October 20th, 1942 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Lieutenant General Dwight D Eisenhower, Commanding General, European Theater, issues a directive reflecting the immediate urgency of Operation TORCH (plan for the Allied landings in North and Northwest Africa in November 1942) as the currently important item of Allied strategy and requiring the Eighth Air Force, as a matter of first priority, to protect the movement of men and supplies from the U.K. to North Africa by attacking German submarine bases on the west coast of France, with shipping docks on the French west coast as a secondary targets for these missions and with German aircraft factories and depots in France as second priority.
FRANCE: Paris: Pierre Laval, the Vichy premier, today called for another 100,000 French workers to join the hundreds of thousands of Frenchmen already working in Germany. On 11 August, at Compeigne, the first train of French PoWs passed the first train taking Frenchmen to work for the Germans. Fritz Sauckel, Hitler's manpower chief, made Laval send three workers to Germany for each PoW freed. In September, Laval mobilized all Frenchmen between 18 and 50 and all unmarried women between 21 and 35 for forced labour.
GERMANY: During the day, RAF Bomber Command sends six Mosquitos to individual German targets; two aircraft bombed Bremen and one each hit Minden and Varel Hafen. One Mosquito is lost.
U-191 commissioned.
MALTA: For ten days the Luftwaffe has attacked Malta in a desperate attempt to paralyse the tiny island which has defied Axis bombardment ever since Hitler issued his directive on 2 December 1941 concerning air and sea supremacy in the Mediterranean. The fighting in this renewed assault has been fierce, with 100 German bombers claimed to have been shot down by the Allies. But Allied leaders believe that their planned offensive in North Africa will soon force Axis air power to be redeployed.
EGYPT: The RAF starts a bid to establish air supremacy over El Alamein. Air action by the US Army, Middle East Air Force is also intensified with the aim of attaining strong air superiority preceding General Bernard L Montgomery, General Officer Commanding British Eighth Army, El Alamein offensive.
LIBYA: US Army, Middle East Air Force Libya, B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators sent to attack shipping at Tobruk fail to locate the target due to bad weather and poor visibility; three of the B-17s bomb a coastal road near Bardia during the return trip. Meanwhile, B-25 Mitchells, in conjunction with the Royal Air Force (RAF), attack landing grounds.
INDIA: Chinese troops begin moving by air into India to meet the Ramgarh requirements. The Chinese 22d and 38th Divisions are being brought up to strength.
NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, the Australian 16th Brigade, 6th Division, enters the fight for the Kokoda Trail, relieving the 25th Brigade, 7th Division; the Australians continue the action to clear the Eora Creek area. The U.S. 32d Infantry Division party under Captain Medendorp, having left elements at Laruni where a dropping ground is staked out, arrives at Jaure, where Captain Boice's party is searching for airfield sites.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: Guadalcanal: IJN 2nd Division Headquarters reaches "Clear Water Valley", 1 mile from his planned deployment area. Lieutenant General Maruyama Masao, commander of the 2nd Division, estimates this is 4 miles south of Henderson Field, it is actually 8 miles south. He sets the attack for 1800 hours on the 22nd.
A patrol of the supporting coastal force is taken under fire at the mouth of the Matanikau River and retires after one of its two tanks is hit.
Thirty Japanese “Zeke” fighters (Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters) make a sweep over Guadalcanal before the main attack force of 16 “Betty” bombers (Mitsubishi G4M, Navy Type 1 Attack Bombers) and six “Zekes” arrives. Marine F4F Wildcat pilots shoot down three “Bettys” and nine “Zekes” at 1145 hours. Henderson Field is closed for the rest of the day because of Japanese artillery fire.
PACIFIC OCEAN:
USS Tautog (SS-199) sinks a sampan at 07-00 N, 119-40 E.
USS Drum (SS-228) sinks a cargo ship at 34-09 N, 136-46 E.
USS Finback (SS-230) sinks a passenger-cargo ship at 24-26 N, 120-26 E.
USS Silversides (SS-236) sinks a a passenger-cargo ship at 06-45 N, 151-30 E. (Skip Guidry)
In the Coral Sea, en-route from Espiritu Santo to San Cristobal USN heavy cruiser USS Chester (CA-27) is hit by a torpedo on the starboard side, amidships which killed 11 and wounded 12. The torpedo was fired by Japanese submarine HIJMS I-176 about 311 nautical miles (576 kilometers) southeast of Henderson Field, Guadalcanal Island, Solomon Islands, in position 13.31S, 163.17E. (Dave Shirlaw & Jack McKillop)
In the South China Sea, USN submarine USS Gar (SS-206) mines the approaches to Bangkok, Thailand.
NEW CALEDONIA: Major General Arthur Vandegrift, Commanding General 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, reports to Admiral William F Halsey, Commander of the South Pacific Area and Commander of the South Pacific Force, aboard his flagship in Noumea harbor, and requests and is promised more support. Admiral Halsey orders the Army's 147th Infantry Regiment, which had been earmarked for the invasion of Ndeni, Santa Cruz Islands, to Guadalcanal. The Ndeni operation is never undertaken. Halsey also institutes construction of another bomber airstrip to be located at Koli Point, 12 miles (19 kilometers) southeast of Henderson Field.
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: Six USAAF Eleventh Air Force B-24 Liberators take off for Japanese-held Kiska Island but return due to weather; reconnaissance is flown to 70 miles (113 kilometers) east of Attu Island; a negative search is made for a missing C-53 Skytroop: German submarine U-216 is sunk about 491 nautical miles (909 kilometers) west-southwest of Cork, County Cork, Eire, by six depth charges from an RAF (B-24) Liberator Mk. II, aircraft of No. 224 Squadron based at Beaulieu, Hampshire, England; all 45 crewmen are lost. (Alex Gordon)
CANADA: HMC ML 101 commissioned.
Minesweeper HMCS Brockville arrived Halifax from builder Sorel, Province of Quebec.. Entered 2-week refit to repair grounding damage entailed enroute.
Corvette HMCS Camrose departed Halifax for UK.
U.S.A.: The largest tax bill in US history, of $6.8 billion (US), is approved by Congress.
The US Alien Property Custodian, under the "Trading With the Enemy Act", seizes the shares of the Union Banking Corporation (UBC), of which Prescott Bush is a director and shareholder. The largest shareholder is E. Roland Harriman. Bush is also the managing partner of Brown Brothers Harriman, a leading Wall Street investment firm.
The UBC was established to send American capital to Germany to finance the reorganization of its industry under the Nazis. Their leading German partner is Nazi industrialist Fritz Thyssen, who will write a book admitting much of this called "I Paid Hitler".
Among the companies financed is the Silesian-American Corporation, which is also managed by Prescott Bush, and his father-in-law George Herbert Walker. This company is vital in supplying coal to Nazi war industry.
Prescott Bush is also a director of the Harriman Fifteen Corporation, (this one owned largely by Roland's brother, Averell Harriman), which owned about a third of the Consolidated Silesian Steel Corporation, the rest owned by Friedrich Flick, (a member of Himmler's "Circle of Friends" who donates to the S.S.). Two of the principal attorneys for these undertakings are Alan Dulles, later head of the OSS in Italy and head of the CIA and John Foster Dulles, later Secretary of State under Eisenhower. (Scott Peterson)
The trial of Gordon K. Hirabayashi, who violated Seattle, Washington's curfew and exclusion restrictions on 16 May 1942, starts in Seattle with Judge Lloyd L. Black presiding.
Canadian-manned escort carrier HMS Nabob (ex-USS Edisto) laid down Tacoma, Washington.
Submarine USS Darter laid down.
Destroyer USS Hazelwood launched.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-216 (Type VIID) is sunk 20 Oct, 1942 southwest of Ireland in position 48.21N, 19.25W, by 6 depth charges from a British Liberator aircraft (Sqdn. 224/H). 45 dead (all hands lost). (Alex Gordon)
U-77 sank SS Mahrous.
U-662 rendezvoused with the milk cow U-463 in order to get medical aid from their doctor for a crewmember who was suffering severe bleeding of the stomach. However, the stormy weather made a transfer between boats impossible, and two days passed before the weather conditions allowed a consultation by the doctor.