November 14th, 1942 (SATURDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Evening Standard
After shooting down a German into the sea off Malta, a Canadian Spitfire pilot made a gallant bid to save the life of his victim. Although if another enemy pilot had taken him by surprise he might have needed it himself, the Canadian dropped his dinghy into the water beside the German.
The pilot was Flt. Lieut. Henry William McLeod. "When he hit the water I circled over him and he waved to me, apparently quite cheerfully," said McLeod, "so I dropped my dinghy for him to show that I had no hard feelings."
HMC ML 102 commissioned.
Minesweeper HMS Lightfoot launched.
FRANCE: The USAAF Eighth Air Force's VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 19: 34 bombers are dispatched to hit U-boats pens at La Pallice but the target is covered by 10/10 clouds and 15 of 21 B-17 Flying Fortresses and nine of 13 B-24 Liberators hit the secondary, the port area at St Nazaire; one B-24 is damaged. Six B-24 Liberators fly a diversion for this mission.
GERMANY:
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: U-77 rescued two badly injured crewmembers of a German aircraft.
U-605 sunk in the Mediterranean near Algiers, in position 36.20N, 01.01W, by depth charges from a British Hudson aircraft (Sqn 233/B). 46 dead (all hands lost).
At 1947 hours submarine HMS Sahib sank the Italian transport Scillin (built 1903, 1579 BRT). The Scillin was transporting Allied POWs, many of whom drowned. (Date correction by Brian Sims)
At 1947 hours, the Italian cargo/passenger ship SS Scillin is torpedoed and sunk by the British submarine HMS/M Sahib (P 212) in the Tyrrhenian Sea 10 nautical miles (18,5 kilometers) north of Cape Milazzo, in northern Sicily. The ship is carrying about 815 Commonwealth POWs from Tunisia to Sicily. Sahib rescues 27 POWs from the water (26 British and one South African) plus the Scillin's captain and 45 Italian crew members. Only then, when the sub captain hears the survivors speaking English, does he realize that he has sunk a ship carrying Allied POWs and some Italian soldiers and has drowned 783 men. At a subsequent inquiry into this "friendly fire" tragedy, the captain is cleared of any wrongdoing as the ship was unmarked and at the time he firmly believed that it was carrying Italian troops. The Ministry of Defence keeps this incident a closely guarded secret for 54-years, telling relatives a pack of lies, maintaining that they had died while POWs in Italian camps or simply "lost at sea." It is not until 1996, after repeated requests for information from the families of the drowned men, that the truth came out.
TUNISIA: French Lieutenant General Georges-Edmond Barré, Commander-in-Chief Tunisia, prepares to go over to the Allies, by moving his troops away from the coastal towns in Tunisia.
ALGERIA: USAAF Twelfth Air Force Spitfires fly routine patrols in the Oran-Tafaraoui area and escort C-53 Skytroopers carrying paratroops from Gibraltar to Algiers.
LIBYA: Six USAAF Ninth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses are dispatched to attack the harbor at Bengasi but only one locates the target and drops its bombs.
TUNISIA: French Lieutenant General Georges-Edmond Barré, Commander-in-Chief Tunisia, prepares to go over to the Allies, by moving his troops away from the coastal towns in Tunisia.
NEW GUINEA: The New Guinea Force, which commands all Australian and U.S. forces in Papua and Northeast New Guinea, issues an attack plan for the reduction of the Buna-Gona beachhead in Papua New Guinea. Advance elements of 126th Infantry Regiment, U.S. 32d Infantry Division, are consolidating positions at Natunga. Task Force Warren (128th Infantry Regiment of 32d Infantry Division and Australian 2/6th Independent Company) is consolidating and patrolling in the Oro Bay-Embogu-Embi area. On the Kokoda Trail, the Australian 25th Brigade starts crossing the improvised bridge at Wairopi, and the USAAF Fifth Air Force drops bridging equipment. In the air, a Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchell bombs and strafes the track north of Soputa.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: Rear Admiral NISHIMURA Shoji with heavy cruisers HIJMS Maya and Suzuya, light cruiser HIJMS Tenryu and destroyers HIJMS Yugumo, Makikumo and Kazegumo as the Support Force to Vice Admiral MIKAWA Gunichi's main body of heavy cruisers HIJMS Chokai and Kinugasa, light cruiser HIJMS Isuzu and two destroyers bombard Henderson Field with almost 1,000 eight-inch (20,3 centimeter) shells at 0130 hours.
In the morning, Japanese heavy cruisers HIJMS Chokai, Kinugasa, Maya and Suzuya, light cruiser HIJMS Isuzu and Tenryu and six destroyers come under attack by planes from carrier Enterprise (CV-6) and from Henderson Field, Guadalcanal. HIJMS Kinugasa is sunk by USMC SBD Dauntlesses of Marine Scout Bombing Squadron One Hundred Thirty Two (VMSB 132), 15 nautical miles northwest of Rendova Island; HIJMS Maya, crashed by a crippled Bombing Squadron Ten (VB-10) SBD and Isuzu are damaged south of New Georgia Island; Chokai, Tenryu, and destroyer Ayanami are also damaged.
Aircraft from the USN aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) are joined by land-based USMC and USAAF aircraft in driving off the force that bombarded Henderson last night. In view of the pressing need for aircraft in the South Pacific Area, Admiral Chester W Nimitz, Commander Pacific Ocean Areas and Commander Pacific Fleet, is given more freedom to deploy his air weapons; he receives authority to distribute as he sees fit all available air units assigned to the South and Central Pacific provided he move units rather than individual aircraft and crews. Two USAAF Fifth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses attack transport in the Solomon Islands.
In the afternoon, USMC and USN land-based SBD Dauntlesses and TBF Avengers bomb a Japanese convoy off Guadalcanal, sinking two transports/cargo ships and five merchant transport/cargo ships. A cargo ship is damaged. U.S. losses are five SBDs, two F4F Wildcats vs. 13 Japanese "Zeke" fighters (Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters). One of the Wildcats lost was piloted by Lieutenant Colonel Harold W. Bauer, USMC. He had downed a "Zeke" bringing his total to ten and bails out of his aircraft but is never seen again. Col. Bauer will be awarded, posthumously, the MOH for his actions in the air from Henderson Field since his arrival October 14, 1942.Admiral TANAKA's convoy, with four remaining transports, continues to Tassafaronga after nightfall to unload about 4,000 troops and a few tons of supplies.
During the night of 14/15 November, the Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal is fought between the Japanese and U.S. Navies. The Japanese forces, under Vice Admiral KONDO Nobutakare, are the battleship HIJMS Kirishima, heavy cruisers HIJMS Atago and Takao, light cruisers HIJMS Sendai and Nagara and the destroyers HIJMS Asagumo, Ayanami, Kagero, Oyashio, Shikinami, Uranami. The USNā€™s Task Force LOVE consists of the battleships USS Washington (BB-56) and South Dakota (BB-57) and the destroyers USS Benham (DD-397), Gwin (DD-433), Preston (DD-379) , and Walke (DD-416) under the command of Rear Admiral Willis "Ching" Lee, Commander Battleship Division 6. Lee arrives first about 2200 hours and radios Henderson Field for last minute intelligence. There are no preplanned radio codes, so Lee is forced to radio "Cactus, this is Lee. Tell your boss 'Ching' Lee is here and wants the latest information." At 2317 hours, motor torpedo boat (PTs) from Tulagi Island are spotted moving in . Lee radios "Refer your big boss about Ching Lee; Chinese, catchee? Call off your boys!" Henderson Field has no new information for him. Meanwhile Admiral KONDO, north of Savo Island, splits his force with one cruiser and three destroyers heading east of Savo and the bombardment force west. At 0001 hours, Washington makes radar contact with enemy east of Savo and at 0016 hours, Washington opens fire at 18,500 yards (16,9 kilometers) using radar ranges and optical train. About a minute later, South Dakota opens fire on the nearest ship of the main group at a range of 15,700 yards (14,4 kilometers), using radar control.. Their targets are the ships east of Savo. At 0019 hours, after the Washington's seventh or eighth salvo, her flaming target disappears and is presumed to have sunk. Several reports reach Admiral KONDO identifying the US ships as battleships, Kondo does not believe them. By 2358 hours lookouts on the flagship heavy cruiser HIJMS Atago re-identify USS South Dak ota as a cruiser. At 2359 hours, the Japanese recognize their error but Admiral KONDO still hesitates but Japanese "Long Lance" torpedoes are launched. At midnight, heavy cruisers HIJMS Atago's searchlights open on battleship USS South Dakota and Admiral KONDO is convinced about her size. This time the Japanese torpedoes miss, but South Dakota has an electric fault that takes her guns out of an early part of the battle and she is hit with 27 shells. The damage topside knocks out all radios, most radar and control crew. USS Washington now takes battleship HIJMS Kirishima under fire while South Dakota pulls out of the fight to concentrate on damage control. The Japanese lose Kirishima and a destroyer, the US loses 3 destroyers with damage to South Dakota and destroyer Gwin.
Admiral Tanaka's convoy, with 4 remaining transports, is ordered to beach themselves on Guadalcanal.
SADO MARU, Japanese Navy Transport (7180 GRT) is sunk in convoy at 08° 30'S, 158° 45'E - in New Georgia Sound. (89)(Peter Beeston)
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: On USAAF Eleventh Air Force B-24 Liberator flies armed reconnaissance over Japanese-held Kiska and Attu Islands and bombs Holtz Bay and Chichagof on Attu with negative results. Bombers at Adak and Umnak Islands are alerted for shipping targets.
U.S.A.: At the Colorado River Relocation Camp for Japanese-Americans near Poston, Arizona, two popular inmates are arrested accused of attacking a man widely perceived as an informer. This incident soon mushrooms into a mass strike.
Destroyer escort USS Cannon laid down.
Destroyer USS Bache commissioned.
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-413 sank SS Warwick Castle in Convoy MKF-1X.
The 20,107 ton British troop transport SS Warwick Castle in convoy MKF-1X (Mediterranean to U.K.) had landed troops for the North Africa landings and is empty on her return voyage. The ship is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-413 about 203 nautical miles (376 kilometers) west of Lisbon, Portugal, in position 39.12N, 13.25W. Of the 428 men aboard, 314 survive. This is one of the largest ships sunk by U-boats in World War II.
U-73 damaged SS Lalanded in Operation Torch.