Posted on 09/22/2013 5:13:59 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, Closing the Ring
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/sep1943/f22sep43.htm
Midget subs cripple German battleship
Wednesday, September 22, 1943 www.onwar.com
The damaged Tripitz [photo at link]
In the Occupied Norway... The German battleship Tirpitz, in Altenfiord, is attacked by a force of British midget submarines. Two of the six midget submarines succeed in attaching charges to the ship. Repairs to the battleship will take until March 1944 to complete.
On the Eastern Front... Soviet forces capture Anapa in the Kuban Peninsula (the Caucasus). North of Dnepropetrovsk, Soviet forces take Novomoskovosk. Heavy fighting is reported at Poltava as German forces begin to a withdrawal.
In Italy... The British 8th Army is reinforced by the 78th Division and the 8th Indian Division. The reinforcements land at Bari and Brindisi. The US 5th Army is preparing to advance. The British 10th Corps is to clear a route to Naples and US 6th Corps will initially move toward Benevento.
In New Guinea... The Australian 20th Brigade lands at Katika, north of Finschafen. The landing is supported by a naval bombardment (Admiral Barbey is in command) and cover is provided by an air group.
In Occupied Greece... At Cephalonia, the Italian “Acqui” Division surrenders to German forces seeking to disarm it. About 1500 Italians have died in the fighting and another 5000 are killed now and the remainder are sent to labor camps.
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/thismonth/22.htm
September 22nd, 1943 (WEDNESDAY)
NETHERLANDS: Two RAF Bomber Command Stirlings lay mines in the Frisian Islands.
FRANCE: Manfredi, secrétaire corporatif in the Bouches-du-Rhône PPF is killed by the resistance.
USAAF Eighth Air Force’s VIII Air Support Command flies Mission 66 against 2 airfields: (1) 72 B-26s are dispatched to Tille Airfield at Beauvais but abort due to bad weather, and (2) 70 of 72 B-26s hit Fauville Airfield at Evreux between 1612 and 1614 hours.
NORWAY: The Tirpitz, in Altenfiord, is attacked by British midget submarines. These two man subs have been towed behind conventional fleet submarines from Loch Cairnbawn in Scotland to a point 150 miles from Altenfjord. They are code named “X-craft” and are powered by engines from London buses. Their only weapons are two detachable charges with clockwork detonators, dropped below the target. They have a crew of four.
Six set out: two (X-8 and X-9) are lost in transit and one has to be scuttled, but three get through the mines and approach the target. Attacks on Tirpitz had been allocated to X5, X6 and X7, with X8 to make an attack on Lützow, and X9 and X10 to attack Scharnhorst . Since X8 and X9 were lost before reaching the Norwegian coast, the attacks intended to be made against Scharnhorst and Lützow were abandoned, and X10 reallocated to make an attack on Tirpitz.
Lt. Cameron in X-6 lost his periscope and attacked blind. He was sighted, but was too close to the TIRPITZ to be engaged by other than small-arms, and laid his charges before scuttling his boat. Lt. Place in X-7 was caught in nets, escaped, laid his charges under the ship, was caught in nets again, and then was blown free by the explosion, but X-7 was damaged and had to be abandoned. All of the X-6 crew were captured and brought aboard the Tirpitz, only the commander and one of the crew of X7 were able to abandon their craft (the other two men lacking sufficient oxygen for their (DSEA) escape equipment) and taken prisoner, where they had the rather unusual experience of being able to witness their success at first hand.
At 8.12 am, the 46,000-ton battleship is blown up. The blast lifts the ship several feet out of the water, disabling her three main engines and leaving her with a 15 degree list. Repair will disable Tirpitz until March, 1944.
Submarine X-10, commanded by an Australian, Lt. Hudspethm attacked after X-6 but was sunk with all hands. X-10 had suffered from a number of faults which made her close to unnavigable underwater. When the crew heard the others’ charges explode, on the morning of 22 Sept., they decided to abandon their part in the operation and made a successful rendezvous six days later with towing submarine HMS Stubborn. However, it was then decided to scuttle X-10, rather than risk the lives of a passage crew to bring the craft back to the UK under tow.
The third midget submarine X5 was last seen in close proximity to the Tirpitz but its precise fate was not known, but (IIRC) recent underwater discoveries at Kaafjord (at the head of the Altenfjord) now suggest that it, too, may have been successful in reaching its target.
The 6 survivors of the operation remained POW’s until the end of the war; both commanders were awarded the Victoria Cross. (Alex Gordon)
GERMANY: The USAAF Eighth Air Force’s VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 99: 5 B-17s of the join the RAF in a night attack on Hannover at 2143-2209 hours; there are no losses or casualties.
During the night of 22/23 September, RAF Bomber Command sends 711 aircraft, 322 Lancasters, 226 Halifaxes, 137 Stirlings and 26 Wellingtons, on the first major raid to Hannover for 2 years; 658 bomb the city. This is the first of a series of four heavy raids on this target. Five USAAF Eighth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses also took part in the raid, their first night raid on Germany. Twenty six aircraft, 12 Halifaxes, seven Lancasters, five Stirlings and two Wellingtons, is lost, 3.7 per cent of the force. Visibility in the target area is good but stronger winds than forecast caused the marking and the bombing to be concentrated between 2 and 5 miles (3,2 and 8,0 kilometers) south-southeast of the city center. Twenty one Lancasters and eight Mosquitos carried out a diversionary raid at Oldenburg, dropping much “Window” and many flares and target indicators to simulate the arrival of a larger force. The losses on the Hannover raid, lower than the recent average, may indicate that this tactic is partially successful. No aircraft is lost on the diversionary raid. Twelve Mosquitos flew a further diversion to Emden.
Rastenburg: Hitler rejects Goebbels’s suggestion that he makes peace with either Churchill or Stalin, in order to avoid war on two fronts.
U.S.S.R.: There is fierce fighting at Poltava as the Germans begin to pull out, this is the last strongpoint east of the middle Dnieper River. Anapa in the Kuban and Novomoskovosk, north of Dnepropetrovsk, fall to the Soviet Army.
Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: (Sergey Anisimov)(69)Submarine loss. “M-51” - due to onboard accident, in Ochamchir (Sept.25 raised and went into service) “M-113” decomissioned due to the heavy combat damages and later scrapped
GREECE: The US Ninth Air Force flies its final mission from North Africa. B-24s bomb Maritsa Airfield on Rhodes and Eleusis Airfield in Greece. The bomb groups of IX Bomber Command subsequently are transferred to the US Twelfth Air Force.
The Italian Acqui Division surrenders to the Germans, having lost 1,500 men.
New Zealand troops land on Leros in the Dodecanese Islands off eastern Greece. The Germans invade and recapture these islands by mid November.
ITALY: U.S. Fifth Army directs the British 10 Corps to seize Naples and U.S. VI Corps to secure the line Avellino-Teora; the VI Corps is to be prepared to continue to Benevento. In VI Corps area, the 3d and 45th Infantry Divisions overcome opposition barring their advance: the 3d occupies Acerno and the 45th Oliveto.
In the British Eighth Army area, the Indian 8th Division arrives from Africa. In 5 Corps area, a special force (elements of the 78th Division and of the 4th Armoured Brigade), under 78th Division command, lands at Bari, during the night of 22/23 September, to drive to Foggia.
In the air, USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-25s and B-26s bomb roads, railroad, and bridges at or near San Martino Sannita, Grottaminarda, Amorosi, and Mignano; B-25s attack small vessels near Elba Island with 75mm cannon fire; tactical aircraft hit troop concentrations and gun positions near Serino and Santa Lucia di Serino, a road block at Nocera, town and roads at Fisciano, the town of Pagani, tanks and trucks between Acerno and Montella and in the Foggia area, vessels and docks at Manfredonia, the town of Camarella, and the landing ground at Capua.
During the night of 22/23 September, 46 RAF Liberators of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group bomb the railroad repair and maintenance facilities at Formia.
LIBYA: The USAAF Ninth Air Force’s HQ IX Fighter Command begins a movement from Tripoli to Middle Wallop, England where it will become a tactical fighter unit supporting Allied troops in Europe.
BURMA: US Tenth Air Force B-25s attack the Ye-u branch line railroad bridge over the Mu River between Ywataung and Monywa. Negligible damage is done to the target.
NEW GUINEA: After a preparatory naval bombardment by the USN’s Task Force 76 (Rear Admiral Daniel E. Barbey), the 2/13th, 2/15th and 2/17th Battalions, 20th Brigade Group of the Australian 9th Division, land on Scarlet Beach at the mouth of the Song River, 6 miles (10 kilometres) north of Finschhafen, early in morning. The brigade establishes a beachhead with little difficulty and pushes south toward Finschhafen. The landing was opposed by 300-400 Japanese troops of the 80th and 238th Regiments; the Australians suffered 20 killed, 9 missing and 65 wounded.
On the Huon Peninsula, the Australian 22nd Battalion landed on Blue Beach near Hopoi on the southern coast. The battalions objective is to advance east and then north to Finschhafen. The rest of the 2/16th Battalion and HQ 21st Brigade are flown into Kaiapit and the battalion moves west and crosses the Maniang River. Captured Japanese documents reveal that the Japanese force destroyed by 2/6th Independent Company at Kaiapit on 20 September was not an isolated patrol but the vanguard of 3500 IJA troops.
In the air, the USAAF Fifth Air Force provides air support and intercepts enemy aircraft making ineffective attacks on the convoy. B-25s pound defenses in the Finschhafen area; almost 90 fighters battle Japanese aircraft attacking the convoy; 38 enemy aircraft are claimed shot down. A-20s and B-25s hit the Lae area.
NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24s bomb Amboina Island in the Moluccas Islands.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24s and B-25s bomb the airfield on Gasmata Island off New Britain Island.
A US naval task force, under Admiral Barbey, lands the Australian 20th Brigade at Katka, New Guinea, just north of Finschhafen.
AUSTRALIA: General Headquarters Southwest Pacific Area issues orders for Operation DEXTERITY, the landing on Cape Gloucester, New Britain Island, Bismarck Archipelago. The ALAMO Force (U.S. Sixth Army) is to make an airborne and amphibious assault on Cape Gloucester; neutralize Gasmata Island. and then take it in a shore-to-shore operation. D-Day, at first set for 20 November, is finally postponed to 26 December.
TERRITORY OF HAWAII: Admiral William F Halsey issues a warning order for invasion of the Northern Solomons and directs Rear Admiral Theodore S Wilkinson, who is to head landing forces, to make detailed plans. It is later decided to invade the Treasury Islands and the Empress Augusta Bay area of Bougainville.
U.S.A.: Singer Kate Smith completes a 13-hour War Bond radio appeal during which she collects US$39 million (US$386.14 million in year 2000 dollars) in bond pledges.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: While tracking Convoys ONS-18 and ON-202 bound from the U.K. to North America, German submarine U-229 is sunk in the North Atlantic southeast of Cape Farewell, Greenland, in position 54.36N, 36.25W, by depth charges from the RN destroyer HMS Keppel (D 84). All hands on the U-boat, 50-men, are lost.
At 2155 hours GMT, whilst escorting convoy OB.202 frigate HMS Itchen (K 227) is torpedoed by a T5 acoustic torpedo from U-666 which causes her forward magazine to explode and the ship sinks almost immediately about 676 nautical miles northeast of St. John’s, Newfoundland. At the time she was carrying 80 survivors from St Croix as well as her own ship’s company. There are 147 casualties, and only 3 survivors. Location: 53 25N 39 42W. (Alex Gordon)(108)
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