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September 11th, 1942

GERMANY: The commander of U-203 (Kptlt. Rolf Mützelburg) died in a unique incident on 11 Sept. He allowed his crew to swim in the sea and when he was about to dive from the tower the boat moved and he hit the saddle tank being badly wounded. He died the next day.

U-533 launched
U-196 commissioned.
(Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.S.R.: Stalingrad: The ruined city of Stalingrad is tonight in immediate danger of falling to the Germans. German 6th Army commander General Friedrich Paulus has fought off Zhukov’s hastily-prepared counter-attack and is working his way towards the heart of the city against stubborn resistance. Russians guns, safe on the eastern bank of the Volga, are pounding the Germans, whose latest communique says that the “fortified belt of steel” around Stalingrad has to be taken “piece by piece” from the Russians, “who resist fiercely and desperately to the end.”

Paulus is summoned to “Werewolf” to explain to Adolf Hitler why 6th Army hasn’t taken Stalingrad. Paulus tells Hitler that an attack will go in with 11 divisions, three of them panzer, on 13 September. The Russians have only three infantry divisions, parts of four others, and two tanks brigades against him. Stalingrad should crack, he says and Hitler is pleased. (Jack McKillop)

Finnish s/s Hera and s/s Jussi H sunk in Gulf of Bothnia by sub. S 13. (Dave Shirlaw)

LIBYA: New Zealand raiders of the Long Range Desert Group attack the Italian air base at Barce and destroy 23 Italian aircraft on the ground. (Jack McKillop)

BURMA: RAF bombers attack Japanese positions in Prome, Mandalay and Rangoon.

SOLOMON ISLANDS, GUADALCANAL: Colonel Oka, in command of Japanese forces west of the Lunga perimeter, issues his attack plan for the attack on the west side of the Perimeter. This morning he reached the naval ground forces under Capt. Monzen near the mouth of the Matanikau River. He also has the 3rd Btn 4th Regiment which was landed last night. Accompanying them was Colonel Matsumoto, advance man for Japanese Army HQ.

General A.A. Vandegrift, Colonel Edson and Colonel Gerald Thomas know the Japanese will attack soon.

Edson picks a ridge one mile south of Henderson Field. The 1st Marine Raider Btn. dig in.

General Kawaguchi issued his attack plan on the 7th which calls for his forces to split into three groups. One would attack the east side of the Perimeter, the other two would surprise the Marines by attacking from the south. This main attack would cross a ridge, known to the Japanese as “The Centipede”. This ridge will become known to history as “Edsons” or “Bloody” ridge. The forces are almost in place for battle tomorrow night.

12 USMC F4F Wildcats intercept 26 IJN G4M “Betty” bombers and 8 A6M “Zeke” fighters at about 1200 hours. The Marines shoot down 6 G4Ms and 1 A6M but loose 1 F4F. In the afternoon, 24 F4Fs of the USN’s Fighting Squadron Five (VF-5), which is part of the Saratoga Air Group, land at Henderson Field to augment the defenses.

In what becomes a standard scene in a number of Hollywood submarine movies, Pharmacist’s Mate First Class Wheeler B. Lipes performs an appendectomy on Seaman First Class Darrell D. Rector, 19, on board the submarine USS Seadragon (SS-194) while she was en route from Australia to French Indochina. He is assisted by R. Franz P. Hoskins (d. 2001) who acts as an anaesthesiologist, without training when he administered three pints of ether in the operation. (William L. Howard)

NEW GUINEA: An Australian force surrounded four days previously fights its way out of the Japanese encirclement. But the Australians are forced to pull back again, and the Japanese 18th Army is only 32 miles (51 kilometres) from Post Moresby. (Jack McKillop)
In the air, USAAF 5th Air Force A-20 Havocs and B-26 Marauders hit Efogi and Menari in the Owen Stanley Range and Buna Airfield; B-17 Flying Fortresses, along with RAAF Hudsons, attack 2 IJN destroyers 20 miles (32 km) east of Normanby Island; a B-17 scores a direct hit on the stern of the destroyer HIJMS Yayoi, which later sinks. (Jack McKillop)

PACIFIC OCEAN: USN submarine USS Saury (SS-189) sinks a Japanese aircraft transport approximately 30 miles (48 kilometres) off the west coast of the Celebes, in central Makassar Strait, Netherlands East Indies. (Jack McKillop)

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: Aleutians: US 11th Air Force weather, photo, and patrol aircraft draws AA fire over Chichagof Harbor, Attu Island and also covers Tanaga, Amchitka, and Semichi Islands.

CANADA: With so many young men involved in the war effort, there was a critical shortage of labor across the country and the government announces that all women, single and married, born between 1918 and 1922, are required to register with the Unemployment Insurance Commission. The Calgary, Alberta, manager of the Commission explains that the women would not necessarily be given employment immediately, but that their experience and skills would be classified in case they were required for necessary war work.

Across the Canadian prairies, hundreds of people, including teachers, bankers, lawyers, clergymen and schoolchildren, volunteer to assist with bringing in the harvest. In Drumheller, Alberta, as in towns all across the prairies, the local Board of Trade organized busses and cars to take the volunteers to farms where they worked with local farmers to harvest the grain and build granaries to store it. (Jack McKillop)

Whilst escorting convoy QS.33 which had lost 5 merchantmen, Flower class corvette HMCS Charlottetown is torpedoed and sunk by U-517 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence at 49 12N 66 48W. Charlottetown was returning to Gaspe, Quebec. (Alex Gordon)(108)

Minesweepers HMS Mary Rose (ex HMCS Toronto), HMS Moon (ex HMCS Mimico), HMS Providence (ex HMCS Forest Hill), HMS Regulus (ex HMCS Long Branch, HMS Serene (ex HMCS Leaside) and HMS Seabear (ex HMCS St Thomas) ordered from Toronto Shipbuilding.
Corvettes HMCS Charlottetown, Weyburn and minesweeper HMCS Clayoquot devlivered Convoy SQ-35 to Red Islet. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.A.: President Roosevelt presented the Norwegian Navy with a new submarine chaser. “It is today the privilege of the people of the United State’s, through the mechanism of the Lend-Lease Law, to assist this gallant navy in carrying out its present heavy duties”.

Submarine USS Steelhead launched.
Destroyer USS Davison commissioned.
(Dave Shirlaw)

CARIBBEAN SEA: Canadian merchantman SS Cornwallis (5,458 GRT) damaged in the Caribbean Sea in position 13.05N, 059.36W by torpedoes from U-514. Cornwallis was repaired and returned to service but was lost later due to further German action. U-514 was a long-range Type IXC U-boat, built by Deutsche Werft AG, at Bremen. She was commissioned 24 Jan 42. U-514 conducted four patrols and compiled a record of six ships sunk for a total of 24,531 tons and two ships damaged for a further 13,551 tons. U-514 was sunk on 08 Jul 43, northeast of Cape Finisterre, Spain, in position 43.37N, 008.59W, by rockets from a specially modified RAF ‘Liberator’ patrol a/c from RAF 224 Sqn that was conducting an operational trial at the time of the engagement. All 54 of U-514’s crewmembers were lost. KptLt. Hans-Jürgen Aufferman was her only CO. Hans-Jürgen Auffermann was born in 1914, at Göttingen. He joined the navy in 1934 and tranfered to the U-boat Force in Jan 41. After conversion training, he served as the first Watch Officer in the Type VIIC boat U-69 from Apr to Oct 41 under the command of the ‘ace’ KptLt. Jost Metzler, Knights Cross, until he became ill and Auffermann assumed command for the last four days of the patrol. He completed this tour of duty under the command of KptLt. Wilhelm Zahn. He was promoted to KptLt on 01 Sep 41. Auffermann was selected for command and underwent his U-boat commander’s course from Nov 41 to Jan 42. He was appointed to commission U-514 on 24 Jan 42. (Dave Shirlaw)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-96 sank SS De Laes.
U-218 damaged SS Fjordaas in Convoy ON-127.
U-404 damaged SS Marit II in Convoy ON-127.
U-584 sank SS Empire Oil in Convoy ON-127. (Dave Shirlaw)