Posted on 10/17/2012 4:43:00 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Big Attack is On (Hurd) – 2
Our Bombers Set Kiska Afire, Fighters Destroy 3 Seaplanes – 3
Nazis Gain in Siege (Parker) – 3-4
R.A.F. Bombs Blast Cologne; Day Blows at Nazis Kept Up (Kluckhohn) – 4-5
Newfoundland Ship Sunk, 137 Lost; Women, Babies, U.S. Soldiers Die – 5
War News Summarized – 6
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on the Fighting in Various War Zones – 7-9
Post and go move.
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1942/oct42/f17oct42.htm
Indian division advances into the Arakan
Saturday, October 17, 1942 www.onwar.com
In Burma... British 14th Indian Division begins a slow advance into the Arakan, in preparation for further operations against Akyab
In New Guinea... The Australian 16th Brigade has relieved the 25th Brigade at the head of the advance along the Kokoda Trail. Fierce Japanese resistance holds up the continuing advance at Eora Creek. A regiment of the US 32nd Division is airlifted from Port Moresby to Wanigela on the north coast.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm
October 17th, 1942
UNITED KINGDOM: London: Allied governments are planning to set up a commission to investigate war crimes committed by the Nazis and their collaborators. A list of war criminals will be drawn up and the evidence against them collected by the governments of occupied Europe. Trials after the war are expected to last several years.
Top of the list will be Hitler and Nazi Party leaders and collaborators. Below them will be the names of German agents in occupied countries, nationals of occupied countries but of German origin who have worked with the Nazis, and nationals of the occupied countries who have set themselves up as “quisling” rulers and their henchmen.
Scotland: The Allied invasion fleet for Operation TORCH in North Africa next month starts to assemble in the Firth of Clyde.
Destroyer HMS Orwell commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
FRANCE: A force of 94 RAF Lancaster bombers of No. 49 and 57 Squadrons flew across France at treetop height today to hit the Schneider gun factory at Le Creusot, 170 miles south-east of Paris at dusk.
One airman, describing this daylight flight without fighter cover, said: “It was like the Grand National, except that no one fell.” This was not quite accurate - one of the Lancasters had failed to return.
Paris: Shot-down aircrew and PoWs who managed to “escape and evade” are returning to England on regular “Underground lines” set up by members of the Resistance and trained agents dropped into France by MI9, the intelligence department in charge of escapes.
MI9 is in experienced hands; one of its leaders is Captain Airey Neave, who escaped from Colditz Castle last January disguised as a German officer and walked to Switzerland.
It is impressed on all servicemen that it is their duty to escape, and they are being provided with the equipment to do so. Unscrew a certain button on a pilot’s jacket and it turns into a compass. His silk scarf is a map showing him the way home, and his flying boots convert into walking shoes with a hacksaw blade hidden in a lace and foreign currency in the heels.
All aircrew are taught how to evade capture and live off the country until they can contact the local Resistance. They are never given names and addresses of people to contact, but are told to seek out solid patriotic households and ask the occupants to put them in touch with the Resistance.
If all goes well the escapers are fed, dressed in local clothes, given false papers and passed along a line of “safe houses”, either to the Spanish or Swiss borders or to a landing strip to be picked up by a Lysander or a Hudson of the RAF’s special duty squadrons.
One of the bravest of those helping the escapers - sometimes known as “conductors” - is a 24-year-old Belgian, Andree de Jongh, who runs the “Comet” line. She specializes in the long trip from Brussels, through Paris and over the Pyrenees to Bilboa where her passengers are taken by fishing boat to Gibraltar.
GERMANY: Berlin: The enemy’s dispute with Britain over the treatment of PoWs was given a new and unpleasant twist today when the German high command declared that “inhumane treatment of prisoners in any theatre of war, for instance on the Soviet front, would have to be paid for by prisoners in our hands without distinction of nationality.”
The Germans made no reference to the British offer to unshackle Axis prisoners if the Germans would do the same with the PoWs taken at Dieppe.
U-291, U-477, U-989, U-990 laid down.
U-487, U-488 launched.
On the way from Gotenhafen to Kiel, U-450 collided with the German ship Peter from Hamburg. (Dave Shirlaw)
BURMA: No. 82 Squadron RAF commences operations flying the Vultee Vengeance dive-bomber. (22)
NEW GUINEA: Japanese rearguard actions at Eora Creek holds up the Australian advance along the Kokoda Track. The point unit for the Australians is the 16th Brigade which has taken over from the 25th Brigade.
One regiment of the US 32nd Division is airlifted from Port Moresby, New Guinea to Wanigela on the north coast.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: A force of 18 “Val” dive bombers (Aichi D3A, Navy Type 99 Carrier Bombers) and 18 “Zeke” fighters (Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters) from the aircraft carriers HIJMS Hiyo and HIJMS Junyo have been temporarily based at Buka Airdrome on Buka Island just north of Bougainville Island. This force is airborne this morning to attack shipping off Guadalcanal. At 0720 hours local, 8 Marine Fighting Squadron One Hundred Twenty One (VMF-121) F4F Wildcats intercept this force as the “Vals” attack two USN destroyers—USS Aaron Ward (DD-483) and USS Lardner (DD-487)—shelling new IJA supply dumps west of the Lunga Perimeter near Tassafaronga. The Marine Wildcats disrupt the attack and shoot down 6 “Vals” and 4 “Zekes;” one Wildcat is lost along with its pilot. The destroyers continue their bombardment and fire 1,925 5-inch (12.7 cm) at the supply dumps.
Throughout the day, numerous P-39and P-400 Airacobra fighter-bombers and 6 B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb the IJA supply dumps.
In the afternoon, the IJN sends 15 “Betty” bombers (, Navy Type 1 Attack Bombers) and 9 “Zekes” to bomb Guadalcanal; the Japanese aircraft are unopposed. (Jack McKillop)
PACIFIC OCEAN: USS Greenling (SS-213) sinks an armed transport at 37-35 N, 141-30 E USS Trigger (SS-237) sinks an cargo ship at 32-21 N, 132-04 E, east of Hososhima, Japan. (Skip Guidry)
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: Aleutians: 4 Eleventh Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb the Main Camp area on Kiska Island and a beached vessel in Trout Lagoon; the results are unobserved due to clouds; a B-24 flying weather reconnaissance finds no trace of 2 destroyers, confirming their sinking on 16 October. (Jack McKillop)
CANADA: Trawler HMS Miscou commissioned Collingwood, Ontario. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: During WW II, the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) produced numerous documents, most commonly known are the Intelligence Bulletins. The Military Intelligence Special Series continues with “German Motorized Infantry Regiment.” (William L. Howard)
Destroyer USS Kalk commissioned.
Destroyer escorts USS Evarts and Wyfells laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-504 sank SS Empire Chaucer.
U-609 suffered great damages when the escort HMS Celandine attacked her with depth charges during the battle against convoy ON-137. (Dave Shirlaw)
Page 2: Guadalcanal Marines re-capturing 40 US 75mm guns that were captured by the Japanese in the Philippines—interesting how our captured equipment was used by the enemy.
Excluding in the heat of an immediate battle, did the US ever re-purpose captured enemy equipment?
I don't know about the USA but the Brits had no problem "repurposing" captured panzers.
Parker’s article on P4 seems to suggest the Russians had an intact wooden bridge across the Volga at Stalingrad.
Canada Ping!
UNITED KINGDOM: London: Allied governments are planning to set up a commission to investigate war crimes committed by the Nazis and their collaborators. A list of war criminals will be drawn up and the evidence against them collected by the governments of occupied Europe. Trials after the war are expected to last several years.
Remember that this is from a film, so it could have been from the first part of the battle. By this time, I believe they were relying on the underwater bridge.
We don’t hear enough about Canada’s bit in the War. Just recently we read about the Dieppe disaster and these terrible ship sinkings in the Atlantic.
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