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October 1st, 1942

UNITED KINGDOM: Construction work starts in secrecy on floating docks, designed for an Allied invasion of Europe.

Destroyer HMS Redoubt commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

The Times praises Pope Pius XII for his condemnation of Nazism and his public support for their Jewish victims. “A study of the words which Pope Pius XII has addressed since his accession,” noted the Times, “leaves no room for doubt. He condemns the worship of force and its concrete manifestations in the supp- ression of national liberties and in the persecution of the Jewish race.” (Russell Folsom)(273, pp. 75)

GERMANY: U-642 commissioned. U-231, U-387, U-650 launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

DENMARK: The Germans have been able to round up just 360 out of 7,000 Jews for deportation to Theresienstadt.

U.S.S.R.: German forces are advancing toward Grozny against stiff Russian resistance. From Tuapse, north along the Black Sea, heavy fighting between the Germans and Russians is continuing.

Further north Russian forces begin crossing the river Dnieper.

Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: Submarine “M-118” sunk by aviation and surface ships gunfire, at Jerbiyanskaya Harbour. (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24s bomb shipping in Pylos Bay, Greece, claiming 2 direct hits and several near misses on a large vessel; other B-24s dispatched to bomb a convoy at sea fail to find the target. (Jack McKillop)

EGYPT: The British Army forces the Axis from positions in region of El Alamein. (Jack McKillop)

CHINA: Chekiang: A ship carrying Allied prisoners of war became a sealed coffin today when she was torpedoed by the US submarine GROUPER off China. In all 840 British and Canadian PoWs from Hong Kong drowned after Japanese guards battened down the hatches before abandoning ship. The 7,152-ton LISBON MARU was carrying 1,816 PoWs. Some managed to force the hatches and dive overboard - only to face machine-gun fire from escorting warships. This is the deadliest American-on-British “friendly fire” incident in military history.

Just before dawn on October 1, 1942, an American submarine, the Grouper, identified the Lisbon Maru as a Japanese troopship and fired six torpedoes. Five either passed under their target or failed to detonate, but one smashed into her stern.

Before they abandoned ship, the Japanese crew battened down the hatches, trapping the PoWs in the hold and leaving six armed “suicide” guards on deck to ensure that no prisoners escaped.

After 24 hours packed in dark, airless chambers, with the water rising at their feet, a group of PoWs managed to cut their way out and overpowered the guards. There followed a rush to get out as the ship tilted and began to sink. In one of the holds the ladder snapped and seventy men were shut in: they could be heard singing It’s a Long Way to Tipperary as the ship went down. Others were trapped as they tried to wriggle through potholes and drowned as the water level rose.

Most got out and leapt overboard. Arthur Betts of the First Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment could not swim a stroke but he grabbed hold of a piece of flotsam. Luckily the current begins to carry him towards a group of islands.

In the water the prisoners were shot at by soldiers who were aboard circling Japanese patrol boats. Prisoners who tried to climb aboard these vessels were thrown back into the water; some were run over.

After several hours drifting in the sea, Mr Betts had a vision. “He felt he saw a vision of Christ,” Mrs Snowdon (his daughter) says. “Whether he was hallucinating for lack of food and water, I don’t know, but that’s what he said he saw, and it had a profound effect on him afterwards.”

Mark Fielding-Smith (his grandson) says: “He was always adamant about it, whenever he told the story. He had the vision, and then he began kicking in the direction of the islands. He would talk a bit about the PoW camps, but mainly it was about that swim. He told me about friends being taken by sharks next to him and friends just drowning, and people being shot in the water and run over.”

After about eight hours in the water, Mr Betts crawled ashore on one of the easternmost islands of the Zhoushan archipelago. About two hundred swimmers reached the islands, but some were smashed into the rocks as they attempted to clamber ashore. Arriving naked and exhausted, they were taken in by the islanders and fed and clothed. Chinese fishermen put to sea in sampans to pick up more of the swimmers, a development that apparently prompted the Japanese to start picking up other survivors. (Will Pavia)

NEW GUINEA: General MacArthur orders the Allies to attack Buna and Gona. A US force is to move over at Kapa Kapa Trail to join the Australians on the Kokoda Trail to cut the Japanese retreat at the Kumusi River.

A US force is to move over at Kapa kapa Trail to join the Australians on the Kokoda Trail to cut the Japanese retreat at the Kumusi River.

US Fifth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses and P-400 Airacobras pound forces and communications in the Owen Stanley Range, hitting Menari, Kagi, Myola Lake, the Kokoda area, Wairopi bridge, and the Buna-Wairopi trail. (Jack McKillop)

SOLOMON ISLANDS: IJN Destroyer Division 11, (Fubuki, Shirayuki, Hatsuyuki, and Muakumo), make a Tokyo Express Run to Guadalcanal. MG Nasu and the 4th Regiment are landed.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIANS: A Japanese reconnaissance airplane over Adak Island establishes US occupation of the island. 7 US Eleventh Air Force B-24 Liberators on a search-attack and photo reconnaissance mission over Kiska Island hit hangars and ramps, starting several fires; 4 fighters appear and are engaged; 1 probable victory is claimed; 2 other B-24s take off, after a USN PBY Catalina sights a transport, but cannot locate it. (Jack McKillop)

CANADA: Submarine HMS P553 arrived Halifax for ASW training. Fairmiles HMC ML 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111 ordered. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: Baseball!

Fuel is now rationed in most parts of the country.

The first American turbojet aircraft, the Bell Model 27 XP-59A-BE Airacomet, msn 27-1, USAAF s/n 42-108784, makes its first flight at Muroc AAB (now Edwards AFB), California. The flight was made with the landing gear in the down position and at 25 feet (7.62 meters) off the ground. Three more flights were made today in this aircraft.

The U.S.A. has now rationed fuel oil in most areas of the country.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt ends two-week trip to war plants across U.S. (Jack McKillop)

Destroyer USS Nields launched. Submarine USS Scorpion commissioned. Destroyer USS Waller commissioned. Destroyer USS Dashiell laid down. Destroyer escorts USS Wintle and Dempsey laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-407 attacked the great passenger liner Queen Mary with a four-torpedo fan shot, but all torpedoes missed.

U-175 sank SS Empire Tennyson.

U-202 sank SS Achilles.

(Dave Shirlaw)