Montgomery in charge of British 8th Army
Thursday, August 13, 1942 www.onwar.com
Montgomery begins his preparations [photo at link]
In North Africa... British General Montgomery assumes command of the 8th Army while on a visit to the front. His first action is to remedy the inadequate defenses against German attack.
On the Eastern Front... German advances continue with the 4th Panzer Army moving southeast toward Elista.
In the Mediterranean... the convoy to Malta continues to suffer losses with the sinking of the British cruiser Manchester and five more freighters. Two more freighters are subsequently sunk.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm
August 13th, 1942
UNITED KINGDOM: Convoy SC-94 arrived in Liverpool after losing eleven merchant ships totalling 53,412 tons. The material lost amounted to 31,250 tons of general cargo, 6,900 tons of grain, 4,000 tons of US Army stores, 4,000 tons of lumber, 4,000 tons of steel, 3,200 tons of pulp, 3,000 tons of food, 2,500 tons of iron ore, 2,000 tons of ammunition, plus a large amount of military transport vehicles carried as deck cargo. Sixty-one merchant sailors were lost. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: U-428 laid down.
U-635 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.S.R.: Stalingrad: Fierce fighting is raging in the approaches to Stalingrad. The German Sixth Army, led by General Friedrich Paulus, has forced the Soviet Sixty-Second Army out of the large bend in the Don some 50 miles from the city, but the Russian’s stubborn resistance has so far prevented the Germans from crossing the river. Paulis is also being held up at Kletskaya. It seems he is short of men and is waiting for Hoth’s 4th Panzer Army from its abortive sortie to the south. Meanwhile, the defences of Stalingrad grow stronger every day.
(Sergey Anisimov)(69)Baltic Fleet, Ladoga and Onega Flotillas: Shipping loss. MS “TSch-39” (ex-”Petrozavodsk”) - mined at Demantstein strand.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Whilst escorting the Pedestal convoy through the Skerki channel, cruiser HMS MANCHESTER (Captain Drew) is attacked by German torpedo boats S30 and S 36, and Italian torpedo boats MAS 554 and MAS 557. Before dawn they sink British merchantman SS Wairangi and damage SS Rochester Castle (which will eventually reach Malta although she is damaged further by Luftwaffe Ju 87s and Ju 88s). MANCHESTER is struck by a torpedo fired by either Italian Ms16 or Ms22 just before dawn, 4 miles N of Kelibia at 36 50N 11 10E. 120 Non-essential crewmembers are taken off by destroyer HMS Pathfinder and attempts are made to get the damaged ship moving again.
Later, however, rather than face more air attacks which the ship would be incapable of resisting, it is decided to scuttle her. There were 132 casualties, but 568 survive to be taken interned by the French. (Churchill did not approve of this scuttling!) (Alex Gordon)(108) Seven merchants are also lost.
The U.S. freighter Almeria Lykes is torpedoed and abandoned, in position 36°40’N, 11°35’E; the ship remains afloat, but is sunk by scuttling charge after daybreak and the crew is rescued by the RN destroyer HMS Somali rescues all hands. The U.S. freighter SS Santa Elisa is torpedoed in the same attack, approximately 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Cape Bon, in position 36°48’N, 11°23’E, and is abandoned when her cargo of aviation gasoline catches fire; the 96 survivors are rescued by the destroyer HMS Penn. The three surviving British transports and the one tanker will reach Malta later this day; a fourth transport will reach the island tomorrow. (Jack McKillop)
Luftwaffe aircraft attack convoy MKS 21 off the coast of Algeria, strafing and holing US freighters SS Jonathan Elmer, in position 36°07’N, 03°07’E, and SS Anne Bradstreet, in position 36°19’N, 02°18’E. US freighter Francis W. Pettygrove is torpedoed at 36°08’N, 02°14’E; partially abandoned, the survivors that clear the ship are taken on board RN minesweeper HMS Hythe. The rest of the crew and Armed Guard remain on board to prepare the ship for tow. (Dave Shirlaw)
ALGERIA: An Air France Loiré et Olivier H 246-1 seaplane, msn 403, registered F-AREJ, is damaged by RAF Hurricanes and sinks on landing at Algiers; the 4 aboard the aircraft are killed. (Jack McKillop)
JAPAN: US planes bomb Formosa.
NEW GUINEA: A Japanese Army detachment (the 14th and 15th Naval Construction Units) landed last night at Buna. These constitute about 3,000 Japanese, Korean and Formosans, also supplies and equipment. (Michael Alexander)
A Japanese convoy, headed toward Basabua near Gona, New Guinea, with 3,000 construction troops, is attacked first by USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses of the Allied Air Forces 76 mi (122 km) NE of Gona, followed by B-26 Marauders 20-25 mi (32-40 km) north of Gona and another B-17 attack as the convoy approaches landing position. (Jack McKillop)
SOLOMON ISLANDS: USS John Penn had just finished unloading a cargo of 155-mm ammunition off Lunga Point, Guadalcanal. At 2120 she came under attack by enemy torpedo planes. Three minutes later, when the transport took one of the planes under fire, it burst into flames and crashed into her mainmast. About that same instant a torpedo hit from another plane hit the ship. Although vigorous efforts were made to save her, John Penn went down stern first at 2150. (Dave Shirlaw)
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: In the Aleutian Islands, the US 11th Air Force dispatches 1 B-24 Liberator to fly photo reconnaissance over Kiska Island.(Jack McKillop)
CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Sarnia commissioned.
Water barge HMC HC 189 and wooden derrick scow HMC BD 6 ordered . (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: The classic motion picture “Bambi” premieres at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. This animated Walt Disney film, based on the Felix Salten novel, is directed by David Hand; Sterling Holloway is the voice of a flower in an uncredited role. The plot is about a young deer growing up in the woods and how the phases of its life parallel the cycle of seasons in the forest. The film is nominated for three Academy Awards. (Jack McKillop)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-171 sank SS RM Parker Jr.
U-600 sank SS Delmundo (Master Henry Peter Smith) and Everelza in Convoy TAW-12.
U-658 sank SS Medea in Convoy WAT-13.
U-752 sank SS Cripple Creek. (Dave Shirlaw).
Three U.S. merchant vessels are sunk by German submarines off the U.S. coast.
1. U-171 sinks an armed tanker, the SS RM Parker Jr., by torpedo and shells in the Gulf of Mexico in position 28.37N, 90.48W while the ship is en route to Port Arthur, Texas.
2. Later in the day, an unarmed freighter is sunk in the Atlantic in position 4.55N, 18.30W.
3. U-600 sinks an armed freighter in convoy TAW-12 in the Windward Passage in position 19.55N, 73.49W. The survivors are rescued by RN destroyer HMS Churchill [ex USN destroyer Herndon (DD-198).] (Jack McKillop & Henry P. Smith (55 pg. 25)