Air Operations, Europe

• During this period of bad weather, 3 small attacks are sent out without Pathfinders. 83 Lancasters are sent to Wismar.
• This is considered a successful attack on the Baltic coast town and the nearby Dornier aircraft factory; numerous fires are started including a large one in what is believed to be the aircraft factory; Wismar reports 32 houses and 8 industrial buildings seriously damaged; 67 people are killed and 109 injured.
• 4 Lancasters are lost.
• 28 Halifaxes are sent to Flensburg; 16 aircraft claim to have bombed the city.
• 5 planes are lost.
• 25 Stirlings are sent to Vegesack.
• 1 Stirling is lost.

• 25 Wellingtons and 8 Stirlings lay mines in many places between Biscay and Denmark.
• 2 Wellingtons are lost.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-17s and V Fighter Command P-39s, P-40s and P-400s the airfield and other targets at Buna and a bridge and various ground targets in the Owen Stanley Mountains and ground targets on Goodenough Island.

Air Operations, Solomons

11th Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attach the Japanese Navy seaplane base at Rekata Bay, Santa Isabel.

Battle of the Atlantic

• Over the next few days 2 U-boat packs make repeated, but largely unsuccessful, attempts to destroy fast convoy RB-1 off Newfoundland. It is believed by the Germans to contain large troopships. 3 vessels and the escorting destroyer Veteran are sunk.
• The US freighter Antinous (6034t) is torpedoed by U-515 off Georgetown, British Guiana. The Armed Guard gunfire forces the submarine to submerge. All hands abandon the ship, but a volunteer crew returns to the ship to try to get her underway again.
• The US freighter Penmar (5868t), straggling from Convoy SC-100 and steering toward Cape Farewell, is torpedoed and sunk by U-432. 1 man dies as the ship is being abandonee, but 38 crewmen and the 22-man Armed Guard are rescued by the Coast Guard cutter Bibb (WPG-31) and taken to Iceland.

Diplomatic Relations

Wendell Willkie, a personal representative of Roosevelt, meets with Stalin at the Kremlin.

Eastern Front

The Russians mount a small counterattack in the northwest of Stalingrad from the district of Orlovka. This atack makes some progress but is fiercely resisted by the German troops.

Army Group A sends an assault group to take the port of Tuapse on the the Black Sea northwest of Sochi.

The Soviet 284th Rifle Div crosses the Volga at Stalingrad and, together with the 95th Rifle Div, drives the Germans back from the southern slopes of Mamayev Kurgan to the railway station. Farther south, the 42nd and 92nd Rifle Bdes are worn down by German fire and are amalgamated. In the Caucasus, Group Ruoff begins Operation ATTICA designed to destroy Soviet defenses in the Caucasus Mountains. Employing two corps of the 17th Army, they strike the 18th and 56th Armies but make little headway.[MORE]

German infantry try to find cover in the wilderness of rubble that Stalingrad had become. Photo from September 23, 1942. Bitter fighting raged for every factory, rubble-strewn street, house, basement, stairwell, and sewer. The Germans called this ever-present, often unseen urban warfare Rattenkrieg (“Rat War”). They bitterly joked about capturing the kitchen but still having to fight for the living room and the bedroom.

German Infantry Trying to Find Cover

A scene of the destroyed city center, Stalingrad, date unknown but likely autumn 1942. The Battle of Stalingrad bled the German army dry and turned the war in the East decisively against Nazi Germany. For the heroism of its defenders, Stalingrad was one of four cities awarded the title “Hero City” in 1945.

A Scene in Stalingrad

Guadalcanal

The Marines begin limited operations to the west of the Lunga perimeter to eliminate the enemy within striking distance of Henderson Field. The 1st Battalion of the 7th Marines, commanded by Lt-Col 'Chesty' Puller, is directed to advance along the northern slopes of Mount Austen, cross the Matanikau, and push west to Kokumbona. The 1st Raider Battalion is to establish a patrol base at Kokumbona at the point where the inland trails intersect the coastal road.

Madagascar

The 22nd East African Bde takes the capital of Tananarive which is declared an open city when the governor surrenders after a 3-minute bombardment.

New Guinea

The Australians go over to the attack at Ioribaiwa, north of Port Moresby. The 128th Regt of the US 32nd Div is air-lifted to Port Moresby. Gen Sir Thomas Blamey, the Australian Commander-in-Chief, takes personal charge with orders from MacArthur to invigorate the conduct of the campaign.

North Africa

Rommel flies back to Germany for medical treatment. Gen Georg von Stumme takes command in Africa with Gen Wilhelm von Thoma to lead the armor. In the past few months there have been many high-level German casualties in Africa. Some of the new men have been brought in from the Russian campaign and do not fit in well with the old hands of Afrika Korps.

Men of the 51st Highland Division (known as “The Ladies from Hell”) charging with fixed bayonets during a training exercise in the desert, 23 September 1942. Scottish regiments had stopped wearing kilts in action after the campaign in France in 1940, however their First World War nickname stuck.

Men of the 51st Highland Division

Piper MacDonald of the Seaforth Highlanders plays to some of the troops who make up the Highland Division while they rest during a march in the Western Desert, 23 September 1942.

Piper Playing to Members of the Highland Division

Pacific

The Australian destroyer Voyager is lost off Timor while attempting to land reinforcements for the Australian-Dutch 'Sparrow Force', which is waging war behind Japanese lines.

Rumania, Politics

Marshal Ion Antonescu is given absolute authority to rule in Rumania: 'The 1936 Constitution is but a reflection of the regime that was overthrown. The present Government, therefore, has empowered Marshal Antonescu to create general constitutional laws, at the same time the law creator is above the law.'

Secret War

Ultra discovers the Rommel has left North Africa on sick leave.

United States, Home Front

The first 'Liberty Ship', a prefabricated, mass-produced merchant ship, is launched 10 days after the keel had been laid at Portland, Oregon.

United States, Preparations

The US 12th Army Air Force is established to support the US ground forces during Operation TORCH.