Posted on 07/12/2013 5:36:42 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, Closing the Ring
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/jul1943/f12jul43.htm
Clash of armor at Prokhorovka
Monday, July 12, 1943 www.onwar.com
German Tiger tank burning [photo at link]
On the Eastern Front... The battle of Kursk continues. Elements of the 4th Panzer Army, on the southern battlefield, make a final attack in the direction of Prokhorovka but Soviet forces blunt the attack. Soviet offensive further south, near Taganrog and Stalino, threaten the position German Army Group South. To the north of the Kursk salient, the Soviet counteroffensive toward Orel begins by forces of the West Front (westward from Novosil) and Bryansk Front (southward from between Kozelsk and Sukhinichi). At the end of the day Hitler orders an end to the German offensive.
In Sicily... The Panzer Division “Hermann Goring” resumes attacks on American positions in the morning but withdraws to face the more threatening British advance in the afternoon. The German 15th Panzergrenadier Division proceeds to pressure the Americans after arriving from the west of the island. The British continue to advance toward Augusta, in spite of Italian and German resistance, and capture Lentini.
In the Solomon Islands... Off Kolombangara, Admiral Ainsworth’s Task Force (3 cruisers and 10 destroyers) encounter a Japanese squadron (1 cruiser and 9 destroyers) under the command of Admiral Izaki. The Japanese cruiser obliterated by the radar-directed gunfire of the American cruisers but the Japanese sink one destroyer and damage two cruisers with torpedo attacks.
Over Germany... The Battle of the Ruhr. The final bombing raids in the British Bomber Command (commanded by Air Marshal Harris) effort against the Ruhr industrial area of Germany is conducted. A total of 43 raids have been conducted. About 1000 British aircraft have been lost in the effort.
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/thismonth/12.htm
July 12th, 1943 (MONDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The birth rate in the United Kingdom reached its highest for 17 years in the first quarter of 1943, despite the fact that so many families have been parted by war service. The rate of 16.8 births per 1,000 of the population is equivalent to 684,000 births over a year. In 1940 and 1941 there was a marked drop in the birth rate compared with peacetime. The marriage rate has now sunk to its lowest since the war began. Deaths have also declined to below the 1939 figure.
Churchill today says “Propagate our language all over the world is best method. Harmonizes with my ideas for future of the world. This will be the English-speaking century.” (William Ritchart)
GERMANY: U-865 launched.
ITALY: SICILY: British and US forces join up at Ragusa, having captured six airfields, the port of Syracuse and ten other towns.
Nearly 300 Lancasters of RAF Bomber Command attack Turin.
USAAF Ninth Air Force B-24s attack the harbor, ferry slip, and marshalling yard at Reggio di Calabria, and the ferry slip and railroad yards at Villa San Giovanni. Royal Air Force heavy bombers bomb Reggio di Calabria Airfield.
In Sicily during the night of 11/12 July, Northwest African Strategic Air Force Wellingtons pound Trapani, Marsala, Mazara del Vallo, and Montecorvino-Rovello Airfield and the Northwest African Air Force Troop Carrier Command drops paratroops in front of the forward lines in the battle area; more than 20 C-47 Skytrains fail to return from the mission.
During the following day, B-17 Flying Fortresses hit Messina railroad bridges, medium and light bombers hit Gerbini satellite fields, Agrigento, Canicatti, and Milo Airfield. Fighters hit trucks, trains, troops, tanks, and other targets of opportunity during sweeps over Sicily. Northwest African Tactical Air Force fighters and light bombers hit Milo Airfield, Sicilian beaches, Termini harbor and town, Ninfa rail junction, several trains, numerous vehicles, and communications targets throughout Sicily. Northwest African Coastal Air Force aircraft fly convoy escort and carry out shipping strikes in Tyrrhenian Sea and west of Corsica and Sardinia.
The USAAF Ninth Air Force B-25 Mitchells hit Bo Rizzo Airfield while P-40s patrol over the Licata area. On the ground in Sicily, with bridgeheads firmly established by the end of day, British and US troops make contact at Ragusa.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: U-409 sunk in the Mediterranean NE of Algiers, in position 37.12N, 04.00E, by depth charges from destroyer HMS Inconstant. 11 dead and 37 survivors.
U-561 sunk in the Straits of Messina, in position 38.16N, 15.39E, by torpedoes from HM MTB 81. 42 dead, 5 survivors.
Minesweeper USS Sentinel bombed and sunk by German aircraft off Licata, Sicily.
Italian submarine Bronzo was captured off Syracuse, Sicily by minesweepers HMS Seaham, Boston, Poole and Cromarty. Bronzo was commissioned into the RN as HMS P-714. On 29 January 1944 she was transferred to the Free French as Narval.
U.S.S.R.: The 4th Panzer Army fails in a final effort to advance toward Prokhorovka.
Army Group South is bogged down near Taganrog and Stalino. At the end of the day Hitler orders the Kursk battle be discontinued. This marks a concession by the Germans of the strategic initiative to the Soviets for the duration.
186 German tanks participate in a battle at Prochorovka. Three German tanks are lost, 235 Russian tanks are lost. (Peter Kilduff)(280)
Krasnagorsk: Germans in a PoW camp form a “National Committee for a Free Germany.”
The Red Army launches a major counter-offensive at Orel.
NEW GUINEA: At Mubo with US infantry on the right flank threatening to cut off their withdrawal route, the Japanese abandon Mubo and withdraw to the Mount Tambu line.
Observation Hill is occupied on 12 July. Mubo airstrip is ready for medevac by 14 July. Allied casualties are light. (Michael Mitchell)
SOLOMON ISLANDS: The Thirteenth Air Force continues to support the Allied invasion of New Georgia Island. Ten B-25 Mitchells attack Vila Airfield on Kolombangara Island, which is hit later in the day by B-24s on armored reconnaissance and 17 B-24s pound the airfield on Ballale Island. Several fighters join US Navy dive bombers in strikes on AA and bivouacs in the Munda area on New Georgia.
Task Group 36.9 consisting of four light cruisers and two destroyers bombards Munda Airfield on New Georgia Island. Japanese air attacks continue against New Georgia and Army Air Forces P-40 and Marine F4U Corsair pilots shoot down six A6M “Zekes” around 0800 hours and a P-38 Lightning pilot shoots down a G4M “Betty” around 2000 hours.
Japanese submarine Ro-107 was sunk by USS Taylor off Kolombangara.
AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS Strahan launched.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: After refuelling 500 miles (805 km) southwest of Kiska Island, Aleutian Islands and awaiting foggy weather, the Japanese task force tasked with evacuating the troops on Kiska gets underway. However, the fog lifts and the task force begins withdrawing to Paramushiru Island in the Kurile Islands.
U.S.A.: An Armed Forces All-Star team managed by Babe Ruth and featuring Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams play a fund-raising game against the Boston Braves in Boston, Massachusetts; the All Stars win on a Ted Williams’ home run, 9-8.
Frigate USS Gloucester launched.
Submarines USS Pampanito and Picuda launched.
Destroyer USS O’Brien laid down.
CANADA: Minesweeper HMS Seabear (ex-HMS St Thomas) laid down Toronto, Ontario.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: A B-24 of the 1st Antisubmarine Squadron (Heavy), AAF Antisubmarine Command, based at Port Lyautey, French Morocco, sinks U-506 with 7 depth charges at 1550 hours local in the Atlantic west of Vigo, Spain at 42-30N 16-30W. The U-boat was located by 10cm radar which the Germans could not detect. About 15 men were seen in the water after the boat broke in two and the B-24 crew dropped a liferaft and a smoke flare to assist the survivors; 6 men were picked up from the sea by a British destroyer on 15 July, 3 days after the sinking.
90 miles off Recife Brazil U-185 was attacked by a USN VB-107 Liberator. The boat was not damaged much and reported the attack by radio, although the bomber crew believed the boat to have sustained serious blows.
At 0656, the unescorted and zigzagging African Star was hit by a torpedo from U-172, which struck the port side at the #4 hold. The explosion blew the hatch covers off the #4 and #5 holds, disabled the generator, the steering controls and the radio aerials. One armed guard was blown overboard and drowned. The engines were secured as the ship began to list to port, slowly settled and lost way. Eight officers, 48 men and 30 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5-in and one 3-in and eight 20-mm guns) left the ship in two lifeboats (one containing 45 men and the other 37) and a raft. At 0718, a second torpedo from U-172 struck the African Star on the starboard side between #4 and #5 holds. She broke in two and sank within one minute. Then U-172 surfaced about 1000 yards from the ship and took a few men on board. After questioning the men, the Germans gave directions to the nearest land and returned them to the boats. One lifeboat was equipped with an emergency transmitter and sent SOS, later aircraft spotted the boats and 37 hours after the attack the Brazilian destroyer Maranhao picked up the survivors and landed them at Rio de Janeiro. The master John George Waller was also master of the Challenger, which was sunk on 17 May 1942 by U-155.
Three Beaufighters attacked U-441. 10 men were killed and 13 more wounded, including most of the naval officers.
A torpedo explosion on board of U-709 killed 2 men and wounded another.
To all- please ping me to Canadian topics.
Canada Ping!
Maps from David Glantz and Jonathan House "The Battle of Kursk"
My father, just gone to glory this past April, was with the first wave there, the first of four amphibious landings with the US 45th Infantry Division (National Guard) “Thunderbirds” of Oklahoma, Colorado and New Mexico. After Sicily, Gen. Patton said to them “Born at sea, baptized in blood, your fame shall never die.”
429 days of combat in the ETO took them from Sicily to Anzio and then from South France to Munich and a HQ in the beer hall where Hitler staged his 1923 Putsch and for him to enjoy an American beer in Hitler’s own apartment in that building. Bye Dad, you are in a better place but I miss you! God Bless!
I need to go scan some more maps; I have a detailed map of Prokhorovka, but probably won’t get it posted until around 5pm today.
Prokhorovka is a “meeting engagement” between two armored forces. SS Divisions Leibstandarte and Das Reich are attacking in the direction of the town, while Rotmistrov’s 5th Guards Tank Army, and two additional tank corps, are planning a counterattack against the German spearheads. The SS Divisions beat Rotmistrov to the punch, and attack first. They overrun Rotmistrov’s planned tank assembly areas, so Rotmistrov’s attack has to go in without being as prepared as he wishes.
Myths about Prokhorovka:
1. The Germans assembled most or all of their panzers on the southern face of the salient for this big showdown battle. Not so. Only the panzers of the two SS Divisions are involved. Totenkopf is busy fighting in their bridgehead over the Psel, and XXXXVIII Pz Corps has troubles of their own on the left flank of II SS Pz Corps. Breith’s III Pz Corps never makes it to the battlefield. The total panzer strength of the two divisions, including assault guns, is less than 200 operating tanks (I’ll check on the exact figures tonight).
2. As part of the German panzer armada, they scraped together “about 100 Tigers.” Also not true. Leibstandarte and Das Reich by this point in the battle probably had about 15 operating Tigers between them. From the German standpoint, this is mostly a battle fought with the PzIV(H) and StuG III.
3. The German tank forces included Panthers. Not so. No Panthers took part in the fight. All of the Panthers on the southern face of the salient where with 10 Panzer Brigade attached to Grossdeutschland Panzergrenadier Division with XXXXVIII Pz Corps.
4. The Soviet tanks charged into the Germans and engaged in a close quarter melee the deprived the Germans of the benefit of their long-range guns and the armor of their Tigers. Well, that was Rotmistrov’s plan, anyway. In reality, for the most part, his tanks never got there. When Rotmistrov attacked, the Germans went on the defensive and fought this battle much in the same way the Soviets had been defending against them; with dug in infantry and anti-tank guns. A number of Rotmistrov’s tanks were picked off as they approached, and then were taken out in close combat with the German infantry. There was plenty of tank-on-tank fighting at Prokhorovka, but that wasn’t the only part of this battle.
5. The Soviets inflicted catastrophic losses on the German panzer units; it was the “death ride” of the elite panzer formations, who never recovered. Also not true. Yes, the Germans did lose tanks at Prokhorovka, but not like the Soviets did. Rotmistrov’s memoirs talks about a battlefield covered with burned out smoking hulks. As Glantz points out, what Rotmistrov didn’t mention was the vast majority of those hulks had been his tanks, not Hausser’s. The after-action reports for the two SS Panzer Divsions for the following day, July 13, shows that the panzer strength of these divisions was almost the same as it had been on the day before.
In reality, Rotmistrov’s 5th Guards Tank Army had been gutted. This was the tank equivalent of the “Marianas Turkey Shoot” where American naval aviation shot down hundreds of Japanese carrier planes with little loss of their own. As George Nipe, in “Decision in the Ukraine” points out, the Soviets have exhausted their supply of tank forces, but Manstein still has an uncommitted panzer reserve, XXIV Pz. Corps. The situation is ripe for Army Group South to finally break through to open country.
So what then was the real result of Prokhorovka? If the Germans “won,” why did they not march onward?
Several reasons. First, after seven days of continuous combat, culminating with Prokhorovka, the German soldiers were simply physically exhausted. They didn’t have another battle in them. They were the boxer who landed punch after punch on the guy who just would not go down, and they had punched themselves out. Second, the operational situation on the rest of the Eastern Front is going badly. Model’s attack in the north has failed, the Soviets have opened an attack on his rear flank northeast of Orel, and other Soviet forces are attacking along the 6th Army lines along the Mius River. Also, strategically, there is the invasion of Sicily.
Hitler and his eastern commanders will meet tomorrow to discuss all of this. But for all intents, the Battle of Kursk ends today.
Thanks! It is great to get new insight on some of the most important and misunderstood battles of the war.
Did the German commanders know how close they were to punching through the lines?
Today it looks like he's beginning a series on radar, which is one of the unsung heroes of the war, overshadowed by other technological breakthroughs in codebreaking and the Manhattan Project. It was key to improved sub-hunting and developing over the horizon naval warfare and a good nightfighting ability for the Navy.
I hope he will tell the whole story of the Rad Lab and Alfred Loomis, but I don't know how much of that was declassified at this time.
Von manstein knew. At the command conference he will be the only one to forcefully argue to continue the operation. He senses that he has the Soviets on the ropes.
You’d enjoy reading “Tuxedo Park : A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II” by Jennet Conant. Great book.
Von Manstein was the finest General of the war on any side. His brilliance allowed the Germans to defeat France in six weeks. The Kaiser couldn’t defeat France in 4 long years. The Wehrmacht was doomed the moment Hitler attacked the USSR. It transformed a European war to a world war which Germany didn’t have the resources or men to win. The Kreigsmarine, other than U-Boats were not much better than a 3rd rate power. The Luftwaffe had very little strategic value during the war. Most of their planes were designed to support the army. The fact that German soldiers prolonged the war until 1945 was remarkable.
Read it. Agreed, it's a great read!
Our advanced radars made a huge difference in WWII.
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