September 11th, 1942 (FRIDAY)
GERMANY: The commander of U-203 (Kptlt. Rolf Mützelburg) died in a unique incident on 11 Sept. He allowed his crew to swim in the sea and when he was about to dive from the tower the boat moved and he hit the saddle tank being badly wounded. He died the next day.
U-533
launched
U-196 commissioned.
U.S.S.R.: Stalingrad: The ruined city of Stalingrad is tonight in immediate danger of falling to the Germans. German 6th Army commander General Friedrich Paulus has fought off Zhukov's hastily-prepared counter-attack and is working his way towards the heart of the city against stubborn resistance. Russians guns, safe on the eastern bank of the Volga, are pounding the Germans, whose latest communique says that the "fortified belt of steel" around Stalingrad has to be taken "piece by piece" from the Russians, "who resist fiercely and desperately to the end."
In the Ukraine, German 6th Army commander General Friedrich Paulus is summoned to "Werewolf" to explain to Adolf Hitler why 6th Army hasn't taken Stalingrad. Paulus tells Hitler that an attack will go in with 11 divisions, three of them panzer, on 13 September. The Russians have only three infantry divisions, parts of four others, and two tanks brigades against him. Stalingrad should crack, he says and Hitler is pleased.
Finnish s/s Hera and s/s Jussi H sunk in Gulf of Bothnia by
sub. S 13.
LIBYA: New Zealand raiders of the Long Range Desert Group attack the Italian air base at Barce and destroy 23 Italian aircraft on the ground.
BURMA: RAF bombers attack Japanese positions in Prome, Mandalay and Rangoon.
SOLOMON ISLANDS, GUADALCANAL: Colonel Oka, in command of Japanese forces west of the Lunga perimeter, issues his attack plan for the attack on the west side of the Perimeter. This morning he reached the naval ground forces under Capt. Monzen near the mouth of the Matanikau River. He also has the 3rd Btn 4th Regiment which was landed last night. Accompanying them was Colonel Matsumoto, advance man for Japanese Army HQ.
General A.A. Vandegrift, Colonel Edson and Colonel Gerald Thomas know the Japanese will attack soon.
Edson picks a ridge one mile south of Henderson Field. The 1st Marine Raider Btn. dig in.
Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner, Commander of Amphibious Force, South Pacific Force, arrives on Guadalcanal. He has discussed Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley’s pessimistic view of the situation. (Ghormley is Commander South Pacific Area and South Pacific Force.) Turner also wants to bring the 7th Marine Regiment to Guadalcanal. He proposes sprinkling them in small groups around the island but Major General Alexander Vandegrift, Commanding General 1st Marine Division opposes this plan. Admiral Turner visits with war correspondents and is quoted: "... Marines will be on the island for a long time and things will get worse before they get better."
Lieutenant General Kawaguchi Kiyotake, commanding officer of the 35th Brigade, issued his attack plan on the 7th which calls for his forces to split into three groups. One would attack the east side of the Perimeter, the other two would surprise the Marines by attacking from the south. This main attack would cross a ridge, known to the Japanese as "The Centipede". This ridge will become known to history as "Edsons" or "Bloody" ridge. The forces are almost in place for battle tomorrow night.
12 USMC F4F Wildcats intercept 26 IJN G4M "Betty" bombers and 8 A6M "Zeke" fighters at about 1200 hours. The Marines shoot down 6 G4Ms and 1 A6M but loose 1 F4F. In the afternoon, 24 F4Fs of the USN's Fighting Squadron Five (VF-5), which is part of the Saratoga Air Group, land at Henderson Field to augment the defenses.
In what becomes a standard scene in a number of Hollywood submarine movies, Pharmacist's Mate First Class Wheeler B. Lipes performs an appendectomy on Seaman First Class Darrell Dean Rector, 19, on board the submarine USS Seadragon (SS-194) while she was en route from Australia to French Indochina. The submarine waits quietly while he performs the operation. He is assisted by R. Franz P. Hoskins, who will become a doctor after the war (d. 2001) who acts as an anaesthesiologist, without training when he administered three pints of ether in the operation. George Weller of the Chicago Tribune will win a Pulitzer Prize for his report on this, in the category of Battlefront Writing. In the late 1950's it will be adapted for television. (William L. Howard)
NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, the Australian
2/14th and 2/16th Battalions surrounded four days previously fights its way out
of the Japanese encirclement and fall back to Nauro. But the Australians are
forced to pull back from Nauro again and take up positions on a ridge north of
Ioribaiwa. The Japanese 18th Army is only 32 miles (51 kilometers) from Port
Moresby and number about 5,000 fighting men.
In the air, USAAF 5th Air Force A-20 Havocs and B-26
Marauders hit Efogi and Menari in the Owen Stanley Range and Buna Airfield; B-17
Flying Fortresses, along with RAAF Hudsons, attack
two IJN destroyers, HIJMS Isokaze and
Yayoi, 20 miles (32
km) east of Normanby Island; a B-17 scores a direct hit on the stern of the
destroyer HIJMS Yayoi, which later sinks. These destroyers are on their way
to Goodenough Island to rescue Japanese troops.
AUSTRALIA: General Douglas MacArthur, Commander in Chief Southwest West Pacific Area, submits a plan to Australian General Sir Thomas Blamey, Commander in Chief Allied Land Forces Southwest Pacific Area and Commander in Chief Australian Military Force, for accelerating operations in New Guinea. While Australians, upon receiving reinforcements, are to attack to drive the Japanese back on the Kokoda Track, a regimental combat team of the U.S. 34th Infantry Division is to execute a wide flanking movement to the east to get behind the Japanese at Wairopi and thus hasten their expulsion from New Guinea.
PACIFIC OCEAN: USN submarine USS Saury (SS-189) sinks a Japanese aircraft transport approximately 30 miles (48 kilometres) off the west coast of the Celebes, in central Makassar Strait, Netherlands East Indies.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: Aleutians: The completion of the runway at Davis Army Airfield on Adak Island permits a stepped up air offensive against Japanese-held Kiska Island located 219 nautical miles (405 kilometers) west of Adak. .
US 11th Air Force weather, photo, and patrol aircraft draws Anti-Aircraft fire over Chichagof Harbor, Attu Island and also covers Tanaga, Amchitka, and Semichi Islands.
CANADA: With so many young men involved in the war effort, there was a critical shortage of labor across the country and the government announces that all women, single and married, born between 1918 and 1922, are required to register with the Unemployment Insurance Commission. The Calgary, Alberta, manager of the Commission explains that the women would not necessarily be given employment immediately, but that their experience and skills would be classified in case they were required for necessary war work.
Across the Canadian prairies, hundreds of people, including teachers, bankers, lawyers, clergymen and schoolchildren, volunteer to assist with bringing in the harvest. In Drumheller, Alberta, as in towns all across the prairies, the local Board of Trade organized busses and cars to take the volunteers to farms where they worked with local farmers to harvest the grain and build granaries to store it.
At 1158 hours whilst
escorting convoy QS.33 which had lost five merchantmen, Flower class corvette HMCS
Charlottetown (K 244) is torpedoed and sunk by U-517
in the Gulf of St. Lawrence at 49 12N 66 48W. Charlottetown was returning to
Gaspe, Quebec. Charlottetown has just escorted the convoy SQ 30 to Rimouski,
Quebec. Nine of the crew went down with the ship.(Alex Gordon)(108)
Minesweepers HMS Mary Rose (ex
HMCS Toronto), HMS Moon (ex
HMCS Mimico), HMS Providence (ex
HMCS Forest Hill), HMS Regulus (ex
HMCS Long Branch, HMS Serene (ex
HMCS Leaside) and HMS Seabear (ex
HMCS St Thomas) ordered from Toronto
Shipbuilding.
Corvettes HMCS Charlottetown, Weyburn and
minesweeper HMCS Clayoquot devlivered
Convoy SQ-35 to Red Islet.
U.S.A.: President Roosevelt presented the Norwegian Navy with a new submarine chaser. "It is today the privilege of the people of the United State's, through the mechanism of the Lend-Lease Law, to assist this gallant navy in carrying out its present heavy duties".
Submarine USS Steelhead launched.
Destroyer USS Davison commissioned.
CARIBBEAN SEA: Canadian merchantman SS Cornwallis (5,458 GRT) damaged in the Caribbean Sea in position 13.05N, 059.36W by torpedoes from U-514. Cornwallis was repaired and returned to service but was lost later due to further German action. U-514 was a long-range Type IXC U-boat, built by Deutsche Werft AG, at Bremen. She was commissioned 24 Jan 42. U-514 conducted four patrols and compiled a record of six ships sunk for a total of 24,531 tons and two ships damaged for a further 13,551 tons. U-514 was sunk on 08 Jul 43, northeast of Cape Finisterre, Spain, in position 43.37N, 008.59W, by rockets from a specially modified RAF 'Liberator' patrol a/c from RAF 224 Sqn that was conducting an operational trial at the time of the engagement. All 54 of U-514's crewmembers were lost. KptLt. Hans-Jürgen Aufferman was her only CO. Hans-Jürgen Auffermann was born in 1914, at Göttingen. He joined the navy in 1934 and tranfered to the U-boat Force in Jan 41. After conversion training, he served as the first Watch Officer in the Type VIIC boat U-69 from Apr to Oct 41 under the command of the 'ace' KptLt. Jost Metzler, Knights Cross, until he became ill and Auffermann assumed command for the last four days of the patrol. He completed this tour of duty under the command of KptLt. Wilhelm Zahn. He was promoted to KptLt on 01 Sep 41. Auffermann was selected for command and underwent his U-boat commander's course from Nov 41 to Jan 42. He was appointed to commission U-514 on 24 Jan 42.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: During the night of 10/11 September, there are several attacks: first U-659 damages the 8,029 ton British tanker SS Empire Oil. A few hours later U-404 damaged tanker (7,417 ton) SS Marit II and U-218 damaged tanker (7,361 ton) SS Fjordaas. U-584 finishes off the 8,029 ton British tanker SS Empire Oil previously damaged by U-659. All of these attacks occur about 737 nautical miles (1 366kilometers) west of Cork, County Cork, Éire, in position 51.26N, 28.19W.
U-96 sank SS De Laes. (Dave Shirlaw & Jack McKillop)