September 16th, 1943 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyer HMS Caprice launched.
FRANCE: The US Eighth Air Force's VIII Air Support Command and the VIII Bomber Command fly missions.
- VIII Air Support Command Mission 59: 67 B-26B Marauders hit Beaumont le Roger Airfield at 1735 hours and Tricoueville Airfield at 1735 hours without loss.
- VIII Bomber Command flies to mission.
- - Mission 97: 224 B-17s in 2 forces hit 5 targets with the
loss of 11aircraft.
(1) 131 B-17s bomb 2 targets in Nantes; 79 hit Nantes harbor installations at
1502-1512 hours and 52 hit Chateau-Bougon Airfield at 1509-1512 hours; they
claim 22-2-5 Luftwaffe aircraft; 7 B-17s are lost; escort is provided by 79 P-47
Thunderbolts which claim 2-0-1 Luftwaffe aircraft.
(2) 93 B-17s hit La Pallice harbor installations at 1755-1758 hours, Larochelle/Laleau
Airfield at 1755-1758 and Cognac/Chateaubernard Airfield at 1731 hours; they
claim 22-3-8 Luftwaffe aircraft; 4 B-17s are lost.
- - Mission 98: 5 B-17s of the 422d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) join theRAF in a night attack on the marshalling yard at Modane, France without loss.
During the night of 16/17 September, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 340 aircraft, 170 Halifaxes, 127 Stirlings and 43 Lancasters and five USAAF Eighth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses, to attack the important railway yards at Modane on the main railway route from France to Italy; 295 aircraft bombed the target. The marking of the target, situated in a steep valley, is not successful and the bombing is not accurate. No report is available from France. Two Halifaxes and a Stirling are lost. In another raid, 12 Lancasters attempted to bomb the railway viaduct at Anthéor Cannes on the coastal railway line leading to Italy, but no direct hits are scored. A Lancaster is lost; it came down in the sea off Portugal, possibly while trying to reach Gibraltar.
GERMANY: Five RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos are sent to bomb Berlin; four bomb the target without loss.
U-511 sold to Japan and became the RO 500. Surrendered at Maizuru in August 1945. Scuttled in the Gulf of Maizuru by the US Navy on 30 April, 1946.
U.S.S.R.: Novgorod Seversky and Romny, near Konotop, are liberated by Soviet forces during their advance on Kiev. Novorossiysk, in the Kuban, falls after fierce fighting.
NORWAY:
Miniature
submarine X-9 is lost while on tow behind HMS Syrtis in the Norwegian Sea. She
is believed to have foundered due to a broken 600-foot towrope which would have
caused her to plunge to the bottom. There were no survivors from the
3-man crew. X-9 was one of 6 X-craft being towed to the north of Norway to
conduct attacks against Scharnorst, Lützow and Tirpitz. (Alex Gordon)(108)
GREECE: British forces occupy the islands of Leros and Samos in the Aegean Sea.
ITALY: Another German attack, by the 10th Army, under General Heinrich von Vietinghoff, between Salerno and Battipaglia is driven off.
HMS Warspite, providing gunnery support, is struck by two German X-1 (Fritz) glider bombs and sustains serious damage. The ship has to be towed to Malta escorted by the light cruiser HMS Delhi (D 47).
Forward units of the US 5th and British 8th Armies link up. The main bodies of these armies are still well behind.
Salerno: As advance units of the British Eighth Army linked up with the beleaguered US Fifth Army near the Salerno beach-head today, the German commander of the Tenth Army, General Heinrich von Vietinghoff, ordered his Panzers to withdraw northwards. The beach-head is secure, but it has been touch-and-go until the very end.
Artillery and infantry of the British 201 Guards Brigade defeat German attacks against Bellizzi and Fosso, whilst attacks on the 23 Armored Brigade's positions are defeated by counter-attacks in the early afternoon.
At one point, the US Fifth Army commander, General Mark Clark, had to order cooks, clerks, drivers and bandsmen to grab the nearest rifles and form a defensive line as German troops threatened to drive the Americans off the beach-head. When German reinforcements arrived from the south, Clark even contemplated withdrawing his armies from Salerno, but, instead, pulled back two miles while reinforcements were rushed in. The Germans were making effective use of their radio-controlled glider bombs; the British battleship HMS Warspite and the cruiser HMS UGANDA were badly damaged.
Clark's main hope was parachute reinforcement by the 82nd Airborne Division. "This is a must," he ordered its commander, General Matthew B. Ridgeway, and by mid-night on 13 September 1,300 men had landed in Salerno. With a further 2,100 landing on the following day and the arrival of the British 7th Armoured Brigade, evacuation plans were abandoned. German counter-attacks, though fierce, were repelled. A further 600 men of the US 509th Parachute Infantry Brigade were dropped behind the enemy lines to hold off German reinforcements from the north.
There is every indication that the Germans have used up their energy and their units are battle weary. General Clark gives orders for the Allies to prepare for immediate pursuit if the enemy begin to withdraw.
On the British Eighth Army's front, 5 Division reaches Sapri and 1 Canadian Division near Spezzano. Units from these two divisions meet at Castrovillari, whilst Canadian and 1 Airborne Division troops make contact 40 miles (64.4 km) south-west of Taranto. The Allied armies are at last in touch across the Italian peninsula from the Tyrrhenian coast to the Adriatic.
US and British ground
troops make patrol contact near Vallo della Lucania. The US Fifth Army ties in
with the Taranto invasion force to form an Allied line across southern Italy. US
Ninth Air Force B-24s hit road junctions and a supply dump at Potenza, following
a RAF raid of the previous night. US Twelfth Air Force B-17s hit bridges, rail
line, marshalling yard, trains, and a railroad-highway intersection in the
Benevento area, and roads and railway facilities in the Caserta area; medium
bombers hit roads, railroads, junctions, and bridges at Isernia, Formia, Mignano,
and Capua; XII Air Support Command fighter-bombers maintain continuous sweeps
over the Salerno beachhead and surrounding battle zone while other US and RAF
elements of the Northwest African Tactical Air Force (fighters, light and medium
bombers) blast enemy aircraft, motor transport, troop concentrations and
communications targets in the Contursi and Eboli areas.
CHINA: The US Fourteenth Air Force dispatches 8 B-25 Mitchells and 12 P-40s to hit warehouses, barracks, ammunition dumps, and HQ at Liujenpa.
NEW GUINEA: US Fifth Air Force B-17s, B-26s, B-25s, and A-20s pound enemy positions at Lae after which the airfield is captured and town (evacuated by Japanese) are occupied by Australian forces of the 9th and 7th Divisions; B-24s carry out a light strike on Sorong. Many of the escaping Japanese slip through the jungle and go to the north coast of the Huon Peninsula. Lae is the focus of a major land, sea and air operation by Australian and American forces. Fighting lasted until today when the encircled Japanese garrison are either killed, captured or escaped.
A major airstrike at Wewak, New Guinea destroys many Japanese aircraft.
PACIFIC: Two Japanese ships are sunk: (1) a gunboat is sunk by mine (laid by submarine USS Silversides on 4 June) off Kavieng, New Ireland, Bismarck Archipelago; and (2) a PBY Catalina sinks a small Japanese cargo vessel en route to Hansa Bay, New Guinea.
Enemy Boston-type plane sinks Japanese escort vessel Uisko by torpedo. 19 men are lost, only one survives.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: US Thirteenth Air Force P-40s join USN fighters in covering an SBD Dauntless strike on Ballale Island Airfield.
CANADA: Corvette HMCS Vancouver completed foc'sle extension refit Vancouver, British Columbia.
Destroyer HMCS Crescent laid down John Brown and Co Glasgow. Canada was originally to receive all eight ships of the CR program. However only Crescent and Crusader had been delivered by the end of hostilities and the remainder were not taken over. For some unknown reason, these ships retained their UK names in Canadian service.
Frigate HMCS Charlottetown launched Lauzon, Province of Quebec. Retained same hull number as lost corvette of the same name.
Glen Class tugs ordered for RCN: HMCS Glenfield, Glenvalley, Glenella, Glenkeen, Gleneagle, Glencove and Glenlivet.
U.S.A.: Submarine USS Chub laid down.
Destroyer escort USS Underhill laid down.
Destroyers USS Knapp and Haraden commissioned.
Destroyer escort USS Camp commissioned. Former Combat Fleets of the World editor AD Baker III served on this ship in the Vietnam War.