October 22nd, 1942 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Submarine HMS Totem laid down.
Destroyer HMS Quilliam commissioned.
Submarine HMS Thule launched.
The first echelon of Headquarters, USAAF Twelfth Air Force begins a movement from the U.K. to North Africa.
FRANCE: Vichy Radio, quoting a Stockholm, Sweden, telegram, states that Germany and her allies are planning to denounce the Geneva Convention of 1864, re the Red Cross and prisoners of war. According to the telegram, the Axis declares that "England, by her methods of war, has been the first to cast off the obligations arising from this Convention."
During the night of 22/23 October, 11 RAF Bomber Command Stirlings laid mines off the southern Biscay coast without loss. Five laid mines in the Gironde Estuary, four off Bayonne and two off St. Jean de Luz.
GERMANY: RAF Bomber Command dispatches 22 Wellingtons on cloud-cover raids to Essen, the Ruhr and the Dortmund-Ems Canal at Lingen. Thirteen aircraft bombed estimated positions through cloud, nine at Essen and four at Lingen . One of the Wellington's came down low and machine-gunned a train near Lingen, setting some of the carriages on fire. No aircraft are lost.
U-645 commissioned. and
SWEDEN: Douglas DC-3-268, msn 2132, registered SE-BAG by the Swedish airline ABA (AB Aerotransport or Swedish Air Lines), is shot down by a Luftwaffe Ju-88 near Hallo. Thirteen of the 15 people aboard are killed in the ensuing crash.
U.S.S.R.: The first snow of the winter falls at Stalingrad.
At Stalingrad, against fierce Soviet resistance, units of the German Sixth Army capture most of the Red October and Barricades factories in the northern part of the city.
On Lake Ladoga all three Italian 12th Naval flotilla MASs co-operate with the German pontoons in an attack against the Sucho islet. (Arturo Lorioli)
ITALY: During the night of 22/23 October, 112 RAF Bomber Command Lancasters and the Pathfinders are dispatched to Genoa to recommence the campaign against Italy to coincide with the opening of the Eighth Army offensive at El Alamein, Egypt; 100 aircraft bomb the city. It is a perfectly clear moonlight night and the Pathfinder marking is described as "prompt and accurate." The bombing by this comparatively small force of aircraft, carrying only 180 tons (163 metric tonnes) of bombs, could hardly have been carried out under more ideal conditions. No Lancasters are lost. Details from Genoa are not precise but very heavy damage is caused in the city centre and in the eastern districts. Provisional estimates of casualties are 39 dead and 200 injured but the actual figures may have been higher. Local reports mention the severe effect on the morale of the people of Genoa.
CRETE: US Army, Middle East Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses sent to bomb Candia, abort because of weather.
ALGERIA: The US General Mark Clark lands for secret talks with senior pro-Allied French officers and Resistance leaders.
EGYPT: The British Eighth Army moves secretly into assault positions during the night of 22/23 October.
Advance U.S. Air headquarters of the US Army, Middle East Air Force, previously attached to the RAF Advanced Air HQ, Western Desert, to gain field experience, becomes Headquarters, Desert Air Task Force (DATF), located at Burg el Arab, Egypt, with Lieutenant General Lewis H Brereton as Commanding General.
US Army, Middle East Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb dispersed aircraft while P-40s escort bombers, attack tent areas and motor transport along the coastal road near El Hammam, fly reconnaissance and fighter sweeps west of El Daba, and bomb artillery positions. The P-40s claim two fighters destroyed.
INDIA: A combined planning staff conference opens to consider an offensive in Burma.
CHINA: Chungking: The opening session of the Chinese People's Council today was marked by the absence of any Communist delegates and a warning from Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. Speaking obliquely about the continued factional fighting between Kuomintang and Communist troops, he pointed out that it was wasting manpower and materials and endangering the Chinese war effort. Success on the war front would not save China from Japan if the divisive internal economic and political battles continued, he warned.
D'ENTRECASTEAUX ISLANDS: To secure the northeast coast of Papua, New Guinea, the Australian 2/12th Battalion of the 18th Brigade embarks in two Australians destroyers, HMAS Arunta (I 30) and Stuart (D 00), at Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea, and during the night of 22/23 October, land at a points on Goodenough Island., from which submarines have withdrawn 60 of the 353 Japanese stranded there on 25 August.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: General Holcomb, Commandant USMC, tours front line positions of his Marines, on Guadalcanal, amid occasional Japanese artillery fire. He also observes an air raid by 12 Vals escorted by 12 Zeros at 1:00 pm. 29 Wildcats of the Cactus Airforce intercept and 2 Vals are lost. Their target, the destroyer USS Nicholas. (Note: My favorite destroyer! <G) They missed her. (John Nicholas)
Heavy Japanese artillery firce closes Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, for most of the day.
On Guadalcanal, during the evening the troops of Lieutenant General Maruyama Masao's Second Division reach their deployment line, 4 miles south of Henderson Field. They are actually 6 - 7 miles south. The division is strung out over approximately 18 miles of rain-soaked trails. Despite some serious doubts, the attack is scheduled by HQ 17th Army, at Kokumbona on the coast, for the 23rd (tomorrow). The Japanese plan an attack of two prongs from the mouth of the Matanikau early on the 23rd. Col. Oka and Col. Nakaguma will command these. That night the attack south of Henderson Field will have a right wing attack under Lieutenant General Kawaguchi Kiyotake (of Bloody Ridge), commander of the 35th Brigade, a left wing under Major General Nasu Yumio, commander of the Infantry Group 2nd Division, and the main attack under General Maruyama.
PACIFIC OCEAN: USS Grayback (SS-208) sinks a transport about 54 nautical miles (100 kilometres) southeast of Rabaul at 04-45 S, 152-53 E. (Skip Guidry)
In the Bering Sea, a USAAF Eleventh Air Force weather reconnaissance aircraft reports a submarine about 376 nautical miles (696 kilometers) north of Adak Island, Aleutian Islands, in position 52.08N, 177.21 W; a USN aircraft later makes contact and drops a depth charge but the result is unknown.
USN destroyers USS Mahan (DD-364) and Lamson (DD-367), detached from Task Force 16 to "shoot up the Japanese picket boat line" west of the Gilbert Islands, sink a Japanese gunboat about 320 nautical miles (593 kilometers) south-southeast of Tarawa Atoll, Gilber Islands, in position 03.30S, 175.15E.
CANADA: Corvette HMCS Lethbridge completed refit Liverpool, Nova Scotia and departed for workups Pictou, Nova Scotia.
NEWFOUNDLAND: Corvettes HMCS Kitchener, Calgary and Camrose departed St John's for UK with Convoy SC-106. SC-106 arrived safely in Liverpool on 5 Nov 42. and
U.S.A.: The Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, by amendment to a USN design study contract, is authorized to construct two 19A axial flow turbojet powerplants. Thereby, fabrication is initiated of the first jet engine of wholly American design.
The motion picture "Now, Voyager" opens at the Hollywood Theater in New York City. Directed by Irving Rapper, this romantic drama based on an Olive Higgins Prouty novel stars Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Gladys Cooper, Bonita Granville and John Loder. The plot has a depressed middle-aged unmarried woman (Davis) who is transformed from a frump to an elegant, independent lady. The film is nominated for three Academy Awards including Best Actress in a Leading Role (Davis) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Cooper); it wins the Best Music Award. This film is ranked Number 23 on the American Film Institute's list of "The 100 Greatest American Love Stories."
Minesweeper USS Jubilant laid down.
Destroyer USS Tingey laid down.
Destroyer escort USS Gilmore launched.
Destroyer USS Trathen launched. and
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-412 (Type VIIC) is sunk 22 Oct, 1942 northeast of the Faroes, in position 63.55N, 00.24E, by depth charges from a British Wellington aircraft (Sqdn. 179/B). 48 dead (all crew lost). (Alex Gordon)
U-443 sank SS Donax and SS Winnipeg II in Convoy ON-139.
In the North Atlantic, U-662 transferred an ill crewmember to U-382, which reached base some days later. and