This day in the war in Europe 65 years ago

[Hugh Spencer]

18th September
5 Mosquitoes went to Cologne and 49 aircraft went minelaying in the Frisians and off Biscay ports without loss.

[Njaco]

WESTERN FRONT: The US Eighth Air Force's VIII Air Support Command flew Missions 61 and 62 against 3 installations. (1) 25 B-26B Marauders hit Tille Airfield at Beauvais. (2) 18 B-26Bs dispatched to the Rouen marshalling yard and 72 B-26Bs dispatched to the Beaumont le Roger Airfield were recalled because of failure to rendezvous with fighter escort and bad weather, respectively.
....US freighter 'William Pepperell' was attacked by German submarine 'U-260', but the torpedo detonated in the ship's torpedo streamer, causing only minor damage to the freighter herself. There were no casualties to either the 42-man merchant complement or the 26-man Armed Guard.

EASTERN FRONT: Priluki, Lubny and Romodan were retaken by the Soviets during their advance towards Kiev. In the south they took Pavlograd, Krasnograd, Pologi and Nogaysk.

MEDITERRANEAN: US Seventh Army forces took Altavilla, Persano, and Battipaglia without opposition. To aid in the impending breakout from the Salerno beachhead by British and American forces, it became increasingly important to take Potenza, a city which served as a road hub and thus provided a direct communications link between Taranto and Salerno. A force consisting of the West Nova Scotia Regiment with Calgary tanks, RCHA, engineers, machine gun and anti-tank detachments and commanded by Lt-Col Bogert (Boforce) was given the task of liberating this city.
....Boforce left from Villapiani on September 17 then headed inland from Nova Siri, arriving at Sant Archangelo by dusk. There was no enemy opposition. Continuing the northward advance, Boforce moved into Corleto but rubble and blown bridges resulting from Allied bombing caused severe delays. The advance was stopped at Laurenzana by yet another recently destroyed bridge. This bridge was destroyed by retreating enemy.
....US Ninth Air Force B-24 Liberators hit the marshalling yard at Pescara, Italy. US Twelfth Air Force B-17s bombed Viterbo Airfield and the Salerno-Avellino road, while B-25s and B-26s bombed the airfields at Ciampino and Pratica di Mare; B-25s fired 75mm shells at small vessels and a lighthouse near Capraia and between Pianosa and Corsica; P-38 Lightnings on detached service with the Northwest African Tactical Air Force strafed 4 satellite airfields at Foggia and bombed roads, railroads, bridges, and towns in the battle area.
....Sardinia surrendered to the Allies.
....British forces occuppied the islands of Simi, Stampalia and Icaria in the Aegean Sea. German aircraft hit the British airfield on Kos.

ENGLAND: The second prototype Hawker Tempest II fighter made its maiden flight.
....The Political Warfare Executive took over Mussolini's National Fascist Radio frequency to broadcast a false message from an imitation "Mussolini".
....A Halifax bomber operating from Riccall airfield in Yorkshire was brought in for a heavy landing and a tail wheel sheared off. Another Halifax bomber from the same airfield force landed in a field near Lissett, after the starboard inner engine caught fire. Six of the crew were injured. Two more Halifax bombers from the same airfield crashed, the first near Finningley after both starboard engines caught fire at 17,000'. The pilot and two of the crew were killed and two others injured. The second crashed into a row of houses at Chapel Hill, Darrington, Yorkshire. The MOD gave the number of killed as six crew and four civilians, however an eye-witness, who owned one of the houses on which the bomber crashed, stated that eight airmen were killed. The same eye-witness was, with her very young baby, staying with her mother 50 yards away, when the plane crashed, unfortunately her baby suffered the effects of all the fumes from the wreckage and died later aged five months.

[Hugh Spencer]

20th September 1943
8 Mosquitoes went to Berlin and 20 Wellingtons went minelaying off Brest, Lorient and St Nazaire without loss.

[Njaco]

MEDITERRANEAN: Auletta and Potenza fell to the British 8th Army. The US Fifth Army gained firm control of the Salerno plain.
....The advance northwards by Boforce resumed in the morning. Progress was considerably slower than on the previous day; slowed by Teller mines along the route and small rearguard actions conducted by the retreating Germans. Potenza was reached in the evening and the West Novas mounted a night assault across the river (Basento)against a spirited defence. The Calgarys advanced as far as they could until stopped by demolished buildings and mined roadways. Once the obstructions had been removed under cover of darkness, the advance continued into the town on the morning of the 20th. The Germans hastily retreated. The capture of Potenza permitted a link up with elements of the British forces in Auletta 30km west of the Canadian positions.
....Simultaneous to the approach by Boforce on Potenza, two squadrons from 4 Princess Louise Dragoon Guards, assisting 1 Infantry Brigade made a dash for the sea along the line of the main route between Potenza and Taranto. This detachment made contact with and inflicted heavy casualties on an enemy force at Miglionico which lies approximately halfway between Potenza and Taranto.
....US Twelfth Air Force fighter-bombers and planes of other Northwest African Tactical Air Force elements [US and RAF] concentrated on attacking roads and vehicles in the Benevento-Montesarchio-Contursi-Potenza-Avellino areas, and a railway station at Castelnuovo.

WESTERN FRONT: The US Eighth Air Force's VIII Air Support Command flew Missions 63 and 64 against 2 airfields. 18 B-26Bs hit Nord Airfield at Lille but clouds prevented the 2nd group from bombing. 72 B-26s dispatched to Merville airfield were recalled due to weather.
....German submarine 'U-341' was sunk southwest of Iceland, by depth charges from an RCAF Liberator Mk III, s/n 586, aircraft "A" of No 10 (Bomber Reconnaissance) Squadron based at Gander, Newfoundland, flown by Flight Lieutenant R.F. Fisher and crew. All hands, 50-men, on the U-boat were lost. The aircraft was returning to Gander from Iceland after escorting Prime Minister Winston Churchill in HMS 'Renown' from the Quebec Conference.

EASTERN FRONT: Yartsevo and Dukovachina NE of Smolensk fell to the Soviets.

[Njaco]

EASTERN FRONT: General Yeremenko's forces liberated Velizh, northwest of Smolensk. After weeks of bitter fighting, Kholm fell to Red Army forces. Heeresgruppe Sud began its withdrawl to the Melitopol-Zaporoshe line.
....Lt. Erich Hartmann, Staffelkapitaen of 9./JG 52, claimed his 100th victory. German observers noted a LaGG-3 plunging earthwards while on the Russian side the loss of a Yak-7 of 288th Fighter Division of the 17th Army was reported. At least 11 victories were claimed over the sector where Hartmann was operating that day.

MEDITERRANEAN: The Allies launched an assault on Naples as British and US units link up at Eboli and formed a solid line from Salerno to Bari. Canadian units of the British 8th Army entered Potenza. General Lucas took command of US VI Corps from General Dawley. The US Seventh Army started into the mountains north of Salerno.
....The US Ninth Air Force flew its last mission to Italy. B-24s of 98th and 376th Bombardment Groups (Heavy) were dispatched to the Castelfranco Veneto marshalling yard. Clouds obscured the target, but the 98th Group dropped bombs on the estimated time of arrival. The 376th bombed a marshalling yard and airfield at Pescara during the return trip.
....US Twelfth Air Force B-17s and B-26s bombed the Castelnuovo road junction, the town of Formia, the Torre Annunziata area roads, and roads and railroad southwest of Sarno; XII Air Support Command A-36 Apaches attacked and dispersed enemy tank and troop concentrations forming near Nocera for a counterattack. Other USAAF and RAF aircraft of the Northwest African Tactical Air Force hit enemy movement in the Avellino-Naples-Potenza-Benevento-Calabritto-Pomigliano-Pescopagano areas.

WESTERN FRONT: The German submarine 'U-338' was listed as missing in the North Atlantic in approximate position 57N, 30W. All 51 hands on the U-boat were lost.
....German submarine 'U-238' attacked New York-bound convoy ON 202, torpedoing U.S. freighters 'Frederick Douglass' and 'Theodore Dwight Weld'. British rescue ship 'Rathlin' rescued all hands (40-men merchant complement, 29-man Armed Guard, and one female stowaway) from 'Frederick Douglass', which remained afloat until finished off later the same day by 'U-645'. 'Theodore Dwight Weld ' sank so quickly that 20 of the 42-man merchant complement and 13 of the 28-man Armed Guard perished. 'Rathlin' rescued the survivors. Whilst escorting convoy ON 202, destroyer HMS 'Logan' had her stern blown off by a Zaunkoenig fired by 'U-270'. She was towed back to the UK by the tug 'Destiny', but was not repaired. Destroyer 'St Croix' was torpedoed by 'U-305' and brought to a stop. Another torpedo fired by the same U-boat sank her a few hours later. 80 survivors were taken aboard HMS 'Itchen'. Flower class corvette HMS 'Polyanthus' was sunk by 'U-952' using a Zaunkoenig. There were 84 casualties.
....U.S. freighter 'William Pepperell' was again attacked by German submarine 'U-260', but with the same result as two days before. Again, there were no casualties and the ship ultimately reached port under her own power.
....British commandos launched an attack on the German battleship 'Tirpitz' at its anchorage in Alta Fjord. The six midget (4-man crew) submarines were sent against the anchorage. Three were lost before reaching the target, but the survivors succeeded in damaging the ship, knocking it out of action for six months.

[Hugh Spencer]

21st September 1943
26 aircraft went minelaying in the Frisians and off Brest without loss.

[Hugh Spencer]

22nd September 1943
322 Lancasters, 226 Halifaxes, 137 Stirlings and 26 Wellingtons attacked Hannover, its first major raid for 2 years. This was the first of a series of 4 heavy raids on this target with the loss of 26 aircraft. 5 American B-17s also took part, their first night raid on Germany. Visibility in the target area was good but stronger winds than forecast caused the marking and the bombing to be concentrated between 2 and 5 miles south south east of the city centre. It was not possible to obtain a German report but it is unlikely that serious damage was caused.
21 Lancasters and 8 Mosquitoes of 8 Group carried out a diversionary raid, dropping much Window and many flares and target indicators to simulate the arrival of a larger force. The losses on the Hannover raid, lower than the recent average, may have indicated that this tactic was partially successful. No aircraft were lost on this diversionary raid.
12 Mosquitoes went on a further diversion to Emden and 4 Stirlings went minelaying in the Frisians.

[Hugh Spencer]

23rd September 1943
312 Lancaasters, 193 Halifaxes, 115 Stirlings, 8 Mosquitoes and 5 B-17s attacked Mannheim, 32 aircraft lost.
This raid was intended to destroy the northern part of Mannheim which had not been so severely hit in the successful raid earlier in the month. The Pathfinder plan worked well and concentrated bombing fell on the intended area, although later stages of the raid crept back across the northern edge of Ludwigshafen and out into the open country. The following buildings were destroyed in Mannheim: 927 houses, 20 industrial premises, 11 schools, 6 public buildings and a church. A large number of other buildings were damaged and approximately 25,000 people were bombed out of their homes. 102 people were killed and 418 were injured. There were more than 2,000 fires. Local records, provided on this night by Herr Erwin Folz and not from the local authorities, show that the later stages of the bombing crept back across the Rhine to the northern part of Ludwigshafen, where the I.G. Farben factory was severely damaged, and the to the smaller outlying towns of Oppau and Frankenthal. Ludwigshafen suffered 47 people killed and 260 injured. A firther 8,000 people were bombed out of whom 4,289 were foreign workers. The centre of the small town of Frankenthal was completely burnt out and 38 people were killed there.
21 Lancasters and 8 Mosquitoes of 8 Group carried out a diversionary raid on Darmstadt without loss. The diversionary purpose of this raid was not achieved because Darmstadt was too close to Mannheim and the German nightfighters could see the main attack only 20 miles away quite clearly. But the small force of bombers caused much damage in this university town which had little industry and which had not been seriously bombed before. 273 buildings were damaged and 147 people were killed.
6 Mosquitoes went to Aachen.

[Njaco]

EASTERN FRONT: A Soviet Army spearhead reached the Dnieper River 50 miles (80 kilometres) south of Kiev, and another force took Chernigov-on-the-Desna, a provincial capital northeast of Kiev. Since the Battle of Stalingrad, the Soviet Army has liberated half the Soviet territory overrun by the Germans.

MEDITERRANEAN: In Italy, in the British 15th Army Group area, General Sir Harold Alexander outlined plans for future operations in four phases: (1) consolidation of current positions on a line Salerno-Bari; (2) capture of Naples and Foggia; (3) seizure of Rome and neighboring airfields as well as the communications center of Terni; and (4) eventual capture of Leghorn, Florence, and Arezzo.
....In the U.S. Fifth Army's VI Corps area, the 3d and 45th Infantry Divisions continued north over the mountains from Salerno toward the east-west Highway 7, meeting delaying opposition just south of Acerno and west of Oliveto, respectively. The 34th Infantry Division, whose 133dd Infantry Regiment was to reinforce VI Corps for the drive on Avellino, began landing at Paestum.
....In the air, USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-17s hit a bridge and the town area at Benevento; B-25s and B-26s hit landing craft and a ferry near Elba Island and bridges at Cancello Arnone and Capua; B-24s on detached service from the Eighth Air Force in England, bombed Leghorn and Bastia; medium bombers and fighter-bombers hit town areas, troop concentrations, trucks and tanks, and targets of opportunity in the Solofra-Avellino-Benevento areas.
....'U-593' fired two spreads of two torpedoes at the convoy NSS-3 about 45 miles south of Salerno, heard one detonation from the first and observed one hit from the second spread and reported one freighter probably sunk and another damaged. However, only the 'William W. Gerhard' (Master Olof J. Anderson) in station #13 was hit by one torpedo on the port side in the middle of the #1 hold. The explosion lifted the bow up, broke steam and water lines and buckled the deck. As the ship settled by the bow, a large crack appeared on both sides and caused the flooding of #3 hold. The eight officers, 38 crewmen, 30 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in, one 3in and eight 20mm guns) and 191 passengers (US and British Army personnel) abandoned ship in four lifeboats, four rafts and 15 floats. The crew was ordered by the escort commander to reboard the vessel and to stand by for a tow. The remaining survivors were picked up by the escort vessels and taken to Salerno on 22 September. One armed guard was killed by the explosion and another died of wounds aboard the British hospital ship HMHS 'Vita' on 23 September. Three crew members and six armed guards were injured and hospitalized.

WESTERN FRONT: French troops, shipped across the Mediterranean from North Africa in the past nine nights, were advancing into the interior of Corsica. So far over 3,000 have come ashore. More were landing from the Free (Fighting) French cruisers 'Jeanne d'Arc' and 'Montcalm' and the destroyers 'Le Fantasque' and 'Le Terrible' every night. The Free French commandos were supporting 20,000 mostly communist resistance fighters, who rose up after the Italian surrender, took to the Maquis (the Corsican interior, a traditional hiding place for outlaws), and were now fighting a garrison reinforced to 26,000 men after the German evacuation of Sardinia. This was the first wholly Free French operation on French home territory.
....The US Eighth Air Force's VIII Air Support Command flew Mission 65: 44 B-26B Marauders hit the Tille Airfield at Beauvais at 0937-0938 hours; bad weather caused 20+ to abort; they claimed 1-0-0 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1 B-26 was lost.
....Fw. Hans Dirksen of 8./JG 26 (5 kills) was killed in action.

ENGLAND: A Halifax bomber operating from Riccall airfield in Yorkshire, burst a tyre on take-off, the aircraft swung on landing and the undercarriage collapsed.
....A Dornier Do 217K was held in a searchlight's beam and hit the ground at Out Newton near Withernsea, Yorkshire at 01.05, the crew were all killed.

[Njaco]

WESTERN FRONT: USAAF Eighth Air Force’s VIII Air Support Command flew Mission 66 against 2 airfields. 72 B-26s were dispatched to Tille Airfield at Beauvais but aborted due to bad weather, and 70 of 72 B-26s hit Fauville Airfield at Evreux.
....The 'Tirpitz', in Altenfiord, was attacked by British midget submarines. These two man subs had been towed behind conventional fleet submarines from Loch Cairnbawn in Scotland to a point 150 miles from Altenfjord. They were code named "X-craft" and were powered by engines from London buses. Their only weapons were two detachable charges with clockwork detonators, dropped below the target. They had a crew of four. Six set out: two (X-8 and X-9) were lost in transit and one had to be scuttled, but three got through the mines and approached the target. Attacks on 'Tirpitz' had been allocated to X-5, X-6 and X-7, with X-8 to make an attack on 'Lützow', and X-9 and X-10 to attack 'Scharnhorst'. Since X-8 and X-9 were lost before reaching the Norwegian coast, the attacks intended to be made against 'Scharnhorst' and 'Lützow' were abandoned, and X-10 reallocated to make an attack on 'Tirpitz'.
....Lt. Cameron in X-6 lost his periscope and attacked blind. He was sighted, but was too close to the 'Tirpitz' to be engaged by other than small-arms, and laid his charges before scuttling his boat. Lt. Place in X-7 was caught in nets, escaped, laid his charges under the ship, was caught in nets again, and then was blown free by the explosion, but X-7 was damaged and had to be abandoned. All of the X-6 crew were captured and brought aboard the 'Tirpitz', only the commander and one of the crew of X-7 were able to abandon their craft (the other two men lacking sufficient oxygen for their (DSEA) escape equipment) and taken prisoner, where they had the rather unusual experience of being able to witness their success at first hand.
....At 8.12 am, the 46,000-ton battleship was blown up. The blast lifted the ship several feet out of the water, disabling her three main engines and leaving her with a 15 degree list. Repair would disable 'Tirpitz' until March, 1944.
....Submarine X-10, commanded by an Australian, Lt. Hudspethm attacked after X-6 but was sunk with all hands. X-10 had suffered from a number of faults which made her close to unnavigable underwater. When the crew heard the others' charges explode, on the morning of 22 Sept., they decided to abandon their part in the operation and made a successful rendezvous six days later with towing submarine HMS 'Stubborn'. However, it was then decided to scuttle X-10, rather than risk the lives of a passage crew to bring the craft back to the UK under tow.
....The third midget submarine X-5 was last seen in close proximity to the 'Tirpitz' but its precise fate was not known, but recent underwater discoveries at Kaafjord (at the head of the Altenfjord) now suggest that it, too, may have been successful in reaching its target. The 6 survivors of the operation remained POW's until the end of the war; both commanders were awarded the Victoria Cross.
....German submarine 'U-229' was sunk in the North Atlantic southeast of Cape Farewell, Greenland, by depth charges from the RN destroyer HMS 'Keppel'. All hands on the U-boat, 50-men, were lost.
....Whilst escorting convoy (sic) OB.202 frigate HMS 'Itchen' was torpedoed by 'U-666' which caused her forward magazine to explode and the ship sank almost immediately. At the time she was carrying 80 survivors from 'St Croix' as well as her own ship’s company. There were 147 casualties, and only 3 survivors.
....On his first "Wilde Sau" night mission with 5./JG 301, Obfw. Kurt Welter shot down 2 RAF bombers. Hptm. Martin 'Tino' Becker of 2./NJG 6 scored his first night victory.

MEDITERRANEAN: U.S. Fifth Army directed the British X Corps to seize Naples and U.S. VI Corps to secure the line Avellino-Teora. The VI Corps was to be prepared to continue to Benevento. In VI Corps area, the 3d and 45th Infantry Divisions overcame opposition barring their advance. The 3d occupied Acerno and the 45th Oliveto. In the British Eighth Army area, the Indian 8th Division arrived from Africa. In 5 Corps area, a special force (elements of the 78th Division and of the 4th Armoured Brigade), under 78th Division command, landed at Bari, during the night of 22/23 September, to drive to Foggia.
....In the air, USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-25s and B-26s bombed roads, railroad, and bridges at or near San Martino Sannita, Grottaminarda, Amorosi, and Mignano; B-25s attacked small vessels near Elba Island with 75mm cannon fire; tactical aircraft hit troop concentrations and gun positions near Serino and Santa Lucia di Serino, a road block at Nocera, town and roads at Fisciano, the town of Pagani, tanks and trucks between Acerno and Montella and in the Foggia area, vessels and docks at Manfredonia, the town of Camarella, and the landing ground at Capua.
....The US Ninth Air Force flew its final mission from North Africa. B-24s bombed Maritsa Airfield on Rhodes and Eleusis Airfield in Greece. The bomb groups of IX Bomber Command subsequently were transferred to the US Twelfth Air Force.
....After two weeks of heavy fighting, the Italian “Acqui” Division surrendered to the Germans. 1500 Italians died in the fighting. Of the survivors of the fighting on Cephalonia 5000 were murdered and the rest sent to labor camps.

EASTERN FRONT: There was fierce fighting at Poltava as the Germans began to pull out. Anapa in the Kuban and Novomoskovosk, north of Dnepropetrovsk, fell to the Soviet Army.
....Oblt. Walter Nowotny was awarded the Schwerter (#37) and promoted to Hauptmann.

ENGLAND: A brand new Halifax bomber and operating from Melbourne airfield in Yorkshire started on the bombing mission to Hanover. On its run up to the target, it was attacked by a Messerschmitt Me 110, the crew were uninjured and there was no fire, but the damage to the aircraft became apparent as the flight progressed. The pilot ordered the instant release of all the bombs, as they were still in the target area, but the bomb doors would not open. A further check revealed that the radar set was out of action, a hole 5' by 3' was found in the fuselage and a cannon shell was found embedded in the bullet proof panel behind the pilot's head.
....The next problem was how to get rid of the 4,000 lb bomb and despite many attempts to get rid of it, it remained stuck. Arriving back over the airfield the CO ordered the crew to bale out. The pilot turned the aircraft towards Hull, over Patrington it circled while the crew baled out, he then set the automatic pilot, turned the plane towards the sea and baled out himself.
....Local army units were alerted, the crew collected and taken back to base to be debriefed. After the rear-gunner (the airman awarded the DFM on 3rd August) baled out, he landed close to the edge of a cliff, and as it was dark , he instinctively moved away from the sea, struggling through three barbed wire fences he found himself on a country road, near to what he took to be a direction sign, only when he had read it did he realized he had just stumbled through a minefield. It read, 'DANGER - MINED LAND - KEEP OUT'.

[Hugh Spencer]

24th September 1943
4 Mosquitoes went to Duisburg and 39 aircraft went minelaying in the Frisians and south of Texel, 1 Stirling lost.

[Hugh Spencer]

25th September 1943
8 Mosquitoes went to Cologne and Dusseldorf and 10 Stirlings went minelaying in the Frisians without loss.

[Hugh Spencer]

26th September 1943
5 Mosquitoes went to Aachen and 4 each to Cologne and Hamborn without loss. The 5 Mosquitoes attacking Aachen were carrying out the first trials of Mark 11 Oboe but the equipment failed and bombs were released visually or on dead reckoning.

[Hugh Spencer]

27th September 1943
312 Lancasters, 231 Halifaxes, 111 Stirlings, 24 Wellingtons and 5 B-17s attacked Hannover with the loss of 38 RAF aircraft and 1 B-17. The use by the Pathfinders of faulty forecast winds again saved the centre of Hannover. The bombing was very concentrated but fell on an area 5 miles north of the city centre. No details were available from Germany but RAF photographic evidence showed that most of the bombs fell in open country or villages north of the city. One of the lost Lancasters was ED314 QR-Y from 61 Sqdn but only one aircrew is recorded, Sgt E. Fraser.
21 Lancasters and 6 Mosquitoes of 8 Group carried out a diversionary raid on Brunswick which was successful in drawing off some night fighters. 218 people were killed in Brunswick - 51 Germans and 167 foreigners. 1 Lancaster was lost.
9 Mosquitoes went on another diversion to Emden, 5 Mosquitoes on Oboe tests to Aachen (3 were successful) and 19 aircraft minelaying in the Kattegat and the Frisians without loss.

[Hugh Spencer]

28th September 1943
8 Mosquitoes attacked Cologne and Gelsenkirchen without loss.