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http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm

September 1st, 1942

UNITED KINGDOM: Women in the services are not the only ones in uniform these days. Female civilian workers, from nurses to bus conductors and Land Girls, have regulation outfits too.

The London Passenger Transport Authority Board’s women conductors are easily recognizable in their jaunty pale grey jackets and slacks with blue piping. Of the 19,000 transport conductors in the capital - on buses, trams and trolley-buses - 8,000 are now women working under the same conditions as their male colleagues. For the first six months on the road they earn no more than £4/13/- a week, a man’s minimum wage. Thereafter they work up to the same maximum of £4/19/- weekly.

Women who have chosen to work on the land are provided with practical khaki corduroy breeches, green pullovers and smart little khaki felt hats. There are now some 40,000 in the Women’s Land Army, working outdoors in all weathers and often living is isolated areas far from home. During their 48-hour week they drive tractors, bring in the harvest, milk the cows and care for the livestock. A minimum wage for a man doing such work is £3 a week, but for the women it is 18/- after they have paid for board and lodgings. A Cornish farmer recently admitted: “After the land girl is trained she is certainly worth more than we pay for her”. The more traditionally female nursing service is crying out for volunteers. In the spring of this year a call went out for 5,000 new recruits. Women can start as student nurses at £40 a year with board and lodging, or join as nursing auxiliaries and receive £55 yearly.

Thought the wages seem low in comparison with the pay packets taken home by men in similar work, for the majority of women their wartime income is considerably larger than any pre-war earnings. But the satisfaction that many of them derive from their jobs comes as much from the company as the pay. Camaraderie with other working adults can make a welcome change from housework and childcare.

U.S.S.R.: Heavy fighting in Stalingrad, where German units have reached the suburbs in some areas.

The Germans claim to have captured Kalach, 40 miles west of Stalingrad.

Troops from the Russian 11th Army land on the Taman Peninsula from Kerch.

(Sergey Anisimov)(69)Baltic Fleet, Ladoga and Onega Flotillas: Shipping loss. SKR “Purga” - by aviation, close to Osinovets Is., at Ladoga Lake (later raised)

Also on Lake Ladoga, Italian 12th Naval Flotilla MAS 529 is engaged by two Soviet gunboats, but manages to break contact. (Arturo Lorioli)

EGYPT: Rommel’s forces suffer from a lack of supplies. One Panzer Division is out of fuel. The 15th Panzer makes no progress. The British 8th Armoured Division learns an expensive lesson with German anti-tank guns.
In the air near El Alamein, Hauptmann Hans Joachim Marseilles, the finest marksman in the Luftwaffe, shoots down 17 RAF aircraft during three missions, the largest one-day total a fighter pilot will score during the war. He is awarded Germany’s highest decoration, the Diamonds of the Knight’s cross of the Iron Cross. (Jack McKillop)

US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberators attack the harbor at Candia, Crete, scoring several direct hits on a vessel and hitting others. 2 squadrons of the 57th Fighter Group fly escort missions and sweeps with RAF. B-25 Mitchells, in conjunction with RAF light bombers, hit trucks and tanks in the battle area of Alam-el-Halfa, Egypt. (Jack McKillop)

JAPAN: Japanese Foreign Minister TOGO Shigenori, taking the blame for Japan’s failure to conclude a quick end to the war, resigns and Prime Minister General TOJO Hideki assumes the post of Foreign Minister. On the 17 September, TANI Masayuka is appointed Foreign Minister.
The Japanese government creates the “Greater East Asia Ministry,” to run its empire. Headed by AOKI Kazuo, the function of this ministry is to exploit the labor and resources of the conquered territories as much as possible. (Jack McKillop)

NEW GUINEA: USAAF P-40s of the Allied Air Forces hit an IJA HQ at Wagga Wagga on Milne Bay while P-400 Airacobras strafe Kokoda and Kokoda Pass in the Owen Stanley Range; and Australian ground forces continue a slow retreat over the range but make progress in Milne Bay offensive. (Jack McKillop)

SOLOMON ISLANDS: The 6th Naval Construction Battalion (Seabees) land on Guadalcanal to maintain Henderson Field.(Jack McKillop)

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: In the Aleutians, US forces complete the occupation of Adak Island. (Jack McKillop)

CANADA: U-125 sank SS Ilorin.

Corvette HMCS Fennel completed foc’sle extension refit New York. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.A.: USCG was no longer responsible for merchant marine training programs. This responsibility was assumed by the War Shipping Administration. (Dave Shirlaw)

Establishment of Air Force, Pacific Fleet, VAdm Aubrey W. Fitch, USN. (Dave Shirlaw)

Submarine USS Tunny commissioned.

Destroyer USS Earle commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

United States Army opens an training facility outside of Casper, Wyoming, on the only really big flat piece or ground in the vicinity. The air base would be used as a training base for B-17 and B-24 crewmen. Today, the original runways and many of the original hangers are still in existence, at what is now the Natrona County International Airport. (Pat Holscher)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The German submarine U-756 is sunk in the North Atlantic, in position 57.41N, 31.30W, by the RCN corvette HMCS Morden. All 43-men on the U-boat are lost. (Jack McKillop)

U-756 was closing convoy SC 97 from astern to carry out a night surface attack when Morden detected her on radar. The corvette closed and attempted to ram but KptLt Harney outmanoeuvred her and submerged. Morden carried out 3 depth charge attacks that produced no evidence of a hit. It was only after the war that record reconstruction proved that U-756 had been destroyed. (Dave Shirlaw)

The German submarine U-125 sinks an unescorted British merchant ship off Legu, Gold Coast in position 05N, 01W at 1106 hours local. Four of the 37 aboard survive. (Jack McKillop)