Air Operations, CBI

• 6 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s sow mines in the Irrawaddy River.

Air Operations, Europe

• 374 aircraft are sent to Aachen. Included in the total are 214 Halifaxes, 76 Wellingtons, 55 Stirlings, 18 Lancasters and 11 Mosquitos.
• A strong tail wind brings the first wave of the Main Force before Zero Hour with the result that, when the first Pathfinder markers are released, an unusually large number of aircraft drop their bombs in the first few minutes of the raid. The visibility is good and it appears that large areas of Aachen burst into flame all at once. In the words of the report from Aachen, 'A Terrorangriff (Terror attack) of the most severe scale was delivered.'
• 15 Halifaxes, 2 Lancasters, 2 Wellingtons and 1 Stirling are lost.

• 2 Mosquitos carry out a diversion for the Aachen raid by dropping target indicators over Cologne. 8 OTU Wellingtons carry out leaflet flights over France.
• 1 Wellington is lost crashing into the sea.

Air Operations, New Guinea

In support of a final advance on Mubo by Allied ground forces, more than 40 V Bomber Command B-25s attack trails and Japanese Army troops and antiaircraft positions around Salamaua. 6 B-17s and B-24s mount individual attacks in the Lae area. As a result of the air support, Mubo is captured without loss.

Air Operations, Sicily

• NASAF B-17s, B-25s, and B-26s attack the Carcitela, Enna, and Trapani/Milo airdromes, the town of Randazzo, and numerous targets of opportunity.
• NATAF bombers and fighters attack tactical and communications targets including Axis troop concentrations.
• IX Bomber Command B-25s attack road targets and several towns in the British 8th Army zone.
• It is noted that Axis aircraft are no longer offering resistance over the island. Only 3 Bf-109s and 1 Mc-202 are downed over Sicily by USAAF fighters.
• In the Siclian Campaign's fourth and final airborne mission, 51st Troop Carrier Wing C-47s are charged with dropping a force of British Army paratroopers at night against a bridge near Catania. Of the 124 C-47s sent from North Africa, 11 are shot down, 50 are damaged by friendly fire, and 27 return to their bases with paratroopers aboard. Despite the obstacles, the British force does succeed in securing the objective.
• During the night, NATAF bombers, fighters, and fighter-bombers attack numerous tactical and communications targets throughout the island.

Air Operations, Solomons

• In the first mission of its kind in the theater, 12 US Marine Corps SBDs attack Japanese Army ground positions within 1,000 yards of US Army infantry positions on New Georgia.
• VF-21 and VF-28 F4Fs down 6 A6M Zeros near New Georgia between 0845 and 0850 hours.
• During the night, 36 XIII Bomber Command B-17s and B-24s attack the airfields at Ballale, Buka, and Kahili on Bougainville.

Battle of the Atlantic

• Over the next month and a half planes from the US escort carriers Core (CVE-13), Santee (CVE-29), Bogue (CVE-9) and Card (CVE-11) sink 12 U-boats and seriously disrupt operations.
• The German submarine U-487 is sunk by aircraft (VC-13) from the escort carrier Core (CVE-13) in the North Atlantic area.

U-561 Class Type XIV CO Oberleutnant zur See Konstatin Metz Location Mid-Atlantic, S of the Azores Cause Air attack Casualties 31 Survivors 33

U-607 Class Type VIIC CO Oberleutnant zur See Wolf Jeschonnek Location Atlantic, N of Cape Ortegal Cause Air attack Casualties 45 Survivors 7

• U-607 is sunk by Sunderland 'N' of No 228 Squadron after the aircraft received gunfire from 3 U-boats. U-607 broke away from the other 2 submarines and was immediately attacked by the aircraft. 7 depth charges are dropped which blows off the bow and the conning tower.

Eastern Front

Hitler reluctantly calls off the offensive in the Kursk area and begins pulling troops out for redeployment to Italy because of the invasion of Sicily.[MORE]

Germany, Strategy

Worried about a possible Allied invasion in the south of Europe (the Allies had landed in Sicily on July 10), Hitler informs the commanders of Army Group Center and South: 'I must prevent that. And so I need divisions for Italy and the Balkans. And since they can't be taken from any other place, apart from hte transfer of the 1st Panzer Div from france ot the Peloponnese, they will have to be released from the Kursk Front. Therefore I am forced to stop CITADEL.

New Georgia

Elements of the 169th Infantry advance 500 yards, and take over 100 casualties to capture a Japanese strongpoint on a key ridge south of Munda Trail--now named Reincke Ridge after the regiment's 3rd Battalion commander.

Gen Griswold assesses that the mission against Munda is too big for the two understrength regiments of the 43rd Infantry Division alone. He recommends committing the 37th Infantry Division and bringing the 25th Infantry Division from Gradalcanal immediately.

New Guinea

The Japanese positions at Mubo are overrun and their force is practically wiped out. The Australian 3rd Div completes the mopping-up of Lababia Ridge.

Sicily

Troops of the British 5th Div take Augusta, the 51st Div of XXX Corps is engaged near Vizzini by the German Hermann Goering Panzer Div and the remains of the Italian Napoli Div, which are withdrawing on Catania. The British units are obliged to hold up their advance.

Sherman Tank Passing through Villasmundo, 13 July 1943

During the night Gen Dempsey's British XIII Corps opens an offensive against the Schmalz Group's positions in an effort to penetrate on to the Catania plain. At the same time British and American airborne troops are dropped south of Catania to guarantee the crossing of 2 very important bridges, the Ponte dei Malati on the Lentini River, about 3 miles north of the town of that name, and the Ponte Primasole on the Simeto River, which gives the easiest and most convenient access to the Catania plain. The Ponte dei Malati is captured by a Commando force landed on the coast from British ships. The operation to take Ponte Primasole starts disastrously since the Allied transport aircraft, under heavy anti-aircraft fire, drop the parachutists a bit off target. Only 200 of the 1,900 men dropped managed to reach the bridge with 3 anti-tank guns. Despite this disastrous beginning they succeed in capturing it. By coincidence the German 1st Paratroop Div is dropped near the Commandos' positions and can therefore begin its task of strengthening the Axis front immediately.

Solomons

The Americans continue to reinforce their troops on Rendova and New Georgia. On New Georgia their attacks make a little more progress against fierce resistance. They succeed in capturing a hill that overlooks the Zanana-Munda track and establish a salient into the positions of the Japanese, who defend themselves with their usual fanaticism. Nearly 30,000 men of the US Army and Marines have now landed on New Georgia, Rendova and the smaller islands.