October 1942
(Britain)
Twelve British commandos conducted Operation Basalt, a raid on the German occupied island of Sark on the 3/4th October 1942. The Channel Islands, which included Sark, had been invaded and occupied by the Germans since July 1940. Reconnaissance and capturing Germans as prisoners were the object of the raid. For further details of the raid and German Führer Adolf Hitler’s reaction see the separate article “U. K. Commando raid on Sark – Oct ‘42”. The successful raid provided the U.K. with useful undisclosed information regarding the German occupation of the Channel Islands.
The U.S. 1st Armoured Division, nicknamed “Old Ironsides”, moved from Northern Ireland to England on the 29th October 1942. The 1st Armoured Division was the first U.S. armoured division to see battle in the Second World War. In 1940 the 7th Cavalry Brigade was reorganised and expanded into the 1st Armoured Division. The division comprised tanks, artillery and infantry which was supported by tank destroyers, medical teams, supply teams and engineering battalions. Training began in the U.S. prior to America’s entry into the war until May 1942 when they deployed overseas to Northern Ireland. They further trained on the moors of Northern Ireland until the division, now commanded by Major General Orlando Ward, crossed the Irish Sea to England.
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(Atlantic)
In the early hours of the 14th October 1942 S.S. Caribou was sunk by a German U-boat in the North Atlantic. Caribou was a Newfoundland Railway passenger ferry that ran between Port aux Basques in Newfoundland and North Sydney, Nova Scotia. Caribou was about 60 km from her destination of Port aux Basques when she was spotted by German U-boat U-69, who was patrolling the area on the surface under the cover of darkness. Minesweeper HMCS Grandmére was screening Caribou from astern and both vessels were sailing without lights. Also in accordance with wartime regulations a constant change of course was employed. Remaining on the surface U-69 moved ahead of the two ships. At approximately 3.30am U-69 fired a torpedo at a range of 650 metres which struck Caribou amidships. The boiler exploded causing instantaneous and catastrophic damage includirng many lifeboats and rafts. Within minutes Caribou sank. Passengers and crew, many of whom were in their nightclothes, were in the water where they clung to any piece of debris available. A lucky few were able to scramble aboard the remaining lifeboats and rafts but survival was not guaranteed. After the torpedo struck Caribou, U-69 was briefly seen on the surface by Grandmére, who turned in order to ram her. U-69 immediately dived and managed to escape despite Grandmére dropping a pattern of depth charges. The minesweeper, whose radar was rudimentary, fired additional depth charges whenever fleeting contact was established. After about 2 hours Grandmére’s Captain Lieutenant James Cuthbert returned to pick up survivors. He managed to locate and pick up 103 survivors although two were to die later. At about 8.30am several other warships and Newfoundland fishing vessels took up the search for survivors. In total 31 crew and 136 passengers lost their lives. One of the survivors was Naval Nursing Sister Margaret Brooke who tried in vain to save the life of Nursing Sister Agnes Wilkie. For this act of compassion Sister Brooke was later made a Member of the Order of the British Empire.
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(Germany)
On the 3rd October 1942, a German rocket was successfully launched at Peenemunde, an island off Germany’s Baltic coast. German scientists had been developing these rockets since the 1930s. Three previous trial launches had ended in failure. Once launched the rocket travelled for 118 miles. With the successful launching the scientists, led by Wernher von Braun, developed the rocket into the deadly V-2 missile. Virtually impossible to intercept once launched, it would rise 6 miles vertically before proceeding on to an arched course. Dependant on the desired range the fuel supply would cut off. The missile would tip over and fall onto its target at a speed of 4,000 mph. hitting the ground at such a force it would bury itself several feet before its 1 ton warhead exploded. With a potential of 200 miles range and the launching pads having been designed to be portable they would be almost impossible to detect before being launched. The first offensive launches did not occur until September 1944.
On the 18th October 1942 when Führer Adolf Hitler learnt of Operation Basalt he was furious. Operation Basalt was the successful British commando raid on the Channel Island of Sark. For details of Hitler’s fury and the U.K.’s involvement of events see the “U.K. Commando raid on Sark – Oct ‘42”.
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(Mediterranean and Desert War)
The Second Battle of El Alamein began on the 23rd October 1942 and ended on the 11th November 1942. Prior to the battle Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, commander of the Afrika Korps left North Africa for medical treatment in Germany on the 23rd September 1942. General Georg Stumme was given command as his replacement and his orders were to carry out Rommel’s directive. On the 13th August 1942 Lt. Gen. Bernard Montgomery was appointed as a replacement for General Claude Auchinleck as commander of the Eighth Army.
The First Battle of El Alamein was effectively ended on the 19th September 1942 when the Allies failed to recapture Tobruk from the Axis. The 64km (40 mile) stretch of desert extended from the coast in the north to the Qattara Depression in the south. The defensive line, set up by the Axis powers, was contested by the Afrika Korps to the west and the British Eighth Army to the east. Whilst the Allies were able reinforce their troops the Axis were awaiting hopeful replacements from the Eastern Front which never materialised. Rommel had laid an anti-tank minefield approximately in the centre of the line with tanks positioned either side. The Allies armoured army was distributed fairly evenly along the line. Montgomery had planned the battle to be the opposite of what was expected by the Axis. He used deception successfully by creating a fake flotilla of tanks and building a mock fuel pipeline to convince the Axis powers they would attack northward in a bid to cut off German armour.
By the 23rd October 1942 Montgomery had assembled a powerful multinational Allied force. On the night of the 23rd he launched Operation Lightfoot, a 1,000-gun barrage along the line which lasted for five and half hours. Part of the operation entailed the infantry attacking the minefield, which was named Devil’s Gardens. The anti-tank mines were not tripped by the infantry since they were too light.
Following the infantry, engineers cleared a path for the following tanks. The task was difficult and the desired outcome was not achieved because the depth of the Axis minefield was greater than expected. However, Montgomery ordered the clearance of the minefield be completed after an air reconnaissance showed very little change in the Axis tank formations. The plan was to break through the minefield but German Panzers attacked the British tanks who were stopped in their tracks on the 24th October1942 despite having penetrated 6 miles into the minefields. However, on the morning of the 24th October 1942 the German High Command were stunned by the British attack. During the ensuing battle General Stumme went forward to investigate and suffered a heart attack and died. Still not fully recovered Rommel hurriedly returned from his sickbed in Germany to yet again take charge of the Afrika Korps on the 25th October 1942. Rommel was forced into a more defensive role due to lack of fuel combined with the lack of much needed reinforcements. By the 31st October 1942 British were in a position to make a critical breakthrough and end the Second Battle of El Alamein on the 11th November 1942.
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American General Mark Clark secretly landed in Algeria on the 20th October 1942. The North African countries of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia were part of the French colonial empire. They were formally aligned with Germany via Vichy France. In order to provide a pincer operation against the Axis powers in Libya the Allies proposed to attack these countries. With the British forces advancing from Egypt the Allies were confident the desert war could be ended. However, the loyalties of the colonial population in Algeria was mixed. Gibraltar based American General, Dwight D. Eisehower, as supreme commander of the Allied forces in the Mediterranean, was keen to capitalise on the situation. To gauge the mood of the Vichy French forces the American consulate to Algeria was successful in contacting French officers who were willing to support the Allies. The Vichy French officers requested a clandestine conference with a senior Allied General and Eisenhower dispatched senior commander General Clark aboard a submarine for a meeting in Algeria on the 20th October 1942. The meeting was concluded on the 22nd October 1942 when Clark returned to Gibraltar by submarine. The outcome was Operation Torch which began in November 1942. The Americans did not inform the Vichy French authorities for fear the French would object. The objection is likely to have been a grudge with Britain over the attack on the French Navy whilst at anchor in the harbour of Mers-el-Kébir thus preventing the Germans acquiring the vessels.
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(Pacific)
On Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands American Marines suffered a defeat by the Japanese by which they barely escaped. This was the first “Battle along the Matanikau” fought from the 23rd to 27th September 1942. A second action involving a far larger force of Marines successfully crossed the Matanikau River on the 7th October 1942. The Japanese had reinforced their troops in preparation for their planned major offensive against U. S. defences. The U.S. Marines attacked the newly landed troops and inflicted heavy losses which forced the Japanese from their position east of the Matanikau on the 9th October 1942.
In an effort to expand the Japanese forces on Guadalcanal it was necessary to operate “Tokyo Express” runs, to deliver troops from the 2nd Infantry Division based at Rabaul in Papua New Guinea. The “Tokyo Express” employed destroyers to deliver Japanese troops instead of the slow moving transports. Whilst the destroyers were able to reach Guadalcanal and return in a single night, most of the heavy equipment and supplies had to use the slow-moving transports.
Immediate reinforcements of U.S. Marines were urgently needed to defend the island against the next expected Japanese attack. On the 8th October 1942 nearly 3,000 men of the American 164th Infantry Regiment boarded ships at New Caledonia were expected to land at Guadalcanal on the 13th October 1942. Four cruisers and five destroyers escorted the ships carrying the U.S. Marines whose brief was to intercept and engage any Japanese ships approaching Guadalcanal.
The Japanese scheduled a large “Tokyo Express” run for the 11th October 1942 consisting of two seaplane tenders and five destroyers who would deliver 728 soldiers plus artillery and ammunition to the island. Running concurrently but in a separate mission three Japanese heavy cruisers and two destroyers were preparing to bombard Henderson Field whose objective was to destroy the airfield and airfield facilities.
On the night of the 11th October 1942 the U.S. escort vessels detected the Japanese vessels and the Battle of Cape Esperance commenced. The Japanese had not expected opposition as there had not been any attempt to oppose any of the “Tokyo Express” mission to Guadalcanal previously. With the U.S. warships in position they opened fire on the unsuspecting Japanese formation. One of the Japanese cruisers and one of the destroyers were sunk with another cruiser heavily damaged. With the mortal wounding of Rear Admiral Aritomo Goto, as commander of the Henderson Field attack force, the remainder of the ships abandoned the bombardment mission and retreated. One U.S. destroyer was sunk and one cruiser plus one destroyer was badly damaged during the exchange of gunfire.
In the meantime the “Tokyo Express” supply convoy began their return journey after successfully unloading their supplies on Guadalcanal without being discovered. On the morning of the 12th October 1942 four destroyers from the Japanese supply column turned back to assist the retreating Henderson Field damaged warships. Attacks by aircraft from Henderson Field sank two of these destroyers later in the day. The convoy of U.S. Marines arrived on the 13th October 1942 at Guadalcanal as scheduled and successfully delivered all the reinforcements.
Despite these reinforcements they were insufficient to repel the expected Japanese attack being delivered by the large “Tokyo Express” and supply convoy. The U.S. Guadalcanal Campaign was only just hanging on around Henderson Field. On the 18th October 1942 Admiral William Halsey arrived at Area Headquarters in Nouméa in New Caledonia. He was handed an order from Pacific Fleet Commander Chester Nimitz to take command of the South Pacific Area and South Pacific forces.
Despite the U.S. victory at the Battle of Cape Esperance, the Japanese continued their plan for the large offensive later in October 1942. Two Japanese battleships, one light cruiser and nine destroyers were sent to protect the slow-moving transports carrying the heavy equipment and supplies. By the 14th October 1942 they reached Guadalcanal and opened fire on Henderson Field. The bombardment lasted over an hour by which time both the runways were heavily damaged. 41 men were killed, 48 of the 90 aircraft were destroyed on the ground and most of the available aviation fuel was burnt. Upon completion of the bombardment the battleships immediately retired.
One of the runways was soon restored to operational condition by the efforts of the Henderson Fields personnel. 37 aircraft were quickly flown to the airfield as replacements and both Army and Marine transport aircraft began to supply aviation fuel. Aware of the Japanese reinforcement supply convoy which arrived at Guadalcanal at midnight on the 14th October 1942, U.S. aircraft bombed and strafed the unloading convoy. Three cargo ships were destroyed and the remainder departed whilst still having approximately one-third of the supplies still on board. In the meantime several Japanese heavy cruisers bombarded Henderson Field but apart from a few aircraft destroyed they failed to cause further damage to the airfield.
The Japanese continued to deliver troops to their base west of the Matanikau River for their planned offensive against Henderson Field, despite the Marines success at Cape Esperance east of Matanikau. The offensive was scheduled for the 23rd October 1942, and with 20,000 troops at their disposal the Japanese decided the attack would be from the south of Henderson Field. Departing on the 12th October 1942 Japanese engineers began the 15 mile long (24km) trail called the “Maruyama Road” toward Henderson Field. The trail traversed dense jungle, steep ridges, numerous rivers/streams and muddy ravines which was some of the most difficult terrain on Guadalcanal. On the 16th October 1942 approximately 7,000 Japanese troops began the march through the jungle and finally arrived at the airfield’s southern perimeter on the 24th October 1942. The Americans, at that time, were unaware of the approaching Japanese troops. To distract the Americans from the planned southern attack, two battalions of the Japanese 4th Infantry Regiment and nine tanks attacked the U.S. Marine defences at the mouth of the Matanikau from the west. The attack was repulsed and all nine tanks were destroyed over the next two days. More than 1,500 Japanese troops were killed with the U.S. Marines suffering the loss of 60 troops. There were approximately 23,000 American troops on the island as against the Japanese estimate of 10,000. The southern attack force, having marched through the jungle, arrived at the perimeter of Henderson Field on the 24th October 1942 and conducted numerous frontal assaults. The Japanese suffered heavy losses and by the 26th October 1942 further attacks were called off. Coupled with the defeat of the western distraction attack the Japanese were ordered to retreat back to their base. They began arriving at their bases west of the Matanikau on the 4th November 1942, their forces having been decimated by battle deaths, injuries, malnutrition and topical diseases. For the rest of the Guadalcanal Campaign the Japanese fought as a defensive force along the coast as they were incapable of further offensive action, The battle for Henderson Field cost the Japanese 2,200- 3.000 killed whilst the Americans lost a total of approximately 80.
At the same time that Japanese troops were attacking the U.S. Marines at Guadalcanal, Japanese aircraft carriers and other large warships assembled near the southern Solomon Islands. Newly promoted Commander of the South Pacific forces, Admiral Halsey had hoped to meet the Japanese naval forces in battle. On the 26th October 1942 the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands commenced when the two opposing carrier forces confronted each other. Both sides launched search aircraft and located each other’s naval forces about the same time. Japanese aircraft attacked the American carrier force and sank one carrier and severely damaged another. They also sank one destroyer and severely damaged two others which forced the American fleet to retreat from the battle area. American aircraft inflicted significant damage to both Japanese carriers, a heavy cruiser and a light cruiser. Both sides had many aircraft destroyed. The Americans lost 81 aircraft and the Japanese lost 99 aircraft resulting in the Japanese fleet being forced to retire. Technically the Japanese could claim a tactical victory in the Guadalcanal Campaign. However, they were prevented from any further significant carrier participation as they were never able to replace the loss of veteran aircrew personnel. The Americans went on to longer term strategic advantage in the Pacific.
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The Bay Museum & Research Facility 