Fantasque Time Line (France Fights On) - English Translation

[Wings]

October 9th, 1942

Operation Trident - D-Day+4 (Torch, D-Day+20)
The day is marked by two simultaneous amphibious operations.
.........
Eastern sector: the Italians in full retreat
04:15 - Supported by No. 40 Commando Battalion Royal Marines, 7th Battalion Royal Marines and the 1st Battalion, Welch Regiment are put ashore just north of Acireale.
This landing takes the Italian command completely by surprise. Very quickly, the British troops secure a large bridgehead, cutting off the road and railroad leading to Messina. However, the head of the XVI Italian Corps, General Carlo Rossi, immediately understands the threat and throws everything he can find to contain the landing. Improvised combat groups, usually consisting of two companies supported by 4 to 6 self-propelled guns, soon attack the Royal Marines and the Welsh. The fight is hot and General Allfrey orders the 4th Armored Brigade to "charge through the enemy defences" to join the landed units. The Valentine tanks charge, at first without support, but from 11:00, the fire of the fleet makes their task easier by making the defenders lower their heads.
15:00 - Having bypassed Acireale, the British tankers reach the landed forces, trapping in the small town part of the 54th DI Napoli. General Rossi is forced to order a general retreat to avoid the destruction of all his forces.
16:30 - General Gotti Porcinari tries to extract the Napoli from Acireale. The encirclement is not total and a number of Italians are able to escape through the slopes of Mount Etna, but almost all the division's heavy equipment is lost.
Inland, the British X Corps pushes its advantage and enters Adrano in the evening.
Between the landing at Acireale and the methodical crushing of the Italian defenses by Ritchie around Gerbini, the defensive positions of the Italian XVI Corps are practically dismantled.
.........
Northern sector: the Italians disengage
The second landing of the day takes place at 0550 hours at San Stefano, on the northern coast, where the 3rd and 4th Ranger Battalions are put ashore. This landing is combined with a strong push of the 14th French ID, supported by the tanks of the 2nd French DB and the CCA of the 2nd AD-US. The Rangers have no problem: the beaches are deserted and San Stefano is practically empty, because General Mario Arisio ordered to retreat along the coast during the night. Most of the Italians were able to escape to Capo d'Orlando, except for the unfortunate 36th Infantry Regiment of the 16th Motorized Division Pistoia, caught between the 15th DBLE, the 2nd Tabors (which marched during the whole night) and the American troops securing San Stefano. The regiment surrenders at 15:00.
.........
Sector Center : until Troina
In the center, the Belgians and the French charge towards Troina. Pushing back in front of them what remains of the 6th Spahis, the Chasseurs Ardennais and the Tancremont Brigade reach the entrance to the town at dusk. Meanwhile, passing through Leonforte, the 4th Belgian ID covers the southern flank of the attack. It enters Agira around noon, before continuing towards Adrano to link up with the British Xth Corps.

 

[Wings]

October 10th, 1942

Herzegovina - Operation "Alfa". After five days of fighting, the Italians (4,000 men of the 59th Cagliari Mountain Infantry Division, supported by 5,000 Chetniks) retake the town of Prozor from the Partisans. The Chetniks massacre several hundred civilians, Croats (Catholics) and Muslims.

 

[Wings]

October 10th, 1942

Guadalcanal - The Nisshin, Bangkok Maru and Saigon Maru are lucky ships. Traveling at 15 knots, they arrive without incident at Guadalcanal and are unloading their heavy cargo in a hurry. But despite the help of several small boats (including two Daihatsu brought in by the Kitakami), the landing is not without losses.
A 150mm cannon breaks the slings that carry it and disappears into the sea. Another one is placed on a barge, which capsizes, and is also swallowed up. Finally, a third one reaches the beach, but it is to sink irremediably in a zone of sand which one believed to be firm but which, under the ten tons of the monster, turns out to be moving... Finally, nine pieces are put on the ground.
.........
Kavieng - The submarine USS Amberjack boldly enters the harbor, where it torpedoes and and sinks an E-type coaster (830 GRT) and severely damages the freighter Tenryu Maru (4,861 GRT), which has to be beached. Taken by surprise, the Japanese cannot prevent the escape, despite the attack of a patrolling F1M2.

 

[Wings]

October 10th, 1942

Leningrad - The North-Western Strategic Direction meets again to assess the results of Iskra and to prepare a new offensive. The problem of the need for a second echelon is raised, as well as the supply of artillery shells, which proved insufficient during Iskra because the offensive was launched earlier than planned.
Lacking armoured and mechanised units - priority is of course given to operations in Ukraine - the DSNO decides to limit the ambitions of the new offensive. Initially, the 1st Baltic Front will seize Vöru and the 2nd Baltic Front will seize Pustoshka and Opotshka (unattained objectives of the Iskra operation). In a second phase, the two Baltic Fronts will converge for a pincer attack on Rezekne (in eastern Latvia). The 3rd Armored Army (soon to be renamed 4th Shock Army) and the Shestopalov Maneuver Group will be the operating elements to converge on the city. This was to be Operation Zvezda (Star).
After the initial phase, these forces will move from Rezekne to Jekabpils and then to Riga and will form bridgeheads on the western bank of the Dvina. At this point, an amphibious operation will have to take the defenders of Riga in reverse with a whole division of marine infantry, to encircle the maximum number of troops.

 

[Wings]

October 10th, 1942

Operation Typhoon
The Northern wing offensive - From 04:30, German forces attack Bakmash. To the north, the XXXIX. PzK pushes energetically, but the 44th Army proves once again that if, when attacking, the Soviet officers remain clumsy and their tactics primitive, the soldier of the Red Army defends with obstinacy, especially when he is supported by a good number of artillery batteries.
The units of the LVI. PzK attempt to surround Bakhmash from the south. The 6. Panzer and the SS Totenkopf try to cut the Bakhmach-Konotop road, but come across a Heavy Armored Brigade, whose KV-1s always pose big problems to the German tanks.
Still limited in their maneuvers by the state of the ground, the German tankers cannot outflank the enemy. The long 75 mm are effective against the Soviet tanks, but these (KV-1s and T-50s) usually operate under the cover of dense woods; German tanks are often forced to get dangerously close to their opponents to be able to reach them in spite of the thickness of the foliage, which only starts to fall. In these conditions, the Russian anti-tank teams, armed with PTRS rifles, can easily destroy the Pz-II and Pz-38t, and even the Pz-III which try to approach the Soviet tanks.
Finally, the Germans have no other choice than to launch a frontal attack to dislodge the 44th Army from Bakhmash. The fight is costly for both sides, as each house or rather each ruin, is transformed into a fortress, which is fiercely defended "to the end". The third battle of Bakhmash is the most fiercely contested and the most fierce. At the end of the day, the German troops control more than half of what remains of Bakhmach, but are unable to cut the Bakhmach-Konotop road.
A slight improvement in the weather allows the Luftwaffe to participate in the battle, but also allows the VVS to attack German positions throughout the area and to try to protect the city's defenders. The fighting in the air is as violent as on the ground; if the training of the Luftwaffe pilots gives them the advantage, their losses reach an alarming level.
The Stukas do not hesitate to bomb 200 meters in front of the first German lines and only the very high level of training of their pilots prevent them from witnessing many "friendicides", as the men nicknamed the shooting errors. The Soviet medium bombers frequently lack precision and are not very efficient, but after 17 important attacks in three days, the Gomel train station is out of order for some time. As for the pilots of the assault aircraft (Il-2, I-152/153 and Pe-2), they are active and unusually obstinate.
Part of the German difficulties stem from the fact that von Richthofen has to deploy a high proportion of his aircraft (at least those capable of taking off) in the Orsha- Gomel sector against Eremenko. In addition, the VVS also pressure from Nezhny to Lubny.
At Lubny, Manstein's efforts are poorly rewarded. The German pioneers succeed in crossing the Sula, but the Soviets immediately counterattack. As the battle of Bakhmash attracts all available aircraft to support the 1. PanzerArmee, the German artillery is quickly threatened by the Soviet counter-batteries. After a day of fighting, the German bridgehead south of the Sula is no more than 800 meters wide and 300 meters deep.
In the evening, after re-evaluating the situation of the 1st Belorussian Front, Zhukov and Shaposhnikov decide to stop the offensive. From a tactical point of view, it is a bloody failure: the Red Army lost more than 45,000 men without reaching any of its objectives, either on the Orsha or Gomel side. But strategically, this attack has prevented Army Group Center from sending any reinforcements to Guderian and immobilized a good part of the German air force, contributing to the stalemate of the offensive of the 1. PanzerArmee offensive south of the Desna River.

The Southern wing offensive - Cold rain falls again on the western bank of the Dnieper.
South of Kanev, Sepp Dietrich's forces encounter KMPB riflemen, supported by the artillery of the eight largest JuDVF monitors. It is a bad surprise, because the riflemen had landed at night without being spotted by the Germans. The T-34s succeed in destroying 13 German tanks for the loss of 15 of their own - again, on a soaked and spongy soil like the one around the Dnieper river, Soviet tanks are much more maneuverable than the Germans, which compensates for the inexperience of their crews.
Dietrich's men nevertheless manage to reach the river south of Kanev, but to discover that it is nearly 800 m wide and that it was controlled by Soviet units that make it impossible to cross. The eight monitors armed with 102 mm cannons sprayed the bank with shells and some light monitors, armed with rockets, come within a few meters of the shore to fire. With rage in their hearts, the Germans know that they do not have the means to cross or to take Kanev.
All day long, fighting continues to the west and south of the city.
In the evening, the German position is very uncomfortable. Kiev is not isolated: the city remains accessible by the river and by a narrow corridor on the eastern bank, between the Dnieper and Guderian's extreme vanguards. Angered, Kleist realizes that if he had received permission to attempt "Little Typhoon" earlier, he could have reached the Dnieper, taken Kanev and perhaps crossed the river. However, in retrospect, this last point is unlikely. It would have probably have been difficult to neutralize quickly the Dnieper Flotilla, the JuDVF.
On the other hand, the Soviets, after the failure of the Bagramyan attack, remain eager to pressure on the German forces. While the 62nd Army completes its deployment at Shpola, Konev asks Rokossovsky to prepare a new counter-attack.

Typhoon-South situation, October 10th, 1942 (Dark blue: German-Hungarians, Red: Soviets)

 

[Wings]

October 10th, 1942

Prymors'kyi district - Installed in an air-raid shelter dug under the Pryvokzalny park, between the zoo and the Odessa-Glavnaya train station, General Kostenko watches the telephone operators who share the measured space with him. Brave comrades! Some are less than 18 years old, they never complain and often leave the shelter to repair the lines... Sometimes never to return. And in spite of their hard work, more than half of the phones are not answering.
The general glances at the map of Odessa. The days when it was up to date are now a memory. There is no longer a frontline as such. As for the units, they have long since been a mixture of soldiers and militiamen, amalgamated as best they can from retreat to retreat. The men fight where they are, with those who are next to them and under the command of the nearest officer.
The enemy nibbles away at Odessa from all sides, only the district of Prymors'kyi, the city center around the port, is still out of reach. Everywhere else, Romanians and Germans are advancing.
Impossible to indicate with a pencil line the sectors still controlled by the defenders or those already fallen. Attacks and counter-attacks modify the positions from hour to hour and resistance nests fragment the front line even more. We fight for a street, a block of houses. A building becomes a fortress. A large building must be the object of a carefully planned offensive. Artillery thunders, armor hums and infantry charges...on a single street...for a single house.

 

[Wings]

October 10th, 1942

Operation Trident - D-Day+5 (Torch, D-Day+21)
The Allies despite the mud...
During the night, the weather turns bad again.
On the east coast, the British V Corps advanced north of Acireale, but met with resistance from the remnants of the Centauro II armoured regiment. In the interior, the X Corps begins to move up the Simete valley from Adrano to turn Etna to the west.
The heavy rains make it difficult to advance. Most of the tanks get bogged down and even the light Bren Carriers have difficulty making progress in the mud and on the flooded roads.
On the northern coast, the Franco-American troops advance east of San Stefano, but the retreating Italians have planted thousands of mines behind them and movement is slowed down.
All morning, the Caronia mountains are shrouded in a veil of fog that is only torn apart by strong gusts of rain. In spite of these difficult conditions, Belgians and French enter Troina without opposition and advance towards Cesarò. The terrible state of the road and the crossing of a series of rivers swollen by the rains are more serious obstacles for the Allies than the Italian defenders.
.........
The Italians have had enough
The bad weather prevents the Allied air force from influencing the fighting, which lightens the burden on the Italian troops. In the previous days, continuous air attacks had severely hampered communications and transport. But this slight improvement is not enough to change the strategic picture. General Guzzoni knows only too well that Sicily, of which his troops only hold the north-eastern tip, is lost. General Ambrosio had made it clear to him that the reinforcements that had arrived between 4 and 7 October (2nd DIM Sforzesca, 3rd DIM Ravenna, 35th Armored Regiment Centauro II) are the last he could hope for.
"Meeting Ambrosio in Messina in the evening, Guzzoni explained that he was going to try to stop or at least delay the enemy as long as possible around the Etna massif. To the north, he hoped to hold Capo d'Orlando, to the south, Taormina, and in the center Randazzo. But he did not think he could delay the inevitable - the fall of Messina - for more than ten days.
Ambrosio was not surprised. He knew from the start that Guzzoni's men would not be able to fight for very long against an enemy with a large superiority on the ground and total control of the air and sea. During the night, he again called Marshal Badoglio, in Rome, to describe to him how hopeless the situation in Sicily was and to urge him again to convince "the political authorities" to find a way to get Italy out of the war." (Francesco Folcini, op. cit.)

 

[Wings]

October 10th, 1942

Mediterranean Sea - It was not until the 8th that the MN submarine Atalante (LV Guillon)* opened the monthly hunting list of Allied submarines in the Mediterranean by sinking the small cargo ship Lupa (335 GRT), in charge of supplying... wine to the garrisons of Cephalonia and Lefkada (Santa Maura). But the 10th is a great day with no less than three successes, two British and one French. The two British successes are in the Ionian Sea: the HMS Thrasher (Lt H.S. Mackenzie) sinks the cargo ship Alga (1,954 GRT) which was going from Brindisi to Durazzo; the HMS P43/Unison (Lt A.C. Halliday) sinks the cargo ship Enrichetta (4,781 GRT) in front of Igoumenitsa. The French success takes place off the Maddalena: the MN Ariane (LV Tual) torpedoes the auxiliary cruiser Loredan (D.19, 1,357 GRT).

* Last survivor of the 17th DSM after the loss of La Sultane, Atalante was integrated into the 16th DSM.

 

[Wings]

October 11th, 1942

Casablanca - Official end of the Trans-Maghreb project. Approximately 2,500 people attend the ceremony that symbolically marks the end of the work. A railroad now links Casablanca to Tripoli. However, much of it is single track, and there are still some narrow-gauge sections between Tunis and Tripoli.
In fact, work will continue for nearly two years to double the main track over its entire length and on some branches, or to switch to normal track and to double the extension to Tripoli. Many members of the Rail Brigades will be integrated into the SNCF-AFN (or into the office in charge of the road networks).

 

[Wings]

October 11th, 1942

Paris - Jacques Doriot, Minister of the Interior and National Reconstruction, informed of the events in Le Puy-en-Velay, asks for the replacement of almost all the personnel of the Eysses prison by "true patriots". Laval approves and Brinon (holder of the Ministry of Justice) immediately gives him satisfaction.
After a few weeks, through successive transfers, about 90% of the staff of the Eysses prison will be replaced. "It's hardly necessary for the cleaning ladies to have their PPF card in order to continue washing the floor!" wrote M. Lasalle, the director, a few days before his own replacement by Joseph Schivo. A former career military officer in the Foreign Legion until 1926, then bailiff until 1937, Schivo became the boss of the SONEF for the Bouches-du-Rhône at the end of 1940. His appointment was apparently a good way for Doriot to deal with Darnand, but Doriot felt that with Schivo as director, if there were to be problems in this highly sensitive prison, it would not really be his fault!
And there will be problems. Certainly, among the new guards are several members of the PPF and some of the NPSF... but some of them are actually agents of the Klan Network! In addition, many of the "unpatriotic" ex-guards who have lost their jobs, will be happy to tell their life stories in the surrounding cafes and describe in detail the prison to attentive ears...

 

[Wings]

October 11th, 1942

Milne Bay Area - Dutch speedboats supply coastwatchers on Goodenough Island. This is the first operation of the Dutch fleet in the area.

 

[Wings]

October 11th, 1942

Guadalcanal - A real hellish trek begins for the gunners of the 24th Regiment and the Korean workers assigned to help them. At first, they ask how far they would have to go, but within the first few hours they realized that the numbers they were given meant nothing, on a very rough terrain where the jungle only clears up to give way to large quagmires called rivers.

 

[Wings]

October 11th, 1942

Latvia - German sentries watching the outskirts of the small town of Karsava on the old border line between Russia and Latvia, are surprised to see a man in a very muddy uniform with an airman's helmet. This one, who speaks to them in impeccable German, is an austere fifty-year-old man with glasses who looks more like a professor of mathematics than a warrior. He introduced himself: "Colonel Rainer Stahel, 14 Flieger Regiment. Can my men reach our lines without being shot at?"
The odyssey of Colonel Stahel, who had travelled some 100 kilometers through enemy territory, peaks an interest in high places, despite the fact that he had lost half his men and all his heavy equipment. Some compare his expedition to that of Colonel Ramcke in Sardinia, in February 1941.
Later, he would tell an episode to his interpreter Paul Hofmann: "One night we met a Russian patrol commanded by an old reservist. He said to me: 'Dobryy vetcher, tankista, kak vy? Good evening, tankista, how are you?" He thought we were tankers because of our Luftwaffe helmets. I replied, "Gde baza? Where is the base?" He pointed me in a direction, I thanked him and we left. You can add this to your memories as an interpreter."

 

[Wings]

October 11th, 1942

Operation Typhoon
The offensive of the northern wing - At Bakhmach, the German attack resumes, but only with artillery support, because the weather is once again bad. All day a cold rain falls - the temperature dropd overnight from 14 or 15 ° C to less than 5 ° C.
The Soviet artillery is also handicapped by the bad weather, which hinders the adjustment of long-range firing. The German troops thus escape the wrath of the 122 mm and 152 mm guns, but the shorter range weapons firing on pre-defined areas remain formidable, giving the German soldiers the impression that the Soviets have an inexhaustible supply of shells.
Nevertheless, the German infantry advances. At 14:30, the main Soviet defensive position is taken. For two days, small groups will continue to fight, but in practice, the Germans had taken Bakhmash and the threat to PzG-3 was removed.
The Soviet counteroffensive is defeated, but Guderian and Hoth know that if the third battle of Bakhmach is a German victory, it is a success that the 1. PanzerArmee cannot afford to repeat. In fact, the 44th Soviet Army still holds the city under artillery fire and small groups of armored vehicles harass the German lines. The 3. PzG must consolidate its positions, but it is clear that this will be very difficult and that it is not possible to push the enemy back to Konotop.
In Lubny the situation is much worse. While the same cold rain is falling like on Bakhmash, the German bridgehead on the south bank of the Sula is the target of a powerful artillery barrage, reinforced by the contribution of a regiment of "special mortars". At noon, von Manstein realizes that, taking advantage of this rain of shells, the Soviet infantry is infiltrating his positions. Without the support of the Luftwaffe and with limited artillery ammunition reserves, it is impossible to consolidate the bridgehead. At 15:00, von Manstein authorizes the German units on the south bank to retreat to the north bank. This retreat turns out to be very difficult under the bombardments of the Soviet artillery. During the night, the last German units evacuate the south bank, but they have lost half of their strength.
At the end of the evening, Guderian learns that Manstein has given up on crossing the Sula. This failure implies at least the suspension of Typhoon. Exhausted, not being able to assert their maneuvering qualities because of the "raspoutitza", the German armored and mechanized forces cannot break the Soviet lines. However, Guderian estimates that the enemy forces are as exhausted as his own. The fact that von Kleist did reach the Dnieper (even if not at Kremenchug and only on a narrow front), irritates Guderian even more, although the 2. PanzerArmee's position is actually as precarious as that of the 1. PzA.
Guderian announces to his generals his intention to suspend the offensive for two or three weeks and to move forward once the ground had dried up or frozen. He also hopes that this pause will give him time to repair a good part of his armoured fleet.
A large number of his vehicles have broken down after weeks of continuous use: after the hot and dusty summer months, the mud has put unbearable strain on the engines. Guderian thinks that he will be able to recover 400 to 500 tanks in the weeks to come, which seems to him to be enough to crush what remains of the Soviet forces once the ground conditions improve. In addition, the end of the rainy season gives hope that the Luftwaffe can be more effective.
However, Guderian does not know that the Stavka is gathering new reserves between Kursk and Poltava. The Soviet high command considers that the German attempt to encircle and destroy the forces defending the Ukraine has already failed. The strategic situation is still serious, but there are now good prospects for a counter-offensive. In the evening, the leaders of the Dnieper Defense Council and Marshal Shaposhnikov begin to prepare what will become operations "Mars" and "Uranus".

The offensive of the southern wing - As the weather turns bad again, the 14th Soviet Army withdraws to the southeast and the 45th Army of Bagramyan, which tightens its lines, while the 62nd Army moves up to the left of the 58th Army. This retreat is only a feint: at 09:30, groups infiltrate behind the German lines, paratroopers, NKVD troops and partisans, attack the German supply depots and convoys around Korostychev and Zhitomir. General von Briesen, head of the LII. Armee-Korps, is killed by a sniper near his HQ in Andruchivka. He was replaced by the chief of his artillery, General Albert Zehler. And around 10:30, after an artillery preparation of the 33rd Brigade, the 314th and 332nd ID go directly to the attack in front of Shpola.
It is a very bad surprise for Kleist, who did not expect at this stage of the battle to encounter fresh Soviet troops. The Soviet troops advance slowly but surely on the Korsun plateau. Faced with the risk of losing the positions so dearly taken the previous days, Kleist calls on the 57th and 75th IDs (both reduced to half of their initial strength) to block this attack.
Under the persistent rain, a fierce infantry battle takes place, in which only the organic tanks of the two Soviet divisions participate. However, the latter are dispersed by their officers and the surprise effect is lost. However, the artillery of the 33rd Brigade and the rockets of the 57th Regiment ensure the Soviets a certain advantage. When evening falls, they have advanced about 7 km. Only the discipline of the two divisions prevent their retreat from turning into chaos and disaster.
Meanwhile, the Soviet marine riflemen try to chase the Germans from the right bank of the Dnieper. All night long, Sepp Dietrich's units are under fire from the monitors, while several hundred men are deposited at various points on the bank. At the end of the night, Kampfgruppe Dietrich's front on the river is only about 1,500 meters.

 

[Wings]

October 11th, 1942

Kyivs'kyi District - "The driver of the Kettenkrad*, Hans Werner, was accompanied by his comrade Walter Heinz. The machine was driving between the sheds and factories of the ruined industrial area. Craters opened up in the ground and the chimney of a factory blown up by an explosion cut the street. These obstacles were added to other more voluntary ones, such as the barbed-wire frieze horses and the dragon's teeth in charge of blocking the armor.
The SdKfz 2 passed a stationary truck unloading boxes of ammunition, brushed past the wreckage of a burned-out Panzer III and turned into a side street to avoid another anti-tank barrage. Suddenly explosions sounded, and all hell broke loose in front of them. An Il-2 Sturmovik passed over their heads. Other "Black Deaths" (as the Germans called them) circled over the ruins after dropping their bombs. They would dive from time to time to strafe anything that moved.
On the ground, the Flak responded. In the middle of a courtyard, two Flak 37s had just opened fire.
Soon, a plane flew away, leaving a thick trail of dark smoke behind it. Like flying sharks, the hungry Sturmoviks pounced on the threatening AA guns.
Soon the courtyard and the nearby street were devastated by gunfire.
Disgusted, Werner discovered a massacre amidst the black smoke rising from the wreckage of a half-tracked tractor. Most of the Flak servicemen were dead or dying, haggard, the survivors tried to flee while an SdKfz 10/4 armed with a 2 cm AA gun took over.
Unfortunately, the objective of the attack was just to prepare the ground for the enemy infantry. The latter came out of the ruins bayoneted, shouting slogans. Two T-50 tanks supported them, their machine guns firing at the doors and windows of the buildings. From there, we answer with rifles and grenades, but also with a tripod-mounted S-18/1000 anti-tank rifle, which fired 20 mm cartridges.
Hans and Walter climbed down from the Kettenkrad and took cover in a roofless building, whose floors were now just a pile of rubble between four still standing walls.
Behind them, the SdKfz 10/4, hit by a 45 mm shell from a T-50, exploded in a cloud of black smoke.
Exiting through the back door, the two Germans found themselves in a street where lay the wreckage of an SdKfz 251 and a burned-out Russian truck embedded in a facade. Soldiers were running along the walls. Further on, the road formed a bend dominated by a building barely scratched by the explosions. This building flanked a square that was severely disputed between the Soviets and the Germans. German machine guns spat from the windows, while the Reds returned fire with grenades. All around, people were fighting with rifles, pistols, machine guns... and sharpened shovels.
Suddenly, Walter found himself confronted by a Soviet man emerging from a ruined house like a devil sprung from his box. Both fired at the same time. At close range, they could not miss each other and died in equal measure.
Looking for help, Hans discovered a powered MG-34 on the corner, but the shooter was lying dead. When a new wave of Reds appeared, Hans fired. The machine gun reared up in his hands like a dog refusing to take a bath, struggling to escape. But the projectiles mowed down several opponents. When the firing pin snapped into the air, Hans abandoned it to run to another place where Soviet and German wrecks were tangled together. A Soviet soldier emerged from the shelter of one of these wrecks, his gun pointed. Hans was dead before he hit the ground."
(From La Guerre dans les Steppes, Jean Mabire, Presses de la Cité, 1955)

* The SdKfz 2 Kettenkrad is the smallest German tracked vehicle. As its name suggests (Krad is an abbreviation of Kraftrad, motorcycle), it is a motorcycle whose rear wheel is replaced by two tracks.

 

[Wings]

October 11th, 1942

Operation Trident - D-Day+6 (Torch, D-Day+22)
Fall of Cesarò
In the Central sector, the French and Belgians continue to march from Troina to Cesaro. General Benvenuto Gioda, who transferred his headquarters to Randazzo, gathers what is left of the 3rd DIM Ravenna to try to block the Allied advance. The battle of Cesaro begins at noon. The Italians hold on desperately and the Tancrémont Brigade loses several tanks under the 105/28 guns of the 121st Artillery Regiment and the 75/39s of the 70th Anti-Tank Battery.
But the weather improved a little and, around 15:00, the allied air support is felt again. The fighter-bombers pound the Italian positions, which give way. At 19:00, the Chasseurs Ardennais and the legionnaires of the 11th DBLE Teruel enter Cesarò.
.........
A pause before the final assault
In seven days, the Allied troops had advanced 25 km in the eastern sector, 30 or 35 km in the northern sector and almost 50 km in the center, fighting constantly. Several fresh Italian divisions are destroyed or so badly hit that they are no longer operational. Many prisoners are taken. Operation Trident succeeded in breaking the "Etna line" (or at least the Catania-Gerbini-Adrano line). The end of the Sicily campaign can now only be a matter of days.
But the battle had been so intense since October 5th that Montagne, Montgomery and Delestraint call General Frère's headquarters at about the same time to ask for a break after these great advances. In the center, the Franco-Belgians broke through in a spectacular way, but on the worst of the terrain and in very bad weather conditions. The British, who suffered the heaviest losses (in front of Gerbini) need rest and reinforcements. On the north coast, Americans and French suffered less, but lack ammunition and fuel.
The allied generals meet in Nicosia at about 22:00 and agree to suspend the operations for at least two days. The weather forecast announcing a return of bad weather undoubtedly influenced their decision.

 

[Wings]

October 11th, 1942

Off Sollum - While Maricosom commits most of its available units against Torche/Torch convoys and, more generally, Allied traffic in the western Mediterranean, its forces did not give up on other actions. The arrival of Italian submarines in areas where they had been operating little or not at all for several weeks should, with the help of surprise, mke the Allies disperse their resources... Three units based in Taranto - the Reginaldo Giuliani (CF Giovanni Bruno), Enrico Toti* (LV Giovanni Celeste) and Alpino Bagnolini (LV Angelo Amendolia) - will, in this order, operate in various points of the eastern Mediterranean during the month of October. With various fortunes...
The Giuliani was the first to leave its base and was assigned to patrol between Tobruk and Alexandria before returning to explore the coast of Cyrenaica up to Benghazi. After two days in front of Tobruk, where it arrived on the 9th, the Giuliani began to move eastward. At 09:13 Italian time (07:13 GMT), it spotted a convoy arriving from Alexandria and heading towards Benghazi and Tripoli. Benefiting from a favorable initial position, he managed, after a good hour of careful maneuvering, to intercept it. Commander Bruno launched a pair of torpedoes at each of the three closest targets. A few seconds later, while the third pair missed the British cargo ship Lars Kruse**, two of the torpedoes hit, damaging the oil tanker MN Le Tarn*** and sinking the corvette HMS Gardenia, wrongly identified as a destroyer. But there were indeed destroyers in the escort and one of them, the HMS Puckeridge (a Hunt II), managed to hook and chase the Giuliani. In nearly an hour and a half, the Puckeridge made four attacks, releasing as many salvos of depth charges. The last one inflicts some damage to the Giuliani, who only manages to escape by diving to a depth of 135 meters (35 meters more than the official limit). It is only slightly damaged, but the weakening of its batteries forced it to surface to recharge them more than three quarters of an hour before the end of the day. It is then spotted by a Sunderland, then by aCatalina. Luckily for the Giuliani, both aircraft bomb very awkwardly. On the other hand, if one of them was hit by the defensive fire of the submarine, it was mowed by the machine guns of the attackers. The Giuliani finally escaped with two killed and five wounded (including CF Bruno, who had to hand over command to his second in command, LV Aredio Galzigna). The Giuliani returned to Taranto on October 14th and was immobilized for two months for repairs.

* Partially modernized from February to August 1942 (like the Da Procida) by replacing its thermal engines.
** 1,807 GRT, a Danish ship seized in 1940. Unlike the French, the British did not rename the Danish ships that came under their control.
*** 5,600 tW or 4,220 GRT.

 

[Wings]

October 12th, 1942

Plaine de la Crau - Second Lieutenant René Puget, playing with audacity, lands his Lysander of the 642nd ECGRE in the middle of the Crau plain, without worrying about the Istres base occupied by the Luftwaffe, less than twenty kilometers away, nor its Würzburg D radar, which had been installed for some time on a concrete base.
Puget, who joined the French Air Force in 1937, flew a Bloch 210 night bomber until July 1940, and was familiar with long night flights. Barely lit by the moon in its second quarter, he flew the entire route at low altitude. At the approaches of the shore of the Camargue, it descended to the level of the waves. Facing the Rhône river and the remains of the remains of the Arles suspension bridge, which the Germans had only partially repaired after the fighting of the summer of 1940, he managed to find the terrain, a stony meadow with rare grass marked out by four very discreet lamps, on which he landed without making more noise than a bat.
No sooner had the aircraft stopped than Lieutenant Déodat du Puy-Montbrun descends, warmly welcomed by two members of the Taupe Group and two Resistance fighters from Marseille.
A student at Saumur in the spring of 1940, he was promoted to second lieutenant on the battlefield (captured at the end of June, he escaped the next day and went back to the fight immediately), the young officer has just received his second stripe. From the B cadre of the DGPI, he was assigned, by order, to the 5th Hussars. Captain André Achiary, a police officer in civilian life and in charge of security at the DGPI (officially, he is only responsible for liaison with the Ministry of the Interior), chose him to investigate the Coulombière disaster.
Puget's Lysander, with all flaps down, takes off three minutes later, without a hitch, facing the mistral. At less than a hundred meters, it sets a course for 180 and flies away.
The welcoming committee leads Puy-Montbrun towards a poachers' hut - a hut of reeds, where bicycles are hidden. They will spend the rest of the night there, in the cold, poorly mitigated by a thermos of roasted barley coffee, and will leave at dawn each one on his own, like farm workers leaving for the fields.

 

[Wings]

October 12th, 1942

London - The Belgian government, meeting in the Council of Ministers, takes stock of the political situation. The Soviet Union's entry into the war on the side of the Allies has completely changed the strategic situation in Europe, especially since Hitler's offensive in Russia seems to have been blocked. By mobilizing enormous quantities of German troops, the Russian front is clearing the guard of Western Europe. Moreover, the Sicilian campaign is coming to an end and no one doubts its success. It is generally agreed that the Belgian troops involved have proved their worth on this occasion, which confirms the ministers in the difficult choices they had made in the summer of 1940. All of this means that the prospects for the liberation of Europe are becoming more concrete and there is already talk of a landing in France in the spring of 1943. The return home may not be so far away... As a result, it will be necessary to resolve the questions that have remained for more than two years - that is, above all, one question: the royal question.
In addition, the news of the introduction of the Obligatory Work Service in Belgium reached London and raised a wave of indignation among all Belgians. Everyone wonders about the attitude that the King would adopt. This German decision appears to be a clear setback for the sovereign, who had failed in the mission of protection he had set himself by staying in the country. One hopes for a reversal on his part, which would take the form of a public protest.
Paul-Emile Janson, the Minister of Justice, is the first to suggest that the government should seek to reconnect with the King, despite the relative failure of a previous attempt.
It would indeed be advisable to clarify under what conditions the constitutional order would be restored at the Liberation, and how the compromised unity of executive power would be re-established. At the same time, the King would be encouraged to harden his position with respect to the authorities.
Janson's suggestion is approved after a brief debate, holding less to the principle of a contact with the King, which seems to make consensus, that of the format to be retained, the contents of the message and the tone in which it would be expressed. In the end, everyone agrees on a letter signed collectively by all the ministers and Pierlot asks Janson and Paul-Henri Spaak (who happens to be Janson's nephew) to submit a draft to the next Council of Ministers the following week. The Prime Minister and the Minister of National Defense will examine with the Second Bureau how to get this message to the King.

 

[Wings]

October 12th, 1942

Guadalcanal - Patrol activities continue.
.........
Solomon Islands - The torpedo boats (MTB) of Sqn 3, PT-38, 46, 48 and 60, arrive in Tulagi after an uneventful trip from Nouméa.