September 13th, 1943 (MONDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The US Eighth Air Force activates the 1st, 2d, and 3d Bombardment Divisions at Brampton Grange, Horsham St Faith and Camp Blainey respectively. They are formed from complements of VIII Bomber Command's 4 bombardment wings which are redesignated Combat Bombardment Wing (Heavy) effective this date; each bombardment division is organized into combat bombardment wings. Commanding Officers of the Bombardment Divisions are Major General Robert B Williams (1st), Brigadier General James P Hodges (2d), and Major General Curtis E LeMay (3d).
HMCS Loch Achanalt (ex-HMS Loch Achanalt, ex-HMS Naver) laid down Leith, Scotland.
Frigate HMS Garlies commissioned.
Destroyer HMS Teazer commissioned.
GERMANY: During the night of 13/14 September, ten RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos are dispatched to bomb Cologne and Duisburg. Two bomb Cologne, and individual aircraft bomb Duisburg , Dusseldorf and Munchen-Gladbach .
U-889
laid down
U-295 and
U-1101 launched.
HUNGARY: Seventy three USAAF Eighth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses, escorted by 63 P-51 Mustangs, continuing the UK-USSR-Italy-UK shuttle-bombing mission, take off from bases in the U.S.S.R., bomb steel and armament works at Diosgyor and proceed to USAAF Fifteenth Air Force bases in Italy.
U.S.S.R.: Stary Kermenchik, in the Donets basin, is liberated by Russian units.
ITALY: At Salerno the Germans rapidly reinforced the battle area, and the Allied situation continues to deteriorate.
German General Heinrich von Vietinghoff launches a major counter-attack against the Allied beachhead, albeit with divisions which were not yet fully reconstituted after the fighting in Sicily.
The Hermann Göring and 15th Panzer Grenadier Divisions attack the British 10 Corps, while elements of the 26th and 29th Panzer Grenadier and the 16th Panzer Divisions drove against the U.S. VI Corps and the lightly defended area along the Sele River. The Germans penetrate the American lines during the afternoon, overrunning a battalion of the 36th Infantry Division and threatening the rear of the Allied position.
For a time, the situation is so precarious that Lieutenant General Mark Clark, Commanding General U.S. Fifth Army, directs his staff to begin planning to evacuate one of the two beachheads and land its forces on the other. American resistance stiffens along the Calore River as artillery, tank, and tank destroyer units hold their ground, pouring shot after shot directly into the attacking Germans. By nightfall the German attacks falter, and the Allies began to regroup.
General Clark has recognized that his position is precarious. Seaborne reinforcements from Sicily could not arrive in time, and British Eighth Army advances were being slowed by heavily damaged roads and logistic problems. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Commander in Chief Allied Expeditionary Force Mediterranean, had earlier made the 82d Airborne Division available to Fifth Army, and Clark requested its use. The airborne unit represented the only force that could move to the area rapidly enough to make a difference. During the night of 13-14 September, 80+ USAAF Twelfth Air Force C-47 Skytrains drop 1,300 soldiers of the 504th PIR into the beachhead ; these troops immediately move into defensive positions bolstering the 36th Infantry Division.
Light cruiser HMS Uganda heavily damaged by a German
radio-guided bomb during the landings at Salerno. Uganda was built by Vickers
Armstrong, at Barrow. She was commissioned into the RN on
03 Jan 43 and served for a short time with the Home Fleet before departing
for Ops in the Mediterranean as part of the Support Force (East). Repairs were
undertaken at the Charlestown US Navy Yard between Oct 43 and Oct 44.
Commissioned into the RCN on 21 Oct 44,
HMCS Uganda sailed for the UK the
following month for further work. In Jan 45 she sailed for the Pacific, via the
Suez Canal, to join the 4th Cruiser Squadron of the British Pacific Fleet.
In southern Italy, the British Eighth Army continues to
advance and takes Cosenza.
In the air, RAF heavy bombers, under the operational
control of the USAAF Ninth Air Force's IX Bomber Command, hit Potenza. B-17s of
the USAAF Twelfth Air Force's XII Bomber Command bomb roads in the Torre del
Greco area, a highway at Sala Consilina, and a road junction, railway and bridge
at Atena Lucana; B-25s attack a viaduct, rail and road junctions, and rail lines
in the Pompeii-Castellammare di Stabia-Torre Annuziata areas; XII Air Support
Command A-36 Apaches destroy 25 to 30 vehicles near Potenza, and fighters
maintain convoy patrol; and USAAF and RAF light and medium bombers of the
Northwest African Tactical Bomber Force hit town areas, road junctions, and
vehicles in the Auletta-Pompeii-Sala Consilina-San Severino Rota areas.
During the night of 13/14 September, 91 RAF bombers of the 205 (Heavy
Bomber) Group bomb the highway at Pompeii.
GREECE: The Italian Acqui division resists a German attack in Keffalonia.
British units occupy Kos Island in the Dodecanese Islands in the Aegan Sea. The RAF moves units to the island shortly.
During the night of 13/14 September, RAF heavy bombers of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group bomb three airfields in Athens: 32 aircraft bomb Tatoi Airfield, 28 attack Kalamaki Airfield and 25 hit Eleusis Airfield.
CHINA: Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek is elected President of the Republic of China by the Central Executive Committee. He succeeds President Lin Sen, who died on 7 August and will serve a three-year term. The committee permits President Chiang to keep his post as Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese army.
NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, units of the Australian 15th Brigade, 7th Division, capture Salamaua. The contracting forces are rear-guards. The main Japanese force having already abandoned Lae and is trying to escape over the Saruwaged Range.
On 8 September, Lieutenant-General Nakano Hidemitsu, commander of the 51st Division, had issued orders for the withdrawal. On or about 10 September, the main body of about 7,000 left in four groups. They carried half rations for a 14 day journey. They had intended to withdraw along a pre-prepared withdrawal route across the Huon Peninsula to Sio. Food dumps were spaced along the route.
However, at the Busu River the Japanese found that Australian commandos were already in possession of the bridge across the swollen Busu River. These commandos were the flank guard of the advancing 9th Division. The Japanese lost three days while they built a new bridge across the Busu further up. Then they had to follow a different route without any food. Many died of starvation or disease in the ensuing weeks ... (Michael Mitchell)
Pressure at Lae continues as the Japanese perimeter contracts. US Fifth Force B-24s escorted by P-38 Lightnings, bomb airfields and ammunition dumps in the Wewak area while B-25s hit Lae.
NEW GUINEA: Pte. Richard Kelliher (1910-63), Australian Military Forces, went out twice to put a machine-gun post out of action, then went out a third time to rescue his wounded commander. (Victoria Cross)
AUSTRALIA: Three Japanese Dinah's of the 70th Independent Chutai, fly a photo-reconnaissance mission escorted by 36 Zeros of the 220nd Kokutai. Eight RAAF Spitfires intercept and three are shot down by the Zeros. The Japanese lose one Zero. (Steve Alvin)(136)
PACIFIC OCEAN: USN submarine USS Snook (SS-279) sinks a 9,650 ton Japanese army transport southeast of Shanghai, China. Although escorting destroyer HIJMS Shiokaze claims her destruction, USS Snook survives the depth charge attacks and escapes.
CANADA: The government orders two home-defence divisions disbanded.
U.S.A.: Aircraft carrier USS Boxer
laid down.
Destroyer USS Little laid down.
Destroyer escort USS Roy O Hale laid down.
Heavy cruiser USS Toledo laid down.
Destroyer escort USS Swenning launched.
Escort carrier USS Mission Bay commissioned.
Destroyer escort USS Blair commissioned.