This day in the war in Europe 65 years ago

[Njaco]

WESTERN FRONT: The USAAF Eighth Air Force’s VIII Bomber Command flew Mission 100 against three targets: 46 B-17s bombed the Nantes port area and claimed 22-1-3 Luftwaffe aircraft. 55 B-17s hit Meucon Airfield at Vannes and 53 63 B-17s hit Bastard Airfield at Kerlin claiming 2-0-0 Luftwaffe aircraft. 1 B-17 was lost.
....Free French forces occuppied Bonifaccio, Corsica. They now controled more than half of the island.
....German minesweeper M-343 collided with 'U-962' in Danish waters causing some damage to the U-boat.
....Several ships were lost during Convoy ON-202. 'U-238' sank SS 'Fort Jemseg', 'Oregon Express' and 'Skjelbred' in the convoy and 'U-952' damaged SS 'James Gordon Bennett' and sank SS 'Steel Voyager' . Although reboarded when Canadian corvette HMCS 'Morden' and Free French corvette 'Renoncule' arrived to provide assistance, 'Steel Voyager' was abandoned a second time when it became obvious that the ship could not be gotten underway. All hands (39-man merchant complement and 27-man Armed Guard) were taken on board the two corvettes.Corvette HMCS 'Morden' was then attacked by 'U-666' . 'U-666' fired a Gnat, which detonated after 8 minutes 21 seconds in the wake of 'HMCS 'Morden'. At 02.01 hours, the U-boat fired another Gnat, which hit HMS 'Itchen' (K 227) after 1 minute 10 seconds. The frigate blew up after the hit. Debris from the vessel was later found on the conning tower of the U-boat and on HMCS 'Morden' .
....'U-422' was attacked by a Liberator aircraft from 10 RAF Squadron. A few crewmembers were wounded and the boat was damaged. The boat was depth charged and gunned by the allied aircraft (reported by the boat as "Halifax"). Asking for medical assistance the boat finally met the tanker 'U-460' on the 29th of September.


GERMANY: The USAAF Eighth Air Force’s VIII Bomber Command flew Mission 102: 4 B-17s of the 422d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 305th Bombardment Group (Heavy), bombed Mannheim with the RAF in a night attack.

MEDITERRANEAN: The U.S. Fifth Army began a general advance. The British X Corps, making the main effort, attacked toward the Nocera-Pagani Pass on the left with the 46th Division. The 56th Division drove northward on the Salerno-San Severino road but firm enemy opposition made progress slow. In the U.S. VI Corps area, the 3d and 45th Infantry Divisions continued northward, hampered more by extensive demolitions than by the enemy. Engineers were playing an important role in keeping routes of advance open. The British Eighth Army drove the enemy from Altamura.
....In the air, USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-26s bombed bridges at Cancello Arnone and 3 miles (4,8 km) northeast of Capua; light bombers and fighter-bombers attacked motor transport, roads, railroads, town areas, gun positions, and targets of opportunity in the areas of San Severino Rota, Avellino, Sarno, Torre Annunziata, Aversa, Nocera, Resina, Serino, Pompeii, and Camarella.
....Three British sergeants were sentenced to death by firing squad, and 189 corporals and other ranks were given long prison sentences, for mutiny after the Salerno landings. The men, from the 51st Highland Division and the 50th (Northumbrian) Division, all of whom were wounded in North Africa, had been rushed to the beach-head without proper orders. In the past their divisional commanders had said that they could insist on their right to rejoin their old battalions, so they refused to join the English country regiments. The sentences were suspended when the men agreed to fight with the new units.

[Njaco]

EASTERN FRONT: Heavy fighting was in progress in the vicinity of Smolensk and Roslavl. The Soviet Army captured Borispol, east of Kiev while Army Group Center prepared to abandon Smolensk and Roslavl.
....'U-711' used its deck gun to attack the Soviet radio station Blagopolucya on the island of Nova Zemlja in the Barents Sea.

WESTERN FRONT: The US Eighth Air Force's VIII Air Support Command flew Missions 69 and 70 against 2 airfields without loss. 71 B-26B Marauders hit Fauville Airfield at Evreux and claimed 0-1-0 Luftwaffe aircraft while 66 B-26Bs hit Tille Airfield at Beauvais.
....'U-387' put a weather reporting unit ashore on Spitsbergen in the Arctic Sea.
....16 Mosquitoes of the RAF Banff Wing attacked and sank the 'Biber' and 'Storfsund' off of Hjeltefjord. Accurate flak was encountered with one Mosquito landing at Banff minus a large chunk of leading edge.

MEDITERRANEAN: In the British Eighth Army's 5 Corps area, 78th Division patrols reached the Ofanto River. In the air, the USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-25s and B-26s hit roads, railways, bridges, and junctions at Grottaminarda, Maddaloni, Benevento, Avellino, Capua, Cancello Arnone, Amorosi, Ponte, and Mignano, and attacked a destroyer between Corsica and Elba Island; B-24s on detached service from the Eighth Air Force bombed the marshalling yard at Pisa; US and RAF planes attacked vehicles, roads, troop concentrations, and gun positions around Santa Lucia di Serino, Serino, Caserta, Benevento, Camarella, Baronissi, Nocera, Montemarano, and San Severo.

[Njaco]

WESTERN FRONT: The US Eighth Air Force's VIII Air Support Command flew Mission 71: 68 B-26B Marauders hit Longuenesse Airfield at St Omer without loss.
....At the end of the Battle of Convoys ONS-18 and ON-202, 20 U-boats have sunk 36,422 tons of merchant shipping and three escorts; British ships sank three U-boats and damaged a further three.

MEDITERRANEAN: Gen Bernard Montgomery began regrouping the British Eighth Army to strengthen the eastern flank. V Corps, which was to include the 5th, 1st Airbourne, and the Indian 8th Divisions, was initially to remain in the Taranto area while XIII Corps, with the 78th Division on the right and the Canadian 1st Division on the left, continued an advance. V Corps was later to move forward behind XIII Corps and secure its left flank.
....In the air, the USAAF Twelfth Air Force dispatched about 90 B-17s to bomb the Bologna marshalling yard; 14 others attacked the Bolzano railroad bridge; B-25s and B-26s bombed airfields at Pisa, Lucca, and Bastia/Borgo, a highway at Mignano, a road junction at Maddaloni, and railroad and road bridges at Cancello Amone, Caiazzo, and Ponte; USAAF and RAF fighters attacked Serino (causing a roadblock), troop concentrations at Sarno, gun positions, troops, and vehicles near Nocera, Aquino airfield, a storage dump north of Foggia and a dredger at Termoli.
.... CSM Peter Harold Wright (1916-1990), Coldstream Guards, took charge of an assault on a hill after losing most officers. He silenced three gun posts in securing the position. (Victoria Cross).
....'U-667' shot down RAF Wellington, Squadron 179/F in the Gibraltar Straits. Minesweeper USS 'Skill' was sunk after being torpedoed by 'U-593' south of Capri, Italy.

EASTERN FRONT: Smolensk and Roslavl fell to the Soviets of General Popov's Bryansk Front. This was perhaps the most important success of the Russian Army since the end of the Battle of Kursk. The general German retreat from here south had been forced by the Russians. It was been ordered to stop at the Dniepr River. The retreat, long urged by Manstein, was too late to be of great value to the Germans. Describing the action which liberated Smolensk after several days of heavy fighting, Moscow reported that Popov's men broke into the northern suburbs and drove the Germans back street by street until the city was cleared. The Germans admitted that Smolensk had fallen, but claimed that it was evacuated by their rearguard in the face of advancing Russian forces "after completing the most important and necessary measures and demolition of important military installations."
....Berlin Radio reported that bad weather prevented the Luftwaffe from intervening in the battle and that "the German formations were faced with the extremely difficult task of holding their positions against the numerically superior enemy."
....Roslavl, 37 miles south-east of Smolensk, also fell to the Red Army, and fighting was now raging along a 300-mile front on the eastern approaches to the Dnieper. Stalin promised to award Russia's highest decoration, the Hero of the Soviet Union, to any soldiers who force crossings of the Dnieper, and there were reports that small bridgeheads had been established in the Rzhintsev/Kanev region, south of Kiev. It was likely that these bridgeheads were made by Cossack horsemen who specialized in river crossings, swimming their horses across at night, above and below German strongpoints, and then attacking from the rear. The Russians pointed out that the Germans had not yet been able to hold a river line, and did not expect them to hold the Dnieper. But the Russians also have their problems. A paratroop drop on the western bank met with disaster.
....In the Orel area, Hptm. Walter Nowotny, Gruppenkommandeur of I./JG 54 and at that time, the highest scoring ace in the Luftwaffe, shot down his 235th enemy aircraft.

[Njaco]

WESTERN FRONT: The US Eighth Air Force's VIII Bomber Command flew Mission 103 against targets in France with the loss of 1 B-17. 40 B-17s hit Champagne Airfield at Reims and 55 B-17s were dispatched to the Paris area but abandoned the mission after crossing the enemy coast. 63 B-17s dispatched to Meulon Les Mureaux and Citroen in the Paris area were prevented from bombing by the weather. 72 B-26B Marauders of the US Eighth Air Force's VIII Air Support Command were dispatched to Conches Airfield during Mission 72 but were recalled due to weather.
....Major Herrmann stepped down as Geschwaderkommodore of JG 300 and was replaced by Oblt. Kurt Kettner.

EASTERN FRONT: Soviet troops penetrated the suburbs of Kiev. A decision was made to withdraw the Spanish Blue Division from the Eastern front.
....Ofw. Josef Kociok, a 33 victory night-fighter, collided with the Russian DB-3 he had just shot down over Kertsch. When he and his crewman, Fw. Wegerhoff jumped out of their Bf 110G-2, Kociok's parachute did not open and he fell to his death. Ofw. Kociok of 10(N)./NJG 1 formerly flew with ZG 76 and the old II./SKG 210, achieving 21 night kills, 15 of them in 12 days. Posthumously he was promoted to Leutnant.

MEDITERRANEAN: The British X Corps met no resistance due to German withdrawals. The demolitions and booby traps proved to be plenty of resistance. Advance units from the US XIII Corps 8th Army entered Canosa on the Ofanto River. The U.S. Fifth Army's British X Corps continued its efforts to break out into the Neapolitan plain; enemy positions were beginning to weaken under its blows. To reinforce the west flank, the U.S. 82d Airborne Division was transferred to Maiori by sea and, under X Corps control, took command of the Rangers. VI Corps was handicapped by autumn rains as well as demolitions, but the 45th Infantry Division took Teora and the junction of Highways 7 and 91. In the British Eighth Army area, XIII Corps patrols reached Canosa. The 15th Army Group was directed by General Dwight Eisenhower to secure air bases in Rome area. The 1,432 men of the US 100th battalion entered combat.
....In the air, USAAF Twelfth Air Force fighters, and light and medium bombers patrolled the battle zone, escorted convoys, carried out bombing and strafing sweeps against motor transport in the Benevento-Melfi area and north of Foggia, bombed the Pomigliano landing ground, and hit the town of Sarno and military concentrations to the north. Bad weather prevented heavy bomber missions.
....The island of Corfu surrendered to a German force that has recently landed there.
....German Ju-88 bombers sank destroyers HMS 'Intrepid' and HS 'Vasilissa Olga' in Leros, Dodecanese.

ENGLAND: At 10.45 a Halifax bomber on a training flight from Riccall airfield in Yorkshire, crash landed, ½ a mile N of Riccall, after a three engine overshoot.

[Hugh Spencer]

29th September 1943
213 Lancasters, 130 Halifaxes and 9 Mosquitoes attacked Bochum, 9 aircraft lost. The Oboe-assisted Pathfinder plan worked perfectly and led to accurate and concentrated bombing. In the Bochum air-raid area, which included 3 small towns near by, 527 houses were destroyed and 742 were seriously damaged. The Altstadt is mentioned as having been particularly hard hit. 161 people were killed, including 33 foreign workers and prisoners of war, and 337 people were injured.
11 Mosquitoes went to Gelsenkirchen and 14 Lancasters went minelaying off Danzig, Gdynia and Pillau in the Baltic without loss.

[Hugh Spencer]

1st October 1943
243 Lancasters and 8 Mosquitoes of 5 Group attacked Hagen, 2 Lancaster lost. This raid was a complete success achieved on a completely cloud covered target of small size with only a moderate bomber effort and at trifling cost. The Oboe skymarking was perfect and severe damage was caused in Hagen. There was the usual housing damage but 2 of the town's 4 industrial areas were severely hit and a third suffered lesser damage. Hagen reported that 46 industrial firms, not individual buildings, were deatroyed and 166 were damaged. In his post-war interrogation, Albert Speer stated that the destruction in Hagen of an important factory making accumulator batteries slowed down the output of U-boats considerably. Speer did not mention this raid specifically but Hagen was not heavily attacked again until December 1944. Other details from the Hagen report: 3,480 fires of which 100 were large and 715 medium-sized, 241 German and 25 foreigners killed, 2,386 Germans and 135 foreigners wounded and 30,000 people bombed out.
At the same time as the main attack on Hagen was ending, 12 Oboe Mosquitoes were despatched to attack a steelworks at Witten, northwest of Hagen, for training purposes. 8 Mosquitoes bombed at Witten and 2, whose Oboe equipment failed, dropped their bombs on the fires burning in Hagen. No aircraft were lost.
During September 1943 1,211 RAF aircrew were lost, killed or POW.

[Njaco]

WESTERN FRONT: The US Eighth Air Force's VIII Air Support Command flew Missions 73 and 74 against 2 airfields in France. 65 72 B-26B Marauders hit Tille Airfield at Beauvais and claimed 4-6-4 Luftwaffe aircraft. 68 of 72 B-26's hit Conches Airfield and 1 B-26 was lost.
....Two German submarines were sunk. 'U-161' was sunk in the South Atlantic near Bahia, Brazil, by depth charges from a USN PBM-3 Mariner of Patrol Squadron Seventy Four (VP-74) based at Natal, Brazil. All 53 hands on the U-boat were lost; 2 crewmen in the PBM were wounded by AA fire from the U-boat. 'U-221' shot down an RAF Handley Page Halifax aircraft (Sqdn. 58/B) but was sunk southwest of Ireland by depth charges from the same aircraft, an RAF Halifax Mk II of No 58 Squadron based at Holmsley South, Hampshire, England. All 50 hands on the U-boat were lost.
....The Gruppenkommandeur of I./NJG 1, Hptm. Hans-Dieter Frank - a Ritterkreuz holder with 55 kills - was killed in action during the night.

GERMANY: The US Eighth Air Force's VIII Bomber Command flew 2 missions. Mission 104: The port of Emden, Germany was the target. In the first pathfinder (PFF) mission, 2 of 3 H2S equipped pathfinder B-17s lead the mission. 246 B-17s hit the Emden industrial area and targets of opportunity and claimed 32-7-24 Luftwaffe aircraft. 7 B-17s were lost while escort was provided by 262 P-47 Thunderbolts which claimed 21-2-6 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1 P-47 was lost.

EASTERN FRONT: The Soviets reached the suburbs of Dnepropetrovsk. In the Kuban, the Russians captured Temryuk, their last port. There was a general withdrawl of all German forces in the Ukraine to positions on the west bank of the Dnepr.
....JG 5 lost no less than 5 Bf 109G-2s from I./JG 5, II./JG 5 and IV./JG 5 during take-off accidents at Herdla, Norway. Luckily, only Fw. Hans Fiebrandt was injured.

MEDITERRANEAN: Foggia greeted the advance units of the British 8th Army. The airfields were now in Allied hands. The capture of Foggia brought with it the massive airbase, allowing the Allies to stage future raids throughout the Balkans and southern Germany and Poland. The main body of the 8th Army was still not ready. Canadian units captured Melfi, Italy. The people in Naples began an insurrection against Germans, which would last through to the end of the month.
....Weather almost halted US Twelfth Air Force operations; XII Air Support Command fighters strafed Viterbo Airfield and Bracciano seaplane base, bombed a road junction at San Servero, and strafed a locomotive and the train station; other Northwestern Tactical Air Force aircraft hit trucks in the Benevento area.
....The Germans took full control of the island of Corfu having wiped out the Italian garrison.
....Destroyer HMS 'Intrepid' was damaged by two air raids on the port of Leros and abandoned. Considered to be beyond repair, she capsized. There were 15 casualties.

[Njaco]

MEDITERRANEAN: The British X Corps arrived on the plain of Naples at Nocera and continued their advance. The US VI Corps advanced near Avellino and captured Teora, Italy. The US Fifth Army was ready for an assault on Naples and Avellino while Caistellamare di Stabia, Nocera, and Sala Consilina were taken.
....Weather prevented completion of US Twelfth Air Force B-17 missions against the Bologna marshalling yard and the Bolzano railroad bridge, except for a B-17 which bombed Bolzano. Tactical aircraft operations were also severely curtailed by weather but fighter-bombers bombed and strafed motor transport in the Benevento-Caserta area.
.... A Bf 110 of 2(F)./122 was lost east of Corsica – possibly shot down by a Cptn Gauthier of GC II/7. Crew status unknown.

GERMANY: A prototype high-speed U-boat, 'U-792', was launched; this was the first of four experimental submarines of this type. These boats were powered by a Walter gas turbine using hydrogen peroxide in a stabilized form called Perhydrol. The boats were used for training and reached a speed of 25 knots submerged. The Walter boats were extremely complex to build and maintain; also, they relied on an uncertain supply of Perhydrol, a fuel that was highly flammable. Perhydrol is stabilized [they hope] 95% hydrogen peroxide. It broke down into steam, which ran the turbine, and oxygen, which was used with additional fuel.
....Adolf Hitler issued Directive 50: preparations for the movement of 20th Mountain Army to Northern Finland and Northern Norway in case Finland withdraws from the war, or collapses like Italy.

EASTERN FRONT: A Bf 109F-4 from 9./JG 5 was shot down and Uffz. Hans Link was made a POW.

ENGLAND: At 20.00 a Halifax bomber operating from Riccall airfield in Yorkshire collided with a tree after take-off. The bomber landed safely.

[Hugh Spencer]

2nd October 1943
294 Lancasters and 2 B-17s attacked Munich, 8 Lancasters lost including ED718 of 61 Sqdn with its crew - F/Lt C. Cleveland, F/Lt G. Hamilton, Sgt E.G. Bartlett, Sgt P.S. Camsell, Sgt F. Ellick and Sgt N.J. Wheeler.
Visibility over the target was clear but the initial marking was scattered. Heavy bombing developed over the southern and south-eastern districts of Munich but later stages of the raid fell up to 15 miles back along the approach route. Most of this inaccurate bombing was carried out by 5 Group aircraft which were again attempting their 'time and distance' bombing method independently of the Pathfinder marking. The 5 Group crews were not able to pick out the Wurmsee Lake which was the starting point for their timed run. Brief reports from Germany stated that 339 buildings were destroyed, 191 people were killed and 748 were injured. No other details were available.
8 Mosquitoes went to Cologne and Gelsenkirchen while 117 aircraft went minelaying at various places from Lorient to Heligoland. 1 Halifax minelayer was lost.

[Hugh Spencer]

3rd October 1943
223 Halifaxes, 204 Lancasters, 113 Stirlings and 7 Mosquitoes attacked Kassel, 24 aircraft lost including Lancaster W4279 from 61 Sqdn with crew Wing Commander W. Penman, squadron commander, F/Lt E. Mitchell, F/Lt D. Thomson, F/Lt D. Wilkinson, P/O M. Root-Reid, P/O K. Stephenson and W/O M. Braines.
This raid did not proceed according to plan. The H2S blind marker aircraft overshot the aiming point badly and the visual markers could not correct this because their view of the ground was restricted by thick haze. German decoy markers may also have been present. The main weight of the attack thus fell on the western suburbs and outlying towns and villages. But, even so, large fires were started at both the Henschel and Fieseler aircraft factories, at the city's main hospital and at several other important buildings. The eastern suburb of Wolfshanger was devastated. Kassel's casualties were 118 dead - 68 civilians, 12 military and 38 foreigners - and 304 injured. Musgrove, in his excellent book , Pathfinder Force, records that a large ammunition dump at Ihrigshausen, just north of Wolfshanger, was hit by a chance bomb load and the resulting explosions attracted further bombs; photographs taken later showed 84 buildings in the military location destroyed and a great mass of craters. The outlying townships of Bettenhausen and Sandershausen were also severely hit but details for these places were not available.
10 aircraft on a diversion to Hannover, 12 Oboe aircraft to Knapsack power stationnear Cologne and 4 aircraft went on Mark 11 Oboe trials to Aachen without loss.
7 Stirlings went minelaying in the Frisians.

[Njaco]

EASTERN FRONT: Kremenchug and Rudnya fell to the Soviets. The Red Army took control of the Smolensk to Vitebsk railway, in the north-west, and occupied Kremenchug in the south.

MEDITERRANEAN: The attack against Avellino by the US Fifth Army, 3rd Div began during the night. The US X Corps advance passed Pompeii. US Twelfth Air Force B-25 Mitchells and B-26 Marauders bombed bridges at or near Piana, Castelvenere, Amorosi, and Cancello Amone; P-38 Lightnings bombed Ausonia defile and a bridge near San Apollinare; US and RAF tactical aircraft hit the town of San Giorgio del Sannio and roads in the area S of Benevento.
....General Eisenhower and Marshal Badoglio sign the full armistice agreement on HMS 'Nelson' at Malta. But why HMS 'Nelson'? In the words of A.B. Cunningham: "The British and American Governments were anxious that the full terms of surrender should be signed by Badoglio with some ceremony. I suggested that one of the battleships of Force "H" at Malta should be the scene of the signing, and Eisenhower asked me to make the arrangements. My first inclination was to hoist my flag in my old ship, the RODNEY; but on second thoughts I decided that the NELSON, Admiral Willis's flagship should be the place of meeting".

WESTERN FRONT: Another Luftwaffe night-fighter was lost. Hptm. August Geiger of 7./NJG 1 (54 kills) was killed in action.

[Njaco]

WESTERN FRONT: The underground newspaper defence de la France published the first photographs of Nazi concentration camps. In a bold and hazardous night operation, Danish fishermen were smuggling almost all of Denmark's over 7,000 Jews across the stormy Oresund Strait to the safety of Sweden. The voyage costs £100 for each person; the price of failure is death. The Gestapo and Danish Nazis had begun the roundup and deportation of Danish Jews. Among the refugees were the Nobel prize-winning atomic scientist Niels Bohr and his wife. Bohr came ashore from a Danish fishing boat at Helsingborg; he went straight to Stockholm to beg the Swedish government to help his fellow Jews. The Swedes promised asylum to all who reached their shores and sent a protest note to Germany. Swedish opinion was outraged by the latest persecutions. Even the explorer Sven Hedin, known for his German sympathies, called them "deplorable". Pastoral letters from bishops condemning the Germans have been read out in Danish churches.
....A JU 88C-6 from crashed 12./NJG 3 near Fliegerhorst Grove. The plane was too low and hit some trees in Guldborgland Plantation when it was on the final turn for landing. It crashed to the ground and a fire erupted and engulfed the wreckage that was a 100% loss.


EASTERN FRONT: The Red Army continued to steamroller westwards. It announced the capture of Rudnya, in the northwest and of Kremenchug, the important rail junction on the east bank of the Dnieper, 140 miles south of Kiev. Huge forces were now massing for the final phase of the assault on Kiev, the capital of the Ukraine. Russian guns were shelling Gomel, and further north the Red Army advanced six miles towards another important German base, Mogilev in White Russia. Unofficial reports from Moscow said that a fierce battle was also going on in the outskirts of Zaporozhe, at the southern end of Dnieper bend, some 50 miles from the town of Dnepropetrovsk. This meant that the Russian forces have now reached every important place along the Dnieper and that the Germans were fighting hard to maintain a toehold on the eastern bank. More importantly, the Russians expanded their bridgeheads on the western bank south of Kiev and began to link them up to form a solid base.
....'U-960' fired one FAT torpedo at the convoy VA-18 40 miles west of Russkij Island and heard a detonation after 5 minutes 50 seconds. The 'Arkhangel´sk' (Master G.G. Ermilov) was hit in hold #2 and settled on even keel, but after a minute broke in two before the bridge and sank within 5 minutes. 15 crew members were lost and 27 picked up by the Soviet minesweeper T-886 (No 31), but two of them later died.

MEDITERRANEAN: Advance units of X Corps reached Naples. Allied troops have fought their way to the gates of Naples to find that the population had risen against the German garrison. Hundreds were killed in street fighting which was finally put down. Outside the city, the British V Corps surrounded Vesuvius; and the US VI Corps took Avelino. Naples seemed certain to fall, but this anticipated triumph did not still the concern voiced by many US (and some British) commanders at the slowness of General Montgomery's Eighth Army in coming to assist the US Fifth Army at Salerno.
....US Twelfth Air Force P-38 Lightnings, B-25s, and B-26 Marauders bombed road and rail and road bridges at Ausonia, Piana, Castelvenere, Amorosi, and Capua, and carried out sweeps from Bastia to Elba Island; 7 B-25s hit Benevento and surrounding rail and road communications; XII Air Support Command fighter-bombers carried out strafing and bombing missions north and northeast of Naples as Avellino fell to the US 3d Division.

[Njaco]

WESTERN FRONT: A report by the intelligence section of the US Eighth Air Force in England showed that despite recent efforts of the Allies to destroy the German aircraft industry, fighter production had expanded greatly and enemy fighter strength on the Western Front had increased.

GERMANY: Colonel Count Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg was posted in Berlin as chief of staff in the Replacement Army.
....In an effort to bolster the fighting groups defending the homeland, Oblt. Anton 'Toni' Hackl, formerly of II./JG 77 and recently recovered from wounds, was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of III./JG 11 based at Oldenburg.
....The 'Wilde Sau' units were increased as JG 301 was formed in Neubiberg with Hptm. Richard Kamp appointed as Gruppenkommandeur of I./JG 301, Hptm. Graf Resugier as Gruppenkommandeur of II./JG 301 (formed in Altenburg from parts of II./JG 300) and Hptm. Manfred Mossinger as Gruppenkommandeur of III./JG 301 (formed in Zerbst.). II./JG 301 did not have its own aircraft until November and until then, shared those used by I./JG 11. Obstlt. Helmut Weinrich was appointed as Geschwaderkommodore.

EASTERN FRONT: Under Vatutin, in the north and Konev, in the south, Russian forces crossed the Dniepr River in numerous places around Kremenchug. They quickly improvised bridges to assist in their advance. This action would continue over the next 5 days.
....MS "TSch-896"/No. 42 (ex-RT-308 "Krasnii Onejanin") - was sunk by 'U-960', close to Mikhailov Peninsula, in Karsk Sea.

MEDITERRANEAN: Naples, fell to the US 5th Army. At the cost of 12,000 British and American casualties in a 21-day campaign. Allied troops entered the wrecked city today. Allied bombs and German engineers have systematically destroyed everything of possible military value in Naples. The port - the Allies' prime target - was a mass of twisted wreckage, the harbour choked by sunken ships and the industrial area almost flattened.
....The stench of raw sewage hung over everything. The retreating Germans blew up the drainage system and the aqueduct that brought fresh water to the city. The population of more than a million people was threatened with mass epidemics and it had to be fed. British tanks of Lt-Gen Richard McCreery's X Corps were the first to enter the city (King's Dragoon Guards, part of the US Fifth Army), but already they were moving on northwards to the Volturno river where the Germans were establishing a defensive line. The American 82nd Airborne Division moved into Naples to police the city.
....Even though the bulk of German forces had retreated north, the fight from Salerno to this city was never easy. To reach the plain of Naples, Allied troops had to cross rugged terrain easily defended by small German demolition detachments - aided by heavy rain that washed away bridges and flooded roads. With the major ports of Taranto and Bari in Allied hands, Montgomery was preparing a major offensive in the east against Foggia, following on from the occupation of the Foggia airfields by the British Eighth Army. The Germans were placing much reliance on a new weapon: the radio-controlled glider bomb which crippled HMS 'Warspite' at Salerno and sank the Italian flagship 'Roma'. After his success with the delaying actions in Italy, Kesselring is ordered, by Hitler, to hold a defensive line south of Rome.
....With the collapse of the Foggia airfield, the Luftwaffe transferred several units to airfields around Rome and elsewhere. IV./JG 3 returned from Sardinia, III./JG 77 flew to Rumania, II./JG 53 went to Austria, I./JG 51 went to soiuthern Germany while I./JG 4 went to northern Italy from Rumania.
....US Twelfth Air Force B-26 Marauders hit communications targets in the Capua, Grazzanise, Arce, and Mignano areas; and Northwest African Tactical Bomber Force and XII Air Support Command medium and light bombers, and fighter-bombers hit the Benevento town area and marshalling yard, the bridge at Capua, and motor transport, trains, and railroads mainly in the Isernia area and north to Avezzano. B-24s, including aircraft on detached service from the US Eighth Air Force in England, bombed Wiener-Neustadt, Austria; B-17s, sent against an airplane factory at Augsburg, Germany, failed to locate the target, and bombed several alternate targets and targets of opportunity in Austria, Italy, and off Corsica and Elba Island.
....The attack by US Twelfth Air Force bombers was the 3d operation against Reich targets from bases in the Med. The plan was for 4 BGs to attack the Messerschmitt installations at Augsburg. In addition, 5 groups of B-24s were to attack the W.N.F. aircraft works at Wiener Neustadt. Unable to locate the targets at Augsburg because of weather, they dropped their bombs on targets of oppourtunity including Gundelfingen, the rail-yards at Prato and Bologna and German transport barges between Elba and Corsica. The B-24s had greater fortune, dropping 187 tons on the W.N.F. installations at Neustadt. Both forces endured strong fighter opposition. The B-24s encountered intense flak and strong fighter forces to and from the target, including Bf 110s equipped with WGr. 21 rocket mortars and Me 210s with 3.7cm BK cannons. 14 B-24s were lost and a further 52 damaged.

[Hugh Spencer]

4th October 1943
162 Lancasters,170 Halifaxes, 70 Stirlings, 4 Mosquitoes and 3 B-17s attacked Frankfurt with 10 aircraft lost plus 1 B-17. This was the last RAF night-bombing raid in which American aircraft took part but individual B-17s occasionally carried out bombing flights in following weeks. Clear weather and good Pathfinder marking produced the first serious blow on Frankfurt so far in the war with extensive destruction being caused in the eastern half of the city and in the inland docks on the River Main; both of these areas are described in the Frankfurt report as having been a 'sea of flames'. Many city centre type buildings are also mentioned as being hit. The new Rathaus had its roof burnt out. No overall figures were given for casualties, the only mention being a tragedy at an orphanage housed in the former Jewish hospital where a bomb scoreda direct hit on the basement shelter killing 90 children, 14 nuns and other members of staff. In the following days the main railway station was packed with people trying to leave Frankfurt.
66 Lancasters carried out a diversionary raid on Ludwigshafen without loss but the marking and bombing were scattered.
12 Mosquitoes attacked Knapsack power station, 1 Mosquito went to Aachen and 5 Stirlings went minelaying in the River Gironde, all without loss. The Mosquito attacking Aachen was carrying out the first operational trial of the G-H blind bombing equipment but the trial was not successful.

[Njaco]

WESTERN FRONT: The USAAF's Eight Air Force flew three missions. 72 B-26 Marauders were dispatched to the Longuenesse Airfield at St. Omer, France but because of cloud cover, only 6 hit the target. The remainder refrained from bombing because the target was in occupied territory.

GERMANY: 349 B-17s were dispatched to the industrial area of Emden, Germany led by 2 B-17 pathfinders. 339 hit the target and claimed 15-6-12 Luftwaffe aircraft; 2 B-17s were lost. Escort was provided by 227 P-47 Thunderbolts which claimed 5-3-1 Luftwaffe aircraft. In addition to the above, 21 B-24 Liberators were dispatched to Woensdrecht Airfield, The Netherlands. The target was obscured by clouds and the mission was aborted.
....During the night attack on Munich by the RAF, 16 bombers were claimed by pilots from NJG 1, NJG 2, NJG 3, NJG 5, NJG 6, JG 300, JG 301 and others out of 24 lost during the raid. Among the victors were Oblt. Heinz Schnaufer of 12./NJG 1, Major Helmut Lent of Stab./NJG 3 and Hptm. Friedrich-Karl Mueller of Stab./JG 300 but lost was Hptm. Rudolf Sigmund of Stab III./NJG 3 who was killed. Major Lent was wounded during his attack on a Stirling and his injuries kept him from combat duty until November.
....The Ar 234 program suffered a serious setback when the Ar 234V-2 crashed due to an engine failure, killing the pilot. Since September 4 prototypes of the jet were flying.
....The Bf 109Gs of Hptm. Gunther Specht's II./JG 11 moved from Jever to Marx.

MEDITERRANEAN: The US VI Corps captured Benevento and the crossed the Biferno River. Commandos landed near Termili and captureed the town, joining up with the 78th Division. Fighter-bombers of the XII Air Support Command attacked motor transport, roads, and bridges during armed reconnaissance missions from the Volturno Valley north to Isernia and west to Benevento.

ENGLAND: During low-level evasive action, a Junkers Ju 188E, hit the water and crashed on to a mudbank, ½ mile from the Spurn Lighthouse, Spurn Head, Yorkshire at 23.40. The crew were all killed.

EASTERN FRONT: Oblt. Erich Hartmann, Staffelkapitaen of 9./JG 52 claimed 4 victims - 2 LaGG-5s, a Pe-2 bomber and a Russian Lend-lease P-39 to bring his score to 121 kills.