September 20th, 1942 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The outline plan for Operation TORCH, the invasion of North Africa, is issued; D Day is set for 8 November.
GERMANY: RAF bombers flew 1,200 miles to raid Munich last night, killing 65 people; other aircraft hit Saarbrucken.
The bomber force consisted of 68 Lancasters and 21 Stirlings; 3 Lancasters and 3 Stirlings were lost. Approximately 40 per cent of the crews dropped bombs within 3 miles (4.8 kilometres) of the center of Munich but most of the bombs fell in the western, southern and eastern suburbs of the city.
U.S.S.R.: Stubborn street fighting is in progress in Stalingrad. The town of Terek, in the Caucasus, falls to German Army Group A.
The Soviet marines and soldiers holding the grain silos are almost out of ammunition and they have no water. Tonight in a frantic search for something to drink, Lt. Khoyzyanov leads his men out of the tower door, across the field, the main road and into a gully, where they stumbled upon an enemy mortar battery. In the resulting melee, the startled Germans fled, leaving gallons of ice-cold drinking water that the marines gulped down gratefully. Completely dehydrated, Khoyzyanov suddenly felt faint from the water, and collapsed on the ground. When he woke up, he was in a dark celler and standing over him was a soldier from the German 14th Panzer division. The grain elevator he had defended so heroically had passed into enemy hands.
The Germans quickly put out the fires and saved most of the wheat, which would be significant in the weeks to come. (Russell Folsom)(232)
ARCTIC OCEAN: Whilst astern of convoy QP.14, minesweeper HMS Leda (N 93) is torpedoed and sunk by U-435 in the Barents Sea, West of Bear Island at 75 48N 06 00E.
Tribal class destroyer HMS Somali (G 33) is torpedoed by U-703, West of Bear Island at 75 40N 02 00E. The midships section of the port side is blown away and the ship held together only by the starboard side and the keel. The port turbine fell through the bottom of the ship. All non-essential crewmembers are taken off and destroyer HMS Ashanti (F 51) takes Somali in tow. When the weather worsened, and a violent storm broke, Somali folded into two, and the stern section sank quickly. Survivors were rescued by trawler Lord Middleton and Ashanti. Location: of sinking, 69 11N 15 32W. (Alex Gordon)(108)
NEW GUINEA: Australian units
continue to patrol along Imitra Ridge on the Kodoka Track.
USAAF Fifth Air Force A-20s bomb and strafe troops and installations at
Sangara, Arehe, and along the Popondetta-Andemba road in the Owen Stanley Range,
and P-40s strafe the airfield at Kokoda, bridges on the trail near Wairopi, and
troops at Myola, Efogi, and Kagi.
AUSTRALIA: Responding to questions from the Australian government regarding the effect on the RAAF of the formation of the USAAF's Fifth Air Force in the Southwest Pacific Area, General MacArthur replies that "due to unavoidable conditions" the majority of the units assigned to the Coastal defence Unit would be Australian although the majority of RAAF units would not be assigned to this command. He continued saying that the formation of the Fifth Air Force would not affect the full employment of the RAAF in combat operations.