October 12th, 1943 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: MAC ship Empire MacCallum launched.
GERMANY: U-1103 and U-1199 launched.
U.S.S.R.: Polar Fleet and White Sea Flotilla: SKR-14 (ex-RT-86 "Indiga") - wrecked on rocks in Kara Sea(Sergey Anisimov)(69)
PORTUGAL: Lisbon: The BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC swung firmly in favour of the Allies tonight when Dr. Salazar, the Portuguese leader, revealed that British land, sea and air forces have arrived in the Azores. The islands, strategically placed in mid-Atlantic, will be used for the aerial protection of merchant shipping plying between the United States and Britain.
The move comes after weeks of secret talks between Britain and Portugal. Though the two countries have a treaty relationship that dates from the 14th century, Dr. Salazar, in close co-operation with Franco's Spain, has remained cautiously neutral between the Allied and Axis powers. The Azores pact reflects the growing certainty among neutrals that Hitler will eventually lose the war.
The US, though not a signatory to the pact, will use the islands for joint military operations with Britain. Air cover by RAF Catalina and Wellington aircraft based in Britain and Newfoundland left a gap - which will now be closed - of several hundred miles in mid-Atlantic, where the U-boats assembled to prey on Allied shipping.
The German consulate in the Azores is being closed and all German citizens are being evacuated. On the Portuguese mainland diplomatic links will continue.
ITALY: Tonight the US 5th Army begins the attack on the Volturno line. Due to weather, inadequate roads and German demolitions the Allied advance is limited to major roads until spring.
In the Mediterranean, XII Bomber Command operations are cancelled by weather. In Italy, the XII Air Support Command and other Northwest African Tactical Air Force elements operate on a reduced scale, hitting road junctions at Vasto and Fossacesia, Aquino Airfield, motor transport on the Itri-Pico road and on a road north of Rome in the Bolsena and Capranica areas, roads near Tarquinia, rail facilities at Cisterna di Latina, trains between Pescara and Benedello, and guns and troops near Cercemaggiore.
During the night of 12/13 October, the XII Air Support Command, supplemented by RAF Desert Air Force fighters, supports the US Fifth Army, which during the assault crossing of the Volturno River on a 40-mile (64 kilometer) front.
BURMA: 5 Fourteenth Air Force B-24s bomb the warehouse area and railroad yards at Myitkyina.
NEW BRITAIN: Rabaul is the target of the US 5th Air Force and receives 350 tons of bombs.
The Fifth Air Force and RAAF open an aerial campaign to neutralize or cripple the four Japanese airfields and naval base at Rabaul on New Britain Island, Bismarck Archipelago, in support of the upcoming invasion of Bougainville Island in the Solomon Islands. The first mission today is flown by 349 aircraft, 87 B-24s, 114 B-25s, 125 P-38s, 12 RAAF Beaufighters and 11 weather and reconnaissance aircraft. The aircraft attack the airfields, the town, the harbour and ships in the harbour and sink 2 transports, 2 cargo lighters and a guard boat and damage 3 destroyers, 3 submarines, a special service ship, an oiler and 2 auxiliary sailing vessels. 50+ Japanese aircraft are destroyed on the ground; 4 B-24s and a B-25 are lost.
NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: B-25s fly small strikes against targets on Timor Island and other areas of the Netherlands East Indies. (John Nicholas and Jack McKillop)
NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, two Japanese battalions attack an Australian battalion at a position designated "John's Knoll" in the Ramu Valley south of Madang. The Japanese attack four times during the day but do not budge the Australians.
SOLOMON ISLANDS:2 Thirteenth Air Force B-25s skip-bomb 2 small vessels in Matchin Bay on Bougainville Island.
NEW CALEDONIA: Admiral William F. Halsey, Commander South Pacific Area and Commander Third Fleet, issues a basic plan for invasion of the Solomon Islands.
WESTERN PACIFIC: Submarine USS HALIBUT torpedoes and sinks the Japanese cargo ship EHIME MARU (4,500 tons), a medium freighter. (Mike Yared and the Honolulu Star)
CANADA: Frigate HMCS Matapedia departed Dartmouth, Nova Scotia under tow for repairs at Liverpool, Nova Scotia.
NEWFOUNDLAND: Eight German mines are neutralized by Canadian minesweepers operating in the approaches to St. John's.
U.S.A.: The Blue Network Inc. (former NBC Blue Network) is purchased by Edward Noble, of Lifesavers fame or about $8 million. He bought the rights to the name American Broadcasting Company in 1945 from George Storer.
Submarine USS Pipefish launched.
Destroyer escorts USS Sellstrom, Mills and Harveson commissioned.
CARIBBEAN SEA: USS Dorado (SS-248) was probably sunk in error by US aircraft.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Aircraft of Composite Squadron Nine (VC-9) in the escort aircraft carrier USS Card (CVE-11) break up another German U-boat refuelling rendezvous when they attack U-488 about 600 miles (965.6 km) north of Flores Island, Azores and damage U-731. This is the second attack on submarines refuelling; the first was on 4 October.
An Avenger aircraft (VC-9) from escort carrier USS Card attacked U-378 with a Fido homing torpedo but the boat managed to outmanoeuvre it.
U-967 lost a man overboard on 12 October in the North Atlantic. [Mechnikergfreiter Hans Brackert].