September 13th, 1944 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS: The US Eighth Air Force in England flies 3 missions. Numbers in parenthesis indicate the number of aircraft bombing the target.
- Mission 628: 1,015 bombers and 477 fighters,in 3 forces,
attack oil and industrial targets in southern Germany by visual means; 15
bombers and 8 fighters are lost.
(1) B-17s bomb oil refineries at Stuttgart/Sindelfingen (109) and Ludwigshafen
(74); secondary targets hit are Darmstadt (95) and Wiesbaden (8); targets of
opportunity hit are Mainz (22), a marshalling yard near Wiesbaden (12) and
others (3); 4 B-17s are lost; escort is provided by 73 P-47 Thunderbolts, they
claim 6-0-2 aircraft on the ground.
(2) B-24s attack Schwabish Hall Airfield (65), a munitions dump at Ulm (65) and
Weissenhorn (45); a target of opportunity hit is Reichelsheim (1); 4 B-24s are
lost; escort is provided by 99 P-38s and P-51 Mustangs; they claim 14-0-5
aircraft on the ground; 2 P-51s are lost.
(3) B-17s hit oil refineries at Merseburg (141) and Lutzkendorf (77); targets of
opportunity hit are Giessen (17), Eisenach (12), Altenburg (7), Gera (7) and
other (19); they claim 1-0-0 aircraft; 7 B-17s are lost; escort is provided by
233 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 33-0-4 aircraft in the air; 6 P-51s are lost.
- Mission 629: B-24s are dispatched on an Azon mission to the oil refinery at Hemminstedt (6); 5 hit the secondary target, ammunition dumps at Kropp. Escort is provided by 15 P-51s without loss.
- Mission 631: 8 B-17s drop leaflets on the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
- 73 B-17s, escorted by 63 P-51s, continuing the UK-USSR-Italy-UK shuttle-bombing mission, take off from USSR bases, bomb steel and armament works at Diosgyor, Hungary and proceed to US Fifteenth Air Force bases in Italy.
- 40 P-51s fly a strafing mission south of Munich hitting an aircraft dispersal area, airfield and marshalling yard; they claim 5-0-0 aircraft on the ground; 2 P-51s are lost.
FRANCE: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Commander-in-Chief Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, directs the capture of two objectives: the Ruhr and a deepwater port, either Antwerp or Rotterdam.
In northern France, the German garrison at Brest refuses a request to surrender although the garrison is being steadily compressed on all sides. In the U.S. XII Corps area, the Germans have decided to abandon Nancy in order to mass forces with which to overwhelm the Dieulouard bridgehead. A regiment of the 79th Infantry Division takes Neufchateau.
In southern France, the French 1st Armoured Division takes Langres. In the VI Corps area, the Germans surrender Vesoul and the 45th Infantry Division overruns Villersexel. VI Corps takes more than 1,300 POWs during the day.
First Allied Airborne Army's IX Troop Carrier Command C-47 Skytrainss fly numerous supply and evacuation missions.
The USAAF Ninth Air Force's HQ XIX Tactical Air Command accompanies HQ US Third Army HQ to ChaIons-sur- Marne; B-26 Marauders fly a leaflet mission to coastal northern France and Belgium; fighters support ground forces in the Brest and Nancy-Metz areas (air-ground coordination being especially effective between XIX Tactical Air Command and French 2d Armored Division in defeating the German move on Vittel. .
Fifty four B-24 Liberators of the USAAF Fifteenth Air Force in Italy fly supplies to southern France.
GERMANY: The U.S. VII Corps penetrates the West Wall at two points.
Dachau: Assistant Section Officer Noor Inayat-Khan (b.1914), WAAF, also known as the SOE agent Madelaine is executed at Dachau concentration camp. She had done highly risky work as an agent in France, and told the Nazis nothing after her betrayal. (George Cross) More
386 RAF bombers drop 400,000 incendiary devices.
During the day, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 140 aircraft, 102 Halifaxes, 28 Lancasters and ten Mosquitos to attack the Nordstern synthetic oil plant at Gelsenkirchen; 100 bombed the target and 14 bombed the city. Large explosions are seen through the smoke-screen. 2 Halifaxes lost. In a second raid, 98 Halifaxes and 20 Lancasters are dispatched to attack Osnabrück; 80 aircraft bomb the marshalling yard and 37 bomb the city. The marking and bombing are accurate but no details are available. No aircraft lost.
During the night of 13/14 September, 36 Mosquitos of RAF Bomber Command are sent to Berlin and three to Karlsruhe. All aircraft bomb their targets with the loss of two aircraft bombing Berlin.
U-2525 laid
down.
U-1305 commissioned.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Seven USAAF Fifteenth Air Force in Italy bomb the marshalling yard at Vrutky.
HUNGARY: Three USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb the railroad at Berzence, Papa Airfield and an industrial area.
POLAND: The 2nd Belorussian Front takes Lomza on the Narew River. Belated Russian supply drops to the Polish Home Army in Warsaw begin
B-24 Liberators of the USAAF Fifteenth Air Force in Italy bombs two targets: 96 bomb the I.G. Farben oil refinery at Oswiecim and 25 bomb the marshalling yard at Wadowice. The Auschwitz concentration camp is located near Oswiecim and some of the bombs land inside the main camp destroying a barracks, killing 15 SS men and injuring 28. A cluster of bombs is also mistakenly dropped farther west at Birkenau, damaging the railroad but missing the crematoria.
ROMANIA: The armistice between the Allies and Romania is signed.
ITALY: The British 8th Army has cleared the Coriano Ridge of German positions.
For 24 hours it seemed that the Eighth Army was about to break through the Gothic Line at the Germmano and Coriano ridges and pour through onto the plains beyond. Then it came up against its old adversary: the weather. The rivers are flooding. Tanks of the 1st Armoured Division stand impotently in fields of mud at San Savino, while the British 4th Infantry Division has come under heavy artillery and mortar fire, delaying its move up to the start line. The delay has given the German chief, General von Vietinghoff, time to move his infantry into place, closing the gate to the Allies.
U.S. forces continue attacking the Gothic line but make little progress against stiff resistance.
US Twelfth Air Force B-25 Mitchells destroy a bridge at Peschiera del Garda, cutting the Milan-Verona line; B-25s and B-26 Marauders bomb guns and defensive positions north of Florence; fighter-bombers attack railroads, rolling stock, and bridges in northern Italy, although a heavy overcast hampers operations in the northwest.
USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb three targets: 50 bomb the railroad viaduct at Aviso, 28 bomb the railroad bridge at Ora and 27 bomb the railroad bridge at Mezza Corona.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Carrier-based aircraft of the USN's Task Groups 38.1, 38.2 and 38.3 make unopposed attacks against Japanese faculties in the central Philippines. Because of the lack of a reaction from the enemy, Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr. recommends that the invasion of the Palau Islands be scrapped and the invasion of the Philippines be moved forward.
JAPAN: During the night of 13/14 September, three USAAF Eleventh Air Force B-24 Liberators strike Kurabu Cape shipping and airfield on Paramushiru Island in the Kurile Islands.
EAST INDIES: Far East Air Force B-24 Liberators and B-25 Mitchells hit 4 airfields and bomb villages on Morotai Island and Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells hit Langgoer Airfield in the Kai Islands .
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC: In New Guinea, A-20s and fighter-bombers hit 2 airfields on Efman Island; A-20s, B-25s, and fighter-bombers hit Babo AA positions and airfields at Manokwari and Ransiki.
PALAU ISLANDS: A USN task force
under Vice Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf, comprised of five old battleships, [USS
Maryland (BB-46), USS Mississippi (BB-41), USS Pennsylvania (BB-38), USS
Tennessee (BB-43) and USS West Virginia (BB-48)], nine cruisers, and destroyers
begins two days of bombardment of Peleliu and Angaur Islands. Additional support
is from four Third Fleet escort aircraft carriers. Minesweeping begins to clear
approaches for the landing craft.
While sweeping mines 750 yards (686 meters) off the
southeast coast of Angaur Island, a violent underwater explosion, starboard side
amidships, shakes the high speed minesweeper USS Perry (DMS-17). All steam to
her main engines is lost and the forward fireroom is demolished and flooded.
Steam and oil sprayed in all directions and the ship takes on a 30 degree list
to port. The list increases and, at 1420 hours, the commanding officer ordered
"abandon ship". With the aid of the destroyer USS Preble (DD-345)
final attempts to save the vessel are made, but, at 1515 hours, all remaining
personnel are ordered off. At 1605 hours, USS Perry capsizes. She brakes in two
at the point of damage and, at 1607 hours, sinks in 40 fathoms (240 feet or 73
meters) of water.
CANADA: Frigate HMCS Prestonian commissioned.
U.S.A.: The destroyer USS Warrington
(DD-383) and the stores ship USS Hyades (AF-28) are caught in the center of a
hurricane off the Florida coast in the U.S. In the evening of the 12th, the
storm forced the destroyer to heave to while Hyades continued on her way alone.
Keeping wind and sea on her port bow, Warrington rode relatively well through
most of the night. Wind and seas, however, continued to build during the early
morning hours of the 13th. Warrington began to lose headway and, as a result,
started to ship water through the vents to her engineering spaces. The water
rushing into her vents caused a loss of electrical power which set off a chain
reaction. Her main engines lost power, and her steering engine and mechanism
went out. She wallowed there in the trough of the swells continuing to ship
water. She regained headway briefly and turned upwind, while her radiomen
desperately, but fruitlessly, tried to raise Hyades. Finally, she resorted to a
plain-language distress call to any ship or shore station. By noon on the 13th,
it was apparent that Warrington's crewmen could not win the struggle to save
their ship, and the order went out to prepare to abandon ship. By 1250 her crew
had left Warrington; and she went down almost immediately. A prolonged search by
USS Hyades, the destroyer escorts USS Frost (DE-144), USS Nuse (DE-145), USS
Inch (DE-146), USS Snowden (DE-246), USS Swasey (DE248), USS Woodson (DE-359),
USS Johnnie Hutchins (DE-360), ATR-9, and ATR-62 rescued only 5 officers and 68
men of the destroyer's 20 officers and 301 men.
(Note: The USS WARRINGTON is named after Lewis Warrington born on 3 November
1782. He entered the USN on 6 January 1800 and on 28 February 1844, he
temporarily took over the duties of the Secretary of the Navy. He relinquished
the office in March 1844 and served as Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance until he
died on 12 October 1851.
The Warrington was a Somers-Class Destroyer. These vessels were originally intended to comprise a new Destroyer Leader class of vessels. She was 1,850 or so tons and armed with 4 dual 5 inch / 38 calibre single-purpose mounts and twelve 21 inch torpedoes. Unfortunately the heavy guns mounts were not dual-purpose and their AA armament was rather weak with mixtures of 1.1 inch, 40mm, and 20mm weapons. The Warrington served in both the Pacific and Atlantic and was credited with 2 Japanese aircraft downed near Guadalcanal. (Ron Babuka))
Washington: Enrico Fermi loads the first uranium slug into a plutonium-producing reactor.