Posted on 01/01/2013 6:43:21 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, The Hinge of Fate
Axis Army Routed (Parker) – 2-3
2 Enemy Ships Hit – 3-4
Allies in Tunisia Spar with Enemy – 4-5
War News Summarized – 4
Hitler Says 1943 May be Difficult – 5
Enemy Bases Hit Near Guadalcanal (Hurd) – 6
Our Airmen Bag 20 Planes at Lae (Durdin) – 6-7
Guadalcanal’s Dead in Hallowed Graves; Cemetery is Devoutly Tended by Buddies – 7
Says New Weapons Make Us Toughest (Shalett) * – 8
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on the Fighting in the Various War Theatres – 9-11
* There is one weapon which, with typical Yankee impudence, already has been nicknamed the “Bazooka.”
The writer is not allowed even to hint at its nature, its construction or its usage, but some day the stories of victories made possible through the use of the “Bazooka” should write some chapters in this war which will make the most hair-raising exploits of the last conflict look tame.
Must be some kind of death-ray machine – HJS.
Axis Army Routed (Parker) – 2-3
2 Enemy Ships Hit – 3-4
Allies in Tunisia Spar with Enemy – 4-5
War News Summarized – 4
Hitler Says 1943 May be Difficult – 5
Enemy Bases Hit Near Guadalcanal (Hurd) – 6
Our Airmen Bag 20 Planes at Lae (Durdin) – 6-7
Guadalcanal’s Dead in Hallowed Graves; Cemetery is Devoutly Tended by Buddies – 7
Says New Weapons Make Us Toughest (Shalett) * – 8
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on the Fighting in the Various War Theatres – 9-11
* There is one weapon which, with typical Yankee impudence, already has been nicknamed the “Bazooka.”
The writer is not allowed even to hint at its nature, its construction or its usage, but some day the stories of victories made possible through the use of the “Bazooka” should write some chapters in this war which will make the most hair-raising exploits of the last conflict look tame.
Must be some kind of death-ray machine – HJS.
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/jan1943/f01jan43.htm
Red Army Takes Velikiye Luki
Friday, January 1, 1943 www.onwar.com
Soviet troops fighting in the rubble [photo at link]
On the Eastern Front... The Soviets reoccupy Velikiye Luki, northwest of Moscow, after brutal street fighting. In the continuing Soviet advance, Elista and Chikola are also liberated.
In New Guinea... Attacks on the Japanese positions at Buna continue. Some of the Japanese garrison withdraws.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm
January 1st, 1943 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Rescue tug HMS Tancred launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
ITALY: SICILY: Five USAAF Ninth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb targets of opportunity at Syracuse and other locations. (Jack McKillop)
U.S.S.R.: Velikiye Luki in the central sector is finally recaptured by the Soviet Army.
Stalingrad: The Russians squeeze the German army into a pocket of 100 square miles.
German Army Group A begins withdrawing the 1st Panzer Army northward toward Rostov to prevent it from becoming encircled with XXXX Pz.K. units pulling out of the Mozdok area. (Jack McKillop & Jeff Chrisman)
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: The 7,176 ton U.S. Liberty Ship SS Arthur Middleton is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-73 about 7 nautical miles (12,9 kilometres) northwest of Oran, Algeria, in position 35.45N, 0.45W.
U-73 is damaged when the torpedoed ship Arthur Middleton explodes.
Eleven ships from UGS-3, including SS Arthur Middleton from station #21, broke away from the convoy near Casablanca to proceed for their destination port Oran and began to form a single line to enter the harbour. At 1428, before the line was formed, two torpedoes hit the Arthur Middleton from U-73 at the bow. The U-boat commander saw the target explode after 17 seconds. The torpedoes had ignited portions of the cargo and sent water, hull plates, parts of the ship and flames 1000 feet into the air. The Liberty ship disintegrated from the #5 hatch to the bow, only the after part of the ship remained afloat for less than one minute three miles off Oran. Only three armed guards survived of the eight officers, 34 men, 27 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in and nine 20mm guns) and 12 passengers (one US Army security officer and 11 crewmen from USS LCT-21). These three men jumped overboard from the stern gun platform and were picked up by destroyer HMS Boreas 25 minutes later and were transferred to hospital ship HMHS Oxfordshire. (Jack McKillop)
ALGERIA: Lieutenant General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander Allied Force, places Major General Lloyd Fredendall in command of the U.S. II Corps, which is planning for Operation SATIN, the capture of Sfax, Tunisia, to prevent the junction of Axis armies. Task Force SATIN is to consist of the 1st Armoured Division and Regimental Combat Team 26 of the 1st Infantry Division. Allied Force Headquarters (AFHQ) takes responsibility for communications lines from Bone to Constantine, relieving the British First Army. (Jack McKillop)
The British light cruiser HMS Ajax (22) is severely damaged in Bone harbour by Luftwaffe Ju 87 dive bomber. The ship makes her way to the New York Navy Yard in the U.S. for repairs and is out of action until October 1943. (Jack McKillop)
TUNISIA: Five USAAF Ninth Air Force B-24 Liberators and 18 USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses strike the port area at Tunis hitting the turning basin, the area just southwest of it, and nearby rail junction. Twelfth Air Force B-26 Marauders hit the marshalling yard at Tunis. (Jack McKillop)
JAPAN: Tokyo: The Japanese decide to evacuate Guadalcanal.
BURMA: Six USAAF Tenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells attack the railroad bridge near Myitnge, claiming several hits on the target. The nearby airfield is also bombed. (Jack McKillop)
FIJI ISLANDS: The USN fleet tug USS Grebe (AT-134) grounded at Vuanta Vatoa on 6 December 1942 while attempting to float the U.S. freighter SS Thomas A. Edison. Salvage operations are broken up by a hurricane that destroyed both ships during the night of 1/2 January 1943. (Jack McKillop)
SOLOMON ISLANDS: Guadalcanal: The last Japanese food available in the Gifu position on Mount Austen, is distributed. It amounts to 2 crackers and a piece of candy per man.
From Hill 11 on Guadalcanal, the 2d Battalion, 132d Infantry Regiment, Americal Division, marches slowly south and west over precipitous terrain to the south-eastern slope of Hill 27, arriving too late in the day to open an assault as planned. Regimental Combat Team 27, 25th Infantry Division, arrives on the island. (Jack McKillop)
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators bomb the airfields at Gasmata and Rabaul on New Britain Island. (Jack McKillop)
NEW GUINEA: The Urbana Force (two battalions of the U.S. 126th and 128th Infantry Regiments, 32d Infantry Division) attacks toward Buna Mission from the southeast and from the spit after heavy preparatory fire, but makes little progress. In the evening the Japanese are seen swimming from the Mission. Company B, U.S. 127th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division, moves east toward Giropa Point to assist the Warren Force (based on the U.S. 128th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division), which encircles the Japanese between Giropa Point and Old Strip. On the left, the Australian 2/12th Battalion, 18th Brigade, 7th Division, supported by six tanks, drives to the coast at Giropa Point and turns southeast, clearing the coastal strip to Simemi Creek; the 1st Battalion, U.S. 128th Infantry Regiment, mops up bypassed pockets. On the right, the 3d Battalion, 128th Infantry Regiment, and Australian 2/10th Battalion, 18th Brigade, make slow progress in a two-pronged attack to clear the Japanese entrenched in dispersal bays off the north-western end of Strip. (Jack McKillop)
USAAF Fifth Air Force bombers attack Lae, Northeast New Guinea. (Jack McKillop)
CANADA: Destroyer HMCS Iroquois pendant number changed from I98 to G89. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: Ground Controlled Approach equipment (GCA) was called into emergency use for the first time when a snowstorm closed down the field at NAS Quonset Point a half hour before a flight of PBYs was due to arrive. The GCA crew located the incoming aircraft on their search radar, and using the control tower as a relay station, “talked” one of them into position for a contact landing. This recovery was made only 9 days after the first successful experimental demonstration of GCA. (Gene Hanson)
Destroyer USS Schroeder commissioned.
Destroyer escorts USS Burke and Scott laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The British cruiser HMS SCYLLA sinks the German blockade runner RHAKOTIS and the Italian transport VIMINALE 200 nautical miles north-west of Cape Finisterre, Brittany. After an eight-hour search, Australian Sunderland Mk. II or III of No. 10 Squadron, RAAF, based at Mount Batten, Devon, spots the German blockade runner SS RHAKOTIS in the Bay of Biscay on 31 December, attempting to smuggle in war cargo from Japan. The light cruiser HMS Scylla was diverted to intercept, and ran at full speed through a gale for some 20 hours, with the Sunderland guiding her towards the target by dropping flares along the course. When the cruiser opens fire, the Germans scuttle their ship about 145 nautical miles (269 kilometres) northwest of La Coruna, Comunidad Autonoma de Galicia, Spain, in position 45.01N, 10.50W.
Swedish SS Brageland was stopped by U-164 off the Brazilian coast, searched and sunk according to prize rules.
U-406 had to abort her patrol in the North Atlantic due to serious engine trouble.
U-438 was damaged by underwater explosions, forcing her to return from patrol in the North Atlantic.
Minesweeper HMCS Minas damaged in collision with trawler HMS Liscomb off Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Corvette HMCS Woodstock sank MTB 105, 250 miles NW of Azores after merchant ship carrying it had been sunk.
(Dave Shirlaw)
Hitler, the master of understatement, tells his people that 1943 may be a difficult year. Well duh.
Stalingrad and Tunis was a time when friends of my dad brought the German and Italian prisoners back to the USA and gave me all sorts of medals and rings from the prisoners. But today, looking back, all I can think of, is the how the youth of Germany and Russia, were wasted away on the Stepps, just to support the whims of two Dictators. Leaving us with a war that changed the world forever. I’m sure History will repeat itself, we never learn.
It was really rich of Goering to tell the German people to sacrifice, considering that glutton’s wine cellar alone.
Wine, champagne from Von Ribbentrop and Westphalian ham, too. He knew how to live well. Finished off his cruise with a side o’ cyanide.
Sorry to post so late. I am still catching up.
Did anyone else catch this one? This is almost exactly what McNair did.
General Campbell: “I think that of all the most heinous crimes the Ordnance Department could commit the worse would be to say, ‘Uh-huh, the M-4 tank is the best in the world,’ and then sit back and be satisfied.”
Sorry to post so late. I am still catching up.
Did anyone else catch this one? This is almost exactly what McNair did.
General Campbell: “I think that of all the most heinous crimes the Ordnance Department could commit the worse would be to say, ‘Uh-huh, the M-4 tank is the best in the world,’ and then sit back and be satisfied.”
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