January 13th, 1943 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Sloop HMS Whimbrel is commissioned.
FRANCE: The USAAF Eighth Air Force's VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 29: The primary targets are the steel and locomotive works and marshaling yard at Lille. Seventy two B-17 Flying Fortresses are dispatched; 64 drop 125 tons (113 metric tonnes) of bombs on the targets between 1427 and 1430 hours local; locomotive construction and repair work is seriously impaired. Three B-17 Flying Fortresses are lost. Sixteen B-24 Liberators fly a diversionary raid. Escort for the raid plus two raids by RAF Bostons against St Omer is provided by 69 USAAF Spitfire Mk Vs. They claim 3-4-5 Luftwaffe aircraft; one Spitfire is lost.
During the day, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 36 RAF and RAAF aircraft, 18 Venturas, 12 Bostons and six Mosquitos, to attack airfields and marshalling yards. The targets are (numbers in parenthesis indicate number of aircraft bombing and number lost, e.g., 97-1):
- Airfields: Drucat at Abbeville (18-0) and Ft. Rouge at St. Omer (8-0).
- Marshalling yards: Aulnoye, Laon and Tergnier (2-0)
GERMANY: Berlin: Adolf Hitler today issued a decree which entitles the authorities to order German men and women to undertake war tasks deemed necessary for the defence of the Reich. This first step towards "total mobilization" is intended to release all able-bodied men for military duty or other work at the front.
The decree says it is "necessary to locate all men and women whose efforts towards this goal are not yet or not yet fully utilised and to harness their full energies". Large scale and extended "training and re-orientation" will be introduced. Older men and married women are among the prime targets of this new labour mobilization, which is likely to begin later this month.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 66 Lancasters and three Mosquitos to bomb Essen; 53 aircraft bomb the target with the loss of four Lancasters. This is another poor raid for Oboe aircraft, two aircraft have to return without marking and the skymarkers of the third aircraft fail to ignite above the cloud. German aircraft also appear to have dropped decoy flares to distract the Lancasters. Despite all this, Essen reports a sharp raid with 63 people killed, including 11 French POWs and six other foreigners. This raid concluded the Oboe trials.
U-421 and U-536 are commissioned.
BULGARIA: Sofia: Thirty-six people are executed and 200 arrested in anti-Nazi protests.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: U-224 (Type VIIC) (OLtzS Hans-Carl Kosbadt CO) is sunk in the western Mediterranean west of Algiers, in position 36.28N, 00.49E, by ramming and depth charges from the Canadian corvette HMCS Ville de Quebec. 45 dead, one survivor. Ville de Quebec was escorting Gibraltar to North Africa convoy TE-13 when she detected U-224. She attacked with depth charges, which blew the submarine to the surface. Ville de Quebec then rammed the submarine just as the Weapons Officer, LtzS Dankworth, emerged from the conning tower hatch to survey the damage. He was thrown clear of the boat and became the only survivor. He was rescued 30 minutes later by HMCS Port Arthur. (Alec Gordon)
USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-25 Mitchells, with P-38 Lightning escort, bomb a partially sunken freighter between Tunisia and Sicily.
TUNISIA: Five Luftwaffe Ju 88s drop 40 bombs on Thelepte Airfield.
NEW GUINEA: U.S. Lieutenant General Robert Eichelberger, Commanding General U.S. I Corps, assumes duties as Commander, Advance New Guinea Force, and takes control of all Australian and U.S. troops. Australian Lieutenant General Sir Edmund Herring, General Officer Commanding Australian I Corps, now commands New Guinea Force.
In Papua New Guinea, the Australian 2/7th Independent Company, Kanga Force, observes 126 new Japanese troops approaching Mubo from Komiatum. Australian fire kills many of them.
In Papua New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs bomb and strafe the Sanananda Point area and forces along the Sanananda track. In Northeast New Guinea, heavy and medium bombers hit dock facilities at Lae and airfields at Lae and Salamaua.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Guadalcanal, the XIV Corps offensive broadens as the 2d Marine Division begins a coastal attack from the line Point Cruz-Hill 66, to the right of the 25th Infantry Division. The 8th Marine Regiment, on the right, attempts to advance westward from Hills 80 and 81 but is halted by Japanese fire. The 2d Marine Regiment advances 800 yards (732 meters) west from Hill 66. The attack of yesterday by the 2d Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, is renewed, but held off by the Japanese on Guadalcanal. The Horse's Neck, Sims Ridge, is the holdup. Captain Davis, Battalion Executive Officer, leads four men, to within 10 yards (9,1 meters) of the Japanese position. When his rifle jams he waves the others on in full view of both Japanese and U.S. troops. This action is cited by Major General J. Lawton Collins, Commanding General 25th Infantry Division, as leading to the final capture of the Galloping Horse feature by noon.. The Americans now hold a 4,500-yard (4 115 meter) front extending south from Point Cruz over Hill 66 to Hills 57 and 55. Company C, 35th Infantry Regiment, is again halted by Japanese fire from the southwest as it endeavors to push west. The 2d Battalion makes negligible progress against pillboxes of the Gifu strongpoint. (John Nicholas and Jack McKillop)
USAAF Thirteenth Air Force P-39 Airacobras strafe forces on the beach at Kokumbona and hit Visale (both on Guadalcanal) in support of the ground offensive. Also, B-26 Marauders with P-38 Lightning and P-39 escorts attack the Rekata Bay, Santa Isabel Island, area.
NEW CALEDONIA AND NEW HEBRIDES ISLANDS: The USAAF Thirteenth Air Force and its subordinate XIII Bomber Command and XIII Fighter Command are activated to assume administrative control over all USAAF units in the South Pacific. HQ Thirteenth Air Force (Major General Nathan F. Twinning) and HQ XIII Fighter Command (Brigadier General Dean C. Strother) are established at Noumea, New Caledonia Island; HQ XIII Bomber Command (Colonel Harlan T. McCormick) is established on Espirtu Santo Island, New Hebrides. Operational control of the Thirteenth's subordinate units is exercised by the USMC officer commanding USMC air units on Guadalcanal.
PACIFIC: Submarine U.S.S. Triton (SS-201), on her fifth patrol, in the Bismarck Archipelago area, spots a large tanker while on the surface.
In the morning twilight, Triton fires eight torpedoes. One hits and lightly damages XAO Akebono Maru (10,182T) north of the St. Matthias Island group in position 00°45'S, 148°56'E.
Submarine U.S.S. Whale (SS-239), carrying out a submerged daylight patrol in the Marshalls on her second patrol, sinks XAC Iwashiro Maru (3359T) with three of four fish fired. The Japanese naval collier sinks about 40 miles north of Kwajalein in position 09°54'N, 167°07'E. (Chris Sauder)
U.S.A.: The number 1 song in the U.S.A. on this date, according to Billboard magazine, "There Are Such Things" by Tommy Dorsey.
Destroyer escort USS Frost laid down.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The surfaced German type IXC submarine U-507 is sunk about 150 nautical miles (277 kilometers) north-northwest of Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil, in position 01.38S, 39.52W, by depth charges from a USN PBY-5A Catalina, aircraft of Patrol Squadron Eighty Three (VP-83/P-10) based at NAF Natal, Brazil; all 54 crewmen are lost. U-507 (along with U-156 and U-506 and Italian submarine Cappellini) took part in the rescue operations after the sinking of SS Laconia on 12 September 1942 off Africa. About 1,500 men were saved by these boats and French ships from Dakar (which arrived on 16 September, four days after the sinking). (Alex Gordon and Jack McKillop)
During a meeting of the milk cow U-117 and U-455, the doctor from U-117 transferred to U-455 and remained onboard.