October 2nd, 1943 (SATURDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: England, the USAAF's Eight Air Force flies three missions.
* The VIII Air Support Command Mission 75: 72 B-26 Marauders are dispatched to the Longuenesse Airfield at St. Omer, France; because of cloud cover, only 6 hit the target at 1715 hours; the remainder refrain from bombing because the target is in occupied territory.
* The VIII Bomber Command flies 2 missions:
- Mission 106: 349 B-17s are dispatched to the industrial area of Emden, Germany; led by 2 B-17 pathfinders, 339 hit the target at 1557-1603 hours; they claim 15-6-12 Luftwaffe aircraft; 2 B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 227 P-47 Thunderbolts which claim 5-3-1 Luftwaffe aircraft. In addition to the above, 21 B-24 Liberators are dispatched to Woensdrecht Airfield, The Netherlands; the target is obscured by clouds and the mission is aborted.
- Mission 107: 2 B-17s join the RAF in a night mission to Munich; no losses or casualties.
Frigates HMS Ekins and Redmill launched. Minesweeper HMS Gozo commissioned.
NETHERLANDS: During the night of 2/3 October, 17 RAF Bomber Command aircraft lay mines in the Frisian Islands.
FRANCE: The USAAF Eighth Air Force’s VIII Air Support Command flies Mission 75: 72 B-26 Marauders are dispatched to the Longuenesse Airfield at St. Omer; because of cloud cover, only six hit the target at 1715 hours; the remainder refrain from bombing because the target is in occupied territory.
During the night of 2/3 October, RAF Bomber Command lay mines off two ports: eight aircraft lay mines off St. Nazaire and seven lay mines off Lorient. Meanwhile, 17 aircraft drop leaflets over northern France.
GERMANY: The USAAF Eighth Air Force dispatches 349 B-17 Flying Fortresses to the industrial area of Emden,; led by two B-17 pathfinders, 339 hit the target at 1557-1603 hours; they claim 15-6-12 Luftwaffe aircraft; 2 B-17 Flying Fortresses are lost. Escort is provided by 227 P-47 Thunderbolts which claim 5-3-1 Luftwaffe aircraft.
During the night of 2/3 October, RAF Bomber Command sent 294 Lancasters and two USAAF Eighth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses to Munich; 273 bombed the target with the loss of eight Lancasters, 2.7 per cent of the force. Visibility over the target is clear but the initial marking is scattered. Heavy bombing developed over the southern and south-eastern districts of Munich but later stages of the raid fell up to 15 miles (24 kilometers) back along the approach route. Most of this inaccurate bombing is carried out by No 5 Group aircraft, which are again attempting their “time-and-distance” bombing method independently of the Pathfinder marking. The No 5 Group crews are not able to pick out the Wurmsee lake, which is the starting point for their timed run. Mosquitos are sent to bomb two targets: four each struck Cologne and Gelsenkirchen. Seventeen other aircraft bombed Freiburg. A number of mines are laid off the coast: 32 aircraft laid mines in the Kattegat, a bay in the North Sea, nine laid mines off Sassnitz, six in the Fehmarn Channel, five in the Heligoland Bight, in the southeastern corner of the North Sea and four in Kiel Harbor.
U-1168,
U-1169,
U-1228 launched.
U-243 commissioned.
FINLAND: Icebreaker Sisu is damaged by magnetic mine at Melkki sea-lane just off Helsinki.
U.S.S.R.: Soviet submarine SC-402 sunk by mines at Koffer Gepackt or Konrad Begrusst. All hands lost.
ITALY: In U.S. Fifth Army’s British X Corps area, the U.S. 82d Airborne Division moves into Naples to police it while an advance is being continued to the Volturno River, a natural barrier covering Naples. In the VI Corps area, while the 3d Infantry Division drives northward toward the Volturno River on the left flank of the corps, 34th and 45th Infantry Divisions, the 45th on the right, are moving along separate routes toward Benevento, an important road junction. To hasten the advance along the Adriatic coast in the British Eighth Army area, the 2d Special Service Brigade (commandos) of XIII Corps lands, during the night of 2/3 October, near Termoli and secures the town and port; they soon join the 78th Division, which, moving north along the coast, secures a bridgehead across the Biferno River.
USAAF Twelfth Air Force fighter-bombers attack motor transports, roads, and bridges during armed reconnaissance missions from the Volturno Valley north to Isernia and west to Benevento.
During the night of 2/3 October, RAF bombers of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group attack two targets: 30 attack the Coast Road at Formia and 30 bomb the pontoon bridge at Grassanise.
CHINA: 5 Fourteenth Air Force P-40s dive-bomb and strafe Yangtze River shipping in the Chiuchiang area. Strafing damages several small craft.
NEW GUINEA: Finschhafen falls to the Australian 20th Brigade. The 23rd Brigade also reaches Finschhafen from Lae.
Success at Lae came earlier than expected, and the 9th Division was ordered to seize Finschhafen in continuation of the campaign for the conquest of the Huon peninsula: success would help the Allies to seize objectives in New Britain, thus contributing to the isolation of Rabaul. The 7th Division was also to seize areas in the vicinity of Kaiapit and Dumpu. The first wave of Australians swept ashore near Finschhafen on 22 September. Japanese opposition was fierce, but the beach-heads were soon cleared.
The Fifth Air Force attacks various targets:
EAST INDIES: In the Netherlands East Indies, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Ambon Island in the Moluccas Islands.
NEW BRITAIN: B-25s strafe villages in the Talasea area and barges off Gasmata Island while B-26's bomb Hoskins Airfield; and a B-24 bombs Cape Gloucester Airfield.
MOLUCCAS ISLANDS: Other B-24's bomb Amboina Island.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: 6 Thirteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells join USN SBD Dauntlesses in attacking Hamberi Cove barge hideout near Vila on Kolombangara Island.
During the night of 2/3 October, the Japanese completed their withdrawal from Kolombangara Island. Efforts of U.S. naval forces to interfere are largely ineffective and some 9,400 Japanese escape safely.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: The USAAF Fifth Air Force attacks various targets on New Britain Island: B-25 Mitchells strafe villages in the Talasea area and barges off Gasmata while B-26 Marauders bomb Hoskins (Cape Hoskins or Gabubu) Airfield; and a B-24 bombs Cape Gloucester Airfield.
CANADA: Frigate HMCS Antigonish laid down.
U.S.A.: Baseball, the New York Yankees take 2 from the Browns 5-1 and 7-6 for their 14th sweep of a doubleheader, an American League mark. Yankee right fielder Bud Metheny hits a home run in the opener for the Yankees 100th home run of the season.
The baseball season finishes with attendance off some 13 percent from the previous year. The Brooklyn Dodgers and Detroit Tigers, both good for a million in contending years, each drop below 700,000. Only the Philadelphia Phillies, under new ownership, have a significant increases, from 230,000 to 467,000. National League attendance falls from 8.9 million in 1942 to 7.7 million this year.
Frigate USS Peoria launched
Destroyer escorts USS Burrows and O'Reilly launched. Frigate USS Brunswick
commissioned.
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-168 sank SS Haiching.
U-223 damaged SS Stanmore
beyond repair in Convoy MKS-27.