K-2" of the Polar fleet and White Sea Flotilla is sunk by a mine, at Tana-fjord area. (Sergey Anisimov)(69)
ROMANIA: Soviet submarine Shch-208 of the Black Sea Fleet is mined and sunk in the Constanta area. (Mike Yared)(146 and 147)
CRETE: US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24s attack shipping and the harbor at Suda Bay.
NEW GUINEA: The Japanese 18th Army attacks Australian positions at Efogi at dawn, hitting the 2/27th. The Japanese surround two Australian battalions which lose six Bren guns in the attack and use up 1,200 hand grenades and thousands of rounds of ammunition before managing to extricate their men. The Australians decide to make their last stand at Menari, using the fresh 25 Infantry Brigade, in new jungle greens, on the Imita Ridge. 25 Brigade is told, "There won't be any withdrawal from the Imita position. You'll die there if necessary. You understand?" The Japanese are now within 40 miles (64 kilometres) of Port Moresby.
At Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea, the Australian 2/9th Battalion completes its withdrawal to Gilli Gilli destroying Japanese equipment and supplies.
In the air, USAAF 5th Air Force P-400 Airacobras bomb
and strafe the Efogi area where Australian forces are hard pressed by the
Japanese. B-17 Flying Fortresses and RAAF Hudsons attack cruisers and a
destroyer north of the D'Entrecasteaux Islands which lie north of the south-east
tip of New Guinea, between southeast New Guinea and the Solomons. (Jack McKillop
and Tom Hickcox))
SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Guadalcanal, a provisional
battalion composed of the depleted Marine 1st Raider Battalion and the 1st
Parachute Battalion moves east from Lunga Point by sea to destroy a Japanese
force at Tasimboko, near Taivu Point. Debarking east of Tasimboko, the battalion
moves west, clashing with outposts of strong Japanese force that landed recently
near Taivu Point. The Japanese holding force is driven from their positions.
USAAF P-400s and USMC F4F Wildcats provide close air support for USMC ground units. A number of aircraft are written off due to accidents and by the end of the day the Cactus Air Force has only 8 F4Fs and P-400s serviceable.
Guadalcanal: In the last 24 hours, US marines have landed at Taivu and attacked the Japanese base.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: Aleutian Islands, a B-24 Liberator and a B-26 Marauder of the US 11th Air Force fly photo reconnaissance over Agattu, Attu, and Kiska Islands.
U.S.A.: Washington: Roosevelt broadcasts to the nation, warning that "this is the toughest war of all time."
The U.S. ignores the Vichy French protest concerning bombing of French cities.
The State Department announces that the U.S. chargé d'affaires in Vichy has been instructed to inform the Vichy Government that bombs have only been dropped in France on military plants in the employ of Germany, and that the Americans have no desire to see the French suffer any more than could be avoided. The Government is to be informed, further, that military plants in France, useful to the Germans, would be "bombed at every opportunity."
The Third War Loan drive begins.
Domestically, all gold mines in the U.S. are shut
down and the industry's workers are sent to war production jobs.