NAPLES AND AVELLINO FALL TO ALLIED FORCES; RED ARMY DRIVES 30 MILES IN WHITE RUSSIA (10/2/43)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 10/2/43 | Milton Bracker, Herbert L. Matthews, David Anderson

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile. Also visit our general discussion thread.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
Soviet Summer and Fall Offensives: Operations, 17 July-1 December 1943
Allied Advance to Volturno River, Reorganization, and Attack on Gustav Line (17 January-11 May 1944)
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941: Status of Forces and Allied Theater Boundaries, 2 July 1942
India-Burma, 1942: Allied Lines of Communication, 1942-1943
New Guinea and Alamo Force Operations: Clearing the Huon Peninsula and Securing the Straits, 19 September 1943-26 April 1944
Cartwheel, the Seizure of the Gilberts and Marshalls, and Concurrent Air and Naval Operations, 30 June 1943-26 April 1944

[Homer_J_Simpson]

The first excerpt below is continued from September 25. The second (Roosevelt to Churchill) from yesterday. The third (P.M. to First Lord, et al.) from September 26.

Winston S. Churchill, Closing the Ring

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Billboard Top Ten for the Week of October 2, 1943

#1 - “Sunday Monday or Always” - Bing Crosby, with the Ken Darby Singers
#2 – “Paper Doll” - Mills Brothers
#3 - “Pistol Packin’ Mama” - Al Dexter
#4 - “I Heard You Cried Last Night” - Harry James, with Helen Forrest
#5 – “You’ll Never Know” - Dick Haymes, with the Song Spinners
#6 - “In the Blue of the Evening” - Tommy Dorsey, with Frank Sinatra
#7 – “You’ll Never Know” - Frank Sinatra, with the Bobby Tucker Singers
#8 - “All or Nothing At All” – Harry James, with Frank Sinatra
#9 – “In My Arms” - Dick Haymes, with the Song Spinners
#10 - “Close to You” - Frank Sinatra, with the Bobby Tucker Singers

[Homer_J_Simpson]

The index by author on Homer’s profile is now updated through October 31, 1943. Most of the front page shots are still missing.

Final Drive Hard (Bracker) – 2-3
Naples Goes Mad with Joy as Grim Allied Push Ends (Matthews) – 4-5
Roosevelt Sees Crusade in Italy – 5
Italy Seen in Role of Co-Belligerent – 5
The Opening Push in the Drive that Carried the Fifth Army into Naples (photos) – 6-7
War News Summarized – 7
Red Army Thrusts Approach Mogilev – 8
Ten Allied Ships Sunk by U-Boats – 9
Striking Britons Rebuked by Bevin (Anderson) – 9
U.S. Takes School Planning Part for Europe, Asia in Post-War Era – 10
The Text of the Day’s Communiques on Fighting in Various Zones – 11-12

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/oct1943/f02oct43.htm

Australians take Finschafen and reinforce
Saturday, October 2, 1943 www.onwar.com

Reinforcements sail from Lae [photo at link]

In New Guinea... The Australian 20th Brigade captures Finschafen. The Australian 23rd Brigade, advancing from Lae, also reaches Finschafen during the day.

In Italy... The US 6th Corps (part of 5th Army) captures Benevento. To the east, the British 78th Division (part of 13th Corps, 8th Army) crosses the Biferno River. During the night (October 2-3) commandos land near Termoli and occupy the town.

On the Eastern Front... Soviet forces continue the effort to establish bridgeheads over the Dniepr River.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/thismonth/02.htm

October 2nd, 1943 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: England, the USAAF’s Eight Air Force flies three missions.

* The VIII Air Support Command Mission 75: 72 B-26 Marauders are dispatched to the Longuenesse Airfield at St. Omer, France; because of cloud cover, only 6 hit the target at 1715 hours; the remainder refrain from bombing because the target is in occupied territory.

* The VIII Bomber Command flies 2 missions:

- Mission 106: 349 B-17s are dispatched to the industrial area of Emden, Germany; led by 2 B-17 pathfinders, 339 hit the target at 1557-1603 hours; they claim 15-6-12 Luftwaffe aircraft; 2 B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 227 P-47 Thunderbolts which claim 5-3-1 Luftwaffe aircraft. In addition to the above, 21 B-24 Liberators are dispatched to Woensdrecht Airfield, The Netherlands; the target is obscured by clouds and the mission is aborted.

- Mission 107: 2 B-17s join the RAF in a night mission to Munich; no losses or casualties.

Frigates HMS Ekins and Redmill launched. Minesweeper HMS Gozo commissioned.

NETHERLANDS: During the night of 2/3 October, 17 RAF Bomber Command aircraft lay mines in the Frisian Islands.

FRANCE: The USAAF Eighth Air Force’s VIII Air Support Command flies Mission 75: 72 B-26 Marauders are dispatched to the Longuenesse Airfield at St. Omer; because of cloud cover, only six hit the target at 1715 hours; the remainder refrain from bombing because the target is in occupied territory.

During the night of 2/3 October, RAF Bomber Command lay mines off two ports: eight aircraft lay mines off St. Nazaire and seven lay mines off Lorient. Meanwhile, 17 aircraft drop leaflets over northern France.

GERMANY: The USAAF Eighth Air Force dispatches 349 B-17 Flying Fortresses to the industrial area of Emden,; led by two B-17 pathfinders, 339 hit the target at 1557-1603 hours; they claim 15-6-12 Luftwaffe aircraft; 2 B-17 Flying Fortresses are lost. Escort is provided by 227 P-47 Thunderbolts which claim 5-3-1 Luftwaffe aircraft.

During the night of 2/3 October, RAF Bomber Command sent 294 Lancasters and two USAAF Eighth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses to Munich; 273 bombed the target with the loss of eight Lancasters, 2.7 per cent of the force. Visibility over the target is clear but the initial marking is scattered. Heavy bombing developed over the southern and south-eastern districts of Munich but later stages of the raid fell up to 15 miles (24 kilometers) back along the approach route. Most of this inaccurate bombing is carried out by No 5 Group aircraft, which are again attempting their “time-and-distance” bombing method independently of the Pathfinder marking. The No 5 Group crews are not able to pick out the Wurmsee lake, which is the starting point for their timed run. Mosquitos are sent to bomb two targets: four each struck Cologne and Gelsenkirchen. Seventeen other aircraft bombed Freiburg. A number of mines are laid off the coast: 32 aircraft laid mines in the Kattegat, a bay in the North Sea, nine laid mines off Sassnitz, six in the Fehmarn Channel, five in the Heligoland Bight, in the southeastern corner of the North Sea and four in Kiel Harbor.

U-1168, U-1169, U-1228 launched.
U-243 commissioned.

FINLAND: Icebreaker Sisu is damaged by magnetic mine at Melkki sea-lane just off Helsinki.

U.S.S.R.: Soviet submarine SC-402 sunk by mines at Koffer Gepackt or Konrad Begrusst. All hands lost.

ITALY: In U.S. Fifth Army’s British X Corps area, the U.S. 82d Airborne Division moves into Naples to police it while an advance is being continued to the Volturno River, a natural barrier covering Naples. In the VI Corps area, while the 3d Infantry Division drives northward toward the Volturno River on the left flank of the corps, 34th and 45th Infantry Divisions, the 45th on the right, are moving along separate routes toward Benevento, an important road junction. To hasten the advance along the Adriatic coast in the British Eighth Army area, the 2d Special Service Brigade (commandos) of XIII Corps lands, during the night of 2/3 October, near Termoli and secures the town and port; they soon join the 78th Division, which, moving north along the coast, secures a bridgehead across the Biferno River.

USAAF Twelfth Air Force fighter-bombers attack motor transports, roads, and bridges during armed reconnaissance missions from the Volturno Valley north to Isernia and west to Benevento.

During the night of 2/3 October, RAF bombers of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group attack two targets: 30 attack the Coast Road at Formia and 30 bomb the pontoon bridge at Grassanise.

CHINA: 5 Fourteenth Air Force P-40s dive-bomb and strafe Yangtze River shipping in the Chiuchiang area. Strafing damages several small craft.

NEW GUINEA: Finschhafen falls to the Australian 20th Brigade. The 23rd Brigade also reaches Finschhafen from Lae.

Success at Lae came earlier than expected, and the 9th Division was ordered to seize Finschhafen in continuation of the campaign for the conquest of the Huon peninsula: success would help the Allies to seize objectives in New Britain, thus contributing to the isolation of Rabaul. The 7th Division was also to seize areas in the vicinity of Kaiapit and Dumpu. The first wave of Australians swept ashore near Finschhafen on 22 September. Japanese opposition was fierce, but the beach-heads were soon cleared.

The Fifth Air Force attacks various targets:

EAST INDIES: In the Netherlands East Indies, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Ambon Island in the Moluccas Islands.

NEW BRITAIN: B-25s strafe villages in the Talasea area and barges off Gasmata Island while B-26’s bomb Hoskins Airfield; and a B-24 bombs Cape Gloucester Airfield.

MOLUCCAS ISLANDS: Other B-24’s bomb Amboina Island.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: 6 Thirteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells join USN SBD Dauntlesses in attacking Hamberi Cove barge hideout near Vila on Kolombangara Island.

During the night of 2/3 October, the Japanese completed their withdrawal from Kolombangara Island. Efforts of U.S. naval forces to interfere are largely ineffective and some 9,400 Japanese escape safely.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: The USAAF Fifth Air Force attacks various targets on New Britain Island: B-25 Mitchells strafe villages in the Talasea area and barges off Gasmata while B-26 Marauders bomb Hoskins (Cape Hoskins or Gabubu) Airfield; and a B-24 bombs Cape Gloucester Airfield.

CANADA: Frigate HMCS Antigonish laid down.

U.S.A.: Baseball, the New York Yankees take 2 from the Browns 5-1 and 7-6 for their 14th sweep of a doubleheader, an American League mark. Yankee right fielder Bud Metheny hits a home run in the opener for the Yankees 100th home run of the season.

The baseball season finishes with attendance off some 13 percent from the previous year. The Brooklyn Dodgers and Detroit Tigers, both good for a million in contending years, each drop below 700,000. Only the Philadelphia Phillies, under new ownership, have a significant increases, from 230,000 to 467,000. National League attendance falls from 8.9 million in 1942 to 7.7 million this year.

Frigate USS Peoria launched
Destroyer escorts USS Burrows and O’Reilly launched. Frigate USS Brunswick commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-168 sank SS Haiching.
U-223 damaged SS Stanmore beyond repair in Convoy MKS-27.

[BroJoeK]

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October 2, 1943:

• "The Danish people rescue about 7,000 Jews, only 500 of whom are captured by the Germans.
  The 500 seized by the Germans are sent to the Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia, camp/ghetto; all but 77 will survive the war.
  The Danish government will persistently check on the health and welfare of the Jews who were sent to Theresienstadt, enabling almost all of them to survive to war's end.

• "The first Jewish Palestinian paratroopers land in the Balkans.
  These Jews agree first to help organized non-Jewish underground units on behalf of the British war effort.
  Only then, unsupported, will the British allow them to aid other Jews."

"Moshe Gildenman, also known as "Uncle Misha," commanded a partisan unit in the Ukraine.
After the Nazis killed his wife and daughter on May 21, 1942, Gildenman and his surviving son formed a rebel group that attacked German farms and Ukrainian police centers.
When his unit was incorporated into a general partisan group in 1943, Moshe volunteered for the Soviet Army.
He emigrated to Israel in 1950 and died in 1958."

"Seeking to prevent people from fleeing the Minsk (Belorussia) Ghetto for the forests, this bilingual sign warns against climbing through a fence.
Although the penalty was death, many in the ghetto took the risk.
Guided by daring children, some as young as 11, entire families sought safety in the forest, where many joined the family camp and partisan unit of Shalom Zorin."

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