Air Operations, Bismarcks

1 5th Air Force B-17 attacks Kavieng, New Ireland.

Air Operations, CBI

2 23rd Fighter Group P-40s shoot down a Japanese twin-engine plane over Tienho airfield, Canton at 1040 hours.

Air Operations, Europe

Rouen is the target for the first all-American bombing raid over Europe. 12 B-17s of the 8th Air Force, led by Brig-Gen Ira C. Eaker, attack the marshalling yards. They are escorted by 4 Spitfire squadrons.

Preparing one of the B-17s for the first US bombing raid with the target Rouen.

Preparing for First US Bombing Raid

Between now and the end of 1942 the US 8th Air Force will fly 1547 sorties and lose 32 aircraft. This loss is less than 2 percent, but all the raids have British fighter escort and none penetrates Germany. The buildup of the 8th Air Force is badly delayed by the transfer of many aircraft to north Africa after Operation TORCH in November. Thus there is no real test for the theories of the American airmen that their aircraft can bomb unescorted and with great accuracy. It will emerge even in the few operations that are undertaken this year that the much vaunted Norden bombsight, although excellent in good training conditions, is less impressive in the overcast skies of Europe.

• 1 Mosquito bombs in the Kiel area and returns safely.

• 139 aircraft of 5 types to Osnabrück.
• 111 crews report accurate bombing; reports from the ground indicate bombs dropped mostly on the north and northwestern parts of the city; 77 houses and 4 military buildings destroyed, 125 other buildings seriously damaged including the main hospital, the paper mill and a copper wire factory; 7 people are killed, 15 injured.
• 3 Wellingtons, 1 Lancaster and 1 Stirling lost

• 8 Blenheims make Intruder flights to airfields at Leeuwarden, Rheine, Twente and Vechta, the last of such in Bomber Command for the Blenheims; 4 aircraft lay mines in the Frisians and off Texel and Verdon
• No losses

Air Operations, New Guinea

24 Japanese Navy bombers attach the Seven Mile Drome at Port Moresby and destroy 3 22nd Medium Bomb Group B-26s and a transport on the ground.

Battle of the Atlantic

The US tanker Louisiana (8587t) is torpedoed and sunk by U-108 about 200 miles from Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana. There are no survivors from the 41-man crew and 8-man Armed Guard.

Eastern Front

The Germans establish a bridgehead over the Kuban River and capture the thermal stations of Pyatigorsk, Yessentuki and Kislodovsk in the Caucasus. Units of the German 1st and 4th Mountain Divs get ready to climb the Elburs, the highest peak in the Caucasus, over 18,000 feet. This is more an athletic than a military undertaking because, due to the nature of the terrain, the Russians will always have an advantage over the attacking forces.

After heavy losses, the 1st Tank Army is disbanded, its skeletal divisions being incorporated into the 62nd Army. The Soviets attempt to bebuild their broken units, reinforcing the 62nd, 1st Guards, 21st, 63rd and 4th Tank Armies.

With the Soviet forces in disarray, the 6th Army captures bridgeheads over the Don at Vertyachi and Luchinshkoy with the 76th and 295th Infantry Divisions. The 62nd and 4th Tank Armies launch repeated counterattacks in an effort to destroy the bridgehead but fails.

Army Group A resumes its attacks, Yessentuki, Kislovodsk and Pyatigorsk falling to Group Kleist.

Troop Transport Princess Marguerite Sinks

In September 1941 (World War II), the British Admiralty, Ministry of War Transport, requisitioned the Princess Marguerite for use as a troop transport. At midday on August 17, 1942, the Princess Marguerite was en route in a small convoy from Port Said, Egypt, to Famagusta on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus with 125 crewmen and 998 British soldiers on board. Despite air cover and an escort of three destroyers and the armed merchant cruiser HMS Antwerp, the Princess Marguerite, was hit by two torpedoes fired by the German submarine, U-83. The torpedoes exploded the ship's fuel tanks and she was quickly ablaze from stem to stern. When the fire reached the munitions stores, explosions turned her into a hellhole. The engineers stopped the vessel and Captain Richard A. Leicester gave the order to abandon ship, but oil burning on the surface of the water made evacuation difficult and hazardous. She sank within 45 minutes with a loss of 55 soldiers and five crewmembers. The survivors were rescued immediately by the British destroyers HMS Hero (H-99) and HMS Kelvin (F-37) and landed at Port Said. News that the Princess Marguerite had been sunk was withheld from the public until January 22, 1945.

Gilbert Islands

A Japanese seaplane base on Makin Island is raided by US Marines of the 2nd Raider Battalion led by Lt-Col Evans E. Carlson who were landed from two submarines, the USS Nautilus (SS-168) and the USS Argonaut (APS-1).The 221-man force destroys all installations including the newly completed seaplane base, on the Japanese-held island. They carry out a two days' raid on the Japanese garrison destroying a radio station and killing the entire Japanese garrison of 90 men. The Japanese commander's last radio message was 'All men are dying serenely in battle.' 'Carlson's Raiders' lost 30 men with 14 wounded.

Carlson's Raiders

On August 17, 1942, the 2nd Raider Marine Battalion, launched from two submarines, under the the command of Lt. Col. Evans Carlson (photo above), fought their way ashore to defeat a numerically superior Japanese garrison. Carlson himself was awarded the Navy Cross, and Sgt. Clyde A. Thomasen became the first Marine during World War II to be awarded the Medal of Honor.

Guadalcanal

Adm Ghormley shifts responsibility for establishing a line of communications to Guadalcanal from Task Force 63 to Adm Turner's Task Force 62. Henderson Field becomes fully operational. During the night the Japanese land about 900 reinforcements brought in by 4 destroyers. They land at Taivu Point and in the area of Kukumbona.

North Africa

Rommel is ordered to take immediate action to defeat 8th Army, move on to the Nile Delta, take Alexandria and Cairo and assume control of the Suez Canal. Even to so ambitious a battlefield genius these are impossible demands to which he is entitled to reply, 'with what?'