September 14th, 1943 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Submarine HM S/M Statesman launched. Frigate HMS Dominica launched.
EUROPEAN TACTICAL OPERATIONS: The US Eighth Air Force's VIII Air Support Command in England flies Mission 57: 108 B-26B Marauders are dispatched to the Woenisdrecht Airfield in the Netherlands and Nord Airfield at Lille, France; they are recalled due to weather.
GERMANY: Recently rescued Benito Mussolini has an emotional reunion with Adolf Hitler in the Fuhrer's East Prussian headquarters.
During the night of 14/15 September, eight Lancasters of No. 617 Squadron, RAF Bomber Command, set out with the new 12,000 pound (5 443 kilogram) bomb (not the 12,000 pound Tallboy “earthquake” bomb developed later) to attack the banks of the Dortmund-Ems Canal near Ladbergen. While the force is over the North Sea, however, a weather reconnaissance Mosquito reported that there is fog in the target area and the Lancasters are recalled. Mosquitos bombed three targets: three made a nuisance raid on Berlin with one aircraft lost and individual aircraft bombed Borkum Island and Emden.
U.S.S.R.: Rastenburg: Hitler orders his armies to withdraw to the Panther Line, between Kiev and Vitebsk.
The Germans announce they are evacuating Bryansk. The Russians are still up against a heavy rearguard action. Novorossiysk, in the Kuban, is also heavily contested.
GREECE: British forces occupy Leros Island in the Dodecanese Islands off the coast of Turkey.
ITALY: At Salerno, the Germans attack the entire Allied front throughout the daylight hours, searching for weaknesses. Their efforts are unsuccessful.
Reinforcements also arrived: the British 7 Armoured Division begins landing in the British 10 Corps sector, and the U.S. 180th Infantry Regiment, the remaining regiment of the 45th Infantry Division, lands behind VI Corps to become the Fifth Army reserve.
During the night, C-47 Skytrains drop the 2,105 men of the 505th Regimental Combat Team (505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 456th Parachute Field Artillery and Company A, 307th Engineers) south of the Sele River to strengthen the beachhead.
By the
evening, with more supplies ashore and reinforcements arriving, the crisis had
passed. Although the two night airborne drops into the Salerno beachhead had
been executed flawlessly, another airborne operation is less successful. The 640
men of the 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment jump some 20 miles (32 kilometres)
north of the British 10 Corps at Avellino during the evening to disrupt German
resupply and communications lines. The paratroopers had been ordered to harass
the Germans for about five days and then either to infiltrate to the beachhead
or to link up with advancing forces. Of the 40 planes involved in the operation,
only 15 dropped their cargo within 4 miles (6 kilometres) of the drop zone; 23
planes scattered paratroopers between 8 and 25 miles (13 and 40 kilometres) from
the intended target, and the drop site of the remaining two planes was unknown.
Of the 640 men who jumped, 400 made it safely back to Allied hands several days
later after launching small raids in the German rear.
In southern Italy, elements of the British Eighth Army enter Bari in the
east and Belvedere in the west.
In the air, Allied heavy bombers, diverted from attacks on strategic
targets in Germany, interdict German units and supplies flowing toward the
beachhead and struck German units in assembly areas and attack positions. USAAF
Ninth Air Force B-24s hit a marshalling yard at Pescara while RAF heavy bombers,
under operational control of the IX Bomber Command, hit Potenza. The USAAF
Twelfth Air Force's XII Bomber Command sends B-17s, B-25 Mitchells, and B-26s to
attack highways, road junctions and defiles, bridges, town areas, railroads,
marshalling yard, barracks, and numerous targets of opportunity, including
several gun positions, in or near Avellino, Pompeii, Torre Annunziata, Auletta,
Baronissi, San Severino Rota, Battipaglia, and Eboli; USAAF and RAF
fighter-bombers and light and medium bombers of the Northwest African Tactical
Air Force fly well over 500 sorties, mainly against bridges, and towns in the
battle area or around Battipaglia, Eboli, Potenza Torre Annunziata, Benevento,
Auletta, and Avellino.
IRAN: Iran signs the United Nations Declaration.
BURMA: Japanese troops withdraw from the Manipur River line.
FRENCH INDOCHINA: The US Fourteenth Air Force dispatches 15 B-24s to Haiphong. The first flight aborts due to bad weather but the second flight reaches the target area and bombs docks and shipping.
NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, one of the Japanese documents captured by Australian troops yesterday indicates that the Japanese have begun to evacuate Lae on 8 September, leaving only a strong rearguard. The evacuation saved 7,000 Japanese troops of the 41st and 51st Divisions. The Australian 25th Brigade continues east towards Lae.
US Fifth Air Force B-25s attack Lae and barges in Hansa Bay.
EAST INDIES: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Kendari on Celebes Island, Netherlands East Indies.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: The 8th Brigade Group of the New Zealand 3rd Division arrive on Guadalcanal from New Caledonia Island, having rehearsed en route (in the New Hebrides Islands) for the invasion of the Treasury Islands.
Allied airfields and other facilities on Guadalcanal, and at Barakoma and Munda on New Georgia Island are attacked by Japanese aircraft throughout the day. US Thirteenth Air Force B-24s, with fighter escorts, bomb Kahili Airfield on Bougainville Island 3 times during the day. 30+ B-24s unload on dispersal and revetment areas and on runways, causing considerable damage; 8 Japanese interceptors are claimed shot down. 3 B-25s bomb Vila Airfield on Kolombangara Island and 2 B-24s and 6 PV-1 Venturas attack the Vila area. P-39s join USN fighters and dive bombers in attack on Ballale Island Airfield. During the night, IJN aircraft mount 79 separate attacks on Guadalcanal, New Georgia and Vella Lavella Islands.
CANADA: Minesweeper
HMCS St Joseph launched Nanaimo, British
Columbia.
Corvette HMCS Peterborough laid down.
Aircraft carrier HMCS Princeton laid down.
Destroyer HMCS Sioux (ex-HMS Vixen)
launched.
U.S.A.: Frigate USS Racine laid down. Submarine USS Burrfish commissioned. Frigates USS Groton and Albuquerque launched. Destroyer escort USS Willis launched.