............
In September of 1942 the German Army was at Stalingrad and Gen. Rommel was at the gates of Egypt with his touted Afrika Corp. The Allies desparately needed a second front to reverse the eastern assault of the Axis armies. Operation Torch was devised to be that second front.
The invasion plan called for three naval task forces to in invade Northern Africa. The USS Augusta under the command of Rear Admiral H.K. Hewitt1 and embarking Western Task Force, US Army General George S. Patton, Jr. commanding was selected to be the flagship for the Western Naval Task Force (WNTF) for Operation Torch.
The plan for the WNTF was to land a force of about 9,000 at Port Lyautry which was north of Casablanca to capture the airport. At the same time 18,000, supported by 80 tanks was to land at Fedala and march on Casablanca from the north. A third force of 6,000 with a hundred heavy tanks, having landed at Safi, was to advance on the city from the south.
"PLAY BALL"
With the initial element of surprise, at 0000 GMT on November 8,1942 the Augusta reached the shores off Casablanca and the Task Force commenced disembarking the invasion troops which were under the command of Gen. George S. Patton who at the time was directing the assault from the Augusta. The ship's war diary contains the following entry for that morning:
The landing of our boats was heavily opposed by both shore installations and French troops and at 0617 the order to "Play Ball" was received - this meant that we were to carry out our Attack Plan and destroy to the best of our ability all resistance encountered.
At 0700 in Casablanca Harbor five Vichy French submarines were preparing to stand out of the harbor to go on patrol. Merchantmen were beginning loading and unloading their cargos, and on board the cruisers and destroyers the crews were at work scrubbing decks.
Jean Bart
At 0730 the aircraft carrier USS Ranger launched her first strike of bombers with Wildcat escorts. Ten minutes later they were intercepted by French fighters, and in a dogfight 5 American and 7 French planes were shot down.
At 0804 as the Ranger's bombers were releasing their loads the battleship USS Massachusetts opened up with salvoes of her 16 inch guns on Casablanca's quays and ships. In the commercial harbor 10 cargo and passenger ships were sunk in 10 minutes, 40 crew killed and 60 wounded. Alongside the breakwater 3 Vichy submarines went down at their moorings their crews cut to pieces by flying stones.
El Hank and Oukacha returned fire along with Jean Bart one turret. Wreckage hurled aboard from the quayside landed down on the turret.
At 0900 the Vichy 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron under Rear-Admiral Gervais de Lafond raised sufficient steam to put to sea to head for Fedala. His flagshp, Primauguet, undergoing minor engine repair, de Lafond hoisted his flag in the superdestroyer Milan. He steamed northwards at full speed hoping that the smoke and rising sun would blind the American naval forces. At 0920 Wildcats from Ranger strafed her decks. Every man on bridge including LeFond was wounded. In the Vichy Boulonnais, was severly damaged. The commanding officer, Lt.-Comdr Martinant de Preneuf was killed on the Albatross. The Brestois anti-aircraft battery was put out of action.
Thereafter the Primauguet was off Fedala in the cross hairs of Augusta, Brooklyn to the north and Massachucetts, Tuscaloosa and Wichita from the northeast The first Vichy ship to sink was the Fougueux, which was struck by Massachusetts and Tuscaloosa. The Vichy Milan's bow shattered and forward turret wrecked and she beached.
The Boulonnais was sunk by 8 16" guns while carrying out a torpedo run, she turned turtle, and sunk with all hands.
Primauguet holed below her water line, with half of her engine room crew dead, dropped anchor near Milan.
Brestois and Frondeur got back to harbor but capsized during the night.
Vichy destroyer Alcyon left harbor for survivors but was attacked by bombers and navy guns when she cleared the Casablanca breakwater. The Albatross and Primauguet were hit again while trying to transfer 100 dead and 200 hundred wounded.
For the next three days the Augusta was engaged in protecting the transport ships and the invasion troops, and combating enemy naval and coastal resistance. On November 10, 1942 the Augusta helped turn back the French units sortieing from Casablanca who were attempting to disrupt the landings. The ship's scout observation planes played an active role in spotting the accuracy of the ship's gunfire against the enemy ships and coastal batteries. As depicted in the photo at right during this battle the Augusta (in the background) was straddled by shells from the Vichy French battleship, Jean Bart, which had been earlier mistakenly reported to Hewitt to have been out of commission. The Jean Bart was subsequently put out of action by return ship and carrier plane bombardment.
The invasion was successful and the ship and crew had the good fortune of being able to celebrate Thanksgiving Day 1942 with a special dinner with cuisine ala North Africa. A copy of the ship's program issued to the crew for that day is reproduced here. The message to the crew for that day summed up the feelings of all:
In its five engagements, one against a shore battery and four against enemy naval forces, the ship rendered a good account of itself and contributed in a large degree to the final defeat of the opposing forces and the establishing of a second front, in North Africa.
In the course of each engagement the ship was subjected to accurate and heavy fire by the opposing forces. And yet, although bracketed many times by the projectiles of the enemy, the ship miraculously escaped without damage to herself or injury to the crew. It should be apparent to all that consistent escape from harm was due not alone to skill, or to good luck, but unquestionably to the intervention of divine providence.
On This Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on October 29:
1740 James Boswell Scotland, Samuel Johnson's biographer
1824 Joseph Horace Lewis Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1904
1859 Charles Ebbets (namesake of Ebbets Field, Brooklyn)
1884 Bela Lugosi horror actor (Dracula, Body Snatcher)
1891 Fanny Brice singing comedienne (Ziegeld Follies, Baby Snooks)
1897 Paul Joseph Goebbels Nazi propagandist
1906 Fredric Brown American writer (US Army in Transition)
1910 Alfred J Ayer England, Neopositivist philosopher/logician
1921 Ed Kemmer Reading Pa, actor (Buzz Corey-Space Patrol)
1921 William Henry Mauldin US, political cartoonist (Pulitzer-1945, 59)
1945 Melba Moore NYC, singer/actress (Ellis Island)
1947 Richard Dreyfuss Brooklyn NY, actor (Jaws, The Tin Men)
1948 Kate Jackson Birmingham Ala, actress (Rookies, Charlie's Angels)
1949 Paul Orndorff wrestler (WCW/SMW/NWA/WWF, Mr Wonderful)
1953 Denis Potvin Ottawa Ontario, NY Islander defenseman (Norris trophy)
1959 Jesse Barfield Ill, outfielder (Blue Jays, Yankees, 1986 HR leader)
1960 Finola Hughes actress (Anna-General Hospital, Staying Alive)
1961 Randy Jackson rocker (Jacksons-ABC)
1965 Steven Sweet Wadsworth Ohio, heavy metal artist (Warrant-Cherry Pie)
1971 Winona Ryder [Horowitz], Mn, actress (Heathers, Edward Scissorhand)
Deaths which occurred on October 29:
0490 Petrus Mongus, patriarch of Alexandria, dies
1618 Sir Walter Raleigh is executed in London
1885 George B McClellan Union army general, dies at 58
1901 Leon Czolcosz assassin of President McKinley, is executed
1911 Joseph Pulitzer American newspaperman, dies in Charleston, SC
1947 Frances Cleveland Preston former 1st lady, dies in Balt at 83
1957 Louis B Mayer MGM producer, dies at 71
1963 Adolphe Menjou actor (Front Page, Star is Born), dies at 73
1971 Duane Allman dies at 24 in a motorcycle accident
1975 John Scott Trotter orch leader (George Gobel Show), dies at 67
1981 William O Walker publisher of the Cleveland Call Post, dies at 85
1987 Kamal El Mallakh dies at 57
1987 Woody Herman bandleader/composer (Thundering Herds), dies at 74
1990 William French Smith attorney general (1980), dies at 73 from cancer
Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1963 PITZER DANIEL L.---FAIRVIEW WV.
[11/11/67 RELEASED IN CAMBODIA, DECEASED
1963 ROWE JAMES N.---MC ALLEN TX.
[12/31/68 ESCAPED, KILLED IN PHILLIPINE INSIDENT 04/21/89]
1963 VERSACE HUMBERTO R.---NORFOLK VA.
[09/22/65 POSS EXECUTED PRG DIC LIST]
1968 BEZOLD STEVEN---MC KITTRICK MO.
1968 HARRISON DONALD L.---CHAMBLEE GA
1968 HUNTER JAMES D.---PORTLAND TN.
1971 OAKLEY LINUS LABIN---CARTHAGE AR.
1972 SULLIVAN JAMES E.---HULL MA.
["DEAD, HANOI RADIO REMAINS RETURNED 08/14/85"]
POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.
On this day...
0539 BC Babylon falls to Cyrus the Great of Persia
1618 Sir Walter Raleigh was beheaded in London. He had been charged with plotting against King James I.
1682 William Penn lands in what will become Pennsylvania
1727 Severe earthquake in New England
1787 The opera "Don Giovanni" is produced (Prague)
1811 1st Ohio River steamboat leaves Pittsburgh for New Orleans
1813 The Demologos, the first steam-powered warship, launched in New York City.
1833 1st US college fraternity to have a fraternity house founded
1863 Intl Comm of the Red Cross founded (Nobel 1917, 1944, 1963)
1894 1st election of the Hawaiian Republic
1904 1st intercity trucking service (Colorado City & Snyder, Texas)
1914 Russia declares war on Turkey
1920 Edward Barrow named Yankee general manager
1923 "Runnin' Wild" (introducing the Charleston) opens on Broadway
1923 Turkey proclaimed a republic (National Day)
1924 "Dixie to Broadway," opens at Broadhurst Theater
1927 Russian archaeologist Peter Kozloff apparently uncovers the tomb of Genghis Khan in the Gobi Desert, a claim still in dispute
1929 "Black Tuesday," Stock Market crashes triggers "Great Depression"
1932 French liner Normandie is launched
1940 Sec of War Henry L Stimson drew 1st number-158-in 1st peacetime military draft in US history
1942 Alaska highway completed
1942 Branch Rickey named president/GM of Brooklyn Dodgers
1942 Nazis murder 16,000 Jewish in Pinsk, Soviet Union
1943 3 allied officers escape camp Stalag Luft 3
1944 1st Polish Armour division frees Breda
1945 1st ball point pen goes on sale, 57 years after it was patented
1950 Wally Triplett avgs 735 yards on 3 kickoff returns
1954 Colonel Nasser disbands Moslem Brothership
1956 Chet Huntley & David Brinkley, NBC News, team up
1956 IDF crosses Egyptian territory in the Sinai
1956 International zone of Tangier returned to Morocco
1956 Israeli paratroopers drop into the Sinai to open Straits of Tiran
1957 A hand grenade explodes in Israel's Knesset (Parliament)
1958 Boris Pasternak refuses Nobel prize for literature
1959 10 nation soccer league to play all games on NY Randalls Is, announced
1960 Muhammad Ali's (Cassius Clay's) 1st professional fight, beats Tunney Hunsaker in 6
1963 "Meet the Beatles" booklet is published
1964 Star of India & other jewels are stolen in NY
1964 Town of Karmiel founded in the Galilee
1966 National Organization of Women founded
1967 Musical "Hair," premieres in NYC
1972 Don Cockroft of Cleveland Browns kicks 57-yard field goal
1979 Billy Martin fired as Yankee manager (2nd time)
1982 Car maker John DeLorean indicted for drug trafficking, later acquitted
1987 Thomas Hearns wins unprecidented 4th different weight boxing title
1988 2,000 US anti-abortion protesters arrested for blocking clinics
1988 China announces a herbal male contraceptive
1988 Jim Elliott (US) begins 24-hr paced outdoor race for 548.9 mi
1988 Soviets 1st scheduled shuttle launch (postponed)
1990 30 die in a (5.7) earthquake in Algeria
1992 Alger Hiss said Russia had cleared him of the charge of being a Communist spy that sent him to prison for four years and helped launch Richard Nixon's political career.
1998 Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, who in 1962 became the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth,, roared back into space aboard the shuttle Discovery, retracing the trail he'd blazed for America's astronauts 36 years earlier. At 77, he was the oldest person to travel in space.(payback for saving willards ass)
Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Cyprus : National Day
Turkey : Republic Day (1923)
Biographies are Beautiful Day
National Magic Week (Day 5)
Cooking, Crafts and Home Books Month
National Dessert Month
Religious Observances
Christian : St James Hannington, bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa
Christian : Commemoration of St Theuderius, or Chef, abbot
Ang : Com of James Hannington, bishop of E Equatorial Afr & companions
Religious History
1869 Birth of E. O. Sellers, American Baptist musician. At various times the song evangelist for R.A. Torrey, Gipsy Smith, A.C. Dixon and J. Wilbur Chapman, Sellers is remembered today for his two original hymns: "Thy Word Have I Hid in My Heart" and "Wonderful, Wonderful Jesus."
1870 Birth of Juji Nakada, Japanese Christian evangelist. In 1901 he influenced Charles and Lettie Cowman (authors of "Streams in the Desert") to come to Japan, where in 1910 they incorporated the Oriental Missions Society.
1889 New York City missions pioneer Albert B. Simpson, 46, incorporated the International Missionary Alliance. Combined in 1897 with a group formerly also organized by Simpson, it became the Christian and Missionary Alliance, one of the most missions-minded denominations in modern American Protestantism.
1919 The Apostolic Christian Association was incorporated in Atlanta, Georgia. It later merged with what is now the International Pentecostal Church of Christ, headquartered in London, Ohio.
1955 American missionary Jim Elliot, 28, wrote in his journal: 'First time I ever saw an Auca--1500' is a long ways if you're looking out of an airplane.' Ten weeks later, on Jan 8, 1956, Jim and four other missionaries would be speared to death by these same Indians they had come to Ecuador in hopes of evangelizing.
Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Thought for the day :
"Life is uncertain...so have dessert first"
Childrens Impression of Love...
SOME SUREFIRE WAYS TO MAKE A PERSON FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU
"Tell them that you own a whole bunch of candy stores." (Del, 6)
"Don't do things like have smelly, green sneakers. You might get attention, but attention ain't the same thing as love." (Alonzo, 9)
"One way is to take the girl out to eat. Make sure it's something she likes to eat. French fries usually works for me." (Bart, 9)
Children's stories that never made it...
Valuable Protein and Other Nutritional Benefits of Things from your Nose
Handy Latin Phrases...
Mater tua criceta fuit, et pater tuo redoluit bacarum sambucus.
Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries
Redefining the English language
Lymph (v.)
To walk with a lisp.