September 6th, 1943 (MONDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Squadron Leader Johnny Checketts, 485(NZ) Sqn., RAF (Biggin Hill) flying a Spitfire IX, is shot down during a dogfight over France involving some 20 Focke-Wulf 190s.
With no ammunition left, Checketts had no chance and his Spitfire was soon belching flames through the cockpit. Badly burned, he parachuted to safety and was looked after and hidden by the French for several weeks until he and 12 other escaping servicemen were crammed into a small fishing boat and smuggled across the channel back to England. He had burns to his face, legs and arms and was wounded in both legs, knees and arms. (AAP)
USAAF OPERATIONS IN THE EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force)
* VIII Air Support Command flies Missions 50 and 51 without
loss.
(1) 144 B-26B Marauders are dispatched to the marshalling yards at Ghent,
Belgium and Rouen, France; the Ghent mission is recalled when bad weather
prevents the fighter escort from taking off; 66 B-26s hit Rouen at 0738 and 0739
hours and
(2) 126 B-26s bomb the marshalling yards at Amiens and Serqueux, France at 1755
to 1757 hours.
* VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 91: Aircraft and bearing
factories in and around Stuttgart, Germany are targeted but extensive clouds
prevent all but a few B-17s from attacking the primary targets; 45 B-17s and a
P-47 Thunderbolt are lost. Formations become separated and disorganized and
attack targets of opportunity in a wide area.
(1) 151 B-17s attack various targets of opportunity at 0951-1017 hours; they
claim 32-6-21 Luftwaffe aircraft; 27 B-17s are lost;
(2) 111 B-17s hit Stuttgart and various targets of opportunity at 0940-1229
hours; they claim 66-14-29 Luftwaffe aircraft; 18 B-17s are lost; and
(3) 60 B-24s fly a diversion. 176 P-47s fly escort for the B-17s and claim 1-0-0
Luftwaffe aircraft; a P-47 is lost.
Frigates HMS Caicos and Cayman launched.
Destroyer KNM Stord (ex HMS Success) commissioned.
FRANCE: Jean David, secretary of the Evian branch of the PPF, is killed by the resistance.GERMANY: Stuttgart: 157 B-17 bombers raid the city, while 181 are despatched to other targets; 45 are lost.
During the night of 6/7 September, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 404 aircraft, 257 Lancasters and 147 Halifaxes, to bomb Munich; 365 bomb the target. The Pathfinders found that Munich is mostly covered by cloud and neither their ground-markers nor their skymarkers are very effective. Most of the Main Force crews could do no more than bomb on a timed run from the Ammersee, a lake situated 21 miles (34 kilometers) southwest of the target. The bombing is mostly scattered over the southern and western parts of the city. Sixteen aircraft, 13 Halifaxes and three Lancasters are lost, 4.0 per cent of the force.
NORWAY: Operation Sizilien. Scharnhorst together with the battleship Tirpitz, and the destroyers Z-27, Z-29, Z-30, Z-31, Z-33, Erich Steinbrinck, Karl Galster, Hans Lody and Theodor Riedel, leaves Altenfiord under the command of Admiral Kummetz, to attack the allied installations in the island of Spitzbergen. (Navy News)
U.S.S.R.: Soviet forces continue their drive through the Donets Basin in the Ukraine capturing the steel centers at Makeyevka and Kromatorsk, and chemical works at Slavyansk. In central Russia, the Soviets take the rail hub at Konotop and push toward Kiev and the Dnieper. The capture of these cities results in the separation of the German Heeresgruppe Mitte (von Kluge) and Heeresgruppe Sued (von Manstein).
ITALY: The British 8th Army continues moving through southern Italy, taking Gioia Tauro on Calabria's northern coast. German demolitions cause more resistance than actual German troops.
Field Marshal Albrecht Kesselring, Commander in Chief South, orders his 16th Panzer Division to occupy hills surrounding Salerno, the site of the Allies' upcoming invasion.
The Strait of Messina is now open to Allied shipping.
In the air, the USAAF's Twelfth Air Force dispatches B-17s to hit Capodichino Airfield, Villa Literno marshalling yard, Gaeta harbor, and Minturno railroad facilities; weather prevents a B-17 attack on Pomigliano airfield. B-25 Mitchells and B-26s hit Capua airfield and landing grounds at Grazzanise. US and RAF planes operate on a reduced scale, flying patrols and hitting railroads and targets of opportunity on the Italian toe.
In the air during the night of 6/7 September, 48 RAF Liberators of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group visually bomb the marshalling yard at Battapaglia with the loss of one aircraft.
Sardinia: In the air, USAAF's Twelfth Air Force P-40s hit the landing ground at Pabillonis.
During the night of 6/7 September, two RAF Liberators of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group visually drop leaflets over the island.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: HMS Puckeridge was escorting convoy NSM-1 from Gibraltar to Oran and was attacked by U-617 with a spread of 4 torpedoes of which 2 hit the ship, causing her to sink about 40 miles east of Gibraltar. 129 men were rescued.
CHINA: Stilwell asks Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists to join the Communists in order to fight the Japanese more effectively.
Six fighter-bombers of the USAAF Fourteenth Air Force attack wharves, vessels, and destroy a small factory building in the Yoyang-Shihhweiyao area; five others hit trucks, trains, gun emplacements, and railway facilities in areas around Sintsiang and Puchi.
EAST INDIES: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb targets on Timor Island in the Sunda Islands.
NEW GUINEA: Two brigades of the Australian 9th Division meet strong Japanese resistance in their advance on Lae. The 24th Brigade lands to support them.
Five aircraft were used to drop 4 officers and 30 men of 2/4 Fd Reg.
They landed one hour after the main drop by 503 Para (drop height was 600 ft). First 2 aircraft had the gunners while the other three had the dissembled guns (and some ammunition ?). The gunners were dropped on the first pass while their equipment was pushed out the doors of the other aircraft on a second pass.
The pilots had overflown the drop zone and in any case misjudged the wind speed with some troops and equipment landing in trees (the only casualty amongst the 2/4 was VX50125 Gnr WJ Ligerwood who damaged a shoulder). At 1515 hrs (local) - about 2 hours later - 3 B-17s dropped 192 rounds to the gunners.
No information is available as to when the remainder of 54 Bty 2/4 Fd Reg arrived but they did at some time after 2/25 Bn (the first of the air landed troops) and amongst the remainder of 25 Bde.
They took with them 8 x guns (all "baby" 25 pdr) (in total), 5 "Trucks, 5 cwt 4 x 4 Ford" (or Jeeps) and trailers as initial equipment. (Daniel Ross)
As soon as the Japanese at Lae became aware of the 9th Division AIF landing on 4 Sep, they had dispatched a reinforced company force as a "forlorn hope" to delay it. The balance of the Japanese forces east of Lae tried to form a stable defensive line on the Busu River. The Japanese "forlorn hope" did very well: In a vicious slugging fight in the Singaua Plantation they imposed 8 hours delay on the Australians - about as much as a company could hope to achieve against the advance guard of a division. By the time they returned to the Busu River the Japanese had lost about two thirds of their strength.
Also on this day, Lieutenant-General Nakano Hidemitsu recognised the trap that had been sprung: He ordered 51st Japanese Division to abandon Salamaua and fall back on Lae, to defend it against 9th Division AIF to the east and 7th Division AIF to the west. (Michael Mitchell)
In Northeast New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators attack Malahang Airfield, located 2 miles (3,2 kilometers) east of Lae and the surrounding area, and B-25 Mitchells and B-26 Marauders bomb and strafe enemy defenses in Malahang and vicinity, as Allied ground forces push toward Lae; C-47 Skytrains transport he 871st Airborne Engineer Battalion to Nadzab to improve the airstrip and fly Australian reinforcements into Nadzab during the afternoon. U.S. fighters claim eight Japanese aircraft downed over Lae.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells fly a sweep against barges along the coast of New Britain Island.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: A battalion of the 172d Infantry Regiment secures Grant Island and the western half of Bomboe Peninsula on Arundel Island. The Japanese counterattack on Arundel.
USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells and P-39 Airacobras hit enemy positions at Kakasa on Choiseul Island; B-24 Liberators bomb gun positions at Vila on Kolombangara Island; and P-39s join U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) and USN aircraft in a strike on suspected radar site on Morgusaia Island. During the day, seven Imperial Japanese Navy “Zeke” fighters (Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters) are shot down by USMC F4U Corsair and TBF Avenger crews, a USN F6F Hellcat and a USAAF P-39 pilot.
PACIFIC OCEAN: USN submarine USS Halibut (SS-232) sinks a Japanese merchant cargo ship off the west coast of Honshu, Japan and later hits heavy cruiser HIJMS Nachi with one dud torpedo. In the southwest Pacific, RAAF Beauforts sink a small Japanese cargo vessel 21 nautical miles (24 miles or 39 kilometres) east of Garove Island, in the Bismarck Archipelago.
CANADA:
U.S.A.: Cambridge, Massachussetts: Winston Churchill, in a speech at Harvard University here today, looked forward to future common citizenship between Britain and the United States. He spoke of a future when British and American people would have "hardly a sense of being foreigners". Mr. Churchill has long regarded Anglo-American accord as the linchpin of his policy, but he has never before speculated about so close a relationship. He also, warned that the war was now entering "perhaps its most severe and costly phase."
The Pennsylvania Railroad's "Congressional Limited" train between New York and Washington derails near Frankfort, Pennsylvania, killing 79.
In baseball, pitcher Carl Scheib of the Philadelphia Athletics becomes the youngest player to appear in an American League game when he appears today; he is 16 years, eight months and five days old. He appears in six games this year and finishes the season with an 0-1 record. Except for 1946, he pitches for the Athletics until 1954 when he is traded to the St. Louis Cardinals. His lifetime pitching record is 45-65 and an 4.88 ERA.
Destroyer escorts USS Kephart and Cofer launched.
Minesweeper USS Implicit launched.
Submarine HMS P-512 paid off and returned to USN at Philadelphia.
Corvette HMCS Fennel completed forecastle extension refit Baltimore, Maryland.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The Canadian-built, British-registered cargo ship Fort Drew (7,130 GRT) was damaged by a mine in position 35.52N, 014.47E. There is no record of loss of life in this incident. Fort Drew was a North Sands-class freighter built by North Van Ship Repairs, Ltd., at North Vancouver, British Columbia. She was completed in Dec 42. Fort Drew was one of 90 North Sands-class freighters built in Canada for American order under the Hyde Park Declaration and subsequently provided to Great Britain under the Lend-Lease Agreement. Maclay, McIntyre Ltd., of Glasgow, Scotland, managed the ship for the British government. Twenty-four of these ships were sunk and another twelve were damaged (one ship was damaged a second time). Four of the ships damaged were beyond economical repair and were declared Constructive Total Losses. Two of the other ships damaged were subsequently lost.