September 19th, 1942 (SATURDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Minesweeper HMS Aries launched.
Escort carrier HMS Slinger launched.
FRANCE: Paris: In a further retaliatory measure, all places of entertainment are closed and non-German citizens are curfewed until midnight tonight.
GERMANY: During the day, six RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos attempted the first daylight bombing raid on Berlin; two aircraft had to turn back with mechanical trouble, two aircraft bombed Hamburg and one aircraft bombed the Berlin area through thick cloud. The remaining Mosquito is lost, believed shot down by a German fighter.
During the night of 19/20 September, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 118 aircraft, 72 Wellingtons, 41 Halifaxes and five Stirlings, to bomb Saarbrücken; 95 bombed the target with the loss of five aircraft, three Wellingtons and two Halifaxes lost, 4.2 per cent of the force. The Pathfinders had to mark two targets on this night and the Pathfinder crews allocated to this raid experienced difficulties with ground haze. Bombing is scattered to the west of the target. Saarbrücken reports on 13 houses destroyed, 27 seriously damaged and one man killed. A second force of 68 Lancasters and 21 Stirlings is sent to Munich; 84 bombed the target with the loss of five aircraft. Approximately 40 percent of the crews dropped bombs within 3 miles (4,8 kilometers) of the center of Munich but most of the bombs fell in the western, southern and eastern suburbs of the city. It has not been possible to obtain a report from Munich.
U-476 laid down.
U-274 and
U-734 launched.
GREECE: US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb the Pylos Bay area, Pylos Island and Khalones during the night of 19/20 September.
U.S.S.R.: Moscow erroneously reports the death of a top German general, Paul von Kleist, in the Ukraine.
CHINA: US China Air Task Force B-25 Mitchells strike Lungling; the raid is ineffective due to bad weather but results in the discovery of much Japanese activity which further reconnaissance reveals as part of a heavy movement of enemy and supplies along the Burma Road toward the Salween front.
NEW GUINEA: On the Kododa Track in Papua New Guinea, an Australian patrol attacks the Japanese post spotted yesterday and destroys it. The troops then set up an ambush and wait for the night.
US Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs and B-26 Marauders strafe and bomb the airfield at Lae. B-17 Flying Fortresses attack cargo vessels near Umboi (Rooke) Island between New Guinea and New Britain Island and a whaling vessel is strafed by fighters off Goodenough Island.
NEW CALEDONIA: The Americal Division is reorganised into:
Mobile Command: including all combat troops (except 70th CA Regiment, Signal Corps units and Fighting French Forces)
Base command: including all service units (except Signal units)
Air Force Command: including all Army Air Forces units and units of other services assigned to Army Air Forces
Troops under direct control of CG Americal Division included: Division Headquarters Detachment, Headquarters Company, 51st Infantry Brigade, 39th MP Company, 70th Coast Artillery Regiment (AA), Signal Corps units and installations, and Fighting French Forces. (Yves J. Bellanger)
SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Guadalcanal, Major General Alexander Vandegrift, Commanding General 1st Marine Division, establishes continuous defense lines and divides the Lunga area into ten sectors.
PACIFIC OCEAN: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses attack cargo vessels in the Bismarck Sea near Umboi (Rooke) Island which lies between New Guinea and New Britain Island. In the Solomon Sea, USAAF Fifth Air Force fighters strafe a whaling vessel off Goodenough Island.
CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Brockville commissioned.
Minesweeper HMCS Winnipeg launched Port Arthur, Ontario.
U.S.A.: The Finnish Legation in Washington, D.C., issues a statement asserting that Finland "wants to cease fighting as soon as the threat to her existence has been averted and guarantees have been obtained for her lasting security." It is stated, however, that no Peace proposals have been made to Finland, nor any promise of the restitution of the territories belonging to her, nor any guarantee of lasting security.
The auxiliary aircraft carrier (ACV) USS Chenango (ACV-28, ex SS Esso New Orleans, ex AO-28) is commissioned. She is the tenth ACV in commission. (Dave Shirlaw & Jack McKillop)
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-156
sank SS Quebec City.
U-512 sank SS Monte Gorbea.
U-516 sank SS Wichita.
U-552 sank ASW trawler HMS
Alouette.