August 31
We Remember
1939: BALTIC SEA: Three Polish destroyers stand out of the narrow straits between the Baltic and the North Sea and shape course towards the British Isles. (Andy Etherington)
BELGIUM: A railway bridge over the River Meuse near Lige, which had been prepared for demolition in the event of war, is struck by lightning just as the K¿ln express and a local train are crossing. The lightning ignites the demolition charges and destroys the bridge, both locomotive crews and six soldiers travelling as passengers are killed; two other bridges nearby are also brought down. (Alex Gordon)
CANADA: RCN destroyers HMCS Fraser and HMCS St. Laurent leave Vancouver, British Columbia, for Halifax, Nova Scotia, to take up war stations in the North Atlantic Ocean. (Jack McKillop)
GERMANY: Hermann Goering head of the Luftwaffe, reads Chancellor Adolf Hitler's new demands to Swedish industrialist Birger Dahlerus who telephones Sir George Arthur D. Ogilvie-Forbes at the British Embassy. British Ambassador Sir Neville Henderson passes the information to Josef Lipski, the Polish Ambassador, and breakfasts with Ulrich von Hassell, an ex-diplomat and now a prominent anti-Nazi, before seeing the Italian Ambassador, Bernardo Attolico. (Andy Etherington)
At 0030 hours local, the German Reich Chancellery issues the code word to carry out "Case White," the attack against Poland. At 0630 hours local, Captain Hauser, Cavalry, aide to General Halder, Chief of the Army General Staff, transmits orders from the Reich Chancellery: Y-day will be 1 September; H-hour, 0445 hours. Germany has now mobilised 2.6 million men (including 155,000 militarised labourers working on the West Wall fortifications). Just over one million men in 34 divisions (mostly reserve formations) are deployed in the west, more than 50 divisions with 1.5 million men (including six Panzer divisions) are poised against Poland. At 1230 hours, Chancellor Adolf Hitler orders the SS as agents-provocateurs, to attack a German radio transmitter near the Polish border, and issues 'Directive No 1 for the Conduct of War.' At 1815 hours, Polish Ambassador Jozef Lipski seeks out Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop under orders from Warsaw which in turn is under pressu
re from London. Lipski says his government is favourably considering the British proposal for direct negotiations, but that he himself has no authority to negotiate. Ribbentrop dismisses him; back at the embassy, Lipski finds his communications to Warsaw have been cut. SS SturmbannfŸhrer (= Major) Alfred Helmut Naujocks receives the code words 'Grandmama dead', thus ending his 14 day wait at the German radio station at Gleiwitz. He and Gestapo head Heinrich Mueller are to carry out the mock attack. The canned goods are ready; a dozen 'condemned criminals' dressed in Polish military uniform are administered with fatal injections and then shot. At 2100 hours, all radio stations in Germany interrupt their schedules to broadcast Hitler's 16 point plan for Poland. (Andy Etherington)
ITALY: Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano calls Briitsh Foreign Minister the Earl of Halifax to confirm that Italy will not fight either Britain or France.
At 1100 hours local in the Palazzo Venezia in Rome, Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini agree "Italy can intervene with Hitler only if [Mussolini] brings a fat prize: Danzig." Ciano tells this to Halifax. At 2020 hours local, Ciano is informed by the telephone central office that London has cut its communications with Italy. (Andy Etherington)
MONGOLIA: The Japanese are cleared from the Remizov Heights after Soviet tank forces cross the Khailastyn-Gol River which has had the riverbed strengthened at night by Soviet engineers. Thus all Japanese have been cleared from the territory of the Mongolian People's Republic. By the end of the campaign. Soviet losses: 10,000 killed and wounded. Japanese losses: 52,000 to 55,000 killed and wounded. (Andy Etherington)
POLAND: In the free city of Danzig, large crowds gather to admire and gawk at the predreadnought German training ship (ex-battleship) Schleswig- Holstein in port for a visit. (Andy Etherington)
U.K.: London children are evacuated from the capital. (John Nicholas)
The Royal Navy is mobilised and put on war readiness. The British Army and Airforce reserves are also called up. (Alex Gordon)
'Prayer Before Battle' (August 31st, 1939)
That I have seen colour, smelled dawn, heard music, tasted wine,
Touched bodies-and learned that none, not one, of these things was mine,
But all of them precious lendings from Thee, and all therefore divine
I thank Thee, Lord.
That I have misused and squandered this Thy trust, have taken
Where I should wholly give, have let my mind be shaken
By anger, sorrow, hatred, fear, have believed myself forsaken
Pardon me, Lord.
For laughter and courage, for beauty and kindness, for joy,
for the boon of friends,
For the power of thought, for silence, for all the wealth
which Thy bounty spends,
For the love in my heart, for the slow sure knowledge
that Truth not ends--
For the knowledge of Thee in all men and me, in all that be,
I thank Thee, Lord
Maurice Brown, 'Prayer Before Battle' (August 31st, 1939) (Andy Etherington)
U.S.: At 1300 hours local in New York City, the US 7th Cavalry Brigade (Mechanized), the only armoured unit of the United States Army, parades in through the city streets to a camp site in the "World of Tomorrow" at the the New York World's Fair. Its 110 tanks and armoured cars are virtually the entire armoured might of the United States Army. (Andy Etherington)
Wall Street had seen rosier days than the summer of 1939. The markets are still struggling to shrug off the effects of the Depression, and the financial community is still adjusting to the more closely monitored world of post-crash trading. On this day, the rule book threatened to grow thicker, as the Public Examining Board, which had been formed to "study customer protection," released a set of solutions to this problem. The Board's fourteen recommendations ranged from fuller disclosure of brokerage firms' financials to beefing up the minimum capital requirements for commodity accounts. (Jack McKillop)
U.S.S.R.: The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union ratifies the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact. (Jack McKillop)
1940: ATLANTIC OCEAN: Long range Focke-Wulf F2 200 Kondors start patrols off the coast of Ireland from a base near Bordeaux, France. As well as spotting for U-boats they attack and sink many ships, and continue to be a major threat until the introduction of ship-borne aircraft in late 1941 starts to counteract them. RN codes are changed and for the first time operational signals are secure from German interception and decoding. It will be three years before the convoy codes are made safe from the German B-Service. Losses in the Atlantic: 39 ships of 190,000 tons, two armed merchant cruisers, a sloop and a U-boat. In the Mediterranean: 21 ships of 1,000 tons. In the North Sea: 45 ships of 163,000 tons. (Andy Etherington)
FRENCH EQUATORIAL AFRICA: The French colony of Cameroon joins with the Free France. (Jack McKillop)
FRENCH POLYNESIA: The French colony of Tahiti joins with the Free France. (Jack McKillop)
GERMANY: Whitleys of RAF 4 Group (Whitley) bomb an oil plant at Wesseling. (Andy Etherington)
Berlin comes under attack last night. One the RAF bomber pilots reported: "When we arrived we found the target well on fire. We could see it when we were 25 minutes flying time away. We put our stick of bombs down just to the left of this big fire. Then four more fires started. Altogether we were cruising around over Berlin for abour half an hour. (Andy Etherington)
Brushing aside the misgivings of his generals and admirals,Chancellor Adolf Hitler gives orders for Operation Sealion, the invasion of England, to go ahead. The head of the Luftwaffe, Fieldmarshal Hermann Goering, promises to destroy the fighter defences in the south of England in four days and the rest of the RAF in two or three weeks. So the Fuhrer says that he will decide on the invasion date in the next two weeks. The transfer of shipping to the Channel ports is beginning, and plans for a feint attack against the east coast of Britain. have been made. But Hitler has still not resolved a bitter dispute between the army and navy over the deployment of the invasion force. The army has planned a landing on a 200-mile (322 kilometer) front from Ramsgate, Kent, to Lyme Regis, Dorset, throwing into action 1,722 barges, 1,161 motor boats, 470 tugs and 155 transports. Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, Commander of the German Navy, says that it is quite impossible for his navy to pr
otect such a vast and widely dispersed force. He has told Hitler that the navy would risk having all its ships sunk by the British. Raeder, who was made a Grand Admiral by Hitler on 1 April 1939, says that the army should concentrate on a narrow front between Folkstone, Kent, and Eastbourne, Sussex, "Complete suicide," General Halder, the chief of staff, responds furiously. The British would hit them with overwhelming force. "I might just as well put the troops through a sausage machine." During a strategy meeting at Hitler's Obersalzburg retreat, Hitler asks Raeder to give his opinion. "All things considered," Raeder said, "the best time for the operation would be May 1941." This certainly is not the answer the Fuhrer wanted. By next year the British would have had even longer to prepare plans to counter an invasion, the British Army would have recovered from its Dunkirk defeat, and the German Kriegsmarine would still not be able to challenge the Royal Navy. (Andy Etheringt
on)
U.K.: RAF Fighter Command: Very heavy bombing of airfields [Detling, Eastchurch, Croydon and sector stations at Biggin Hill, Hornchurch (twice) and Debden]. Some close due to unserviceability. Radar stations also attacked. At night Merseyside is Liverpool is heavily attacked as well as the Midlands. Losses: Luftwaffe, 41; RAF 39. (Andy Etherington)
An Anglo-Free French task force under Admiral Browne Cunningham, Commander of the British Mediterranean, and French General Charels DeGaulle, depart Liverpool, Lancashire, England, for Dakar, French West Africa. (Jack McKillop)
U.S.: The US calls 60,000 National Guardsmen into active service. The first units will be inducted into Federal service on 16 September. These major units are the 30th Division (Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee), 41st Division (Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington), 44th Division (New Jersey and New York) and the 45th Division (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Oklahoma) plus numerous other units. (Jack McKillop)
Douglas DC-3-313, msn 2188, registered NC21790 by the U.S. airline Pennsylvania Central Airlines, crashes near Lovettsville, Virginia, at 1441 hours local killing the 21 passengers and four crew aboard. U.S. Senator Ernest Lundeen of Minnesota was one of the passengers. The aircraft, Flight 19 from Washington, DC to Detroit, Michigan, was flying through a thunderstorm in turbulence when the it nosed over and plunged to earth. The cause of the accident was listed as disabling of the pilots by a severe lightning discharge in the immediate neighborhood of the airplane, with resulting loss of control. (Jack McKillop)
U.S.S.R.: The Soviets protest that they were not consulted on the award of Transylvania, territory it has long coveted, to Hungary. (Andy Etherington)
1941: FINLAND: After discussion with MarshallCarl Gustav Emil Mannerheim Mannerheim and Lieutenant General Walden (the Minister of War) about the German request that Finland take part in the capture of Leningrad, President Ryti gives his permission that the Finnish troops can cross the pre-1939 border in the Karelian Isthmus with a limiation of a few kilometers. The condition is that the Germans deliver 25 000 tons of rye. Mannerheim informs General Erfurth, the OKW representative, the next day. (Mikko HŠrmeinen)
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: US Admiral Thomas C. Hart, Commander of the Asiatic Fleet, has advised British Vice-Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton, Commander of the RN's East Asia Squadron, that Washington is refusing to endorse proposed British plans for Allied cooperation should war come. (Marc Small)
British Air Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham, Commander-in-Chief Far East, has made two visits this month to Manila to confer with Hart and General Douglas MacArthur, Commander US Army Forces Far East. (Marc Small)
U.S.S.R.: Today, 70 days after the outbreak of war on the Eastern Front, the first Allied convoy, code named Dervish, arrives in Archangel, USSR. Convoys continued until the end of the war and succeeded in delivering almost a quarter of all war material received by the Soviet Union during the War. (Dave Shirlaw)
The Soviet Army launches a counterattack along the Dnieper River. (Jack McKillop)
U.S.: The radio show "The Great Gildersleeve" debuts on the NBC Red Network on Sundays at 1830 hours Eastern Time. The show is a spin off of the "Fibber McGee and Molly" show and stars Harold Peary as Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, a windbag, a most eligible bachelor, a bumbling-but-enthusiastic ladies' man and the water commissioner of the town of Summerfield. (Jack McKillop)
1942: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: A PBY-5A Catalina of USN Patrol Squadron Forty Two (VP-42) based at NAS Kodiak, Territory of Alaska, and a PBY of VP-43 based in Nazan Bay, Atka Island, catch the Japanese submarine HIJMS RO-61 on the surface 5 miles (8 kilometers) north of Cape Shaw, Atka Island. The crew of the VP-42 PBY-5A depth charge the sub and heavily damage it. At 1915 hours local, the sub is located by the destroyer USS Reid (DD-369) which sinks it with gunfire about 27 nautical miles (49 kilometers) north-northeast of the village of Atka on Atka Island, in position 52.36N, 173.57W. Five survivors are rescued from the frigid waters. (Jack McKillop)
In the air, of two USAAF 11th Air Force B-24 Liberators flying weather, reconnaissance and patrol missions over Tanaga Island, one returns due to weather. Tanaga Island is located about 49 nautical miles (89 kilometers) west of Adak Island. (Jack McKillop)
BELGIUM: The Communist spy network Red Orchestra is broken up by the Germans in Brussels. (Jack McKillop)
BURMA: USAAF B-25 Mitchells of the 10th Air Force's China Air Task Force bomb Myitkyina for the second consecutive day. (Jack McKillop)
EAST CHINA SEA: USN submarine USS Growler (SS-215) sinks a Japanese merchant cargo ship about 77 nautical miles (142 kilometers) east-northeast of Taipei, Formosa, in position 25.43N, 122.38E. (Jack McKillop)
EGYPT: Axis forces, against strong opposition, breach a mine field on the southern flank of the British 13 Corps and German armor then drives through and attack west toward the west end of the "Alam el Halfa" ridge until halted short of it with heavy loses. Air and artillery are employed against the Axis forces with good effect. Attacks by Allied air forces throughout August have seriously affected the Axis supply position. (Jack McKillop)
US Middle East Air Force P-40s escort RAF bombers during a raid on Maryut, Egypt. B-25 Mitchells, in conjunction with RAF Bostons, attack troop concentrations and military vehicles as the battle of Alam-el-Halfa begins along the El Alamein line. (Jack McKillop)
LIBYA: US Middle East Air Force B-25 Mitchells attack aircraft on a landing ground, and B-24 Liberators raid the harbor at Tobruk. (Jack McKillop)
NEW GUINEA: Japanese Army General HYATUTKE Seikichi, Commander of the 17th Army with HQ at Rabaul on New Britain Island, Bismarck Archipelago, decides to evacuae the troops that were landed at Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea. The evacuation is complete on 7 September. He thinks he must concentrate on the fighting on Guadalcanal. (John Nicholas)
At Milne Bay in Papua New Guinea, Japanese troops attack the Australians at 0300 hours local attempting to take No. 3 Airstrip. The Japanese attack four times but fail to dislodge the defenders. The Japanese again attack at nightfall but again fail to overcome the Australians. The ground troops are supported by RAAF Kittyhawks of the Allied Air Forces who attack landing barges and strafe gun positions. (Jack McKillop)
In the air, USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses of the Allied Air Forces attack an ammunition dump at Buna; B-26 Marauders and A-20 Havocs attack Lae Aerodrome, and P-400 Airacobras strafe Japanese at Wairopi. (Jack McKillop)
PACIFIC OCEAN: USN submarine USS Silversides (SS-236), on its second war patrol, sinks a 300 ton trawler by gunfire about 469 nautical miles (869 kilometers) east of Tokyo, Japan in position 33-51N, 149.39E. (Skip Guidry)
SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS: A torpedo from the Japanese submarine HIJMS I-26 strikes the USN aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3) at 0748 hours local when she is about 90 nautical miles (167 kilometers) west of the Santa Cruz Islands in position 10.34S, 164.18E. The torpedo slams into the blister on her starboard side and floods one fireroom, but the impact causes short circuits which damaged Saratoga's turbo-electric propulsion system and leaves her dead in the water. The heavy cruiser USS Minneapolis (CA-36) takes the carrier under tow while her aircraft fly off to Espiritu Santo and on to Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, to augment the Cactus Air Force. By early afternoon, Saratoga's engineers have improvised a circuit out of the burned wreckage of her main control board and which gives her a speed of 10 knots. (After repairs at Tongatabu in the Tonga Islands from 6 to 12 September, USS Saratoga arrived at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, on 21 September for permanent repairs.) Amo
ng the 12 men injured is Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher who also heads stateside. This marks the end of the fighting commands for Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, Commander Cruisers Pacific Fleet, who has commanded the US carriers since early in 1942. His actions since August 7, have sealed his fate. (Jack McKillop and John Nicholas)
SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Guadalcanal, Lieutenant General KAWAGUCHI Kiyotake, Commander of the 35th Brigade, lands from the Japanese destroyer HIJMS Umikaze, with 1200 additional troops loaded on seven destroyers, of the 4th Infantry Regiment, at Taivu Point (east of the Lunga perimeter). The 124th Infantry, under Colonel OKA, will follow by barge and land west of the Lunga perimeter. General Kawaguchi now commands all of the Japanese troops on Guadalcanal. (John Nicholas)
Rear-Admiral TANAKA Raizo, Commander of the 2nd Destroyer Squadron, relinquishes command of the Guadalcanal Japanese resupply efforts to Rear Admiral HASHIMOTO Shintaro. Richard Frank says: "But unlike U.S. Admiral Fletcher, this marked an interruption, not an end, to Tanaka's tenure." (John Nicholas)
The 3rd Marine Defense Battalion establishes an air-search radar station using the SCR-268 radar system near Henderson Field.
(Jack McKillop and John Nicholas)
U.K.: The USAAF HQ XII Bomber Command arrives at Daws Hill Lodge, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, and is assigned to HQ Twelfth Air Force. This unit will support the Allied invasion of Northwestern Africa in November. (Jack McKillop)
U.S.: The Secretary of Agriculture, Claude Wickard, warns of possible meat rationing in the US. (John Nicholas)
U.S.S.R.: Although Soviet resistance along the Terek River has stiffened considerably, the German Army Group A secures a foothold across it in the Mozdok area. (Jack McKillop)
German units are now within 16 miles of Stalingrad. (John Nicholas)
1943: BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: USAAF Fifth Air Force bombers fly scattered strikes against shipping and shore targets in the Saint George Channel between New Ireland and New Britain Islands. (Jack McKillop)
CHINA: Six USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells hit Ichang Airfield while three others attack an oil storage area to the east; P-40s also hit the oil stores. Three P-40s sink a small Japanese coastal vessel off Stonecutter's Island near Hong Kong; and 4 P-38 Lightnings dive-bomb Yoyang railroad yards and Sinti warehouses; a P-38 is shot down by ground fire. (Jack McKillop)
EAST INDIES: In the air in the Netherlands East Indies, (1) USN PBY Catalinas sink small Japanese cargo vessels off Ceram; (2) RAAF Mitchells sink a small Japanese cargo vessel off north coast of Alor Island; and (3) U.S. aircraft sink a guardboat off Halmahera Island. (Jack McKillop)
FRANCE: The US Eighth Air Force'sVIII Air Support Command flies Missions 41 and 42: 104 B-26B Marauders bomb the Rouen and Mazingarbe power stations; the Nord Airfield at Poix, the Nord Airfield at Lille; and the Hesdin fuel dump; a B-26 is lost. (Jack McKillop)
The US Eighth Air Force'sVIII Bomber Command flies Mission 88 against two aviation locations. (1) 105 B-17 Flying Fortresses visually bomb Glisy Airfield at Amiens at 1807-1824 hours with the loss of 3 B-17s and (2) 149 B-17s are dispatched to the aircraft plant at Meulan but the plant is cloud covered and a B-17 visually bombs the railway northeast of Rouen. These missions are escorted by 160 P-47 Thunderbolts which claim 2-1-1 Luftwaffe aircraft; 2 P-47's are lost. (Jack McKillop)
FRENCH INDOCHINA: Seven USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Gia Lam Airfield and 22 P-40s and two P-38 Lightnings bomb a dike near Co Bi barracks. (Jack McKillop)
GERMANY: The Battle of Berlin continues. During the night of 31 August/1 September, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 613 aircraft: 331 Lancasters, 176 Halifaxes, 106 Stirlings with nine Oboe Mosquitoes as route markers; 512 bomb Berlin using H2S radar with the loss of 47 aircraf, 20 Halifaxes, 17 Stirlings and ten Lancasters; three visually bomb the power station in Brauweiler, two visually bomb Osnabruck, and one visually bombs Aachen. Many of the crews are tired, having had only a few hours sleep since the raid of the previous night. The force is easily tracked on its approach and at least 18 bombers were shot down by fighters. Twenty-two aircraft, most Stirlings and Halifaxes were shot down in the target area and during the initial 70 miles (113 kilometers) of the journey back to England. A total of 377 bombing photographs were examined. Only ten of the photos showed aircraft bombing in the center of Berlin. Most bombs fell in a long spread 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of
Berlin. Most bombs were scattered in a wide area of the south. Sixty-eight people were killed in Berlin and 19 in the countryside. (Jay Stone)
ITALY: Forty five USAAF Ninth Air Force B-24 Liberators visually bomb the marshalling yard at Pescara while 152 USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses of the Northwest African Strategic Air Force bomb the marshalling yard at Pisa. Northwest African Tactical Air Force medium and light bombers bomb the Cosenza marshalling yard and road-railway junction in Cantanzaro during the morning, and in the afternoon bomb the area around Cosenza when clouds prevent hitting specific targets; and fighter-bombers hit Sapri railroad and seaplane base. During the night of 31 August/1 September, light bombers hit the bivouac areas southeast of Reggio di Calabria. (Jack McKillop)
During the night of 31 August/1 September, 46 RAF Liberators of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group bomb the marshalling yard at Salerno with the loss of one aircraft. (Jack McKillop)
THE NETHERLANDS: Four RAF Bomber Command aircraft bomb Texel during the night of 31 August/1 September. (Jack McKillop)
NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, nine USAAF Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs fly a low-level strafing mission against Malahang Aerodrome located 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) east of Lae. (Jack McKillop)
NOTRTH PACIFIC: The USN's Task Force 15, consisting of the aircraft carriers USS Essex (CV-9) with Carrier Air Group Nine (CVG-9), USS Independence (CVL-22) with Light Carrier Air Group Twenty Two (CVLG-22), and USS Yorktown (CV-10) with CVG-5 with a battleship, 2 light cruisers and 11 destroyers, attack Marcus Island located about 725 miles (1,167 km) northwest of Wake Island. A total of 275 sorties are flown against the Japanese and several IJN "Betty" bombers (Mitsubishi G4M, Navy Type 1 Attack Bombers) are destroyed and ground facilities are heavily damaged.
This strike marks the combat debut of the Grumman F6F Hellcat. The fighting squadrons on all three aircraft carriers are equipped with F6F-3s, i.e., Fighting Squadron Five (VF-5) in USS Yorktown, VF-9 in USS Essex and detachments of VF-6 and VF-22 in USS Independence. The Hellcats destroy four aircraft on the ground and later in the day, an F6F pilot shoots down a Japanese aircraft. (Gene Hanson, Jack McKillop and John Nicholas)
SICILY: Negotiations for Italy's surrender resume near Syracuse, with General Giuseppe Castellano of the Italian General Staff pleading with the Allies to occupy Rome and protect King Victor Emmanuel and the Badoglio government. U. S. General Walter Bedell Smith, Chief of Staff Allied Expeditionary Force Mediterranean, insists on unconditional surrender, with the armistice to be announced as a large Allied army lands in Italy. Smith refuses to tell Castellano where the Allies will come ashore or how large the army will be. Disappointed by the unconditional surrender demand and fearful of the large numbers flooding into Italy, Castellano returns to Rome to confer with Italy's new head of state, Marshal Pietro Badoglio. (Jack McKillop)
SOLOMON ISLANDS: USAAF Thirteenth Air Force P-40s, in a running battle over Vella Lavella Island, claim five IJN aircraft shot down at 0910 hours; other P-40s strafe barges in Timbala Bay on Vella Lavella Island. Twenty two B-25 Mitchells and 50 USMC airplanes bomb gun positions and the radio station at Vila on Kolombangara Island. (Jack McKillop)
U.S.S.R.: The Soviet Army advances south from Sevsk and captures Glukhov and Rylask. (John Nicholas)
1944: BONIN AND VOLCANO ISLANDS: The USN's Task Group 38.4, consisting of the aircraft carriers USS Enterprise (CV-6) with Carrier Air Group Twenty (CVG-20), USS Franklin (CV-13) with CVG-13 and the light aircraft carrier USS San Jacinto (CVL-30) with Light Carrier Air Group Fifty One (CVLG-51) plus supporting ships, launches aircraft against Chichi Jima in the Bonin Islands and Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands. The strikes are intended to neutralize Japanese installations there and provide a diversion in advance of planned operations in the Palau, Morotai, and Philippine areas. Off Iwo Jima, F6Fs from USS Franklin sink a merchant ship and an auxiliary minesweeper. The strikes are repeated on 1 and 2 September. (Jack McKillop and John Nicholas)
BURMA: Six USAAF Tenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb targets of opportunity at Katha and 3 hit bridges at Bawgyo and Hsenwi. (Jack McKillop)
CAROLINE ISLANDS: One USAAF Seventh Air Fore B-24 Liberators bombs Yap Island. (Jack McKillop)
CHINA: Twelve USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Takao harbor, damaging the dock area and claiming two tankers sunk; 14 B-25 Mitchells attack Tien Ho, White Cloud, Kai Tek, and Hengyang Airfields; eight B-25s attack numerous trucks south of Sintsiang and near Sinshih, hit roads south of Nanyo and damage a freighter near Sinshih; and 60+ fighter-bombers attack trucks, barracks, supplies, rivercraft, bridges and troops in or near Sinshih, Changsha, Yangtien, Hengyang, Nanyo, Siangtan, Teian, and Shihhweiyao. (Jack McKillop)
EAST CHINA SEA: USN submarine USS Seawolf (SS-197) sinks a Japanese army cargo ship and a merchant cargo ship about 180 nautical miles (333 kilometers) south-southeast of Shanghai, China, in position 28.30N, 123.05E. (Jack McKillop)
ƒIRE: A RN Fairey Swordfish crashes at Gormanstown Camp, the Irish Army Air Corps base in County Meath. (Jack McKillop)
FRANCE: In northern France, the Canadian 4th Armoured Division drives quickly to Forges and Buchy. The British 11th Armoured Division captues Amiens and seizes the bridge across the Somme River intact. The U.S. XIX Corps captures Chantilly, Creil, Pont Ste Maxence, Verberie and Compiegne. Operations against Brest are temporarily suspended by the U.S. VIII Corps while elements of the U.S. XX Corps establishes across the Meuse at Verdun. In the air, 99 USAAF Ninth Air Force B-26 Marauders and A-20 Havocs bomb an ammunition dump at Foret d'Arques and gun positions at Ile de Cezembre; fighters fly armed reconnaissance in the Amiens, Saint-Quentin, Albert, and Arras areas, ground forces cover for 3 armored divisions, battleship cover, and also dive-bomb Ile de Cezembre. (Jack McKillop)ÊÊÊÊ
In southern France, U.S. troops find Briancon free of Germans and the VI Corps speeds up the Rhone Valley toward Lyon. In the air,
USAAF Twelfth Air Force fighter-bombers attack communications targets. (Jack McKillop)
The USAAF's Eighth Air Force in England flies Mission 594: 34 bombs visually bomb the supply depot at Bricy Airfield in Orleans. During the night of 31 August/1 September, six B-17s drop leaflets in France and 37 B-24 Liberators and C-47 Skytrains fly CARPETBAGGER missions. (Jack McKillop)
HUNGARY: Ninety seven P-51 Mustangs of the USAAF Fifteenth Air Force in Italy strafe airfields at Oradea and Kecskemet. (Jack McKillop)
ITALY: The attack of the British 8th Army against the Gothic Line continues. There are some successes. West of the British Eighth Army, the U.S. VI Corps follows up on a German withdrawal along the Arno River in Italy. (John Nicholas)
The USAAF's Twelfth Air Force dispatches B-25 Mitchells and B-26 Marauders to attack railroad bridges in the Po Valley, cutting the bridge at Mira. (Jack McKillop)
MARIANA ISLANDS: Saipan-based P-47 Thunderbolts of the USAAF Seventh Air Force strafe gun positions at the airfield on Pagan Island while a single B-24 Liberator also bombs the island. (Jack McKillop)
NEW GUINEA: In Dutch New Guinea, the operations on Noemfoor and Sansapor are declared at an end. (Jack McKillop)
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: USN Submarine USS Redfish (SS-272) lands supplies and evacuates people from Palawan Island. (Jack McKillop)
PHILIPPINE SEA: U.S. aircraft sink a Japanese merchant cargo ship about 45 nautical miles (83 kilometers) north-north east off Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, in position 24.46N, 141.19E. (Jack McKillop)
ROMANIA: Bucharest falls to the Russian Second Ukraine Front. The Soviets immediately begin the round-up of members of the 'Fascist' Antonescu government. (John Nicholas and Jack McKillop)
B-17 Flying Fortresses of the SAAF Fifteenth Air Force in Italy commence Operation REUNION (the evacuation of US airmen interned in Romania); 38 B-17s evacuate more than 700 of the 1,100 US airmen from Bucharest (which falls to the Soviet Army today) to Bari, Italy. This operation is the brainchild of Romanian airmen and civilians who concentrate the Americans at a Romanian Air Force Base while contacting HQ Fifteenth Air Force in Italy by flying a high-ranking USAAF POW to Italy in a Romanian Air Force Bf-109. Everyone involved realizes that the operation must be kept secret from both the Germans and the Soviets. Meanwhile 45 P-51 Mustangs strafe the airfield at Reghin. (Jack McKillop)
SOUTH CHINA SEA: U.S. submarines attack a Japanese convoy bound for Manila, Philippine Islands, and four ships are sunk about 40 nautical miles (74 kilometers) south-southeast of the southern tip of Formosa in the Luzon Strait. USS Barb (SS-220) sinks an auxiliary minesweeper and an army cargo ship. USS Queenfish (SS-393) sinks an army tanker and USS Sealion (SS-315) sinks a minelayer. (Jack McKillop)
1945: HONG KONG: The RCN armed merchant cruiser HMCS Prince Robert enters the Crown Colony where her commanding officer represents Canada at the surrender ceremonies of Japanese forces. (Jack McKillop)
ITALY: The USAAF Twelfth Air Force is inactivated. (Jack McKillop
JAPAN: Soviet forces occupy Utruppu Island in the Kurile Islands after fierce fighting with Japanese troops. (Jack McKillop)
U.S. Marines of Company "L," Third Battalion, Fourth Marines, land at Tateyama Naval Base, Honshu, on the northeast shore of Sagami Wan, and accept its surrender. They will reconnoiter the beach approaches and cover the landing of Army's 112th Cavalry Regiment. Meanwhile, the Japanese submarine HIJMS I 401 surrenders to submarine USN submarine USS Segundo (SS-398) at the entrance to Tokyo Bay. (Jack McKillop)
MARCUS ISLAND: The Japanese garrison surrenders. (Jack McKillop)
U.S.: In baseball, the Washington Senators again muff a chance to go into first place, dropping a pair to the New York Yankees, 3Ð2 and 3Ð1, in Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. In between games, Washington pitcher Bert Shepard receives the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service in WWII. When Bert Shepard, a journeyman minor league pitcher, had his right leg amputated after his fighter plane crashed in Germany, he was the only person that believed he would ever play professional baseball again. But through sheer self-belief and determination, the gutsy left-hander from Dana, Indiana, taught himself to walk and then to pitch with an artificial leg -- all within the confines of a POW camp in Germany. By February 1945, Shepard was back in the U.S. and determined to pitch in organized baseball. Senators' owner Clark Griffith took a look at the amputee's pitching form in spring training and offered Shepard a job as a pitching coach. On 4 August 1945, Shepard became an inspi
ration to all wartime amputees when he pitched five innings for the Senators against the Boston Red Sox, fulfilling a dream that few could have imagined possible. That was the only major league game he pitched in. Shepard continued playing in the minor leagues until 1954 and later worked for IBM and Hughes Aircraft as a safety engineer. (Jack McKillop)
We Remember
1939: BALTIC SEA: Three Polish destroyers stand out of the narrow straits between the Baltic and the North Sea and shape course towards the British Isles. (Andy Etherington)
BELGIUM: A railway bridge over the River Meuse near Lige, which had been prepared for demolition in the event of war, is struck by lightning just as the K¿ln express and a local train are crossing. The lightning ignites the demolition charges and destroys the bridge, both locomotive crews and six soldiers travelling as passengers are killed; two other bridges nearby are also brought down. (Alex Gordon)
CANADA: RCN destroyers HMCS Fraser and HMCS St. Laurent leave Vancouver, British Columbia, for Halifax, Nova Scotia, to take up war stations in the North Atlantic Ocean. (Jack McKillop)
GERMANY: Hermann Goering head of the Luftwaffe, reads Chancellor Adolf Hitler's new demands to Swedish industrialist Birger Dahlerus who telephones Sir George Arthur D. Ogilvie-Forbes at the British Embassy. British Ambassador Sir Neville Henderson passes the information to Josef Lipski, the Polish Ambassador, and breakfasts with Ulrich von Hassell, an ex-diplomat and now a prominent anti-Nazi, before seeing the Italian Ambassador, Bernardo Attolico. (Andy Etherington)
At 0030 hours local, the German Reich Chancellery issues the code word to carry out "Case White," the attack against Poland. At 0630 hours local, Captain Hauser, Cavalry, aide to General Halder, Chief of the Army General Staff, transmits orders from the Reich Chancellery: Y-day will be 1 September; H-hour, 0445 hours. Germany has now mobilised 2.6 million men (including 155,000 militarised labourers working on the West Wall fortifications). Just over one million men in 34 divisions (mostly reserve formations) are deployed in the west, more than 50 divisions with 1.5 million men (including six Panzer divisions) are poised against Poland. At 1230 hours, Chancellor Adolf Hitler orders the SS as agents-provocateurs, to attack a German radio transmitter near the Polish border, and issues 'Directive No 1 for the Conduct of War.' At 1815 hours, Polish Ambassador Jozef Lipski seeks out Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop under orders from Warsaw which in turn is under pressu
re from London. Lipski says his government is favourably considering the British proposal for direct negotiations, but that he himself has no authority to negotiate. Ribbentrop dismisses him; back at the embassy, Lipski finds his communications to Warsaw have been cut. SS SturmbannfŸhrer (= Major) Alfred Helmut Naujocks receives the code words 'Grandmama dead', thus ending his 14 day wait at the German radio station at Gleiwitz. He and Gestapo head Heinrich Mueller are to carry out the mock attack. The canned goods are ready; a dozen 'condemned criminals' dressed in Polish military uniform are administered with fatal injections and then shot. At 2100 hours, all radio stations in Germany interrupt their schedules to broadcast Hitler's 16 point plan for Poland. (Andy Etherington)
ITALY: Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano calls Briitsh Foreign Minister the Earl of Halifax to confirm that Italy will not fight either Britain or France.
At 1100 hours local in the Palazzo Venezia in Rome, Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini agree "Italy can intervene with Hitler only if [Mussolini] brings a fat prize: Danzig." Ciano tells this to Halifax. At 2020 hours local, Ciano is informed by the telephone central office that London has cut its communications with Italy. (Andy Etherington)
MONGOLIA: The Japanese are cleared from the Remizov Heights after Soviet tank forces cross the Khailastyn-Gol River which has had the riverbed strengthened at night by Soviet engineers. Thus all Japanese have been cleared from the territory of the Mongolian People's Republic. By the end of the campaign. Soviet losses: 10,000 killed and wounded. Japanese losses: 52,000 to 55,000 killed and wounded. (Andy Etherington)
POLAND: In the free city of Danzig, large crowds gather to admire and gawk at the predreadnought German training ship (ex-battleship) Schleswig- Holstein in port for a visit. (Andy Etherington)
U.K.: London children are evacuated from the capital. (John Nicholas)
The Royal Navy is mobilised and put on war readiness. The British Army and Airforce reserves are also called up. (Alex Gordon)
'Prayer Before Battle' (August 31st, 1939)
That I have seen colour, smelled dawn, heard music, tasted wine,
Touched bodies-and learned that none, not one, of these things was mine,
But all of them precious lendings from Thee, and all therefore divine
I thank Thee, Lord.
That I have misused and squandered this Thy trust, have taken
Where I should wholly give, have let my mind be shaken
By anger, sorrow, hatred, fear, have believed myself forsaken
Pardon me, Lord.
For laughter and courage, for beauty and kindness, for joy,
for the boon of friends,
For the power of thought, for silence, for all the wealth
which Thy bounty spends,
For the love in my heart, for the slow sure knowledge
that Truth not ends--
For the knowledge of Thee in all men and me, in all that be,
I thank Thee, Lord
Maurice Brown, 'Prayer Before Battle' (August 31st, 1939) (Andy Etherington)
U.S.: At 1300 hours local in New York City, the US 7th Cavalry Brigade (Mechanized), the only armoured unit of the United States Army, parades in through the city streets to a camp site in the "World of Tomorrow" at the the New York World's Fair. Its 110 tanks and armoured cars are virtually the entire armoured might of the United States Army. (Andy Etherington)
Wall Street had seen rosier days than the summer of 1939. The markets are still struggling to shrug off the effects of the Depression, and the financial community is still adjusting to the more closely monitored world of post-crash trading. On this day, the rule book threatened to grow thicker, as the Public Examining Board, which had been formed to "study customer protection," released a set of solutions to this problem. The Board's fourteen recommendations ranged from fuller disclosure of brokerage firms' financials to beefing up the minimum capital requirements for commodity accounts. (Jack McKillop)
U.S.S.R.: The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union ratifies the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact. (Jack McKillop)
1940: ATLANTIC OCEAN: Long range Focke-Wulf F2 200 Kondors start patrols off the coast of Ireland from a base near Bordeaux, France. As well as spotting for U-boats they attack and sink many ships, and continue to be a major threat until the introduction of ship-borne aircraft in late 1941 starts to counteract them. RN codes are changed and for the first time operational signals are secure from German interception and decoding. It will be three years before the convoy codes are made safe from the German B-Service. Losses in the Atlantic: 39 ships of 190,000 tons, two armed merchant cruisers, a sloop and a U-boat. In the Mediterranean: 21 ships of 1,000 tons. In the North Sea: 45 ships of 163,000 tons. (Andy Etherington)
FRENCH EQUATORIAL AFRICA: The French colony of Cameroon joins with the Free France. (Jack McKillop)
FRENCH POLYNESIA: The French colony of Tahiti joins with the Free France. (Jack McKillop)
GERMANY: Whitleys of RAF 4 Group (Whitley) bomb an oil plant at Wesseling. (Andy Etherington)
Berlin comes under attack last night. One the RAF bomber pilots reported: "When we arrived we found the target well on fire. We could see it when we were 25 minutes flying time away. We put our stick of bombs down just to the left of this big fire. Then four more fires started. Altogether we were cruising around over Berlin for abour half an hour. (Andy Etherington)
Brushing aside the misgivings of his generals and admirals,Chancellor Adolf Hitler gives orders for Operation Sealion, the invasion of England, to go ahead. The head of the Luftwaffe, Fieldmarshal Hermann Goering, promises to destroy the fighter defences in the south of England in four days and the rest of the RAF in two or three weeks. So the Fuhrer says that he will decide on the invasion date in the next two weeks. The transfer of shipping to the Channel ports is beginning, and plans for a feint attack against the east coast of Britain. have been made. But Hitler has still not resolved a bitter dispute between the army and navy over the deployment of the invasion force. The army has planned a landing on a 200-mile (322 kilometer) front from Ramsgate, Kent, to Lyme Regis, Dorset, throwing into action 1,722 barges, 1,161 motor boats, 470 tugs and 155 transports. Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, Commander of the German Navy, says that it is quite impossible for his navy to pr
otect such a vast and widely dispersed force. He has told Hitler that the navy would risk having all its ships sunk by the British. Raeder, who was made a Grand Admiral by Hitler on 1 April 1939, says that the army should concentrate on a narrow front between Folkstone, Kent, and Eastbourne, Sussex, "Complete suicide," General Halder, the chief of staff, responds furiously. The British would hit them with overwhelming force. "I might just as well put the troops through a sausage machine." During a strategy meeting at Hitler's Obersalzburg retreat, Hitler asks Raeder to give his opinion. "All things considered," Raeder said, "the best time for the operation would be May 1941." This certainly is not the answer the Fuhrer wanted. By next year the British would have had even longer to prepare plans to counter an invasion, the British Army would have recovered from its Dunkirk defeat, and the German Kriegsmarine would still not be able to challenge the Royal Navy. (Andy Etheringt
on)
U.K.: RAF Fighter Command: Very heavy bombing of airfields [Detling, Eastchurch, Croydon and sector stations at Biggin Hill, Hornchurch (twice) and Debden]. Some close due to unserviceability. Radar stations also attacked. At night Merseyside is Liverpool is heavily attacked as well as the Midlands. Losses: Luftwaffe, 41; RAF 39. (Andy Etherington)
An Anglo-Free French task force under Admiral Browne Cunningham, Commander of the British Mediterranean, and French General Charels DeGaulle, depart Liverpool, Lancashire, England, for Dakar, French West Africa. (Jack McKillop)
U.S.: The US calls 60,000 National Guardsmen into active service. The first units will be inducted into Federal service on 16 September. These major units are the 30th Division (Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee), 41st Division (Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington), 44th Division (New Jersey and New York) and the 45th Division (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Oklahoma) plus numerous other units. (Jack McKillop)
Douglas DC-3-313, msn 2188, registered NC21790 by the U.S. airline Pennsylvania Central Airlines, crashes near Lovettsville, Virginia, at 1441 hours local killing the 21 passengers and four crew aboard. U.S. Senator Ernest Lundeen of Minnesota was one of the passengers. The aircraft, Flight 19 from Washington, DC to Detroit, Michigan, was flying through a thunderstorm in turbulence when the it nosed over and plunged to earth. The cause of the accident was listed as disabling of the pilots by a severe lightning discharge in the immediate neighborhood of the airplane, with resulting loss of control. (Jack McKillop)
U.S.S.R.: The Soviets protest that they were not consulted on the award of Transylvania, territory it has long coveted, to Hungary. (Andy Etherington)
1941: FINLAND: After discussion with MarshallCarl Gustav Emil Mannerheim Mannerheim and Lieutenant General Walden (the Minister of War) about the German request that Finland take part in the capture of Leningrad, President Ryti gives his permission that the Finnish troops can cross the pre-1939 border in the Karelian Isthmus with a limiation of a few kilometers. The condition is that the Germans deliver 25 000 tons of rye. Mannerheim informs General Erfurth, the OKW representative, the next day. (Mikko HŠrmeinen)
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: US Admiral Thomas C. Hart, Commander of the Asiatic Fleet, has advised British Vice-Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton, Commander of the RN's East Asia Squadron, that Washington is refusing to endorse proposed British plans for Allied cooperation should war come. (Marc Small)
British Air Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham, Commander-in-Chief Far East, has made two visits this month to Manila to confer with Hart and General Douglas MacArthur, Commander US Army Forces Far East. (Marc Small)
U.S.S.R.: Today, 70 days after the outbreak of war on the Eastern Front, the first Allied convoy, code named Dervish, arrives in Archangel, USSR. Convoys continued until the end of the war and succeeded in delivering almost a quarter of all war material received by the Soviet Union during the War. (Dave Shirlaw)
The Soviet Army launches a counterattack along the Dnieper River. (Jack McKillop)
U.S.: The radio show "The Great Gildersleeve" debuts on the NBC Red Network on Sundays at 1830 hours Eastern Time. The show is a spin off of the "Fibber McGee and Molly" show and stars Harold Peary as Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, a windbag, a most eligible bachelor, a bumbling-but-enthusiastic ladies' man and the water commissioner of the town of Summerfield. (Jack McKillop)
1942: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: A PBY-5A Catalina of USN Patrol Squadron Forty Two (VP-42) based at NAS Kodiak, Territory of Alaska, and a PBY of VP-43 based in Nazan Bay, Atka Island, catch the Japanese submarine HIJMS RO-61 on the surface 5 miles (8 kilometers) north of Cape Shaw, Atka Island. The crew of the VP-42 PBY-5A depth charge the sub and heavily damage it. At 1915 hours local, the sub is located by the destroyer USS Reid (DD-369) which sinks it with gunfire about 27 nautical miles (49 kilometers) north-northeast of the village of Atka on Atka Island, in position 52.36N, 173.57W. Five survivors are rescued from the frigid waters. (Jack McKillop)
In the air, of two USAAF 11th Air Force B-24 Liberators flying weather, reconnaissance and patrol missions over Tanaga Island, one returns due to weather. Tanaga Island is located about 49 nautical miles (89 kilometers) west of Adak Island. (Jack McKillop)
BELGIUM: The Communist spy network Red Orchestra is broken up by the Germans in Brussels. (Jack McKillop)
BURMA: USAAF B-25 Mitchells of the 10th Air Force's China Air Task Force bomb Myitkyina for the second consecutive day. (Jack McKillop)
EAST CHINA SEA: USN submarine USS Growler (SS-215) sinks a Japanese merchant cargo ship about 77 nautical miles (142 kilometers) east-northeast of Taipei, Formosa, in position 25.43N, 122.38E. (Jack McKillop)
EGYPT: Axis forces, against strong opposition, breach a mine field on the southern flank of the British 13 Corps and German armor then drives through and attack west toward the west end of the "Alam el Halfa" ridge until halted short of it with heavy loses. Air and artillery are employed against the Axis forces with good effect. Attacks by Allied air forces throughout August have seriously affected the Axis supply position. (Jack McKillop)
US Middle East Air Force P-40s escort RAF bombers during a raid on Maryut, Egypt. B-25 Mitchells, in conjunction with RAF Bostons, attack troop concentrations and military vehicles as the battle of Alam-el-Halfa begins along the El Alamein line. (Jack McKillop)
LIBYA: US Middle East Air Force B-25 Mitchells attack aircraft on a landing ground, and B-24 Liberators raid the harbor at Tobruk. (Jack McKillop)
NEW GUINEA: Japanese Army General HYATUTKE Seikichi, Commander of the 17th Army with HQ at Rabaul on New Britain Island, Bismarck Archipelago, decides to evacuae the troops that were landed at Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea. The evacuation is complete on 7 September. He thinks he must concentrate on the fighting on Guadalcanal. (John Nicholas)
At Milne Bay in Papua New Guinea, Japanese troops attack the Australians at 0300 hours local attempting to take No. 3 Airstrip. The Japanese attack four times but fail to dislodge the defenders. The Japanese again attack at nightfall but again fail to overcome the Australians. The ground troops are supported by RAAF Kittyhawks of the Allied Air Forces who attack landing barges and strafe gun positions. (Jack McKillop)
In the air, USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses of the Allied Air Forces attack an ammunition dump at Buna; B-26 Marauders and A-20 Havocs attack Lae Aerodrome, and P-400 Airacobras strafe Japanese at Wairopi. (Jack McKillop)
PACIFIC OCEAN: USN submarine USS Silversides (SS-236), on its second war patrol, sinks a 300 ton trawler by gunfire about 469 nautical miles (869 kilometers) east of Tokyo, Japan in position 33-51N, 149.39E. (Skip Guidry)
SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS: A torpedo from the Japanese submarine HIJMS I-26 strikes the USN aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3) at 0748 hours local when she is about 90 nautical miles (167 kilometers) west of the Santa Cruz Islands in position 10.34S, 164.18E. The torpedo slams into the blister on her starboard side and floods one fireroom, but the impact causes short circuits which damaged Saratoga's turbo-electric propulsion system and leaves her dead in the water. The heavy cruiser USS Minneapolis (CA-36) takes the carrier under tow while her aircraft fly off to Espiritu Santo and on to Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, to augment the Cactus Air Force. By early afternoon, Saratoga's engineers have improvised a circuit out of the burned wreckage of her main control board and which gives her a speed of 10 knots. (After repairs at Tongatabu in the Tonga Islands from 6 to 12 September, USS Saratoga arrived at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, on 21 September for permanent repairs.) Amo
ng the 12 men injured is Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher who also heads stateside. This marks the end of the fighting commands for Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, Commander Cruisers Pacific Fleet, who has commanded the US carriers since early in 1942. His actions since August 7, have sealed his fate. (Jack McKillop and John Nicholas)
SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Guadalcanal, Lieutenant General KAWAGUCHI Kiyotake, Commander of the 35th Brigade, lands from the Japanese destroyer HIJMS Umikaze, with 1200 additional troops loaded on seven destroyers, of the 4th Infantry Regiment, at Taivu Point (east of the Lunga perimeter). The 124th Infantry, under Colonel OKA, will follow by barge and land west of the Lunga perimeter. General Kawaguchi now commands all of the Japanese troops on Guadalcanal. (John Nicholas)
Rear-Admiral TANAKA Raizo, Commander of the 2nd Destroyer Squadron, relinquishes command of the Guadalcanal Japanese resupply efforts to Rear Admiral HASHIMOTO Shintaro. Richard Frank says: "But unlike U.S. Admiral Fletcher, this marked an interruption, not an end, to Tanaka's tenure." (John Nicholas)
The 3rd Marine Defense Battalion establishes an air-search radar station using the SCR-268 radar system near Henderson Field.
(Jack McKillop and John Nicholas)
U.K.: The USAAF HQ XII Bomber Command arrives at Daws Hill Lodge, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, and is assigned to HQ Twelfth Air Force. This unit will support the Allied invasion of Northwestern Africa in November. (Jack McKillop)
U.S.: The Secretary of Agriculture, Claude Wickard, warns of possible meat rationing in the US. (John Nicholas)
U.S.S.R.: Although Soviet resistance along the Terek River has stiffened considerably, the German Army Group A secures a foothold across it in the Mozdok area. (Jack McKillop)
German units are now within 16 miles of Stalingrad. (John Nicholas)
1943: BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: USAAF Fifth Air Force bombers fly scattered strikes against shipping and shore targets in the Saint George Channel between New Ireland and New Britain Islands. (Jack McKillop)
CHINA: Six USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells hit Ichang Airfield while three others attack an oil storage area to the east; P-40s also hit the oil stores. Three P-40s sink a small Japanese coastal vessel off Stonecutter's Island near Hong Kong; and 4 P-38 Lightnings dive-bomb Yoyang railroad yards and Sinti warehouses; a P-38 is shot down by ground fire. (Jack McKillop)
EAST INDIES: In the air in the Netherlands East Indies, (1) USN PBY Catalinas sink small Japanese cargo vessels off Ceram; (2) RAAF Mitchells sink a small Japanese cargo vessel off north coast of Alor Island; and (3) U.S. aircraft sink a guardboat off Halmahera Island. (Jack McKillop)
FRANCE: The US Eighth Air Force'sVIII Air Support Command flies Missions 41 and 42: 104 B-26B Marauders bomb the Rouen and Mazingarbe power stations; the Nord Airfield at Poix, the Nord Airfield at Lille; and the Hesdin fuel dump; a B-26 is lost. (Jack McKillop)
The US Eighth Air Force'sVIII Bomber Command flies Mission 88 against two aviation locations. (1) 105 B-17 Flying Fortresses visually bomb Glisy Airfield at Amiens at 1807-1824 hours with the loss of 3 B-17s and (2) 149 B-17s are dispatched to the aircraft plant at Meulan but the plant is cloud covered and a B-17 visually bombs the railway northeast of Rouen. These missions are escorted by 160 P-47 Thunderbolts which claim 2-1-1 Luftwaffe aircraft; 2 P-47's are lost. (Jack McKillop)
FRENCH INDOCHINA: Seven USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Gia Lam Airfield and 22 P-40s and two P-38 Lightnings bomb a dike near Co Bi barracks. (Jack McKillop)
GERMANY: The Battle of Berlin continues. During the night of 31 August/1 September, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 613 aircraft: 331 Lancasters, 176 Halifaxes, 106 Stirlings with nine Oboe Mosquitoes as route markers; 512 bomb Berlin using H2S radar with the loss of 47 aircraf, 20 Halifaxes, 17 Stirlings and ten Lancasters; three visually bomb the power station in Brauweiler, two visually bomb Osnabruck, and one visually bombs Aachen. Many of the crews are tired, having had only a few hours sleep since the raid of the previous night. The force is easily tracked on its approach and at least 18 bombers were shot down by fighters. Twenty-two aircraft, most Stirlings and Halifaxes were shot down in the target area and during the initial 70 miles (113 kilometers) of the journey back to England. A total of 377 bombing photographs were examined. Only ten of the photos showed aircraft bombing in the center of Berlin. Most bombs fell in a long spread 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of
Berlin. Most bombs were scattered in a wide area of the south. Sixty-eight people were killed in Berlin and 19 in the countryside. (Jay Stone)
ITALY: Forty five USAAF Ninth Air Force B-24 Liberators visually bomb the marshalling yard at Pescara while 152 USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses of the Northwest African Strategic Air Force bomb the marshalling yard at Pisa. Northwest African Tactical Air Force medium and light bombers bomb the Cosenza marshalling yard and road-railway junction in Cantanzaro during the morning, and in the afternoon bomb the area around Cosenza when clouds prevent hitting specific targets; and fighter-bombers hit Sapri railroad and seaplane base. During the night of 31 August/1 September, light bombers hit the bivouac areas southeast of Reggio di Calabria. (Jack McKillop)
During the night of 31 August/1 September, 46 RAF Liberators of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group bomb the marshalling yard at Salerno with the loss of one aircraft. (Jack McKillop)
THE NETHERLANDS: Four RAF Bomber Command aircraft bomb Texel during the night of 31 August/1 September. (Jack McKillop)
NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, nine USAAF Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs fly a low-level strafing mission against Malahang Aerodrome located 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) east of Lae. (Jack McKillop)
NOTRTH PACIFIC: The USN's Task Force 15, consisting of the aircraft carriers USS Essex (CV-9) with Carrier Air Group Nine (CVG-9), USS Independence (CVL-22) with Light Carrier Air Group Twenty Two (CVLG-22), and USS Yorktown (CV-10) with CVG-5 with a battleship, 2 light cruisers and 11 destroyers, attack Marcus Island located about 725 miles (1,167 km) northwest of Wake Island. A total of 275 sorties are flown against the Japanese and several IJN "Betty" bombers (Mitsubishi G4M, Navy Type 1 Attack Bombers) are destroyed and ground facilities are heavily damaged.
This strike marks the combat debut of the Grumman F6F Hellcat. The fighting squadrons on all three aircraft carriers are equipped with F6F-3s, i.e., Fighting Squadron Five (VF-5) in USS Yorktown, VF-9 in USS Essex and detachments of VF-6 and VF-22 in USS Independence. The Hellcats destroy four aircraft on the ground and later in the day, an F6F pilot shoots down a Japanese aircraft. (Gene Hanson, Jack McKillop and John Nicholas)
SICILY: Negotiations for Italy's surrender resume near Syracuse, with General Giuseppe Castellano of the Italian General Staff pleading with the Allies to occupy Rome and protect King Victor Emmanuel and the Badoglio government. U. S. General Walter Bedell Smith, Chief of Staff Allied Expeditionary Force Mediterranean, insists on unconditional surrender, with the armistice to be announced as a large Allied army lands in Italy. Smith refuses to tell Castellano where the Allies will come ashore or how large the army will be. Disappointed by the unconditional surrender demand and fearful of the large numbers flooding into Italy, Castellano returns to Rome to confer with Italy's new head of state, Marshal Pietro Badoglio. (Jack McKillop)
SOLOMON ISLANDS: USAAF Thirteenth Air Force P-40s, in a running battle over Vella Lavella Island, claim five IJN aircraft shot down at 0910 hours; other P-40s strafe barges in Timbala Bay on Vella Lavella Island. Twenty two B-25 Mitchells and 50 USMC airplanes bomb gun positions and the radio station at Vila on Kolombangara Island. (Jack McKillop)
U.S.S.R.: The Soviet Army advances south from Sevsk and captures Glukhov and Rylask. (John Nicholas)
1944: BONIN AND VOLCANO ISLANDS: The USN's Task Group 38.4, consisting of the aircraft carriers USS Enterprise (CV-6) with Carrier Air Group Twenty (CVG-20), USS Franklin (CV-13) with CVG-13 and the light aircraft carrier USS San Jacinto (CVL-30) with Light Carrier Air Group Fifty One (CVLG-51) plus supporting ships, launches aircraft against Chichi Jima in the Bonin Islands and Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands. The strikes are intended to neutralize Japanese installations there and provide a diversion in advance of planned operations in the Palau, Morotai, and Philippine areas. Off Iwo Jima, F6Fs from USS Franklin sink a merchant ship and an auxiliary minesweeper. The strikes are repeated on 1 and 2 September. (Jack McKillop and John Nicholas)
BURMA: Six USAAF Tenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb targets of opportunity at Katha and 3 hit bridges at Bawgyo and Hsenwi. (Jack McKillop)
CAROLINE ISLANDS: One USAAF Seventh Air Fore B-24 Liberators bombs Yap Island. (Jack McKillop)
CHINA: Twelve USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Takao harbor, damaging the dock area and claiming two tankers sunk; 14 B-25 Mitchells attack Tien Ho, White Cloud, Kai Tek, and Hengyang Airfields; eight B-25s attack numerous trucks south of Sintsiang and near Sinshih, hit roads south of Nanyo and damage a freighter near Sinshih; and 60+ fighter-bombers attack trucks, barracks, supplies, rivercraft, bridges and troops in or near Sinshih, Changsha, Yangtien, Hengyang, Nanyo, Siangtan, Teian, and Shihhweiyao. (Jack McKillop)
EAST CHINA SEA: USN submarine USS Seawolf (SS-197) sinks a Japanese army cargo ship and a merchant cargo ship about 180 nautical miles (333 kilometers) south-southeast of Shanghai, China, in position 28.30N, 123.05E. (Jack McKillop)
ƒIRE: A RN Fairey Swordfish crashes at Gormanstown Camp, the Irish Army Air Corps base in County Meath. (Jack McKillop)
FRANCE: In northern France, the Canadian 4th Armoured Division drives quickly to Forges and Buchy. The British 11th Armoured Division captues Amiens and seizes the bridge across the Somme River intact. The U.S. XIX Corps captures Chantilly, Creil, Pont Ste Maxence, Verberie and Compiegne. Operations against Brest are temporarily suspended by the U.S. VIII Corps while elements of the U.S. XX Corps establishes across the Meuse at Verdun. In the air, 99 USAAF Ninth Air Force B-26 Marauders and A-20 Havocs bomb an ammunition dump at Foret d'Arques and gun positions at Ile de Cezembre; fighters fly armed reconnaissance in the Amiens, Saint-Quentin, Albert, and Arras areas, ground forces cover for 3 armored divisions, battleship cover, and also dive-bomb Ile de Cezembre. (Jack McKillop)ÊÊÊÊ
In southern France, U.S. troops find Briancon free of Germans and the VI Corps speeds up the Rhone Valley toward Lyon. In the air,
USAAF Twelfth Air Force fighter-bombers attack communications targets. (Jack McKillop)
The USAAF's Eighth Air Force in England flies Mission 594: 34 bombs visually bomb the supply depot at Bricy Airfield in Orleans. During the night of 31 August/1 September, six B-17s drop leaflets in France and 37 B-24 Liberators and C-47 Skytrains fly CARPETBAGGER missions. (Jack McKillop)
HUNGARY: Ninety seven P-51 Mustangs of the USAAF Fifteenth Air Force in Italy strafe airfields at Oradea and Kecskemet. (Jack McKillop)
ITALY: The attack of the British 8th Army against the Gothic Line continues. There are some successes. West of the British Eighth Army, the U.S. VI Corps follows up on a German withdrawal along the Arno River in Italy. (John Nicholas)
The USAAF's Twelfth Air Force dispatches B-25 Mitchells and B-26 Marauders to attack railroad bridges in the Po Valley, cutting the bridge at Mira. (Jack McKillop)
MARIANA ISLANDS: Saipan-based P-47 Thunderbolts of the USAAF Seventh Air Force strafe gun positions at the airfield on Pagan Island while a single B-24 Liberator also bombs the island. (Jack McKillop)
NEW GUINEA: In Dutch New Guinea, the operations on Noemfoor and Sansapor are declared at an end. (Jack McKillop)
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: USN Submarine USS Redfish (SS-272) lands supplies and evacuates people from Palawan Island. (Jack McKillop)
PHILIPPINE SEA: U.S. aircraft sink a Japanese merchant cargo ship about 45 nautical miles (83 kilometers) north-north east off Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, in position 24.46N, 141.19E. (Jack McKillop)
ROMANIA: Bucharest falls to the Russian Second Ukraine Front. The Soviets immediately begin the round-up of members of the 'Fascist' Antonescu government. (John Nicholas and Jack McKillop)
B-17 Flying Fortresses of the SAAF Fifteenth Air Force in Italy commence Operation REUNION (the evacuation of US airmen interned in Romania); 38 B-17s evacuate more than 700 of the 1,100 US airmen from Bucharest (which falls to the Soviet Army today) to Bari, Italy. This operation is the brainchild of Romanian airmen and civilians who concentrate the Americans at a Romanian Air Force Base while contacting HQ Fifteenth Air Force in Italy by flying a high-ranking USAAF POW to Italy in a Romanian Air Force Bf-109. Everyone involved realizes that the operation must be kept secret from both the Germans and the Soviets. Meanwhile 45 P-51 Mustangs strafe the airfield at Reghin. (Jack McKillop)
SOUTH CHINA SEA: U.S. submarines attack a Japanese convoy bound for Manila, Philippine Islands, and four ships are sunk about 40 nautical miles (74 kilometers) south-southeast of the southern tip of Formosa in the Luzon Strait. USS Barb (SS-220) sinks an auxiliary minesweeper and an army cargo ship. USS Queenfish (SS-393) sinks an army tanker and USS Sealion (SS-315) sinks a minelayer. (Jack McKillop)
1945: HONG KONG: The RCN armed merchant cruiser HMCS Prince Robert enters the Crown Colony where her commanding officer represents Canada at the surrender ceremonies of Japanese forces. (Jack McKillop)
ITALY: The USAAF Twelfth Air Force is inactivated. (Jack McKillop
JAPAN: Soviet forces occupy Utruppu Island in the Kurile Islands after fierce fighting with Japanese troops. (Jack McKillop)
U.S. Marines of Company "L," Third Battalion, Fourth Marines, land at Tateyama Naval Base, Honshu, on the northeast shore of Sagami Wan, and accept its surrender. They will reconnoiter the beach approaches and cover the landing of Army's 112th Cavalry Regiment. Meanwhile, the Japanese submarine HIJMS I 401 surrenders to submarine USN submarine USS Segundo (SS-398) at the entrance to Tokyo Bay. (Jack McKillop)
MARCUS ISLAND: The Japanese garrison surrenders. (Jack McKillop)
U.S.: In baseball, the Washington Senators again muff a chance to go into first place, dropping a pair to the New York Yankees, 3Ð2 and 3Ð1, in Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. In between games, Washington pitcher Bert Shepard receives the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service in WWII. When Bert Shepard, a journeyman minor league pitcher, had his right leg amputated after his fighter plane crashed in Germany, he was the only person that believed he would ever play professional baseball again. But through sheer self-belief and determination, the gutsy left-hander from Dana, Indiana, taught himself to walk and then to pitch with an artificial leg -- all within the confines of a POW camp in Germany. By February 1945, Shepard was back in the U.S. and determined to pitch in organized baseball. Senators' owner Clark Griffith took a look at the amputee's pitching form in spring training and offered Shepard a job as a pitching coach. On 4 August 1945, Shepard became an inspi
ration to all wartime amputees when he pitched five innings for the Senators against the Boston Red Sox, fulfilling a dream that few could have imagined possible. That was the only major league game he pitched in. Shepard continued playing in the minor leagues until 1954 and later worked for IBM and Hughes Aircraft as a safety engineer. (Jack McKillop)
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