September 7th, 1943 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
USAAF OPERATIONS IN THE EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force):
* VIII Air Support Command flies Mission 52: In France, marshalling yards at Lille and St Pol are targeted but confusion at the rendezvous point causes one group and half of another to abort the mission; St Pol is hit by 81 B-26B Marauders at 0854-0858 hours; they claim 0-0-1 Luftwaffe aircraft
* VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 92 in 3 forces:
(1) 105 B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb Evere Airfield at Brussels, Belgium, at
0849-0852 hours;
(2) 3 B-24s bomb Alkmaar Airfield at Bergen, the Netherlands, at 0857 hours and
19 hit a convoy off Texel Island; and
(3) 147 B-17s are dispatched to attack V-weapon site at Watton, France, but
weather is a problem and 3 groups abort the mission but 58 hit the target at
0820-0854. Strikes 1 and 2 are escorted by 178 P-47 Thunderbolt that claim 3-0-2
Luftwaffe aircraft; a P-47 is lost.
Escort carrier HMS Nabob commissioned.
Frigate HMS Essington commissioned.
NETHERLANDS: During the night of 7/8 September, four RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos bombed Havelte Airfield at Steenwijk.
FRANCE: The number of people certified mad in 1938 has dwindled to 18,000. Alcohol restrictions were credited for some of the fall.Corsica: Civilians stage an armed uprising against Italian troops on the island, and occupy Ajaccio.
GERMANY: During the night of 7/8 September, 38 of the 41 RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos dispatched to Karlsruhe bomb the city while five of the six dispatched to Emden bomb the target. .
U-871 launched.
U-803 commissioned.
U.S.S.R: The German 17. Armee begins the evacuation of the Kuban bridgehead across the Strait of Kerch to the Crimea. The Soviet Army captures Baturin, east of Konotop, and Zvenkov in the Kharkov sector. The Germans begin evacuations at Stalino.
ITALY: The British 8th Army liberates Bova
Marina and
tries to trap the German rearguard in the toe of the Italian boot. Commandos and
infantry land at Pizzo on Calabria's northern coast, but the Germans sidestep
them. Montgomery's army has advanced 60 miles (97 kilometres) in five days.
U.S. Brigadier General Maxwell D. Taylor begins a spy
mission to see whether a surprise parachute drop by the 82d Airborne Division
can capture Rome. Posing as a downed Allied airman, Taylor -- the 82d's
artillery commander -- goes to Rome and finds it's crawling with Germans. After
meeting with Italian Prime Minister Field Marshal Pietro Badoglio, Taylor
realizes the 82d would be cut to pieces. He sends a secret signal to cancel the
drop. Taylor then escapes.
In the air, USAAF XII Bomber Command B-17s bomb 2
satellite airfields at Foggia while B-25s and B-26s hit road and rail bridges at
Saptri and Trebisacce and roads at Lauria. A-20s of the Northwest African
Tactical Bomber Force support British landing on 7/8 September near Pizzo in an
unsuccessful attempt to cut off enemy retreat up west coast of the Italian toe.
Medium and light bombers, in an afternoon raids, bomb Crotone airfield and
roadblock and gun batteries north of Catanzaro.
During the night of 7/8 September, 48 RAF Liberators of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group bomb Viterbo Airfield.
Sardinia: USAAF
P-40s hit the landing ground at Pabillonis and barges off Portoscuso.
NEW GUINEA: The airstrip at Nadzab is made serviceable for use by Allied aircraft.
USAAF OPERATIONS IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (Fifth Air Force): In New Guinea, B-24s and B-26s bomb the Lae area and B-25s bomb and strafe nearby targets on the road to Markham; P-38 Lightnings successfully turn back enemy bombing attack on Morobe; and C-47 Skytrains begin flying the Australian 7 Division to Nadzab. A-20s hit Gasmata Island area off New Britain Island.
A B-24 crashes on take-off at Port Moresby, New Guinea, hitting five trucks carrying men of the Australian 2/33rd Battalion;15 are killed instantly, 44 die of their injuries and 92 are injured but survive. (Crash Report)
USAAF OPERATIONS IN THE CHINA-BURMA-INDIA THEATER OF OPERATIONS
* Tenth Air Force: In Burma, B-25 Mitchells attack Gokteik Viaduct causing minor damage.
USAAF OPERATIONS IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (Thirteenth Air Force): In the Solomon Islands, 2 B-25s bomb a barge depot and supply area east of Ringa Cove on New Georgia Island.
ELLICE ISLANDS: Engineers finish work on the 5,000 foot (1 524 meter) runway on Nonomea Island. Later ten IJN "Betty" bombers (, Navy Type 1 Attack Bombers) from Tarawa Atoll drop 20 bombs on the new runway.
TERRITORY OF HAWAII: Pearl Harbor: The ICPOA becomes a joint organisation, JICPOA, when the head of the US Army's 64th Topographic Company, Colonel Joseph J. Twitty, takes command and brings his topographic company with him. Twitty speaks Japanese and is the liaison between the US Army and ICPOA. (Mike Yared)(184 and 187)
CANADA: Fifth Victory Loan campaign is launched Ottawa, Ontario. The goal is to raise CDN$1.2 billion.
Frigate HMCS Springhill launched Esquimalt, British Columbia.
Minesweeper HMS Courier (ex-HMCS Arnprior) laid down Toronto, Ontario.
U.S.A.: HQ US Army Air Forces decides to transfer Lieutenant General Lewis H Brereton, Commanding General Ninth Air Force, and his HQ staff from Africa to the United Kingdom and to reform the Ninth Air Force as a tactical air force in the European Theater of Operations by absorbing the VIII Air Support Command.
A fire in the decrepit, old Gulf Hotel in Houston, Texas, kills 54 people.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) discusses the possibility of mounting an invasion of Paramushiro Island in the Kurile Islands from the Aleutian Islands.
The U.S. recognizes Czechoslovak fighting forces and those of Slovakia as a combat force.
Destroyer escort USS Earl V Johnson laid down. Submarine USS Darter commissioned.
The escort aircraft carrier Edisto (CVE-41) is transferred to Britain under Lend Lease and renamed HMS Nabob (D 77). Although manned by Canadians, the ship, the 24th CVE transferred to Britain, is not commissioned in the RCN. She is severely damaged when torpedoed on 22 August 1944 and not repaired.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-596 sank SS Hamideh.
U-402 shot down RAF Wellington aircraft, Squadron 172/D. Another two Wellingtons were also involved in the attack, one of them had to crash land.
U-669 sunk in the Bay of Biscay northwest of Cape Ortegal, Spain, in position 43.36N, 10.13W, by depth charges from a Canadian aircraft (RCAF-Sqn. 407).