October 15th, 1944 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The Eighth Air Force flies 3 missions:
Mission 677: 754 bombers and 464 fighters are dispatched to hit industrial, oil and rail targets in the Cologne, Germany area; all but 1 force bombs by PFF methods; 7 bombers and 3 fighters are lost:
- 454 B-17s are dispatched to hit the Geron (141), Nippes (127) and Kalk (111) marshalling yards; 11 others hit the Koblenz/Lutzel marshalling yard; 4 B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 146 P-51s.
- 385 B-17s are dispatched to hit the Eifeltor (148) and Imbert (24) marshalling yards; secondary targets are the Kalk (117) and Gereon (50) marshalling yards; other targets are Wester marshalling yard (11) and other (1); 2 B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 150 P-51s; 2 P-51s are lost.
- 369 B-24s are dispatched to hit oil facilities at Monheim/Rhenania (64) and Reisholz (61) visually; secondary targets are Cologne/Gereon marshalling yard (185) and Dormigeon (13); targets of opportunity are Worringen (12), Cologne Airfield (12) and Limburg marshalling yard (6); a B-24 is lost. Escort is provided by 131 P-51s; a P-51 is lost.
Mission 678A: 2 B-17s make an unsuccessful APHRODITE attack on naval installations on Heligoland Island, Germany; 23 B-17s fly a cover mission to the same targets. Escort is provided by 15 P-51s and 2 P-38s.
Mission 679: 5 B-17s and 4 B-24s fly a night leaflet mission over the Netherlands, France and Germany.
FRANCE: In the U.S. Seventh Army's XV Corps, area the 313th Infantry Regiment of the 79th Infantry Division tries in vain to dislodge the Germans from the hill mass east of Foret de Parroy. The VI Corps opens a drive on Bruyères in the Vosges mountains, from north, west and south. The 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division, begins clearing the woods north of the town in an effort to cut the Bruyres-Brouvclieures road. The 36th Infantry Division attacks on the west with attached 442d Infantry Regiment (Nisei), which includes the 100th Battalion, recently arrived from Italy, and on south with the 143d Infantry Regiment along the road from Fays. The 3d Infantry Division begins a secret move north in preparation for the drive on St. Die. (Gene Hanson & Jack McKillop)
WESTERN EUROPE: Bad weather prevents Ninth Air Force bomber operations; fighters fly rail cutting missions and support elements of the US First, Third, Seventh, and Ninth Armies in eastern France and western Germany.
GERMANY: The US 7th Army attacks west of Epinal. Fighting continues around Aachen and in the Scheldt estuary.
In the U.S. First Army's XIX Corps area, the 116th Infantry Regiment of the 29th Infantry Division and supporting tanks from 2d Armored Division continue their efforts to close the Aachen gap with frontal attacks but by this time have gained only 1,000 yards (914 meters). A new plan of attack to speed the line-up with the VII Corps is formulated. In VII Corps area, the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, gains most of Observatory Hill, north of Aachen, but the Germans counterattack sharply and recover positions in the northern part; since the 16th Infantry Regiment line near Eilendorf is under strong German pressure, the 1st Infantry Division is ordered to suspend the Aachen offensive temporarily. The 9th Infantry Division’s drive on Schmidt ends far short of the objective; both sides have suffered heavy casualties; 39th Infantry Regiment recovers all ground lost recently and still holds Wittscheidt and Germeter.
During the day, 18 RAF Lancasters attack the Langscheid dam at the Sorpe reservoir, the second most important supply of water for the Ruhr and one of the targets for the original Dams Raid by No 617 Squadron in 1943. Sixteen aircraft drop 12,000 pound (5 443 kilogram) Tallboy bombs or other bombs from 15,000 feet (4 572 meters) and hits are seen on the face of the earth dam but no breach is made. No aircraft lost.
During the night of 15/16 October, RAF Bomber Command sends 506 aircraft, 257 Halifaxes, 241 Lancasters and 8 Mosquitos, on the last of 14 major Bomber Command raids on Wilhelmshaven that began in early 1941; 492 bomb the city. Bomber Command claimed "severe damage" to the business and residential areas. Other night missions by Mosquitos include 43 bombing Hamburg, five bombing Saarbrucken, two hitting Kassel and two attacking Lohausen Airfield at Dusseldorf. Twenty four Halifaxes and Lancasters lay mines in the Kattegat, the body of water between Sweden and Denmark.In a massive display of Allied air superiority, British and American bombers have this weekend battered the Ruhr. Last night the RAF attacked Duisburg in what the air ministry described as its biggest single night operation. The attacks yesterday and today involved 1,013 RAF Lancasters and Halifaxes plus 1,251 USAAF Flying Fortresses and Liberators. Cologne and the Sorpe dam were also hit.
Berlin: Rommel's death, from "war wounds" is announced.
The German light cruiser LEIPZIG was proceeding from Gotenhafen to Swinemunde to load a cargo of mines destined to counter a supposed Allied landing in the Skaggerak. Simultaneously the German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen was steaming towards Gotenhafen to rearm after bombardment operations against Russian forces. At 2005, 2.5 miles east of the Hela Peninsula, in dark and foggy conditions, Prinz Eugen rammed LEIPZIG amidships between the bridge superstructure and the funnel, nearly cutting her in half.
Prinz Eugen was to return to service after emergency repairs on 19 November. The heavily damaged LEIPZIG was never fully repaired. She remained in dockyard hands until January 1945 when it was decided to use her as floating in the defence of Gotenhafen. After action against the Russians in March 1945, she escaped to surrender in Denmark powered only by her diesels. (Ric Pelvin)
U-777 (Type VIIC) is sunk at 2002hrs near Wilhelmshaven, at position 53.51N, 08.10E, by British bombs during an air raid. (Alex Gordon)
FINLAND: Petsamo falls to the Russian 14th Army, important as it contains a major nickel production centre. Nickel is a prime ingredient in armour plate.
U-481 sank Finnish freighters Dan, Endla and Maria.
LATVIA: The Russian 2nd and 3rd Baltic Fronts capture Riga.
HUNGARY: Budapest: Admiral Horthy, the Hungarian regent, has been seized by the Germans a few hours after making a broadcast announcing that he was going to ask for an armistice.
Horthy's overthrow, which involved the kidnapping of his son, was carried out in Operation Mickey Mouse by the SS men Otto "Scarface" Skorzeny and Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski. The operation to kidnap Horthy's son, Miklos, by a team led by Skorzeny's second in command, Adrian von Foelersam is intended to produce a bargaining chip in negotiations with the reluctant Admiral. It was Skorzeny who rescued Mussolini and Zelewski who destroyed Warsaw. The new premier is "acting regent" Major Ferenc Szalasi, the leader of the fascist Arrow Cross, who has pledged to "go on fighting alongside Germany and Japan."
Under his regime, the Jews of Budapest suffer a reign of terror that lasts until the liberation of the city in February 1945. Szalasi fled with the retreating German forces, but is captured by the Americans, who extradite him to Hungary in October 1945. Found guilty by a People's Tribunal of war crimes and crimes against the people, he is executed on 12 March 1946. Horthy is also captured in Bavaira by the Americans at the end of the war and is held in protective custody until the end of 1945, when he is released. He spends the rest of his life in Portugal until his death in 1956.
The operations is followed up today by Operation "Panzerfaust", the near bloodless seizure of Budapest's Government quarter, the Burgberg (Castle Hill) by Skorzeny and elements of the 600.SS-Fallschirmjaeger-Bataillon, as well as Tiger II's of the Heer's schwere Pz.Abt.503. (Russell Folsom)
ARCTIC OCEAN: U-365 set a weather reporting group ashore in South Spitsbergen in the Arctic.
ITALY: Vinchiaturo falls to Canadian units of the British 8th Army.
The US 5th Army has pushed north of the Volturno against stiff German resistance. The Germans are beginning to fall back to the Barbara line.
The Polish 2nd Division captures Bambettola.
In the U.S. Fifth Army area, the South African 6th Armoured Division comes up abreast the U.S. II Corps to their right; with the occupation of the heights northeast of Grizzana, they gains control of lateral Highway 6424. In the U.S. II Corps' 1st Armored Division sector, the Germans continue to defend Monterumici, although this position is being outflanked.
In the British Eighth Army area, V Corps takes Mt. delle Vacche and Mt. Burratini without opposition but is halted short of Mt. Reale and Mt. Romano. In the Canadian I Corps area, Gambettola falls to the New Zealand 2d Division without a fight.
Twelfth Air Force B-25s bomb bridges in the western Po Valley; B-26s hit bridges in the eastern part of the Valley, and have excellent success bombing a railway fill at Ossenigo, trapping 300+ railway cars north of the target; fighters and fighter-bombers concentrate their efforts toward support of ground forces along a wide front in the mountains south of Bologna Bad weather limits strategic operations by the Fifteenth Air Force to weather reconnaissance missions.
During the night of 15/16 October, RAF bombers of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group attack two targets: 57 hit the marshalling yard at Opicina while 13 attack a pontoon bridge at San Benedetto.
YUGOSLAVIA: During the night of 15/16 October, six RAF bombers of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group flies supplies to partisans.
GREECE: After a delay while mines are being cleared, Force 140, consisting of the British III Corps and Greek troops, all commanded by Lieutenant General Sir Ronald Scobie, General Officer Commanding British Troops in Greece, arrives off Piraeus in the evening and goes ashore. General Scobie, upon landing, sets up his headquarters in Athens and orders retreating Germans pursued by land and harassed by air.
CEYLON: British Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command, departs Kandy for Cairo, Egypt, to meet British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
BURMA: The Northern Combat Area Command (NCAC) opens an offensive to clear north Burma and open the supply route to China (Operation CAPITAL), pushing southward from Myitkyina toward a line Katha- Shwegu-Bhamo almost unopposed. The British 36th Division, which has been moving south in the Burma Railway corridor during the monsoon season, continues their drive with the 29th Brigade from the Namma area and is followed by the Chinese 50th Division. In the center, the Chinese 22d Division moves southeast from the Kamaing area in region between the railroad corridor and the Myitkyina-Bhamo road in an effort to secure a bridgehead over the Irrawaddy River at Shwegu. The Chinese 38th Division attacks on the eastern flank to secure the Bhamo-Mansi area. In addition to the Chinese New Sixth and New First Armies, NCAC now has under its command the Chinese 1st Separate Regiment, the U.S. 475th Infantry Regiment (containing Operation GALAHAD survivors) and the U.S. 124th Cavalry Regiment (a Texas National Guard unit), which is to be combined into the 5332d Brig (Provisional), later called Task Force MARS, with the strength of about a division.
40 Tenth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts attack positions in the Mohnyin area and at Man Naung, supply concentrations at Kyungyi, railroad targets in the Mawhun area, ammunition stores at Manwing, and buildings near Muse; 12 B-25s hit the town of Onbauk, storage facilities at Indaw, and vicinity of Thabeikkyin. Transport operations in the CBI continue on a large scale.
CHINA: The Fourteenth Air Force sends 28 B-24s, 33 P-51 Mustangs, and 18 P-40s to attack White Cloud Airfield in Canton and shipping in the Hong Kong area; 2 B-24s bomb Amoy; and 6 fighter-bombers hit targets of opportunity near Mangshih and Tajungchiang.
JAPAN: 4 Eleventh Air Force B-25s on armed reconnaissance over Paramushiru Island, Kurile Islands, turn back when the flight drifts off course; a B-24 strafes a freighter off Shimushiru Island.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Various Japanese positions north of Manila are attacked with airstrikes from US TF 38.
WESTERN PACIFIC: Task Group 30.3 (Rear Admiral Laurance T. DuBose) is formed to cover the retirement of the crippled heavy cruiser USS Canberra (CA-70) and light cruiser USS Houston (CL-81); an augmented Task Group 38.1 (Vice Admiral John S. McCain) provides cover.
Task Groups 38.2 (Rear Admiral Gerald F. Bogan) and TG 38.3 (Rear Admiral Frederick C. Sherman) take up position to waylay Japanese fleet units that might try to attack the damaged ships.
TG 38.4 (Rear Admiral Ralph E. Davison), meanwhile, attacks Japanese installations near Manila. Between 1015 and 1100 hours, F6F Hellcat pilots shoot down 47 Japanese fighters. The aircraft carrier USS Franklin (CV-13) is attacked by 3 enemy aircraft, one of which scores with a bomb that hits the after outboard corner of the deck edge elevator, killing 3 and wounding 22.
Tokyo Rose announces the destruction of Admiral Halsey's Task Force 38 and Emperor Hirohito declares a victory holiday. A tongue-in-cheek Halsey message says all his sunken ships have been salvaged and are retiring toward the enemy.
0400 hours: Submarine USS Tambor (SS-198) sinks a cargo ship at 29-43 N,143-09 E. (Skip Guidry)
Dutch submarine HNMS Zwaardvisch sinks a Japanese oceanographic research vessel by gunfire about 78 nautical miles (144 kilometers) northwest of Surabaya, Java, Netherlands East Indies, in position 06.30S, 111.35E.
VOLCANO ISLANDS: 27 Seventh Air Force B-24s from Saipan strike fuel storage, AA positions, and installations at the airfield on Iwo Jima; 1 other B-24 bombs the airfield at Pagan Island in the Mariana Islands. (John Nicholas and Jack McKillop)
WAKE ISLAND: 2 B-24s from the Marshall Islands bomb Wake Island during the night of 15/16 October.
PALAU ISLANDS, PELELIU: The battered 1st Marine Division is withdrawn from the battle for Peleliu's "Bloody Nose Ridge." The job will be finished by GIs of the 81st Infantry Division. Angaur Island, the first plane lands on Angaur Airfield.
EAST INDIES: Far East Air Forces A-20 Havocs again attack airfields and oil storage on Ceram Island; P-38s carry out a shipping sweep over the Flores Island area in the Lesser Sunda Islands and on Halmahera Island bomb the Pitoe and Kaoe areas; P-38s bomb Amahai Airfield on Ceram Island while bombers on armed reconnaissance hit nearby targets of opportunity.
NEW GUINEA: USAAF Fifth Air Force P-47s attack Sagan Airfield
A Dutch submarine sinks a Japanese oceanographic research vessel off Surabaya, Java. The ship was the 200-ton oceanographic research vessel Kaiyo No. 2; there were actually six of these vessels all with the name Kaiyo and the suffix No. 1 through No. 6. The ships were sometimes called Kaiyo Maru No. n.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: The USN's Special Air Task Force (STAG 1) operations continue as four Interstate TDRs glide bombs are launched against Matupi Island, Birmarck Archipelago, as part of coordinated attack by other Green Island-based USMC PBJ Mitchells, F4U Corsairs and SBD Dauntlesses against Simpson Harbor Rabaul, New Britain Island. Poor picture reception and pilot error results in none of the TDRs hitting their targets.
U.S.A.: During WW II, the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) produced numerous documents, most commonly known are the Intelligence Bulletins. The Military Intelligence Special Series continues with "Japanese Field Artillery." (William L. Howard)
Destroyer escort USS George M Campbell launched.
Heavy cruiser USS Macon launched.
GREENLAND: USCGC Eastwind, supported by Southwind, captured the German trawler Externsteine in East Greenland, 800 miles south of North Pole off Shannon Island, after destroying Nazi radio station on Little Koldewey Island. Eastwind's crew unofficially christens the captured auxiliary "Eastbreeze." Both icebreakers, however, are damaged by pack ice.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: In the North Sea, German submarine U-777 (Type VIIC) is sunk at 2002 hours about 20 nautical miles (37 kilometers) north of Wilhelmshaven, Germany, in position 53.51N, 08.10E, by bombs from RAF aircraft during an air raid. RAF Bomber Command has dispatched 506 aircraft on the last of 14 major raids on Wilhelmshaven that began in early 1941. (Alex Gordon)