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August 12th, 1942

UNITED KINGDOM: Rescue tug HMS Eminent launched.

Minesweepers HMS Espiegle and Fancy launched.

Destroyer HMS Meteor is launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

NORTH SEA: Submarine HMS Unshaken sinks the German merchant Georg L.M. Russ (2890 BRT) off Norway. (Dave Shirlaw)

GERMANY: U-468, U-526 and U-709 are commissioned.

U-531 is launched.

U-1062 is laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: Churchill arrives for a conference with Stalin and informs his colleagues: “I can handle this peasant.”
The major reason for this trip is to inform Stalin there will be no 2nd Front in western Europe in 1942.

1st Panzer Army’s LII A.K. captured Elista. At this time 4th Panzer Army is approaching the outer ring of the Stalingrad defenses from the Southwest, having entered Abganerovo on the 12th. (Jeff Chrisman)

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Attacks continue on the convoy of Operation Pedestal. Today 2 cruisers and destroyer and 2 merchants are sunk. One tanker and HMS Indomitable are damaged.

Whilst escorting the Pedestal convoy, destroyer HMS Foresight is attacked by Ju.87 and Ju.88 bombers and Italian S.79 torpedo bombers. Foresight is disabled by a torpedo hit and taken in tow by Tartar towards Gibraltar. Later it is decided to scuttle Foresight by torpedo from Tartar rather than risk both destroyers being sunk. There were 4 casualties but 140 survivors. Location: 13 miles SW of Galita Island at 37 40N 10 00E.

Whilst escorting the Pedestal convoy, light anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Cairo is attacked by the Italian submarine Axum (TV {Lt.} Perrini, CO) which fired four torpedoes. Axum claimed hits on a cruiser and a destroyer, but in fact he had hit cruiser HMS Nigeria which had to return to Gibraltar, another torpedo hit the tanker Ohio, and the other two hit HMS Cairo and blew off her stern: she then had to be scuttled the next day, thus taking away the only two ships fitted for fighter direction. Axum’s achievement of one cruiser sunk, another damaged, and a tanker damaged with a single salvo is unique in submarine history standing at 4,200 tons sunk and 17,514 tons damaged. Location: NE of Bizerta at 37 40N 10 06E. (Alex Gordon)(108)

Italian submarine Cobalto rammed and sunk off Bizerta, Tunisia after being forced to surface after being depth charged by destroyers HMS Ithuriel and Pathfinder. It was Ithuriel that rammed the submarine.

Italian submarine Dagabur rammed and sunk north of Algiers by destroyer HMS Wolverine. (Dave Shirlaw)

EGYPT: Cairo: Lieutenant-General Bernard Law Montgomery has today taken over command of the British Eighth Army in North Africa. The arrival of this relatively unknown general is the culmination of a week of turmoil in the army hierarchy, as first Winston Churchill pressed for changes and then the newly-chosen commander for the Eighth Army was shot down by German fighters, leaving the way open for Montgomery. The major internal battle has been waged over the new C-in-C, with Auchinleck now replaced by General Sir Harold Alexander.
Auchinleck finally sealed his own fate when he told the PM that there was no chance of a majot offensive until his exhausted army was reinforced and retrained, and complained about the inadequacy of his tanks and anti-tank weapons, prompting the premier to storm: “Rommel, Rommel, Rommel! What else matters except beating him?” How quickly the offensive will begin is another matter.

CHINA: Shantung: Japanese troops today took advantage of the disarray among the divided Chinese forces by launching new operations in central Shantung against the troops of the Nationalist leader Yu Hsueh-chung, on the run for the last nine days since Communist troops overran his headquarters before they defected to the Eighth Route Army.
Yu managed to escape by disguising himself as a shepherd as the Communists moved into his old base area to begin mopping up operations against Nationalist die-hards. Among those cornered was the militant anti-Communist Ch’in Chijung, who, when surrounded by the Eighth, committed suicide rather than be captured.

JAPAN: The 39 year old would-be assassin of Prime Minister Tojo Hideki, Park Soowan has been killed by police it is today reported in the Japanese press. The attempt was made on June 17th. (Lois Shapley Bassen and Sharon Domier)(132 and 133)

NEW HEBRIDES: US forces start building a base on Espiritu Santu.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: A PBY Catalina, piloted by Admiral McCain’s aide, is the first aircraft to land at, the yet unfinished, Henderson Field, Guadalcanal. On a run from Guadalancal to Tulagi, 2 Higgins boats and tank lighter are attacked by a IJN I-boat. After sinking one Higgins boat the submarine is bracketed by Battery E of the 11th Marines and submerges.

The US forces on Guadalcanal are placed on reduced rations of 2 meals per day. This relatively large ration is possible due to the captured Japanese food stuffs.

After dark a patrol led by Col. Frank Goettge (G-2, 1st MarDiv) leaves the Marine Perimeter, by boat 3 miles east, for the mouth of the Matanikau River. Stories from the 3 survivors tell of the glint of swords or bayonets as the patrol is slaughtered. This incident will profoundly effect the US forces throughout the war in the Pacific.

Supporting the Guadalcanal invasion, USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses of the Allied Air Forces bomb shipping at Rabaul, New Britain Island, scoring damaging hits on an oiler. (Jack McKillop)

AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS Cowra laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)

CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Trois Rivieres (ex HMCS Three Rivers) commissioned.

Minesweepers HMCS Llewellyn and Lloyd George launched Quebec City, Province of Quebec. (Dave Shirlaw)

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: Aleutian Islands: A US 11th Air Force B-24 Liberator flies photo reconnaissance over Amlia and Atka Islands.

U.S.A.: San Francisco: Admiral Nimitz replies to Admiral King: “Doubt BB usefulness unless we can operate them in close support Cactus [Guadalcanal] area.” He agrees to bring Task Force 1 (TF-1) to Pearl Harbor “for possible use against landing attack this area,” i.e. Hawaii. Otherwise, he tells King, no old battleships would go south “unless directed by you.” (John B. Lundstrom)(225)

The US light cruiser USS Cleveland (CL-55), operating in the Chesapeake Bay, demonstrated the effectiveness of the radio-proximity fuze against aircraft by destroying 3 radio-controlled drones with 4 proximity bursts fired from her 5-inch (127 mm) guns. This successful demonstration led to mass production of the fuze. (Jack McKillop)

USS Wolverine, Unclassified Miscellaneous Vessel Number 64 (IX-64) had been launched in 1912 by Detroit Shipbuilding as SS Seeandbee. She was converted and commissioned today. This aircraft carrier was used for training on the Great Lakes and was one of two paddlewheelers. (Jack McKillop)

Destroyer USS Robinson laid down.

Destroyer USS La Vallette is commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

Movie star Clark Gable enlists. (Stuart Kohn)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-508 sinks SS Manzanillo and Santiago de Cuba in SpecCon-12. (Dave Shirlaw)