October 25th, 1943 (MONDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The anti-Nazi Clandestine Radio, Soldatsender Calais begins transmitting from Crowborough, Sussex. The station carries a program of news bulletins and entertainment for the German forces and adopts the convention of speaking as a German soldiers` station situated somewhere in France. The program is transmitted on three shortwave frequencies and on the medium wave band. The medium wave broadcast is from 2000 to 0500 hours while the shortwave broadcast began at 1830 and ended at 0800 hours. A staff of 50 radio technicians operate the medium wave transmitter as well as two 100 kilowatt shortwave transmitters for U boat crew and other German seafarers. (Charles Gregor)
Frigate HMS Sarawak launched.
Escort carrier HMS Patroller commissioned.
Destroyer HMS Kempenfelt commissioned.
Frigate HMS Bullen commissioned.
Submarines HMS Spirit and Telemachus commissioned.
GERMANY: During the night of 25/26 October, 19 RAF Bomber Command Stirlings lay mines in the Kattegat without loss.
U-298 launched.
U.S.S.R.: Forces under Malinovsky attack across the Dniepr at Dneporoetrovsk and Dnierodzerzhinsk. Holding a defensive position on the Dniepr River has been a major problem for the Germans.
ITALY: Allied commanders decide that the initiative must be retained in Italy in order to pin down German forces there and prevent them from massing for a counteroffensive before the spring 1944.
The U.S. Fifth Army, with positions north of the Volturno River firmly established, is ready for a drive against German delaying positions in the mountains from Mt. Massico on the west coast to the Matese mountains on the right boundary. In the VI Corps area, the 135th Infantry Regiment of the 34th Infantry Division moves forward to take up pursuit toward Ailano.
USAAF XII Bomber Command P-39 Airacobras strafe and bomb the landing ground at Podgorica; the XII Air Support Command, Northwest African Tactical Bomber Fore (NATBF) and RAF Desert Air Force (DAF) concentrate on blocking roads and destroying bridges; town areas, vehicles, radio stations, trains, and vessels are also attacked; targets attacked are in or near Frosinone, Formia, Gaeta, Cetraro, along the Sangro River, Kuna, west of Lagosta Island and south of Rome; Tarquinia Airfield is also bombed.
During the night of 25/26 October, 46 RAF No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group bomb the marshalling yard at Pistola; one aircraft is lost.
YUGOSLAVIA: USAAF"> USAAF XII Bomber Command P-39Airacobras strafe and bomb the landing ground at Podgorica; the XII Air Support Command, Northwest African Tactical Bomber Fore (NATBF) and RAF Desert Air Force (DAF) concentrate on blocking roads and destroying bridges; town areas, vehicles, radio stations, trains, and vessels are also attacked; targets attacked are in or near Frosinone, Formia, Gaeta, Cetraro, along the Sangro River, Kuna, west of Lagosta Island and south of Rome; Tarquinia Airfield is also bombed.
During the night of 25/26 October, 46 RAF No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group bomb the marshalling yard at Pistola; one aircraft is lost.
ARCTIC OCEAN: U-956 shelled targets on the shore of Spitsbergen with her gun. Land-based artillery returned the fire but did not score a hit on the U-boat.
BLACK SEA: U-23 captured three people from a fishing boat and then sank the boat with hand grenades.
BURMA: Rangoon: Japan has laid a railway line from Bangkok to Burma. The single 300-mile track, half across mountains and jungle, half along the river Kwai Noi valley, was built by 200,000 Asian and 69,000 Allied PoWs. "We will make you work in places no white man has worked before, and harder than any white has worked before," the Japanese said: and 100,000 Asian and 16,000 other PoWs died in the process.
FRENCH INDOCHINA: Six USAAF Fourteenth Air Force P-40s strafe shipping at Haiphong, Vietnam, claiming three small boats sunk and damaging six larger boats.
NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, the Japanese begin withdrawing toward Sattelberg in the coastal sector north of Finschhafen, suspending attacks on the Australian 9th Division. Meanwhile, USAAF Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs hit positions near Lae. In Dutch New Guinea, B-24 Liberators carry out a light strike against Manokwari.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Over 60 USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb the Rabaul area on New Britain Island, destroying 20+ airplanes on the ground. Of the 60 to 70 fighters which intercept, the B-24s claim 30+ shot down.
PACIFIC OCEAN: 2300 hours: USS Tullibee (SS-284) sinks a tanker at 26-01 N, 121-93 E. (Skip Guidry)
Nimitz modifies the plan for the Gilberts to specify that control will pass from the amphibious force to the landing force commander when the latter determined that "that status of the landing operations permits." Previously, the ground commander would announce that he was ready to take over, and the amphibious force commander would direct him to do so. (Keith Allen)
In the Gulf of Tonkin off the east coast Vietnam, French Indochina, two USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells and four P-40s attack shipping claiming a 150 foot (46 meter) tanker sunk and a 200 foot (61 meter) freighter damaged.
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS: Vice Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, commander of the Central Pacific Force, issues an operation plan, which is subsequently modified somewhat, outlining the organization and tasks of Operation GALVANIC, the invasion of the Gilbert Islands.
CANADA:
Minesweeper HMS Golden Fleece (ex-HMCS Humberstone) laid down Toronto, Ontario.
Frigate HMCS Inch Arran laid down Lauzon, Province of Quebec.
Frigate HMCS Cape Breton commissioned.
HMC ML 112 commissioned.
Corvette HMCS North Bay commissioned.
U.S.A.:
Escort carrier USS Block Island laid down.
Destroyer escort USS Dale W Peterson laid down.
Submarine USS Kete laid down.
Frigate USS Lorain laid down.
Destroyer USS John Hood launched.
Submarine USS Tilefish launched.
Destroyer escorts USS Straub and Rhodes commissioned.
Destroyers USS Paul Hamilton and Halsey Powell commissioned.
Submarine USS Bashaw commissioned.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Submarine USS Tullibee sinks a tanker at 26-01 N, 121-93 E.
HMCS Skeena, a River-class destroyer, A/LCdr. Patrick 'Pat' Francis Xavier Russell, RCN, CO, was wrecked at Videy Island, near Reykjavik, Iceland. Skeena was blown ashore in a 100-knot gale while at anchor. Fifteen of the 21 crewmembers lost (all ratings) were drowned in an attempt to reach the shore using Carley Floats after the ship struck the rocks offshore. The remainder of the crew was evacuated later in a heroic effort by RNVR Patrol Service seamen using a "breeches buoy" under the direction of an Icelander, Einar Sigurdsson. As the storm increased in intensity, the shore authority signalled to the commander of the 11th Escort Group, Cdr. James D. "Chummy" Prentice in HMCS Qu’appelle, "Enter harbor, if you so desire." The Navigating Officer of Skeena, Lt. Peter G. Chance, was dismayed at a subsequent order by Commander, Cdr. Prentice, for the four ships of the group to go to anchor in the bay behind Videy Island. Lt. Chance went so far as to ask to be relieved of his duties as Navigator and strongly expressed his opinion that it was safer to remain at sea than to go to anchor, under the prevailing conditions. The CO agreed with his navigator but followed his orders and directed Lt. Chance to anchor the ship "in the best location," in the centre of the basin, about 800 yards from the shore in all direction. The ship was anchored in 12 fathoms of water with six shackles of cable paid out to the starboard anchor, the port anchor let go "under foot," and with both boilers maintained at Immediate Notice for steam. The two ‘Canadian’ River-class destroyers, Skeena and Saguenay, were fitted with a single centreline capstan whereas the British versions of the type were fitted with two capstans, making it impossible to work both anchors at once. Only one light was occasionally visible on shore for fixing but the intensity of the storm obscured it for long periods. Ground clutter rendered the radar useless for fixing. Approximately one hour after setting the anchor watch, the ship began to drag her anchors and, although "half ahead" and "full ahead" was ordered on both engines, the ship struck the shore forcefully. The ship broached port side to, and began listing to starboard into the oncoming waves, which broke over the ship up to the height of the bridge. Both of the ship's boats were smashed in attempts to lower them. Soon afterwards, the ship’s back was broken, rupturing fuel tanks and hull plating. This damage released a large amount of fuel oil, which soon mixed with the snow and made decks and the rocks on the shore extremely slippery. The loss of life occurred when the order "Standby to Abandon Ship" was taken to mean "Abandon Ship." Although some managed to get to shore, the majority of the crew remained onboard until the morning, when the storm abated, making it possible to get ashore safely. The Commanding Officer and the Officer of the Watch, Lt. William M. Kidd, the First Lieutenant, were both tried by Courts Martial and were found guilty of "hazarding" and "stranding" the ship. Skeena was broken up for scrap after the war but the barge that contained most of her remains sank en route to the breaker’s yard.