Posted on 09/14/2012 4:13:31 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Richard Tregaskis, Guadalcanal Diary
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1942/sep42/f14sep42.htm
Marines defeat Japanese attack
Monday, September 14, 1942 www.onwar.com
Marines repel Japanese assaults with artillery [photo at link]
In the Solomon Islands... At Guadalcanal, General Kawagucki’s troops suffer 1200 casualties in their initial assault. The attacks trail off and stop.
In New Guinea... The Japanese take the Kokoda Trail. The Australians have been forced back to Imita Ridge. The fighting is now only 30 miles outside Port Moresby.
In the Aleutian Islands... The Japanese-held island of Kiska is bombed by American forces.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm
September 14th, 1942
UNITED KINGDOM: USAAF 31st Fighter Group is transferred to XII Fighter Command, 12th Air Force. It will continue to operate under VIII Fighter Command.
The Handley-Page Hampden makes its last operation with RAF Bomber Command when No. 408 Squadron attack Wilhelmshaven. (22)
Frigate HMS Inver laid down.
Destroyer HMS Wizard laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: U-429 laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.S.R.: Thunderous attacks by 200,000 Germans stagger the Soviets at Stalingrad. In coordinated offensives, the German 6th and 4th Panzer Armies storm into the heart of the wrecked city and nearly reach the main ferry landing where Soviet reinforcements land after crossing the Volga River. Realizing the Germans have nearly conquered the city, Lieutenant General Vasily Chuikov, Commanding General 64th Army, calls for, and gets, reinforcements. The first of them, the 13th Guards Rifles Division, commanded by General Konstantine Rokossovsky, marches 25 miles down the east bank, is brought across the Volga and immediately counterattacks up the Mamai Kurgan . Several other divisions will bolster Stalingrad’s defenses during the next few days. (Jack McKillop)
ARCTIC OCEAN: The German submarine U-589 is sunk in the Arctic Ocean southwest of Spitzbergen, in position 75.04N, 04.49E, by depth charges from the British destroyer HMS Onslow, and depth charges from a Swordfish of No 825 Squadron in the escort carrier HMS Avenger. All hands, 44 men, on the U-boat are lost. The day before she had rescued four Luftwaffe airmen in the Arctic, they too were lost. (Jack McKillop and Alex Gordon)
NORWEGIAN SEA: German torpedo planes continue attacks upon Archangel-bound convoy PQ 18, sinking U.S. freighter SS Mary Luckenbach about 600 miles (966 kilometres) west of North Cape, Norway; she is lost with all hands (41 merchant seamen and a 24-man Armed Guard). The violent explosion of SS Mary Luckenbach’s ammunition cargo rains debris on nearby freighter SS Nathanael Greene injuring 11 men (five of whom are transferred to British destroyer HMS Onslaught for medical attention), but the merchantman makes port under her own power. Concussion from the explosion also disables U.S. freighter SS Wacosta, which is later torpedoed and sunk about 400 miles (644 kilometres) northeast of Jan Mayen Island; she suffers no casualties. British light cruiser HMS Scylla and minesweeper HMS Harrier rescue all hands: 38 merchant sailors and the 11-man Armed Guard survive SS Wacosta’s loss. (Jack McKillop)
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24s attack shipping at Suda Bay, Crete, setting 1 vessel afire, while other B-24s hit Tobruk, Libya; P-40s fly a sweep with the RAF over the frontlines. (Jack McKillop)
LIBYA: Tobruk: After a three-hour bombardment and heavy air raids, the British last night launched a raid on this much-fought-over port - aiming to do as much damage as possible to the port and Rommel’s supply dumps. But Operation Agreement, as it was called, was a disaster.
The intention was for 350 marines and 150 troops to land on the north and south sides of the harbour respectively and seize coastal defences. The captured defences would then cover a force of destroyers as they entered the harbour, destroyed shipping and port facilities, and took off the marines and soldiers.
A head-on assault by a small force in the face of blistering German counter-fire was risky from the start. Of 21 coastal craft, 19 failed to get troops ashore, and an assault craft with the first wave of marines failed to return. Two destroyers and the anti-aircraft cruiser HMS COVENTRY were also lost, and an MTB was captured; 579 Allied servicemen have been taken prisoner.
Whilst participating in a raid on Tobruk, and in company with HMS Coventry and HMS Zulu, Tribal class destroyer HMS Sikh is illuminated by a searchlight associated with a Luftwaffe 88mm. Flak battery and receives heavy, well-directed fire. The gearing room, the turbine lubrication system are destroyed and ready use 4,7 ammunition along side A turret is exploded, as are the demolition charges set around Y turret. HMS Zulu attempts to tow Sikh away but is herself hit and is ordered away. Sikh is scuttled at 0708 and the crew abandon the ship. There are 275 casualties. Location: off Tobruk at (sic) 32 65N 24 00E.
Cruiser HMS Coventry is attacked by a force of Ju.87 aircraft and so badly damaged that she has to be sunk by HMS Zulu off Tobruk at 32 48N 28 17E.
Tribal class destroyer HMS Zulu is attacked by a force of 6 Ju.87 and 12 Ju.88. A bomb enters the engine room and brings the ship to a stop. Croome takes off all crew except for a towing party, whilst Hursley takes her in tow. When it became clear that Zulu was sinking, the tow is cast off, but before Croome can come alongside to take off the towing party, Zulu rolls over and sinks East of Tobruk at 32 00N 28 56E. There are 40 casualties. (Alex Gordon)(108)
EGYPT: Cairo: An ambitious scheme to hit three Libyan targets in a combined operation has blown up in the face of its British planners. At Benghazi, David Stirling’s Special Air Service (SAS) found the enemy waiting and ready, so withdrew under heavy fire, losing 18 Jeeps and 25 other vehicles. At Tobruk the assault from sea and desert using infantry, Marine commandos and the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) was a failure costing three big ships and many lives. At Barce a New Zealand LRDG patrol blew up 24 enemy aircraft, but few of these men are expected to survive the Luftwaffe manhunt across the desert.
NEW GUINEA: The Japanese edge to within 32 miles (51 kilometres) of Port Moresby but run into units of the Australian 7 Division at Imita Ridge on the Kokoda Trail. It is the last advance the Japanese will make on the island and the high water mark of their conquests. Henceforth, all their moves will be retreats. (Jack McKillop)
A single US 5th Air Force A-20 Havoc bombs ground forces and installations at Myola. (Jack McKillop)
SOLOMON ISLANDS: At 0515, Admiral Turner sails from Espiritu Santo, with the 7th Marines bound for Guadalcanal.
At 1445 I-19 fires 6 torpedoes at the USS Wasp, sailing between New Caledonia and Guadalcanal. 1 hits the Wasp, the others continue on. One hits the battleship North Carolina and another the destroyer O’Brien. The Wasp is scuttled at 2100 by three US torpedoes, the North Carolina will fight again. The O’Brien will sink on October 19, 2800 miles toward home and a major refit.
IJA troops attempting to retake Henderson Field on Guadalcanal are driven back for the second day in a row. USAAF P-400 Airacobras attack the Japanese troops retreating south of the Lunga Perimeter. At about 1300 hours, 28 G4M “Betty” bombers escorted by an unknown number of A6M “Zekes” bomb Henderson Field; Marine F4F Wildcat pilots shoot down 2 G4Ms and 2 A6Ms. (Jack McKillop)
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIANS: In the first combined heavy mission over Kiska Island in the Aleutian Islands, the US 11th Air Force dispatches 13 B-24 Liberators, 1 B-17 Flying Fortress, 14 P-38 Lightnings, and 14 P-39Airacobras to fly low-altitude and photo runs; the P-39s strafe and damage 2 submarines in the harbor; the other aircraft bomb and strafe many installations including AA guns and the submarine base; a single aircraft also strafes Segula Island; enemy losses are 5 float planes shot down and 1 flying boat destroyed on the water; an ammunition ship is sunk and another vessel slightly damaged; while a large cargo vessel and several small barges and vessels sustain hits; 2 P-38s are lost, colliding head-on while after a fighter. (Jack McKillop)
CANADA: MFV HMCS Chamiss Bay acquired. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: The 18-minute color documentary “The Battle of Midway” is released. Directed, produced and filmed by John Ford, narration is provided by Donald Crisp, Henry Fonda and Jane Darwell with James Roosevelt, the President’s son, appearing as an Army major. Ford was on Midway Island with a crew of Navy photographers during the epic battle in June 1942. (Jack McKillop)
Corvette HMCS Halifax arrived New York for duty under USN Commander Eastern Frontier, New York - Guantanamo convoys, Sep 42 - Mar 43. Submarines USS Capelin and Crevalle laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: After four days of attack by a wolfpack of 13 U-boats, convoy ON-127 has lost 12 freighters and one Canadian destroyer; one U-boat has been hit.
At 0005 hours, whilst escorting convoy ON.127, destroyer HMCS Ottawa is torpedoed and sunk by U-91 (Kptlt. Heinz Hungershausen CO) in the Gulf of St. Lawrence at 47 55N 43 27W. There are 112 casualties and 76 survivors. Reports state the CO gave his lifebelt to a rating. Corvette HMCS Arvida rescued survivors. U-91 was a VIIC type U-boat, built by Flender-Werke AG, Lubeck-Siems, commissioned 28 Jan 41, in service 25 months, on 04 Sep 42 U-91 was a member of Wolfpack group, “Vorwarts”, this Wolfpack sank 7 ships in Convoy ON 127, and 3 ships in convoy RB 1. 6 ships sunk for a total of 36,952 tons, Fate sunk 25 Feb 44 in Northern Atlantic, in position 48.12N, 40.56W by HMS Affleck, Gore and Gould. Of the U-91 crew of 51, there were 15 survivors and 36 lost.
U-408 sinks SS Atheltemplar in Convoy PQ-18
U-457 damaged SS Atheltemplar in Convoy PQ-18.
U-515 sinks SS Harborough. (Dave Shirlaw)
It strikes me as curious, just what the public is allowed to know -- then versus now.
To pick one example: every one of these posts includes at least one map showing exactly where the battle lines were, and as much as possible about the battles themselves.
So when has anyone ever seen a map of the current "war on terror", showing battle lines and describing significant operations?
Of course, people say: "there are no battle lines, since the enemy is well hidden, and is all around us, 360 degrees."
Sure, but that begs the question: then what metrics are being used to measure success & failure, and why has the public never seen them?
It's just most curious to speculate that, even with all our quantum leaps in mass communications, the average citizen today knows less about the status of "war on terror" than did his or her grandparents know about World War Two.
"Vorwarts" means Forward:
Instead of relaying dry facts and figures today's newspapers have a more important analytical task to perform. For example, if a Republican administration is waging a war on terror the press analyzes how they are doing it wrong. If a Democrat administration is waging the war on terror then the press analyzes how the Republicans should shut up about how the Democrat administration is doing it.
Boy do I ever have comments about “war coverage” now. As we have all noted, the New York Times of 1942 was a hell of a lot more patriotic than the Times of today. But there are some very disturbing trends in how the current war is being reported, thanks to the perversion of the media that resulted from the long march through the institutions.
Yes, the war on terror is different than WW2. There are no battlefield maps to measure victory or defeat. But there are very clear tell tale signs to look for in the murk of this conflict, and I hate to say it but they very clearly show that we are losing this war, and losing it badly.
First and foremost is the nature of the war itself. What we have is more similar to the Cold War than to WW2. Both the Cold War and the War on Terror had their military battles, but that’s not really where the wars were or will be won or lost. For the Cold War, we had a coherent multi-generational strategy laid down by Secretary of State George C. Marshall; the strategy of “containment.” We would contain Soviet Communism to those states where it existed, and prevent by any means necessary, its spread to other states. The strategy was that international communism would then collapse due to its own internal deficiencies. The strategy worked, only because when Soviet communism was on the ropes, Ronald Reagan realized it and he gave it the final shove.
We do not have the same strategy today. If there is a strategy for our war on terror, it is to make the terrorist states “like us.” By which I mean that we will “make them like us” in terms of becoming democratic institutions, which was Bushs’ strategy. That changed to 0bama’s strategy of “make them like us” by appeasing them.
It is apparent today that both strategies have failed.
And here is the real reason we are losing. First and foremost, it’s because we don’t even call this war what it really is. It is not a “war on terror” where we are taking some offensive action to wipe out international terrorists. It is more accurately “Islam’s war on the west.” It really is nothing less than that, and the mere fact that our public institutions are afraid (yes, AFRAID) to say so, is a confession that we have no strategy, and are losing a war we won’t even recognize as being waged against us?
The anti-American outbursts in the middle east in the past few days show just how badly we are losing this war, and it will take some explanation so bear with me. First, all of the “outrage” over some internet movie is manufactured. The muzzies aren’t outraged over it, they haven’t even seen it. But its used as an excuse to rile them up and murder Americans, for which any excuse will do. It’s a war on the west, remember? And WE ARE “the West.” OK, so they hate us. And our media and our political leadership (both parties) REFUSE to recognize this. How can we possibly win when we won’t even confront the evil facing us.
But wait, it gets even worse. It should be pretty clear that Islam is incompatible with the First Amendment of our Constitution, and any sort of guarantee of free experession of speech or religion. Do anything to “offend” the muzzies and they automatically resort to violence. Put a crucifix in urine, does it offend Christians? Sure it does. But Christians won’t murder anyone over it. Make a movie that tells the ugly truth about Mohammed, and they get violent. The problem is how our press and government is reacting to this. I heard this morning that our FBI has “tracked down” the movie producer, they released his name, and they listed his criminal record (yes, he apparently has one). The inference is pretty obvious. In the American media, making a movie, however truthful, that “offends” muzzies, is now equated with a CRIME. In fact, some entertainment idiots like Bette Midler have stated that the movie guy should be charged with murder.
I am an attorney, having gradutated law school in 1984. I really only remember one “lecture” from law school; that was during the first semester of my first year, when Dean Harvey, my Civil Procedure professor, turned the lecture over to a Holocaust survivor. He spent the hour telling us what he had to do to be the only member of his family to survive Auschwitz. (BroJoe, I know this is dear to you). Of course, I had studied history and knew about the Holocaust, and thought “yeah, this was bad, but so what?” After the man was done speaking, Professor Harvey went to the podium, and all he said was “It’s your duty as lawyers to make sure this never happens again.”
That’s when it hit home what it really means to be a lawyer. Where were the lawyers in Germany to stand up and say “This is wrong, it is illegal, you cannot do this?” I never forgot that. Unfortunately, most of my classmates walked out of the lecture believing it could never happen here.
Well folks, it is. Right now. Our most basic Constitutional guarantee, the right to speak and practice religion (which in my mind includes the right to attack any religion) is not only under assault, it is being destroyed. Right now, right under our very eyes, by the very same forces of evil that wound up stuffing Jews into ovens. If Robert Maplethorpe asked me to defend his placing a crucfix in a jar of urine, I would have done so. Today, it is the duty of every American lawyer to stand up and say that anyone in the United States has a right to make a video of Mohammed, to have it depict anything they want, and be absolutely protected in doing so.
Instead, he is being thrown away as a human sacrifice to appease a satanic cult that looks with contempt upon appeasement. Just as the Nazis did, guys. And when we do that, our Constitution and our liberties have lost to islam. The muzzies have won.
Who says history does not repeat.
We are losing the war against islam. Who knows, we may already have lost.
Well said. A large segment of the American people would consider the penultimate sentence of your post a hate crime. That alone demonstrates its truth.
Three photographs depicting infantry of 389th Infanterie-Division cautiously moving through a ruined factory. During the battle for the Tractor Factory the Soviet 37th Guards Rifle Division was driven back, but they contested every meter of ground. Hand grenades were used extensively by both sides. By evening of 4 October these German troops had gained one block of flats in the factory apartment block. But still the Soviets would not give up. During the night they counterattacked the German positions with Katyusha rockets with considerable successes. For the next week bitter fighting raged. On 14 October, billed as "the final offensive," von Paulus sent five divisions supported by the Luftwaffe against the tractor factory. Throughout the day a bloody battle ensued around the factory and inside the workshops. In just one day in the area the Germans lost 40 tanks and 2,000 soldiers killed.
Tractor Factory (2)
Tractor factory (3)
A picture of complete destruction. One of the ruined factories following the bitter fighting. Significant numbers of troops on both sides were injured by nail punctures, twisted ankles, injured knees and elbows, and falling debris. During mid October after the tanks had broken through the strong Soviet defenses, 389th Infanterie Division moved into the 2-1/2-kilometer long hive of destroyed factory buildings and shops.
An officer, probably a Kompaniechef, of 389th Infanterie-Division issues orders to his troops during a pause in the fighting for the factories. With the high casualty rate junior NCOs were often leading platoons and Gefreiter leading groups. An NCO in the center holds a 9mm MP40 submachine gun, known as a Kugelspritze (bullet-squirter). The soldier to the left carries a Soviet 7.62mm SVT-40 semi-automatic rifle, which the Germans designated the SI.Gew.259(r).
German infantry prepare to move a 7.5cm le1G.18 light infantry gun forward during a heavy exchange of fire. An infantry regiment's infantry gun company usually had four 7.5cm and two 15cm infantry guns. Note the scalloped shield that helped distort its shape making it more difficult to detect. An experienced gun crew were able to fire at least eight to twelve shells a minute. The crew are all wearing camouflage helmet covers made of salvaged Zeltbahn fabric.
A heavy machine gun group covers infantrymen as they investigate a knocked out StuG III 7.5cm assault gun. It was common practice for troops to occupy knocked out vehicles and turning them into pillboxes. Armored vehicle crews were very reluctant to take their machines forward into built-up areas unless protected by infantrymen from close-in attack.
A soldier fires an MG34 on the outskirts of the city amid a workers' housing area. On the edge of his position is a 7.92mm Mauser Kar.98k carbine, the standard Wehrmacht shoulder weapon. The Landser referred to it variously as a Gewehr (rifle, even though it was a carbine), Mauser Suchse (Bochse container, but also an old term for a firearm), Mauser Karabiner, Flint (colloquialism for shotgun), or Knarre (colloquialism for rifle). He also possesses a 7.62mm PPSh-41 submachine gun.
An MG-4 heavy machine gun group brings its gun into action in one of the city's suburbs. The infantry battalion's machine gun company had two heavy machine gun platoons, each with four guns. On open terrain they would protect the flanks of advancing rifle companies, place long range suppressive fire through gaps between units, or deliver overhead fire on enemy positions. In built-up areas they had to operate forward with the rifle platoons, often as light machine guns with bipods only, but could still sometimes be positioned to take advantage of their accurate long-range fire.
A group of Panzergrenadiere hitch a ride on board a StuG III 7.5cm assault gun after successfully capturing a part of the city center in early October. Soviet prisoners are herded forward to clear rubble, recover bodies, and remove mines, booby traps and dud munitions. The city was covered with a layer of fine dust from explosives-churned ground, masonry mortar, and ash. When it rained this turned into a slimy mud.
German panzer troops, part of the Panzer battalion under Count Strachwitz, complete mopping up prisoners in the Kalach area. Most of the Soviets were shocked when German panzers stormed into the town without warning. The following day the great bridge at Kalach was taken by Second Lieutenant Kleinjohann with units of 3rd Company Engineers Battalion 16 by a daring coup which involved putting out a fire on the bridge. The damage done to its roadway and sub-structure was quickly repaired.
German troops inside the Red October Steel Plant.
Troops of the 16th Panzer division in the northern part of the city. But by day's end the position of the 16th Panzer was perilous. The Soviets were holding the approaches to the northern part of the city and were bringing in troops from Voronezh. The success of the German effort depended on holding and strengthening that slender corridor across the land from Kalach to the Volga. In this day's fighting the Germans had actually been forced back more than a mile.
One of the twenty-odd bridges across the Don built by German engineers. Here parts of V Panzer Corps cross the river on Aug 23.
” What we have is more similar to the Cold War than to WW2. “
No, we are re-fighting Vietnam, with the same misbegotten rules of engagement, the same refusal to acknowledge that those we are helping want to shoot us in the back, and the same results.
Don’t confuse whatever we are doing in Afghanistan with the “war on terror.” Afghanistan is a sideshow. The real war, as is now apparent, is a much bigger struggle between the west and islam. It’s being fought outside our embassies, in European enclaves, and our own mosques.
Is it a war if one side doesn’t fight? Or is it just a slow motion slaughter?
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