October 3rd, 1942 (SATURDAY)
GERMANY: Peenemunde: Today it has been third time lucky here at the German army's top-secret experimental station on the shores of the Baltic. After unsuccessful firings in June and July, the A-4 free-flight rocket has made its first successful flight. It reaches an altitude of 53 miles (85.3 km) and crashes in the Baltic 118 miles (189.9 km) away.
The brainchild of the brilliant young scientist Wernher von Braun and General Walter Dornberger, the station head, who have been working on rocketry since 1932, the A-4 is 46 feet in height and weighs 13 tons. Now Dornberger and von Braun must convince the armaments minister, Albert Speer, that it warrants full-scale production.
EUROPE: Armed opposition to the Nazis is on the increase throughout occupied Europe, and the Germans are retaliating with their customary brutality. Today they launched a massive anti-partisan sweep, Operation Regatta, around the White Russian town of Gorki, near Smolensk. Only yesterday the partisans blew up 50 telegraph poles near Peklina.
Other subject peoples are equally reluctant to allow the occupiers and their sympathizers an easy time. In Denmark, for example, Danes fighting in the German army have been beaten up by angry patriots while on leave from Russia.
POLAND: The "resettlement" of Warsaw's Jews ends, with 310,332 out of 350,000 shipped to the death camps.
U.S.S.R.: Premier Joseph Stalin stated, in a personal letter to the representative of the Associated Press in Russia, that Allied aid has so far been of little effect compared with the aid the Soviet Union as giving by drawing upon itself the main German forces.
Units of 6.Armee continue to push the decimated Soviet 62nd Army further back toward the Volga in the center of Stalingrad with heavy losses on both sides.
GREECE: The US Army Middle East Air Force dispatches B-24s to attack shipping in Pylos Bay during the night of 3/4 October; they claim 2 fighters shot down.
INDIA: The India Air Task Force is activated by the Tenth Air Force at Dinjan to support Chinese resistance along the Salween River by hitting supply lines in central and southern Burma; the new task force, commanded by Colonel Caleb V Haynes, includes all USAAF combat units in India, all based at Karachi-the 7th Bombardment Group (Heavy), the 51st Fighter Group, and the 341st Bombardment Group (Medium).
NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, Australian troops begin clearing an area for aerial drops at Nauro while other troops began to move forward from Owen’s Corner. Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs bomb and strafe Efogi and Myola Lake, P-40s strafe the Efogi-Buna trail, B-25 Mitchells hit a bridge at Wairopi, and a lone B-17 Flying Fortress bombs a camp on the Kumusi River.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: Lt. Gen Maruyama of the Japanese Army lands on Guadalcanal to lead the next offensive against the Marines. He learns that of 9000 men already landed, 2000 are dead and 5000 are too weak to fight and many units have no equipment.
SBD Dauntlesses of Scouting Squadrons Three and Seventy One (VS-3 and VS-71) and Marine Scout Bombing Squadrons One Hundred Forty One and Two Hundred Thirty One (VMSB-141 and VMSB-231) plus TBF Avengers of Torpedo Squadron Eight (VT-8) from Henderson Field attack Japanese a supply convoy en route to Guadalcanal, damaging seaplane carrier HIJMS Nisshin.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: The Eleventh Air Force dispatches 6 B-24 Liberators, 4 P-38 Lightnings, and 8 P-39Airacobras to bomb and strafe 7 vessels in and around Kiska Harbor hitting a beached cargo vessel and the camp; the fighters down 6 float fighters attempting interception; the Japanese bomb the airfield on Adak Island but inflicts no damage.
US Navy announced that Army and Navy forces had occupied the Andreanof Islands, only 125 miles east of Kiska.
U.S.A.: The Office of Economic Stabilization is established and authorized to establish controls on farm prices, rents, wages and salaries.
In the third game of the 1942 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium, Cards' pitcher Ernie White (7-5 on the season) shuts out the Yankees on 6 hits, winning 2-0. Spud Chandler (16-5 on the season) was the starting pitcher for the Yankees. Arguments during the game result in US$200 (US$2,105 in year 2000 dollars) fines for Yankee second baseman Joe Gordon and third baseman Frankie Crosetti; the latter is also suspended for the first 30 days of the 1943 season for shoving umpire Bill Summers. This is the first World Series game in which the Yankees have not scored a run since the 3rd game of the 1926 World Series. The Cardinals lead the series 2-1.
Baseball!
The "Hollywood Canteen" opens on Cahuenga Boulevard.
The project was initiated by Bette Davis and John Garfield. The canteen is open
free of charge to any member of the Allied armed forces and Hollywood stars and
would-be stars volunteer their services at the club. On stage tonight is Duke
Ellington and his Orchestra, Kay Kyser and his Orchestra and Rudy Vallee.
No mention of Black troops in WW2 would be complete without the story of the first Black members of the USMC called the 'Montford Point Marines', named for the southern tip of Camp Lejuene, NC, where their first training facilities were situated beginning in August 1942. Times were different then, and these guys, some of whom fought at Iwo Jima in 1945, were of course subjected to the very same sort of prejudicial treatmeant as the 'Tuskeegee Airmen' (Red Tails), and the 761st 'Black Panthers" Tank Battalion in the ETO *. They overcame a lot of obstacles and [nevertheless] served their nation proudly.
See these fine websites concerning the 'Montford Marines':
[Montford Point Marines on Iwo Jima.]
(Russ Folsom)
The USAAF 8th Air Force makes its first enquiries about the availability of jettisonable fuel tanks to the USAAF Materiel Command.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-254 sank SS Robert H Colley in Convoy HX-209.