Air Operations, Europe

• 479 aircraft to Düsseldorf on a second concentrated 50-minute raid: 242 Wellingtons, 89 Lancasters, 59 Halifaxes, 47 Stirlings, 28 Hampdens and 14 Whitleys. Training aircraft of Groups 91, 92 and 93 participate in the raid.
• Pathfinders successfully mark the target using 'Pink Pansies' in 4,000lb bomb casings for the first time; all parts of the city are hit except the north section along with the neighboring town of Neuss; 39 industrial firms in Düsseldorf and 13 in Neuss are hit halting production for various times; 8 public buildings destroyed, 67 damaged; 911 houses destroyed, 1,506 seriously damaged and 8,340 lightly damaged; 132 people killed, 116 people classified missing, 19,427 bombed out.
• 20 Wellingtons, 5 Lancasters, 4 Stirlings, 3 Halifaxes and 1 Hampden lost.

Vertical aerial photograph taken over the centre of Dusseldorf at 11 pm on 10 September 1942, at the height of the major night raid by 479 aircraft of Bomber Command. Most of the area photographed is covered with widespread incendiary fires, from which flame and smoke are rising to obscure the target.

Major Raid on Düsseldorf

Air Operations, Solomons

27 G4M 'Betty' bombers and 15 A6M Zeros are intercepted over Guadalcanal by 5 Marine Corps F4Fs. 5 'Bettys' are shot down about 1230 hours.

Atlantic

• British MTBs and MTGs attack a strongly escorted convoy off the Dutch North Sea island of Texel. 2 ships in the convoy are damaged and MGB-335 is lost.
• The US freighter American Leader (8015t) is shelled, torpedoed and sunk by the German auxiliary cruiser Michel in the South Atlantic about 800 miles west of the mouth of the Cape of Good Hope. 39 or the 49 merchant seamen and 8 of the 9 Armed Guard sailors are rescued by the Michel. Those rescued are later turned over to the Japanese at Singapore.

Battle of the Atlantic

• The increasing skill of U-boat commanders is shown in the operations against the convoy ON-127. Over the next few days, through the 14th, every U-boat from a group of 13 manages to make at least one attack. Only 1 U-boat is damaged and 12 freighters and 1 destroyer are sunk.
• German U-boat U-69 plants 12 mines off the Chesapeake capes. The channel is cleared by minesweepers within 2 days. It is the last mine threat of the war off the Virginia coast.

Britain, Home Front

(9th?)Churchill announces in the House of Commons that troop reinforcements have arrived in India and that 'firm but tempered measures' are being taken against 'the revolutionary' action of the Congress party.

Eastern Front

North of the city, the 1st Guards, 66th and 24th Armies attack but remain unable to break through the German screen and suffer further heavy casualties. Zhukov reports to Stalin that it is clear the Soviets will not break through to relieve the 62nd Army, the Germans having strengthened their northern flank. Stalin orders Zhukov to report to Moscow. Before he leaves, he orders the 1st Guards to hand over its forces to the 24th and 66th Armies and move sectors, taking on 5 rifle divisions and 3 tank corps from the Stavka reserve. The 'new' 1st Guards is to attack on September 17.

Following the attack by the 6th Army, the 4th Panzer Army strikes the 62nd Army with the XLVIII Panzer Corps, pounding the junction of the 62nd and 64th Armies. Furious fighting ensues, the likes of which have not been seen before on the eastern front. With the front in danger of disintegration, the Stavka replaces Lopatin as commander of the 62nd Army, Gen Chuikov being appointed instead. Until Chuikov arrives Krylov deputises.

As the fighting on the eastern front intensifies, Field Marshal Halder estimates that the campaign since June 22, 1941 has cost the Ostheer 1,637,000 men killed, wounded and missing.

Guadalcanal

The Bettys and Zeros come in again on their daily raid. The Americans claim 5 Japanese planes shot down, but by the end of the day only 12 F4Fs are operational. All the planes that had come off the Saratoga (CV-3) are ordered to Guadalcanal.

Madagascar

After a 4-month stalemate there are renewed operations on the west coast of Madagascar. The British now intend to occupy the whole island and therefore the British 29th Bde lands at Majunga on the west coast, while South Africans advance southward, overland from Diego Suarez, toward the capital of Tananarive.

A British Grant tank, whose crew has just painted the name 'Atlanta' on its turret, 10 September 1942

British Grant Tank Named 'Atlanta'

New Guinea

Allied aircraft sink the Japanese destroyer Yaoi near Normanby Island in the D'Entrecasteaux Islands near New Guinea. Fighting is taking place only 50 miles from Port Moresby.