October 1943
(Britain)
Taking off from their air bases in Britain, the “Second Schweinfurt Raid”, which took place on the 14th October1943 was a disaster for the United States 8th Air Force. The attacking force consisted of 291 B-17 Flying Fortress and 60 B-24 Liberator bombers. This attack on the ball bearing factories of Schweinfurt was the second raid. The first attack, in August 1943, was a joint raid during the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission. This raid was the follow-up raid which had to be postponed owing to the rebuilding of the American forces. American intelligence claimed the original attack on Schweinfurt had reduced the ball bearing production by 34 percent. A second raid would seriously affect the production. Even if the raid had been successful, the Germans had large stocks of ball bearings. They were being supplied by manufacturers from Italy, Sweden and Switzerland. Three bomber wings made up the attack force and each wing were escorted by squadrons of P-47 Thunderbolt fighters. By not using ‘drop tanks’ the escorting range was limited. Bad weather caused the bomber formations to become spread out and vulnerable. As they crossed the European coast line all the wings of the attack force were intercepted by the waiting Luftwaffe. Messerschmitt 109 and Focke-Wolfe 190 fighters were in readiness as the Germans expected a second attack on Schweinfurt. Two of the three wings headed directly for Schweinfurt. Upon arrival at Schweinfurt the two wings badly hit the ball bearing factories. However, the mission failed as the ball bearing production was operational again six weeks later. For the USAAF the cost of the mission was very high. 60 out of 291 B-17 Flying Fortress’ were lost, and 17 received damage so heavy they had to scrapped. A further 121 arrived back at their air bases with varying degrees of battle damage. These aircraft losses represented over 26 percent of the bombing campaign. Of the 2,900 members of the bombing crew, 650 were lost, representing approximately 22 percent. German fighters, based on the European coast, attacked the outward and return legs of the bombing mission. The USAAF P47 fighter escorts claimed nearly 40 German fighters destroyed with a further 20 being damaged. Three U.S. fighters were lost, one in combat and one crash landed at their airbase. The third P47 that was lost crashed whilst attempting a single wheel landing. Bad weather caused the third wing of 29 B-24 bombers and escorts to be diverted to Emden. Have been unable to find any details as to the fate of the diverted third wing.
British light cruiser HMS Charybdis was sunk off the Brittany coast in the English Channel on the 22nd/23rd October 1943. The Battle of the Atlantic, up until mid-1943 was very successful for the Germans but after that date the Allies began to gain superiority. By August 1943, Plymouth Command had received orders whereby they should develop an operation with which to frustrate German shipping access to the Atlantic via the English Channel. The result being “Operation Tunnel” which was an offensive sweep of one light cruiser and six destroyers along the west coast of France. Beginning on the 5th September 1943, “Tunnel” was regularly used and by having the same tactics, became predictable. British naval authorities had obtained intelligence regarding a German blockade runner Münsterland on the 22nd October 1943. Münsterland had departed from Brest with a cargo of latex and various strategic metals and was escorted by five Type 39 torpedo boats and six minesweepers. It is possible the Münsterland intelligencewas ‘bait’ to lure the British and ambush them. Charybdis was assigned the operation and just after midnight on the 23rd October 1943 conducted a radar sweep approximately 8.1 miles (13 km) west of Brittany, The Germans picked up the radar sweep and relayed the information to the torpedo boats. The British destroyers were aware of the warnings but for some reason Charybdis did not pick them up. The German torpedo boats laid in wait after Münsterland had turned back out of harms way. At 01.30 Charybdis located the torpedo boats on her radar at a range of 14,000 yards (13,000 m) and signalled the destroyers to increase speed. The rear destroyer HMS Wensleydale was the only one to pick up the signal. Wensleydale overtook the rest of the force which caused confusion and the formation to lose cohesion. The commander of the German torpedo boats gave the order to every ship to release their torpedoes after seeing Charybdis’ silhouette. With poor weather conditions the torpedo boats were ordered to turn and retire. With radar contact only and no visual contact Charybdis was not able to inflict any damage to the torpedo boats. Twenty-four torpedoes had been launched by the Germans and the first that Charybdis was aware of the danger was when the torpedoes were spotted by the lookouts. They were too close for Charybdis to turn and one hit the port side. She listed twenty degrees to port and stopped. Within minutes a second torpedo hit her and after approximately half an hour she had sunk. In the confusion destroyer HMS Limbourne was also hit which caused her forward magazine to explode. With her bows blown off she listed to starboard, the crew abandoned her and she was eventually scuttled. Charybdis lost over 400 men including her captain. Limbourne lost 42 members of her crew. In the aftermath 21 Royal Navy and Royal Marine personnel were washed ashore on Guernsey. The German occupation authorities buried them with full military honours. The battle was the last surface fleet action where the Germans were victorious over the Royal Navy.
(Germany)
A War Office Contract was issued, on the 19th October 1943 to Mittelwerk GmbH to construct 12.000 V2 rockets. The contract was issued by General Emil Leeb, head of Army Weapons Office. To avoid Allied bombing of the site the Mittelwerk GmbH was a factory built underground at Nordhausen. The site is located south east of Hamburg and south west of Berlin. The underground factory had been completed in 1943 and used slave labour from Mittlebau-Dora concentration camp for production. They produced V1 flying bombs and V2 ballistic missiles (rockets) once development had been completed. The factory was in operation from 1943 until the end of the war in 1945.
The single most deadly raid on Kassel was on the night of 22nd/23nd October 1943 when 569 Allied bombers dropped 180,000 tons of bombs on the city. The bombs included 460,000 magnesium flare sticks. The targets included the Henschel & Sohn manufacturing facilities and the Fieseler aircraft plant. Henschel manufactured Tiger I and King Tiger tanks, locomotive plant, engine and motor transplant. Also included in the raid were the railway works, Highway & railway construction headquarters, Military HQs and the Regional Supreme Court. During the raid the city was destroyed and the flare sticks caused a minor fire-storm which burned for seven days. Damage to the telephone exchange and the city’s water pipes hindered firefighting efforts. The outcome was that the 150,000 inhabitants were bombed out and at least 6,000 people died.
(Eastern Front)
Six hundred Jewish inmates in Sobibor Extermination Camp revolted against the German guards on the 14th October 1943. The plan for the revolt was to be conducted in two phases. Teams of prisoners would discreetly assassinate the S.S. guards in the first phase. All six hundred prisoners would assemble for the evening roll call and walk to freedom through the front gate during the second phase. However, the revolt didn’t work out as planned:-
Sobibor Extermination Camp was a site for killing Jews and not a concentration camp. It was the fourth deadliest Nazi camp after Auschwitz, Treblinka and Belzec and was located in Nazi occupied Poland surrounded by forest. The site, operational from May 1942, was designed to look as attractive as possible so that Jews arriving by train would not be aware of their fate. Approximately six hundred were selected as slave workers who assisted the S.S. Guards in running the camp. The majority were immediately sent to the gas chambers to be murdered and finally buried in mass graves located on the site. By rotating the eighteen to twenty two German/Austrian S.S. officers, who commanded approximately 400 watchmen, they were the personnel of the Sobibor camp. Conditions for the slave workers were terrible and the guards treated them harshly. The death rate among the slave workers was high and were replaced regularly. In the summer of 1943 the prisoners began to hear rumours that Sobibor would soon close down. If that rumour was correct they knew their days were numbered. In response to these rumours an escape committee was formed led by Leon Feldhendler. By late September 1943 they realised they did not have the experience to achieve an escape. Approximately twenty Jewish Red Army POWs arrived at Sobibor on the 22nd September 1943 who were selected for slave workers. Among them was Alexander Pechersky who would go on to lead the revolt. Feldhendler introduced himself to Pechersky and they eventually established an agreement in that the only way to escape was to revolt. The plan began to go wrong in the late afternoon of the 14th October 1943. Only eleven S.S. officers had been killed by the time the revolt began. The 600 prisoners escaped by climbing over a barbed wire fence then running across a minefield under machine-gun fire. Approximately 300 prisoners escaped into the forest. Of the original 600 prisoners only 58 were known to have survived the war (48 men & 10 women). It would appear Pechersky was one of the successful escapees but the fate of Feldhendler is unknown. On the 19th October 1943 S.S. Chief Heinrich Himmler ordered the closure of the camp. Jewish labourers were sent over from Treblinka to dismantle the camp which was required to be completed by the end of October 1943. The Treblinka Jews were shot on completion. During the operating period Sobibor Extermination Camp killed between 170,000-250,000 Jews in the gas chambers,
The Third Moscow Conference was one of the first times foreign ministers of Britain, the United States and Soviet Union met to discuss important global events. As part of this conference the Ambassador of the Republic of China was invited to sign the Declaration of the Four Nations. The conference ran from the 18th October to 11th November 1943 and was held at the Moscow Kremlin and Spiridonovka Palace. There were twelve separate meetings to discuss cooperation in the war effort and how to shorten the war.
One of the largest operations of the war was the Battle of Dnieper fought in the Ukraine with the Soviet Union Army against the attacking German Army. The battle began on the 5th August 1943 and ended on the 23rd December 1943, and was another defeat for the Germans on the Eastern Front. The Germans had a series of mixed results following the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, code-named Operation Barbarossa. The battle was conducted over a 1,400 km (870 mile) front to the west of the Dnieper River. German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler was aware that the forthcoming Soviet offensive could not be contained on the open steppe and ordered a series of fortifications be constructed. The Soviets launched the offensive on the 25th October 1943, successfully establishing a river crossing and secured Dnipropetrovsk. The bridgehead at Dnipropetrovsk had been completed on the 25th September 1943 with the Soviets crossing the river by using every floating device available.
(Mediterranean)
By the 1st October 1943 a spontaneous uprising of the citizens of Naples, accompanied by the Italian resistance was complete. The Allies had landed on the beaches south of Naples on the 9th September 1943 during Operation Avalanche. Following the retreat from Sicily, German occupying forces planned to deport the Neapolitans en masse, then destroy the city to prevent the Allied troops from gaining a strategic foothold. Following the Armistice on the 8th September 1943, many of the Italian Army drifted toward Naples. Before the Armistice 20,000 German and 5,500 Italian troops were occupying Naples. Bombing raids by the Germans on Naples made many difficulties for the German occupiers. The Neapolitan citizens took full advantage of these difficulties by organising resistance groups. To overcome these difficulties, on the 12th September 1943, German Colonel Walter Schöll of the military occupiers of Naples took over control of the city. He declared a curfew and a siege. Any hostile action against German troops he would execute 100 Neapolitans for every German killed. Seeds of rebellion began by the Neapolitans when weapons and ammunition were stolen from Italian barracks. However, from the 27th to 30th September 1943, following a large number of German troops capturing 8,000 Neapolitans, they were opposed by 400-500 rioters who responded by attacking the Germans. Fighting increased when further Neapolitan citizens joined the riots. Fierce clashes occurred and by the 30th September 1943 the Germans began the evacuation of the city. The fleeing Germans left behind fires and destruction including the State Archives of Naples. The Neapolitan uprising was finally over on the 1st October 1943.
The Allied landings on the beaches of Salerno, code name Operation Avalanche, began on the 9th September 1943. With the Salerno beach-head secured British and American forces made steady progress toward Naples. On the 1st October 1943, “A” Squadron of the British 1st King’s Dragoons entered Naples. This was the same day as the successful uprising, against the German defenders, by the citizens of the city. The Allied Fifth Army, commanded by American Lieutenant General Mark Clark, consisted of five American and three British divisions. They reached the shore of the Volturno River on the 5th October1943 which was a natural defensive barrier and secured Naples and the whole of southern Italy. By the 31st October 1943 the Allied advance toward Rome was hampered by heavy rains which slowed the Allied mechanised forces and hindered their air superiority. Also hampering the advance were skilful, determined German defenders in a terrain which favoured defence.
On the 13th October1943, Italy declared war on Germany. A message was sent to the Commander-in -Chief of Allied Forces, General Eisenhower, that Italy would fight alongside the Allies against their former Axis partners Germany. The same message was forwarded to President Roosevelt (USA), Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Britain) and Premier Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union). A similar announcement was made to all Italian citizens on the same day. The next phase of the campaign would be the Allied advance on Rome.
In the Greek islands following the Italian Armistice with the Allies, the Germans occupied the Island of Kos on the 3rd October 1943. The Italians had been in control of the Dodecanese Islands in the Aegean Sea, of which Kos was one, since 1912. The Dodecanese Island chain was a joint Italy/German controlled area. When the Italians capitulated in September 1943 the Germans swiftly moved in to take over the Italian-held areas. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was keen and endeavoured to occupy the Dodecanese Island chain. On the 13th September 1943 British troops landed on several islands, with Kos and Leros being the most suitable. The plan was to join forces with the Italians at their garrison on Kos. A total of 1,600 British troops who landed included 120 paratroopers who were flown in on the 14th/15th October 1943. When the British joined up with the Italian defenders from the original garrison the total was almost 5,000 soldiers. Heavy air bombardment on the 17th September 1943 was the beginning of the German counter-attack. The British ability to defend Kos was seriously hampered by the limited aircraft cover which was completely inadequate. The limited Allied aircraft cover was because Eisenhower ruled the Dodecanese Island campaign would not be allowed to prejudice other Mediterranean campaigns. Following the German counter-attack the Luftwaffe’s bombing and cannon-fire attacks harassed the garrison for many days. Bringing their strength up to 360 aircraft, the Germans flew in an additional 100 fighter/bomber aircraft as reinforcements. Casualties to the British paratroopers were so severe from German air attacks they were forced to withdraw to the Italian garrison on the 25th September 1943. A concentration of German shipping was sighted by British aircraft heading toward Kos. These ships were transporting 1,200 troops and their equipment on the 1st October 1943. The limited Allied aircraft cover suffered many losses from bombardment at their airfields or aerial combat. Coupled with the lack of aircraft was the Italian anti-aircraft defence was virtually non-existent. The island defenders position was desperate. In the early hours of the 3rd October 1943 the German reinforcements had arrived and the landings were completed by mid-day. The British infantry and paratroopers fought gallantly but were forced to retreat to a small area around the town of Kos. All organised resistance by British and Italian troops ceased and by 06.00 hours on the 4th October 1943, 1,388 British and 3,145 Italian were taken prisoner. The Italian commander and 100 of his officers were shot by the Germans as a war-crime for changing allegiance.
The French island of Corsica is located in the Mediterranean Sea off the south-east coast of France and the west coast of Italy. The 220,000 Corsican population was administered by Vichy France until September 1942 when the Italian army landed unopposed. To avoid problems with fellow Axis Vichy France, they limited the recruitment of Corsicans into the Italian army. Some Corsican military officers collaborated with the Italians, whose forces rose from 30,000 troops who landed to 85,000. Resistance by the Corsicans increased during the Italian occupation, with guerrilla tactics employed whenever possible. When the Italians announced the Armistice with the Allies on the 8th September1943, Germany began to transport their troops from Sardinia to Corsica. Sardinia is the island south of Corsica and is part of Italy. However, on the 12th September 1943 German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler ordered Corsica to be abandoned, and the German evacuation was completed by the 3rd October 1943. In the meantime the Free French General Henri Giraud reached an agreement with the supreme commander of the North Africa Theatre of Operations, General Eisenhower, that the Free French Forces would liberate Corsica on their own. The Free French finally liberated Corsica on the 4th October 1943. During the evacuation the Germans lost 700 killed and wounded and 350 captured. The Italians lost 600 to 800 soldiers killed and 2,000 wounded while the French suffered 75 killed, 239 wounded and 12 missing.
(Pacific)
Winston Churchill appointed Lord Louis Mountbatten as Supreme Commander of South East Asia Command (SEAC) on the 3rd October 1943. With the SEAC appointment, Mountbatten was promoted to acting full Admiral. At the same time U.S. General Joseph Stilwell was appointed deputy supreme commander of SEAC. He was also the official deputy to Chiang Kai-shek as Allied commander in China. On the 15th September 1943 Chiang Kai-shek requested Stilwell be recalled into the theatre of war following the Allied retreat from Burma in 1942. SEAC was set up in August 1943 to be in overall charge of all the Allied operations in the South Eastern Asian Theatre of war. Churchill’s appointment of Mountbatten was with the full agreement of the Combined Chiefs of Staff. SEACs headquarters was in India and Mountbatten arrived to take up command on the 7th October1943. At midnight on the 15th /16th November 1943 SEAC became fully operational in Delhi.
During the Solomon Islands Campaign New Zealand and U.S. troops defeated the Japanese on the island of Vella Lavella. The Japanese were evacuating their troops to the island of New Britain and by the 6th October 1943 only 600 Japanese troops remained on Vella Lavella. An assortment of 20 Japanese small auxiliary ships were sent to rescue them. They were escorted by nine destroyers, three older and six modern vessels who were despatched from Rabaul on the island of New Britain. In response six U.S. destroyers were sent to disrupt the evacuation. One group of three destroyers were rerouted from the Vella Lavella Gulf and a second group of three rerouted from convoy duty further south. The Japanese spotted the U.S. destroyers rerouted from the Vella Gulf, commanded by Captain Frank Walker, at 23.30 hours. Without waiting for the destroyers rerouted from the south, Walker attacked the Japanese immediately. Torpedoes were launched by both sides and by 23.00 hours both sides had opened fire. Japanese destroyer Yugumo was hit several times after charging at the U.S. destroyers, the result being her steering gear was totally damaged. Another torpedo hit her at about 23.10 and Yugumo sank. Before she sank however, one of her torpedoes hit USS Chevalier and detonated the forward magazine. Somehow USS O’Bannon collided with Chevalier and the third destroyer USS Selfridge attacked the Japanese alone and she was hit by a torpedo at 23.06 and disabled. With U.S. reinforcements still fifteen minutes away and all three U.S. destroyers severely damaged, the Japanese were ordered to return to Rabaul. This order was given because the Japanese mistook the approaching U.S. vessels as cruisers and not destroyers. In the meantime the Japanese axillary ships had evacuated all the troops from Vella Lavella. When the reinforcing destroyers, commanded by Captain Harold Larson, arrived at approximately 23.35 they began the search for the Japanese destroyers. Larson began rescue operations shortly after midnight. He rescued the wounded and fit crew members from the crippled Chevalier and O’Bannon. Larson’s USS La Vallette scuttled Chevalier by firing a torpedo at her magazine and destroying her bow with depth charges at 03.00 on the 7th October 1943. Despite being heavily damaged Chevalier and O’Bannon remained afloat and were subsequently withdrawn for repairs. USS Selfridge was also capable of for repair. U.S. casualties for this engagement were one destroyer sunk and two heavily damaged. They suffered 67 killed, 47 wounded and 36 missing. For the Japanese they had one destroyer sunk and 138 men killed with a further 103 captured. This Japanese naval victory was to be their last naval victory of the Pacific War.
The Battle of Finschhafen, New Guinea continued into October 1943 and finally ended on the 24th October 1943. The battle was conducted in two phases. The first phase was when the Australian 20th Infantry Brigade attacked Japanese forces on Scarlet Beach on the 22nd September 1943. The U.S. 532nd Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment assisted the Australians with the attack on Scarlet Beach. At the same time the Australian 22nd Infantry Brigade landed at Cape Cretin located south of Finschhafen. The 20th advanced from Scarlet Beach south toward Finschhafen. The Japanese defenders employed delaying tactics but were soon overcome on the 26th September 1943. They advanced toward Langemak Bay and arrived on the 1st October 1943, capturing Finschhafen en route. The Australian 22nd advanced north from Cape Cretin and arrived on the 2nd October 1943. Throughout the first phase the Australians were under the impression they were facing a maximum of 2,100 Japanese troops. In fact the Japanese had a defensive force of 4,000-5.000 troops, roughly equalling the Australians. Phase one of the battle ended on the 2nd October 1943.
Phase two began on the 10th October 1943. Australian commander Major General George Wooten landed at Finschhafen and set up his headquarters. On the same day Japanese reinforcements arrived from inland to increase their forces to 12,000 troops to face the Australians. However, they delayed their counter attack owing to the lack of stockpiling of stores and ammunition. On the 10th/11th October 1943 the Australians became aware the Japanese were preparing for a counter attack. A Japanese briefcase containing detailed plans for the counter attack was discovered by one of the regular patrols around Finschhafen. Several intercepted Japanese radio transmissions, confirmed of troop and ship movements, the Australians switched to a defensive strategy. On the 16th October 1943 phase two began. The Japanese counter attack was planned to be a three pronged action. The attack on the northern end of Scarlet Beach was a diversionary attack by land and sea. The Allied defenders easily overran the attack after U.S. torpedo boats destroyed over half of the Japanese landing craft. The Japanese land and sea forces suffered heavy losses. The bulk of the Japanese attack was made on beaches to the south of Scarlet Beach. Australian and U.S. artillery was located along the coast, some areas more heavily defended than others. At one stage, on the 18th October 1943, some Australian troops were isolated for a short time. With reinforcements and supported by U.S. artillery the position was regained by the Allies. The fighting was generally in favour for the Allies and succeeded in halting any further Japanese involvement. On the 21st October 1943 the Japanese withdrew from the area and they called off the attack on the 24th October 1943.
On the Japanese occupied territory of Wake Island in the Pacific, 98 American civilians were executed on the 5th October 1943. The civilians had been kept as forced labour. The island had been occupied by the Japanese since the beginning of the Pacific war in December 1941. American aircraft from carrier USS Lexington raided Wake Island on the 5th October 1943. On the same day, prior to the air raid, one of the civilians had been caught stealing. The consequence being that Japanese Naval Captain Shigematsu Sakaibara ordered him to be beheaded. However, after the air raid and fearing an invasion Sakaibara ordered all of them to be killed.On the 5th October 1943 all 98 civilians were murdered by machine gun fire at the northern end of the island and hastily buried in a mass grave. A message was carved on a nearby large coral rock by an unknown civilian who had somehow escaped the slaughter. The message read: ’98 US PW 5-10-43’, which is a Wake Island landmark and can still be seen today. He was recaptured and personally beheaded by Sakaibara. After the war Sakaibara was hanged for war crimes. One other officer had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment rather than execution. A number of officers committed suicide over the incident. The murdered civilian bodies were exhumed and reburied at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific on Honolulu.
(Other Theatres)
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour in December 1941, all Japanese-American citizens were considered to be enemy. In February 1942 U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an order for the removal of 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry to hastily constructed detention centres. The Nisei were Americans born in the U.S. to first-generation Japanese immigrant parents and made up two-thirds of the citizens incarcerated. From January 1942 they were not eligible for the draft into the military as they were considered to be enemy aliens. With the war continuing, by early 1943 the U.S. establishment realised they did not have sufficient young men for the draft. The government requested Japanese-Americans to volunteer to join the army. Many Nisei on the mainland were reluctant to volunteer while their families were incarcerated in the camps. Most of the initial Nisei recruits came from the families on Hawaii. Of the 10,000 volunteers from Hawaii, 2,686 were accepted. Thousands agreed to serve in a segregated all-Nisei unit under the command of a white officer. Before any Nisei were accepted into combat training centres they needed to convince the authorities of their commitment and satisfy them during a loyalty test. On mainland America about 1,500 Nisei volunteered and 805 were accepted into service. The majority of the Nisei served in the 100th Infantry Battalion after Roosevelt announced the creation of a segregated unit. The first 100th Infantry Battalion landed in Europe on the 12th October 1943 and fought against the Germans in Italy. During the rest of the war approximately 33,000 Nisei served in the U.S. military. 20,000 of them served in the army. About 6,000 Nisei served in the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) as interpreters. They also served in the Army Air Force and 142 young Nisei women volunteered for service in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). The Nisei were involved in the liberation of Rome. At the end of the war the Nisei 522nd Field Artillery Battalion had the distinction of liberating the survivors of the Dachau Concentration Camp from the Nazis. One Nisei soldier was posthumously awarded the “Medal of Honor”, the nation’s highest award for combat valour. Twenty one Distinguished Services Cross medals were also awarded during the war. Approximately 800 Nisei were killed in action.
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The Bay Museum & Research Facility 