September 12th, 1942 (SATURDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The US Army Air Forces activates the 4th Fighter Group at Bushey Hall, England and the three "Eagle" squadrons and their aircraft, Vickers Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vs, are transferred to the USAAF becoming the 334th, 335th and 336th Fighter Squadrons respectively. The pilots who have served in these Eagle Squadrons are allowed to wear their RAF pilot wings above their right breast pocket of the blouse.
U.S. Lieutenant General Dwight D. Eisenhower officially announces assumption of command as Commander-in-Chief Allied Expeditionary Force for Operation TORCH (the Allied invasion of northwest Africa), and Allied Force Headquarters (AFHQ) is activated in London.
Woodley, Berkshire: The Miles Messenger (M. 38) light liaison and communication duties aircraft makes its maiden flight. (22)
Destroyer HMS Eggesford launched.
Submarine HMS Truculent launched.
FRANCE: Ten British Commandoes
raid Port-en-Bessin in Normandy and kill seven Germans. The gunfire alerts the
garrison which attacks and kills nine of the commandoes; one, Private Hayes,
swims along the coast and aided by a French family, escapes to Spain. However,
the Spanish police arrest Hayes and send him back to France where he is
interrogated by the Gestapo. Acting under the notorious "Kugel" Order,
signed by Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, that orders execution for all captured
British commandos, Hayes is executed by the Gestapo.
POLAND: Warsaw: The gassing of 2,196 Jews at Treblinka today marks the end of a week of deportations in which about 70,000 Jews have been decanted from the ever-shrinking ghetto here. Since the Nazis started their plan to eliminate the ghetto in July, nearly 255,000 people have been deported to their deaths.
The latest Aktion, which the Jews grimly nicknamed the kesl [Yiddish for cauldron], started on 5 September when all ghetto dwellers were ordered to report to a new assembly point in Mila Street. Roped off and guarded by armed police, who report shooting 2,648 attempted escapees this week, the Jews have been shipped off to Treblinka at the rate of 10,000 a day. Only around 70,000 remain out of a population of 350,000. There are no families; those who remain are mainly single men in their twenties and thirties, temporarily exempted from death only in order to boost the war effort as labourers in the ghetto's German-owned factories.
Life in the ghetto is worse than ever. Those with the all-important work permits sleep in their workplaces; those without them exist as scavengers on the run, sheltering in burnt-out apartment blocks. Ukrainian militiamen roam the area shooting Jews dead at random. Corpses line the street.
U.S.S.R.: The perimeter held by the Soviet Army at Stalingrad is closed to 30 miles (48 kilometres). Lieutenant General Vasily Chuikov is appointed to command the Soviet 62nd Army at Stalingrad and immediately orders close-quarter fighting to prevent the Germans from using their Ju 87 Stuka divebombers. Chuikov tells his 55,000 haggard men, "We shall hold the city or die here."
NEW GUINEA: On the Kokoda Track orders are issued to the Australian troops that Ioribaiwa is to be held until relief arrives. The Japanese attack late in the day but the Australians hold their ground. (William L. Howard)
USAAF 5th Air Force P-400 Airacobras, B-26 Maruaders, A-20 Havocs, and B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb the Buna Airfield and strafe barges at Buna town, Northeast New Guinea.
PACIFIC OCEAN: A B-17 strafes a vessel in Bismarck Sea south of Kavieng, New Ireland Island, Bismarck Archipelago.
D’ENTRECASTEAUX ISLANDS: USAAF 5th Air Force P-40s strafe Gadaibai on Goodenough Island which is off the eastern extremity of Papua New Guinea.
NEW HEBRIDES ISLANDS: The U.S. 7th Marine Regiment and elements of the 5th Marine Defense Battalion arrive at Espiritu Santo Island.
PORTUGUESE TIMOR: The
Bathurst class corvette HMAS Kalgoorlie (J 192) departs Darwin, Northern
Territory, makes a trip to Timor with 14 soldiers
and 15 tons of supplies for the "Sparrow Force"; during this trip Kalgoolie's captain made the
observation that he had never before seen troops who looked so hungry, and that
no sooner had the unloading begun when the soldiers broke open boxes of food and
opened cans with bayonets and knifes and ate the contents there and then.
The “Sparrow Force” consists of the 2/2 Independent Company Australian Imperial
Force, and survivors from the 2/40th Battalion, 22nd Brigade, 8th Division
Australian Imperial Force, who did not surrender to the Japanese, plus local
East Timorese guerillas. (William L. Howard)(188,
189,
190, 191)
AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper
HMAS Bundaberg commissioned.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: The IJN sends 42 G4M "Betty" bombers and an unknown number of A6M "Zeke" fighters to attack Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. The Japanese are intercepted by 11 USMC and 21USNF4F Wildcats; the Americans shoot down 14 G4Ms and an A6M at the cost of 1 F4F. During the night, IJN surface ships shell Guadalcanal killing 3 Marine SBD Dauntless pilots.
VF 5, the fighter unit from Saratoga that arrived on Guadalcanal yesterday, flew it's first mission from Henderson Field today. Also arriving yesterday was Admiral Turner. He has discussed Admiral Ghormley's pessimistic view of the situation. He also wants to bring the 7th Marines to Guadalcanal. He proposes sprinkling them in small groups around the island. General Vandegrift 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."
At 2130 hours, bombardment of the perimeter begins, IJN light cruiser Sendai, and destroyers Shikinami, Fubuki and Suzukaze are offshore. Then an attack against the ridge begins. Col Edson has a combined 840 men between his Raider Battalion and the attached Marine Parachute Battalion. General Kawaguchi has 3 battalions, with 2,506 men, attacking. But the jungle has slowed the arrival of 2 battalions, his attack is very disjointed. The also get bogged down between the ridge and the Lunga River. Finally about 1 hour before daybreak the Japanese commanders begin to gain control of their units. They regroup to attack the next night.
Japan assaults US positions around Bloody Ridge.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: A US 11th Air Force weather and patrol reconnaissance aircraft finds overcast at Kiska Island but takes photos over Tanaga, Kanaga, and Attu Islands. The runway at Adak Island is completed.
CANADA: Frigate USS Natchez launched Montreal, Province of Quebec.
U.S.A.: Destroyers USS Champlin and Kendrick commissioned.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Destroyer HMCS Ottawa attacked by U-92. U-92, a type VIIC U-boat built at Flender-Werke, Lubeck. laid down 4 Oct 41, commissioned 3 Mar 42, on her first war patrol at the time. U-92 went on to complete 9 patrols and compiled a record of 2 ships sunk for a total of 17,612 tons and 1 ship damaged for a further 9,348 tons. U-92 was heavily damaged 4 Oct 44 in Bergen, Norway, by bombs from RAF aircraft, of number 6 and number 8 Air groups. U-92 was paid off 12 Oct 1944 and scrapped during 1944/45.
U-211
damaged SS Empire Moonbeam and SS Hektoria in Convoy ON-127.
U-404 damaged SS Daghil in
Convoy ON-127.
U-512 sank SS Patrick J.
Hurley.
U-515 sank SS Stanvac
Melbourne and damaged SS Woensdrecht.
U-608 sank SS Empire Moonbeam
and Hektoria in Convoy ON-127.
U-68 sank SS Trevilley.
BRAZIL naval forces are placed under the operational control of the USN.
ARCTIC OCEAN: Convoy PQ 18 left Hvalfjord, Iceland, en route to Archangel, U.S.S.R., on 8 September. The convoy consists of 40 merchant ships escorted by the escort aircraft carrier HMS Avenger [D 14, ex SS Rio Hudson, ex U.S. Navy (USN) BAVG-2], the light cruiser HMS Scylla (98), 20 destroyers, two submarines, four corvettes, three minesweepers and four trawlers. The covering force of the heavy cruisers HMS London (69), Norfolk (78) and Suffolk (55) with the battleships HMS Anson (79) and Duke of York (17) on stand by close by. The convoy is sighted today. While tracking the convoy, German submarine U-88 is sunk about 241 nautical miles (446 kilometers) southwest of Longyearbyen, Sptizbergan Island, Norway in position 75.40N, 20.32E, by the British destroyer HMS Faulknor (H62). All 46 aboard are lost.
SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN:
The 19,695 ton former Cunard White Star passenger liner SS Laconia is sailing to
England. Aboard are 136 crewmen, 80 civilians, military material and personnel
(268 men) and approximately 1,800 Italian prisoners of war with 160 Polish
soldiers on guard. At 2207 hours, the ship is torpedoed by the German submarine U-156
(Kapitänleutnant Werner Hartenstein) and
sinks at 2323 hours in position 05.05S, 11.38W. Shortly after the ship sank, the
crew of the surfaced U-156 hears Italian voices in the sea and in the lifeboats.
The captain begins a rescue operation and sends a radio message in the clear
asking for assistance from any vessel in the area. Hartenstein states that
"if any ship will assist the ship-wrecked 'Laconia'-crew, I will not attack
providing I am not being attacked by ship or air forces."
During the next three days, U-156
rescues 400 survivors with 200 on
the deck of the sub and 200 in lifeboats. On 15 September, U-506 arrives at 1130
hours followed by U-507 and the Italian submarine Cappellini a few hours later.
The subs head for Africa towing the lifeboats behind them. The following day, 16
September, a USAAF B-24 Liberator based on Ascension Island flies over the scene
and the pilot notifies his headquarters. Even though the submarines are flying
the Red Cross flag, the pilot is ordered to attack them which he does at 1232
hours. The submarines cut the lines to the lifeboats and submerge leaving
hundred of people who were on the decks now in the water. Shortly thereafter,
French warships arrive from Dakar and pick up about 1,500 survivors.
As a result of the attack by the B-24, Admiral Dönitz orders that
no U-boats are to take part in rescue operations and they are to leave any
survivors in the water.