Fantasque Time Line (France Fights On) - English Translation
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August 20th, 1942
Battle of Singapore - IV
Singapore, 18:00 PM - The night has just fallen but, in spite of some rainy passages due to the southern monsoon, it is still hot and humid.
In front of the Raffles Hotel, an Indian butler with golden cords opens the door of an Austin Seven to two naval officers and shelters them with an umbrella until the vast hall. Inside, the rumors are whispered and the smell of waxed wood fills the air with the final cigars of a few bridge players, rich Chinese or Malays who have decided to stay on the island to the end - despite the war, business is business - and try to escape the torpor of dusk. The blades of the fans stir the thick air.
The two men head for the long bar to order two of the last "Singapore Sling" still available. This cocktail, which has made the reputation of the establishment since 1915 will soon be replaced on the bar's menu by a simple gin and tonic, as the Benedictine ingredient of this sweet alcoholic drink, is now missing.
Leaning against the bar, the two companions throw the peelings of their peanuts on the floor, a so British tradition to amplify a little more the cracking of the varnished parquet floor under the feet of the customers.
- At least the floor is reminiscent of a ship's deck!" says the disillusioned Lieutenant-Commander Hastings to his comrade Gready.
- A ship! Old chap, that's probably a foreign thing to most of this noble assembly," replies Gready, looking down at the other guests, among whom stands out the khaki jacket typical of Her Gracious Majesty's colonial troops. The presence of the Navy on the island has been reduced to a handful of Fairmile launches, and the once dominant white, have become the exception in the frequented places of the city.
The two men had known each other since the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth. They both specialized in gunnery and were assigned as Navy liaison officers to the 7th and 9th Coast Regiment, Royal Artillery, which manned the island's coastal batteries. The Navy being suspicious of the Army's gunners, our two Lieutenant-Commanders were given the mission, shortly before the Pedestal operation, to help identify the silhouettes of ships on the horizon in order to limit the risks of fratricidal fire. The question did not arise, but the gunners, thinking that they could be very useful in the event of a confrontation with the Emperor of Japan's fleet, decided to keep them. The idea is that Horatio Nelson himself said that "Any sailor who attacks a fort is a fool"!
Moreover, for the past three days, a land offensive had been launched against the last Allied strongpoint in Johor, the fort of Pengerang and its 6" guns. The latter broke several attacks, but they used all their explosive ammunition (50 per piece) - the fort will not hold much longer.
South China Sea - 2nd Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 19:30 - Vice Admiral Nobutake Kondo invites his principal deputies, Rear Admiral Sentaro Omori and Rear Admiral Kakuji Kakuta (4th Aircraft Carrier Division), in the wardroom of the cruiser Atago. The aim is to organize the second naval bombardment operation of Singapore.
Kondo has left Kuching some time earlier after refuelling. The first operation against Singapore, carried out the previous month using mainly the bombers from the carriers Junyo and Ryujo, resulted in a meager loss of life for Kondo: a dozen of its aircraft were shot down by a particularly biting flak, and once the stock of bombs against the command posts and coastal batteries was exhausted, the aerial reconnaissance did not show any decisive results. Since it is out of the question that the Navy is unable to help General Yamashita take the British jewel of their crown, Singapore, the battleships and heavy cruisers will have to be used.
Kondo's priority mission - apart from the naval interdiction - is to neutralize the largest pieces of the enemy's defense, in particular the five 15" (381 mm) guns distributed between the Johore (three) and Buona Vista (two) batteries*. These modern and powerful weapons, whose field of fire (after some work done at the beginning of the year) extends on 360°, are indeed a potential nightmare for the ground troops who, coming from the Malayan peninsula, are going to attack Singapore. They caused severe losses to the attackers during the first siege of the island. But Kondo was unaware that these cannons only had only a few explosive shells (HE) to deal with ground targets. Before the beginning of the hostilities, they had not been supplied, as the planners did not consider that the enemy could penetrate to the tip of the Malay Peninsula. The stocks left by the Malaya and Ramilllies were nearly exhausted during the April fighting. Only armor-piercing shells (AP), suitable for attacking modern battleships, are available in
in the underground casemates of the batteries.
Kondo decides to assign the 2nd Battleship Division (Yamashiro and Hyuga) to the destruction of the most powerful batteries. First, they attack the Johore Battery, with the support of the 4th Cruiser Division (Atago and Chokai), which will in turn shell Tekong's 9.2" and other batteries in the vicinity, all likely to hinder the assault scheduled for the following day.
The destroyers Akebono and Nenohi will go to support the attack in progress of the Pengerang battery. The aircraft of the 4th Aircraft Carrier Division (Junyo and Ryujo) will provide tactical support to the main offensive.
* On the site of the Buona Vista Battery is now the Mowbray Police Training Camp.
Battle of Singapore - IV
Singapore, 18:00 PM - The night has just fallen but, in spite of some rainy passages due to the southern monsoon, it is still hot and humid.
In front of the Raffles Hotel, an Indian butler with golden cords opens the door of an Austin Seven to two naval officers and shelters them with an umbrella until the vast hall. Inside, the rumors are whispered and the smell of waxed wood fills the air with the final cigars of a few bridge players, rich Chinese or Malays who have decided to stay on the island to the end - despite the war, business is business - and try to escape the torpor of dusk. The blades of the fans stir the thick air.
The two men head for the long bar to order two of the last "Singapore Sling" still available. This cocktail, which has made the reputation of the establishment since 1915 will soon be replaced on the bar's menu by a simple gin and tonic, as the Benedictine ingredient of this sweet alcoholic drink, is now missing.
Leaning against the bar, the two companions throw the peelings of their peanuts on the floor, a so British tradition to amplify a little more the cracking of the varnished parquet floor under the feet of the customers.
- At least the floor is reminiscent of a ship's deck!" says the disillusioned Lieutenant-Commander Hastings to his comrade Gready.
- A ship! Old chap, that's probably a foreign thing to most of this noble assembly," replies Gready, looking down at the other guests, among whom stands out the khaki jacket typical of Her Gracious Majesty's colonial troops. The presence of the Navy on the island has been reduced to a handful of Fairmile launches, and the once dominant white, have become the exception in the frequented places of the city.
The two men had known each other since the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth. They both specialized in gunnery and were assigned as Navy liaison officers to the 7th and 9th Coast Regiment, Royal Artillery, which manned the island's coastal batteries. The Navy being suspicious of the Army's gunners, our two Lieutenant-Commanders were given the mission, shortly before the Pedestal operation, to help identify the silhouettes of ships on the horizon in order to limit the risks of fratricidal fire. The question did not arise, but the gunners, thinking that they could be very useful in the event of a confrontation with the Emperor of Japan's fleet, decided to keep them. The idea is that Horatio Nelson himself said that "Any sailor who attacks a fort is a fool"!
Moreover, for the past three days, a land offensive had been launched against the last Allied strongpoint in Johor, the fort of Pengerang and its 6" guns. The latter broke several attacks, but they used all their explosive ammunition (50 per piece) - the fort will not hold much longer.
South China Sea - 2nd Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 19:30 - Vice Admiral Nobutake Kondo invites his principal deputies, Rear Admiral Sentaro Omori and Rear Admiral Kakuji Kakuta (4th Aircraft Carrier Division), in the wardroom of the cruiser Atago. The aim is to organize the second naval bombardment operation of Singapore.
Kondo has left Kuching some time earlier after refuelling. The first operation against Singapore, carried out the previous month using mainly the bombers from the carriers Junyo and Ryujo, resulted in a meager loss of life for Kondo: a dozen of its aircraft were shot down by a particularly biting flak, and once the stock of bombs against the command posts and coastal batteries was exhausted, the aerial reconnaissance did not show any decisive results. Since it is out of the question that the Navy is unable to help General Yamashita take the British jewel of their crown, Singapore, the battleships and heavy cruisers will have to be used.
Kondo's priority mission - apart from the naval interdiction - is to neutralize the largest pieces of the enemy's defense, in particular the five 15" (381 mm) guns distributed between the Johore (three) and Buona Vista (two) batteries*. These modern and powerful weapons, whose field of fire (after some work done at the beginning of the year) extends on 360°, are indeed a potential nightmare for the ground troops who, coming from the Malayan peninsula, are going to attack Singapore. They caused severe losses to the attackers during the first siege of the island. But Kondo was unaware that these cannons only had only a few explosive shells (HE) to deal with ground targets. Before the beginning of the hostilities, they had not been supplied, as the planners did not consider that the enemy could penetrate to the tip of the Malay Peninsula. The stocks left by the Malaya and Ramilllies were nearly exhausted during the April fighting. Only armor-piercing shells (AP), suitable for attacking modern battleships, are available in
in the underground casemates of the batteries.
Kondo decides to assign the 2nd Battleship Division (Yamashiro and Hyuga) to the destruction of the most powerful batteries. First, they attack the Johore Battery, with the support of the 4th Cruiser Division (Atago and Chokai), which will in turn shell Tekong's 9.2" and other batteries in the vicinity, all likely to hinder the assault scheduled for the following day.
The destroyers Akebono and Nenohi will go to support the attack in progress of the Pengerang battery. The aircraft of the 4th Aircraft Carrier Division (Junyo and Ryujo) will provide tactical support to the main offensive.
* On the site of the Buona Vista Battery is now the Mowbray Police Training Camp.
August 20th, 1942
Guadalcanal - During the night, the Japanese ships that had left Rabaul the day before and the day before that disembark at Tassafaronga the II/28th and the artillery of the regiment. They leave at dawn, covered by patrols of Zero coming from Rabaul. General Kawagushi is on board the Yayoi. He decides to return to Rabaul to set up a new attack, leaving the command on Guadalcanal to Colonel Oka.
Aggressive Marine patrols force the Japanese to be more cautious to avoid further losses, which they would have, despite the reinforcements, a lot of difficulty to replace.
.........
Meanwhile, Captain Iishi puts the crew of the Cha-3 to work digging in the banks of the Mbonehe River two shelters 1.40 m deep, where the G- 351 and G-352 could be housed when they arrived. Each of its other launches already has a cozy nest shaded (and hidden) by overhanging trees. Since these small craft only have a draught of 0.75 m, the work is easy and the small squadron is now almost invisible from the air.
.........
But the main event takes place in the afternoon. The escort carrier Long Island ventures into the vicinity of Guadalcanal, at a respectful distance to avoid being surprised by bombers from Rabaul, but close enough to launch twelve Dauntless and nineteen Wildcats that land on the Tenaru airfield, which has just been rehabilitated (one of the bombers even mowed down its train while landing on a badly filled-in shell hole). Under the cheers of his Marines, General Vandegrift announces that the field would henceforth be called Henderson Field, to honor the memory of Major Lofton Henderson, who died during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons.
.........
In the evening, Iishi reconnoiters the Tulagi area again. He is again sighted, this time by Australians, but his small boats are mistaken for Allied boats, which Iishi notices that they are shuttling between Tetere Bay and Tulagi. He observes what remains of the USS Astoria and the various allied dispositions. However, he has already left when, as sunrise approaches, the seaplane supply ships HMAS Zealandia and Nairana leave the Bay. Due to the arrival of the land-based aircraft, which makes it less important to keep the few combat seaplanes based at the Tulagi seaplane base in flight, the allied staff judges that the two ships could abandon their position, dangerously exposed to Japanese air raids.
Santa Cruz Islands - The supply ship Mackinac sets up a seaplane base in Graciosa Bay.
Guadalcanal - During the night, the Japanese ships that had left Rabaul the day before and the day before that disembark at Tassafaronga the II/28th and the artillery of the regiment. They leave at dawn, covered by patrols of Zero coming from Rabaul. General Kawagushi is on board the Yayoi. He decides to return to Rabaul to set up a new attack, leaving the command on Guadalcanal to Colonel Oka.
Aggressive Marine patrols force the Japanese to be more cautious to avoid further losses, which they would have, despite the reinforcements, a lot of difficulty to replace.
.........
Meanwhile, Captain Iishi puts the crew of the Cha-3 to work digging in the banks of the Mbonehe River two shelters 1.40 m deep, where the G- 351 and G-352 could be housed when they arrived. Each of its other launches already has a cozy nest shaded (and hidden) by overhanging trees. Since these small craft only have a draught of 0.75 m, the work is easy and the small squadron is now almost invisible from the air.
.........
But the main event takes place in the afternoon. The escort carrier Long Island ventures into the vicinity of Guadalcanal, at a respectful distance to avoid being surprised by bombers from Rabaul, but close enough to launch twelve Dauntless and nineteen Wildcats that land on the Tenaru airfield, which has just been rehabilitated (one of the bombers even mowed down its train while landing on a badly filled-in shell hole). Under the cheers of his Marines, General Vandegrift announces that the field would henceforth be called Henderson Field, to honor the memory of Major Lofton Henderson, who died during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons.
.........
In the evening, Iishi reconnoiters the Tulagi area again. He is again sighted, this time by Australians, but his small boats are mistaken for Allied boats, which Iishi notices that they are shuttling between Tetere Bay and Tulagi. He observes what remains of the USS Astoria and the various allied dispositions. However, he has already left when, as sunrise approaches, the seaplane supply ships HMAS Zealandia and Nairana leave the Bay. Due to the arrival of the land-based aircraft, which makes it less important to keep the few combat seaplanes based at the Tulagi seaplane base in flight, the allied staff judges that the two ships could abandon their position, dangerously exposed to Japanese air raids.
Santa Cruz Islands - The supply ship Mackinac sets up a seaplane base in Graciosa Bay.
August 20th, 1942
Bulldog Track - Upon reaching Dead Chinaman Pass, what remains of Captain Minchin's group encounters the first AIF reinforcements to reach the area: elements of a company from the 6th Division. These are professional soldiers who are used to look down on volunteers and other AMF "amateurs," but they suddenly change their minds when they see the "Minchin's Fighting Skeletons", as the 70 survivors have dubbed themselves.
Minchin himself takes a look at the positions occupied by the AIF men and immediately realizes that they know nothing about Japanese infantry tactics. Under the eyes of the AIF major, he begins to give them orders to redeploy the defenders in order to face a standard Japanese "front engagement and flanking" attack. When he finishes, he says to the flabbergasted major, "Here we are on a ridge, we should be able to hold for 24 to 36 hours. Do they have any supplies at Bulldog?" Informed that Bulldog had indeed received a good quantity of supplies, Minchin sends a runner up there with orders to carry food and ammunition to a position an hour's march from Bulldog airfield and turns to the major in utter disbelief:
"We should be able to stop them there. You see, we are now very close to a supply point, while the Japanese supply point is 20 hours away. Now, they are in a state of fitness that is not very different from ours..."
Kokoda Track - The men of A Companies of the 2/9th and 2/10th Battalions, supported by their B Companies, finally occupy the entire the entire depression known as the Bowl.
While they nibble away at the enemy's defenses, the 2/12th, reinforced by the C companies of the other two battalions, which had been able to rest a little, slip along the Japanese right flank through the garden path, to the extreme left of the Australian positions. The men grumble against the unjust fate that still holds them back, while the advanced enemy positions have been surrounded and annihilated. But the Japanese refuse to give up and they will not surrender.
So the Australians slowly advance, mercilessly clearing every inch of ground from the slightest Japanese, killing everyone they could lay their hands on. Finally, on the evening of the 20th, the main enemy position is in front of them.
Milne Bay - Battle of the Kalobi
"Of the 720 men who had taken up position at the Hagita ford, there were only thirty-one survived. All of them were RAAF men, all of them had been wounded, all of them had been ordered to evacuate in writing and none of them saw fit to testify as to what exactly what happened. It took the Japanese two full days of fierce fighting, almost constantly hand-to-hand, to break through. This fight gave Clowes the time he needed.
None of the 120 men of the 53rd Battalion survived. This action earned them the grace to be remembered not as "men of the 53rd, to hell with them," but as men of what was later immortalized as the "Lost Battalion". Years later, the words "He was with the Lost Battalion" would be enough to make men to be silent for a moment and raise their glasses in silence." (B. Marcus, op. cit.)
Bulldog Track - Upon reaching Dead Chinaman Pass, what remains of Captain Minchin's group encounters the first AIF reinforcements to reach the area: elements of a company from the 6th Division. These are professional soldiers who are used to look down on volunteers and other AMF "amateurs," but they suddenly change their minds when they see the "Minchin's Fighting Skeletons", as the 70 survivors have dubbed themselves.
Minchin himself takes a look at the positions occupied by the AIF men and immediately realizes that they know nothing about Japanese infantry tactics. Under the eyes of the AIF major, he begins to give them orders to redeploy the defenders in order to face a standard Japanese "front engagement and flanking" attack. When he finishes, he says to the flabbergasted major, "Here we are on a ridge, we should be able to hold for 24 to 36 hours. Do they have any supplies at Bulldog?" Informed that Bulldog had indeed received a good quantity of supplies, Minchin sends a runner up there with orders to carry food and ammunition to a position an hour's march from Bulldog airfield and turns to the major in utter disbelief:
"We should be able to stop them there. You see, we are now very close to a supply point, while the Japanese supply point is 20 hours away. Now, they are in a state of fitness that is not very different from ours..."
Kokoda Track - The men of A Companies of the 2/9th and 2/10th Battalions, supported by their B Companies, finally occupy the entire the entire depression known as the Bowl.
While they nibble away at the enemy's defenses, the 2/12th, reinforced by the C companies of the other two battalions, which had been able to rest a little, slip along the Japanese right flank through the garden path, to the extreme left of the Australian positions. The men grumble against the unjust fate that still holds them back, while the advanced enemy positions have been surrounded and annihilated. But the Japanese refuse to give up and they will not surrender.
So the Australians slowly advance, mercilessly clearing every inch of ground from the slightest Japanese, killing everyone they could lay their hands on. Finally, on the evening of the 20th, the main enemy position is in front of them.
Milne Bay - Battle of the Kalobi
"Of the 720 men who had taken up position at the Hagita ford, there were only thirty-one survived. All of them were RAAF men, all of them had been wounded, all of them had been ordered to evacuate in writing and none of them saw fit to testify as to what exactly what happened. It took the Japanese two full days of fierce fighting, almost constantly hand-to-hand, to break through. This fight gave Clowes the time he needed.
None of the 120 men of the 53rd Battalion survived. This action earned them the grace to be remembered not as "men of the 53rd, to hell with them," but as men of what was later immortalized as the "Lost Battalion". Years later, the words "He was with the Lost Battalion" would be enough to make men to be silent for a moment and raise their glasses in silence." (B. Marcus, op. cit.)
August 20th, 1942
Casablanca - In the early afternoon, the great liner Normandie leaves Casablanca for Dakar, Capetown, Fremantle, Sydney and Auckland, a journey that she must complete at high speed, with peaks of 30 knots. In fact, she will arrive on September 19th. She is loaded with 88 Hawk-87s in crates (12 other aircraft, which could not be packed in time, will follow by another ship). These aircraft are accompanied by six instructors, plus six former pilots of the 7th EC, all wounded over the Peloponnese in the spring of 1942 and who have to pass on their combat experience to the New Zealanders.
Casablanca - In the early afternoon, the great liner Normandie leaves Casablanca for Dakar, Capetown, Fremantle, Sydney and Auckland, a journey that she must complete at high speed, with peaks of 30 knots. In fact, she will arrive on September 19th. She is loaded with 88 Hawk-87s in crates (12 other aircraft, which could not be packed in time, will follow by another ship). These aircraft are accompanied by six instructors, plus six former pilots of the 7th EC, all wounded over the Peloponnese in the spring of 1942 and who have to pass on their combat experience to the New Zealanders.
August 20th, 1942
Shanxi (China) and Korea - Imperial Army Aviation bomb six Allied airfields, two of which are actually used as bases by USAAF aircraft. Only one formation is intercepted, by eight P-40s - unfortunately for them, they run into nine Ki-44s, which shoot down two of them and repel the others.
On their side, the Americans launch eleven B-25s against the Japanese HQ in Pyongyang through the Yellow Sea. The planes attack at dusk with a limited bomb load (500 kg each), but the bombing, very precise, causes more than five hundred deaths and a thousand injured.
Shanxi (China) and Korea - Imperial Army Aviation bomb six Allied airfields, two of which are actually used as bases by USAAF aircraft. Only one formation is intercepted, by eight P-40s - unfortunately for them, they run into nine Ki-44s, which shoot down two of them and repel the others.
On their side, the Americans launch eleven B-25s against the Japanese HQ in Pyongyang through the Yellow Sea. The planes attack at dusk with a limited bomb load (500 kg each), but the bombing, very precise, causes more than five hundred deaths and a thousand injured.
August 20th, 1942
Russian Front
- Central and southern sectors - Operation Wirbelwind
Rastenburg (OKH) and Ternopol (Army Group South) - After the brutal shock of Smolensk, the OKH understands that it has to regain the initiative in the east by a series of local offensives while waiting for the decisive blow planned for September. While Army Group North is preparing to attack the islands of the Gulf of Riga and Army Group Center is licking its wounds, Army Group South, which had been "encouraged" by the Führer to take Odessa, pushes ahead with preparations for an operation planned since the beginning of August against the Bragin Triangle. This Soviet salient, about fifty kilometers long, is bound by the Dnieper River to the east, the Pripyat River to the south, and its north-western side crosses the ruins of the small town of Retchytsa and the villages of Khoiniki and Slobodka, ravaged by the Vietinghoff-Scheel offensive in July. It commands the confluence of the two rivers and could prove a thorn in the side of the future offensive. For the OKH, it is operation Wirbelwind (Whirlwind).
Field Marshal von Reichenau, head of the 6th Army, is determined to reduce the Triangle. He negotiates with Zeitzler, von Rundstedt's chief of staff (the two marshals hated each other and avoided talking directly to each other). After the hard fighting of July, he is left with only four incomplete infantry divisions (the 9., 56., 62. and 297. ID) and one practically unusable (the 168. ID)*. He obtains, not without difficulty, two hardened divisions (the 79. and 294. ID, which had fought in the Balkans), plus the temporary provision of the 213th and 454th Security Divisions and the Cavalry Group Boeselager**. And since the Reich has to make its allies contribute, it receives as a bonus a Hungarian corps (General Pintér) formed of two divisions of reduced strength, but of good quality: the 1st Mountain Division and the 9th Border Guard Division. They should be effective for the infiltration in this largely wooded country.
General Löhr, head of the 4. Luftflotte, is at first reluctant to venture his planes into a secondary offensive on the edge of the Central Group. A few weeks earlier, during the battle of Smolensk, he has coldly refused a request for help from von Bock. For a good technical reason - the Luftwaffe could not supply two fleets in the same area - but with a touch of Schadenfreude (sadistic joy), because von Bock displays his contempt for the Austrians. Löhr, who is Austrian, feels relieved by von Bock's disgrace and finally agrees to hire a KampfGruppe of Ju 87 from the IV. FliegerKorps. Apart from this group, air support is limited to a small observation Staffel, the (H)/21, which is already part of the 6th Army.
Army Group Center is being restructured after the Smolensk disaster, so von Weichs - to whom his chief of staff, von Sodenstern, had painted a particularly grim of the situation when he took office - did not want to participate in the operation against the Bragin Triangle: all his forces are intended to protect his own sector and to support the future offensive of Guderian, who is accumulating troops in the Gomel salient. But he leaves the ground free and some logistical means to the 6th Army to deploy part of its forces north of Pripyat, until the vicinity of Retchytsa.
As von Weichs wants to spare Reichenau, who is seen as intriguing and resentful, he gives him a good general: Ferdinand Schaal, who had been out of work since the dislocation of his 10. PanzerDivision (his last tanks were given to Guderian). Under the misleading name of Höheres Kommando XXXIV, which suggests an occupation corps without offensive means, the Gruppe Schaal constitutes the northern branch of the Reichenau system.
* The 213th Security Division was detached from the 6th Army in early August.
** It was a mounted Kampfgruppe of regimental strength, commanded by Colonel Georg von Boeselager
and composed of elements of the mounted reconnaissance units of the infantry divisions involved. These units
had an excess of horses due to the recent transformation of the 1. KD into a Panzer Division (24. PzD).
(24. PzD).
Russian Front
- Central and southern sectors - Operation Wirbelwind
Rastenburg (OKH) and Ternopol (Army Group South) - After the brutal shock of Smolensk, the OKH understands that it has to regain the initiative in the east by a series of local offensives while waiting for the decisive blow planned for September. While Army Group North is preparing to attack the islands of the Gulf of Riga and Army Group Center is licking its wounds, Army Group South, which had been "encouraged" by the Führer to take Odessa, pushes ahead with preparations for an operation planned since the beginning of August against the Bragin Triangle. This Soviet salient, about fifty kilometers long, is bound by the Dnieper River to the east, the Pripyat River to the south, and its north-western side crosses the ruins of the small town of Retchytsa and the villages of Khoiniki and Slobodka, ravaged by the Vietinghoff-Scheel offensive in July. It commands the confluence of the two rivers and could prove a thorn in the side of the future offensive. For the OKH, it is operation Wirbelwind (Whirlwind).
Field Marshal von Reichenau, head of the 6th Army, is determined to reduce the Triangle. He negotiates with Zeitzler, von Rundstedt's chief of staff (the two marshals hated each other and avoided talking directly to each other). After the hard fighting of July, he is left with only four incomplete infantry divisions (the 9., 56., 62. and 297. ID) and one practically unusable (the 168. ID)*. He obtains, not without difficulty, two hardened divisions (the 79. and 294. ID, which had fought in the Balkans), plus the temporary provision of the 213th and 454th Security Divisions and the Cavalry Group Boeselager**. And since the Reich has to make its allies contribute, it receives as a bonus a Hungarian corps (General Pintér) formed of two divisions of reduced strength, but of good quality: the 1st Mountain Division and the 9th Border Guard Division. They should be effective for the infiltration in this largely wooded country.
General Löhr, head of the 4. Luftflotte, is at first reluctant to venture his planes into a secondary offensive on the edge of the Central Group. A few weeks earlier, during the battle of Smolensk, he has coldly refused a request for help from von Bock. For a good technical reason - the Luftwaffe could not supply two fleets in the same area - but with a touch of Schadenfreude (sadistic joy), because von Bock displays his contempt for the Austrians. Löhr, who is Austrian, feels relieved by von Bock's disgrace and finally agrees to hire a KampfGruppe of Ju 87 from the IV. FliegerKorps. Apart from this group, air support is limited to a small observation Staffel, the (H)/21, which is already part of the 6th Army.
Army Group Center is being restructured after the Smolensk disaster, so von Weichs - to whom his chief of staff, von Sodenstern, had painted a particularly grim of the situation when he took office - did not want to participate in the operation against the Bragin Triangle: all his forces are intended to protect his own sector and to support the future offensive of Guderian, who is accumulating troops in the Gomel salient. But he leaves the ground free and some logistical means to the 6th Army to deploy part of its forces north of Pripyat, until the vicinity of Retchytsa.
As von Weichs wants to spare Reichenau, who is seen as intriguing and resentful, he gives him a good general: Ferdinand Schaal, who had been out of work since the dislocation of his 10. PanzerDivision (his last tanks were given to Guderian). Under the misleading name of Höheres Kommando XXXIV, which suggests an occupation corps without offensive means, the Gruppe Schaal constitutes the northern branch of the Reichenau system.
* The 213th Security Division was detached from the 6th Army in early August.
** It was a mounted Kampfgruppe of regimental strength, commanded by Colonel Georg von Boeselager
and composed of elements of the mounted reconnaissance units of the infantry divisions involved. These units
had an excess of horses due to the recent transformation of the 1. KD into a Panzer Division (24. PzD).
(24. PzD).
August 20th, 1942
Kaharlyk Salient (north-west of Odessa) - The Luftwaffe is still unable to defend the Axis troops in this part of the front - operation Blowlamp was completed the day before, but the OKW does not know it yet! As a result, the VVS have no other opponent than a relatively numerous but not very effective Romanian flak, based on Hotchkiss 13.2 mm Mle 1930 and a variety of anti-aircraft weapons captured by the Germans in France, Belgium and Holland. Not enough to dissuade the Stormoviks from pressing their attacks. General von Schobert (11th Army) constantly asks for ir reinforcements, but even the Hungarian fighters are requisitioned to defend the Romanian refineries.
On the ground, the fighting is as indecisive as ever. Attacks and counter-attacks follow one another all day long. Silhouettes move by leaps and bounds from crater to crater, amidst the sounds of rifles and machine gun bursts. All along the front line, the ground is shaken and the wrecks of vehicles, mostly Soviet, give an idea of the losses incurred by the Red Army. The 8th Romanian ID is particularly targeted by the Soviet artillery and the hills it occupies look like erupting volcanoes.
When a new assault develops at the end of the afternoon, the Romanian lines crack.
In the evening, the Soviets manage to escape from the encirclement, but the losses, on both sides, are very heavy.
Kaharlyk Salient (north-west of Odessa) - The Luftwaffe is still unable to defend the Axis troops in this part of the front - operation Blowlamp was completed the day before, but the OKW does not know it yet! As a result, the VVS have no other opponent than a relatively numerous but not very effective Romanian flak, based on Hotchkiss 13.2 mm Mle 1930 and a variety of anti-aircraft weapons captured by the Germans in France, Belgium and Holland. Not enough to dissuade the Stormoviks from pressing their attacks. General von Schobert (11th Army) constantly asks for ir reinforcements, but even the Hungarian fighters are requisitioned to defend the Romanian refineries.
On the ground, the fighting is as indecisive as ever. Attacks and counter-attacks follow one another all day long. Silhouettes move by leaps and bounds from crater to crater, amidst the sounds of rifles and machine gun bursts. All along the front line, the ground is shaken and the wrecks of vehicles, mostly Soviet, give an idea of the losses incurred by the Red Army. The 8th Romanian ID is particularly targeted by the Soviet artillery and the hills it occupies look like erupting volcanoes.
When a new assault develops at the end of the afternoon, the Romanian lines crack.
In the evening, the Soviets manage to escape from the encirclement, but the losses, on both sides, are very heavy.
August 20th, 1942
Rhodes - RAF Maritsa
"Mr. Pierre Mendès-France
Minister of Finance and Economy
Algiers
Mr. Minister, commander,
I have been too long in telling you, in the name of all the II/60 airmen, how proud we are of your entry into the Government. But you know that I do not like to write too much. Besides, without trying to justify my laziness, you have probably heard that the Group has not been idle these days. But better late than never.
Congratulations and best wishes for success.
I have a favor to ask, Commander. No, it is not a question of asking you to order the taxman to consider my gambling losses as deductible from my income...
I was appointed yesterday (would you have imagined it? I would never have believed it!) commander of our Group, while Colonel Jouhaud took over the 60th Squadron [Note: a French Squadron is an English Wing]. This gives me the privileges that you know. I would like you to authorize us to perpetuate the tradition by naming my Group's Lockheed Electra liaison and evacuation aircraft the name of Ville-de-Louviers and to paint on the nose the "Cantonnier" of Cdt de Saint- Exupéry. The pilot of the Electra, one of our former pilots, Captain de Fermendidier, who has resumed service at forty years old, agrees and would feel very honored, he says, if you accepted.
My Liberator (the ministerial circulars ask for the Frenchization of American names) was christened Dragon d'Annam. His badge, D'Étoilies des Escoyères told me (he is a midshipman), reads "Azure a dragon Or langued and unguled Gules stamped with a helmet Sable with an azure scroll bearing the motto Mau len d'or". I had not learned this language at Paul-Bert high school.
Our new navigator is a lieutenant Gary, of more or less Russian origin, who guides us by intuition - just the opposite of you. But he's not doing badly either, even if he finds our four-engine planes a bit big for his taste (I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up requesting a transfer to the B-25 - how do you say "Mitchell"?)
The surviving airmen - and, I am sure, the others as well, from where they are - join me in assuring you, Mr. Minister, my commander, of our respect and to send you our best regards.
(Signed) Nguyen Van Hinh"
Rhodes - RAF Maritsa
"Mr. Pierre Mendès-France
Minister of Finance and Economy
Algiers
Mr. Minister, commander,
I have been too long in telling you, in the name of all the II/60 airmen, how proud we are of your entry into the Government. But you know that I do not like to write too much. Besides, without trying to justify my laziness, you have probably heard that the Group has not been idle these days. But better late than never.
Congratulations and best wishes for success.
I have a favor to ask, Commander. No, it is not a question of asking you to order the taxman to consider my gambling losses as deductible from my income...
I was appointed yesterday (would you have imagined it? I would never have believed it!) commander of our Group, while Colonel Jouhaud took over the 60th Squadron [Note: a French Squadron is an English Wing]. This gives me the privileges that you know. I would like you to authorize us to perpetuate the tradition by naming my Group's Lockheed Electra liaison and evacuation aircraft the name of Ville-de-Louviers and to paint on the nose the "Cantonnier" of Cdt de Saint- Exupéry. The pilot of the Electra, one of our former pilots, Captain de Fermendidier, who has resumed service at forty years old, agrees and would feel very honored, he says, if you accepted.
My Liberator (the ministerial circulars ask for the Frenchization of American names) was christened Dragon d'Annam. His badge, D'Étoilies des Escoyères told me (he is a midshipman), reads "Azure a dragon Or langued and unguled Gules stamped with a helmet Sable with an azure scroll bearing the motto Mau len d'or". I had not learned this language at Paul-Bert high school.
Our new navigator is a lieutenant Gary, of more or less Russian origin, who guides us by intuition - just the opposite of you. But he's not doing badly either, even if he finds our four-engine planes a bit big for his taste (I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up requesting a transfer to the B-25 - how do you say "Mitchell"?)
The surviving airmen - and, I am sure, the others as well, from where they are - join me in assuring you, Mr. Minister, my commander, of our respect and to send you our best regards.
(Signed) Nguyen Van Hinh"
August 20th, 1942
Gibraltar - Arrival of the Dutch submarine O-21 (CC J.F. van Dulm), en route to Colombo like the O-24. Like her, after her major refit in Dundee from January 13th to July 1st, 1942, the submarine underwent six weeks of intense training. She left Holy Loch on August 12th. On the way, on the 16th, about 200 nautical miles northwest of Cape Finisterre, it had the good fortune to surprise and send to the bottom the U-254 of Kapitänleutnant Hans Gilardone.
Gibraltar - Arrival of the Dutch submarine O-21 (CC J.F. van Dulm), en route to Colombo like the O-24. Like her, after her major refit in Dundee from January 13th to July 1st, 1942, the submarine underwent six weeks of intense training. She left Holy Loch on August 12th. On the way, on the 16th, about 200 nautical miles northwest of Cape Finisterre, it had the good fortune to surprise and send to the bottom the U-254 of Kapitänleutnant Hans Gilardone.
August 21st, 1942
Moscow - A secret conference brings together Panteleimon Ponomarenko, first secretary of the Communist Party of Belarus, General Ivan Maslennikov and an NKVD officer, Vasily Zakharovich Korzh, a veteran of the Spanish War.
As head of the 29th Army, Maslennikov is slowly recovering from the fatigue of operation Borodino (and the sometimes brutal apostrophes of Zhukov) but proudly displays a new set of decorations. He was also, until the beginning of the war, chief of the border guards in Belarus: as such, he was familiar with the border region of Western Belarus, which had been taken from Poland in 1939. He has only moderate confidence in the Belarusians, even communists: in 1939, many militants of the KPZB (Communist Party of Western Belarus) went directly from Polish prisons to deportation camps of the NKVD, and the others remained suspects. But Maslennikov, who is said to be one of Beria's closest officers, knows that Stalin agreed to overlook man of the deviations that preceded Barbarossa. It is therefore with the greatest care that with Ponomarenko and Borj, he studies the possibility of creating an organization of partisans in Belarus, especially in the Pinsk region.
Korj knows well the reflexes of the Belarusian peasants: they don't like the Soviet officials, but they hate even more the Polish feudalists, and they are certainly furious against the Germans who not only refuse to give them back their collectivized land, but have begun to confiscate their crops and livestock on a massive scale. And then there are the Jews, who begin to hide in the forests to escape the tracking of the SS, and a number of soldiers and border guards, overwhelmed by the German advance at the beginning of the war and who had escaped capture by going into civilian clothes, but who are eager to return to the fight. A large number of executions of hostages by the fascist occupation forces have already been reported.
Maslennikov underlines the risks of the operation, but also its interest, "on an experimental basis": if the partisans manage to keep a low profile for a few months, they will then be able to cut off the lines of communication, which the invaders are taking such pains to re-establish, at the most opportune moment. At least, their threat will force the fascists to maintain several security divisions on their rear.
Ponomarenko is more sensitive to the political aspect. Didn't the Central Committee, following the inspiration of Comrade Stalin, issue a decree "On the organization of the partisan struggle behind enemy lines"? The Allies, especially the French, are infatuated with the Poles, it is important to show them that the people are united in the defense of the Soviet homeland, even in these disputed regions.
Kroj's plan is simple: a few dozen men, divided into small units, will cross the German lines north of Vitebsk and follow the thick forests of northern and western Belarus to the Pinsk marshes, where they will set up hiding places before the winter frost. Then, it will be possible to send them equipment and reinforcements, by light aircraft or by land. By then, the Fascists will probably have had time to repair the railroad tracks from Brest-Litovsk to Minsk and Gomel: they will have a surprise. Volunteers are already being recruited and they show an excellent morale, including the women.
Kroj avoids saying that these "founders", as they will be called later, have very little chance of returning alive. At the beginning of the war, when he was stationed in Pinsk, he had just enough time to evacuate his family to Kuban, at the foot of the Caucasus. He will experience mixed feelings, a few months later, when he learned that his two daughters had joined the 4th Cossack Cavalry Corps as stretcher bearers.
Moscow - A secret conference brings together Panteleimon Ponomarenko, first secretary of the Communist Party of Belarus, General Ivan Maslennikov and an NKVD officer, Vasily Zakharovich Korzh, a veteran of the Spanish War.
As head of the 29th Army, Maslennikov is slowly recovering from the fatigue of operation Borodino (and the sometimes brutal apostrophes of Zhukov) but proudly displays a new set of decorations. He was also, until the beginning of the war, chief of the border guards in Belarus: as such, he was familiar with the border region of Western Belarus, which had been taken from Poland in 1939. He has only moderate confidence in the Belarusians, even communists: in 1939, many militants of the KPZB (Communist Party of Western Belarus) went directly from Polish prisons to deportation camps of the NKVD, and the others remained suspects. But Maslennikov, who is said to be one of Beria's closest officers, knows that Stalin agreed to overlook man of the deviations that preceded Barbarossa. It is therefore with the greatest care that with Ponomarenko and Borj, he studies the possibility of creating an organization of partisans in Belarus, especially in the Pinsk region.
Korj knows well the reflexes of the Belarusian peasants: they don't like the Soviet officials, but they hate even more the Polish feudalists, and they are certainly furious against the Germans who not only refuse to give them back their collectivized land, but have begun to confiscate their crops and livestock on a massive scale. And then there are the Jews, who begin to hide in the forests to escape the tracking of the SS, and a number of soldiers and border guards, overwhelmed by the German advance at the beginning of the war and who had escaped capture by going into civilian clothes, but who are eager to return to the fight. A large number of executions of hostages by the fascist occupation forces have already been reported.
Maslennikov underlines the risks of the operation, but also its interest, "on an experimental basis": if the partisans manage to keep a low profile for a few months, they will then be able to cut off the lines of communication, which the invaders are taking such pains to re-establish, at the most opportune moment. At least, their threat will force the fascists to maintain several security divisions on their rear.
Ponomarenko is more sensitive to the political aspect. Didn't the Central Committee, following the inspiration of Comrade Stalin, issue a decree "On the organization of the partisan struggle behind enemy lines"? The Allies, especially the French, are infatuated with the Poles, it is important to show them that the people are united in the defense of the Soviet homeland, even in these disputed regions.
Kroj's plan is simple: a few dozen men, divided into small units, will cross the German lines north of Vitebsk and follow the thick forests of northern and western Belarus to the Pinsk marshes, where they will set up hiding places before the winter frost. Then, it will be possible to send them equipment and reinforcements, by light aircraft or by land. By then, the Fascists will probably have had time to repair the railroad tracks from Brest-Litovsk to Minsk and Gomel: they will have a surprise. Volunteers are already being recruited and they show an excellent morale, including the women.
Kroj avoids saying that these "founders", as they will be called later, have very little chance of returning alive. At the beginning of the war, when he was stationed in Pinsk, he had just enough time to evacuate his family to Kuban, at the foot of the Caucasus. He will experience mixed feelings, a few months later, when he learned that his two daughters had joined the 4th Cossack Cavalry Corps as stretcher bearers.
August 21st, 1942
Albania - Four British S.O.E. troops parachute into an area held by an Albanian resistance group, but the drop does not go unnoticed for long. It did not surprise the Axis intelligence services: for several days, the Italian OVRA, the Abwehr of Admiral Canaris and the SD of Kaltenbrunner have noted that the broadcasting time in Albanian language has doubled on the radio of Cairo. It is clear that the British and the royalists in exile are preparing an action in Albania: the services of the Axis reinforce their surveillance of the small country.
Albania - Four British S.O.E. troops parachute into an area held by an Albanian resistance group, but the drop does not go unnoticed for long. It did not surprise the Axis intelligence services: for several days, the Italian OVRA, the Abwehr of Admiral Canaris and the SD of Kaltenbrunner have noted that the broadcasting time in Albanian language has doubled on the radio of Cairo. It is clear that the British and the royalists in exile are preparing an action in Albania: the services of the Axis reinforce their surveillance of the small country.
August 21st, 1942
South Atlantic - The Type-IX submarine U-512, spotted by a JRF-5 of the S27 squadron in Cayenne, is sunk by a PBY-5 of the US Navy, also based in Cayenne.
The French naval staff for the Antilles reported to Algiers and to its Royal Navy and US Navy correspondents: "A very high level of German submarine activity has been observed in the Caribbean and neighbouring areas. Such activity could be interpreted as an attempt by the enemy to cut off essential communications between the north and south of the Americas. Reinforcements of ASM units are urgently needed."
In fact, it is the southward shift of German submarine patrol areas, whose operations on the northeast coast of the United States have become less successful than they were at the beginning of the year.
South Atlantic - The Type-IX submarine U-512, spotted by a JRF-5 of the S27 squadron in Cayenne, is sunk by a PBY-5 of the US Navy, also based in Cayenne.
The French naval staff for the Antilles reported to Algiers and to its Royal Navy and US Navy correspondents: "A very high level of German submarine activity has been observed in the Caribbean and neighbouring areas. Such activity could be interpreted as an attempt by the enemy to cut off essential communications between the north and south of the Americas. Reinforcements of ASM units are urgently needed."
In fact, it is the southward shift of German submarine patrol areas, whose operations on the northeast coast of the United States have become less successful than they were at the beginning of the year.
August 21st, 1942
Battle of Singapore - IV
The Japanese attack Singapore again!
04:00 - The troops of the Imperial Guard Division (which, despite the reinforcements received, do not exceed the strength of a brigade) land on the beaches of Ubin Island (Pulau Ubin), between the northeast coast of Singapore and the Johor coast. It is met with strong resistance, but this could not last long, as the defenders are too few in number.
The final assault on Singapore is launched.
A few minutes later, five Japanese divisions land on the northern, northwestern and western coasts of Singapore itself. The simultaneous landing of the Japanese on such a wide front disperses the artillery fire of the defenders and limits their ability to concentrate their reserves on the threatened points. In addition, the advance of the attackers on several axes creates confusion and some units are in danger of being flanked.
In the extreme east of the front, east of the Causeway, the troops of the 27th ID are pushed back. Following Yamashita's orders, they do not insist and regroup to prepare a new attempt. But on the rest of the front, the 5th, 9th, 18th and 33rd Divisions set up strong bridgeheads.
To cope more effectively and to counteract the effect of the total control of the airspace and artillery fire from the arc of Japanese positions on the hills along the south bank of the Johore River, Malaya Command decides to withdraw its units back to their sources of supply, first to the northwest, then to the west. This strategy is preferred to any attempt to send reinforcements to the front line, as the First Siege had demonstrated the extreme difficulty of moving reinforcements and supplies to the front under enemy bombardment. Moreover, the troops settle on a firm ground, that had not been ravaged by the fighting in April and May, and where the troops have vegetation cover. Finally, the contraction of the front allows the artillery to better concentrate its defensive fire, as the Allies have the advantage of internal lines of communication.
According to III Indian Corps staff reports: "In the northern region, the Japanese used 11-inch and 9-inch howitzers for artillery preparation, installed in dug-in positions with a counter-slope, which made counter-battery fire difficult. Getting the right angle of fall for the shells, in the right direction and at the right range, was a big problem. So few of these huge howitzers were hit by our fire, but some spectacular results were observed on what must have been their advanced ammunition depots. However, the 9" and 11" shells so severely damaged the fortifications and entrenchments in the western part of the Pier area that an effective and economical defense in this area has become impractical.
East of the Causeway, the troops landed by the enemy suffered heavy casualties and were repulsed.
To the west, on the other hand, the left wing of the 9th Indian Division withdrew under enemy pressure from the "coast line" and the "hill line" of the April battles on the positions built in the rubber plantation covered hills just to the rear.
This area was not severely damaged during the April-May fighting and allows the defenders to be under cover of enemy observation, while offering them good observation posts. The plantations allow our reserves to hide and to intervene without being hindered by the air force, the Japanese trying to exploit their success against the coastal defenses to advance towards the interior of the island were met with violent counter-attacks led by the infantry of the 17th Indian Division and by the Australian tanks. (...)
In the western region, the 11th Indian Division withdrew fighting, according to the plans, on the Krangi-Jurong line. Unfortunately, a large part of the artillery defending the beaches (old British guns or captured Japanese guns) had to be abandoned after having very quickly consumed all its ammunition by firing on Japanese ships and on the targets spotted in Johore. In spite of all the efforts and the care taken in arranging the guns to facilitate their retreat, the artillerymen and their supporting infantry found that, under the present tactical conditions and after the heavy storms which had rendered most tracks impassable, they had no choice but to destroy the guns."
.........
07:00 - In his CP at Battery Johore, Major Higgins looks at the horizon, where he expects to discover the first ships of the Japanese fleet. Pengerang is about to fall and bombers, probably from aircraft carriers, have begun support raids on the northwestern part of the island.
07:30 - Hastings, white cap riveted on his head, reddish beard trimmed to the George V style and pipe in hand, enters the telemetry room and carefully pats the flanks of the major's two Dobermans, Apollo and Zeus, lying quietly at the back of the room.
Higgins, steel helmet "flat with beard" slightly tilted to the right side, thin mustache and bamboo stick under his arm, greets him cordially, offering the few Chinese auxiliaries present a caricatured scene to the glory of the Empire.
09:00 - Singapore's microscopic air force goes into action! A Fairey Fulmar, which took off earlier escorted by two Hurricanes, identifies two old battleships (Fuso or Ise class), accompanied by two cruisers and two destroyers. They are at 35,000 yards from the southeastern tip of the island and are heading west across the Singapore Straits.
10:00 - At the Johore Battery CP, the squalls of the southern monsoon hamper the observation, but the Japanese battleships should be visible soon, if the Fulmar observer has done his job well.
10:15 - On the battleship Yamashiro, which is heading southwest at 8 knots, the 14" (356 mm) turrets, pointing at maximum elevation on the starboard beam, engage land at a distance of approximately 25,000 yards.
10:17 - Eight columns of dust and smoke rise with a deafening noise around Changi Road. The first broadside from Yamashiro has just hit*.
10:30 - DD Akebono and Nenohi, which recklessly entered the eastern pass between Johore and Singapore, are attacked by the two 6" of Pengerang which throw their last shells before the Japanese troops storm the battery. Quickly surrounded, the destroyers move away towards the open sea.
11:00 - At the Johore CP, the 356 mm shells hit hard, but the immediate damage is only to the vegetation and the access roads, which are gradually strewn with craters. Visibility has improved and the rangefinders now have in their reticules two well identifiable silhouettes. The tower-poles worthy of a Buddhist temple of Yamashiro and Hyuga are clearly visible on the horizon. Higgins and Hastings have not attended the same school, but they have recently pooled their experiences to develop a sighting rule that takes into account their respective shooting tables. The measurement by depression dear to the artillerymen is thus embellished with the taking into account of the the height of the goal's mast, which is dear to the sailors. The superstructures so typical of Japanese battleships will facilitate the application of this technique.
11:30 - First simultaneous firing of the three guns of the Johore battery on the Yamashiro. The sheaves surround the battleship, but only the short shots can be seen. The speed of the two enemy battleships is well taken into account by the fire direction, thanks to the rake implemented by Hastings.
13:00 - Tekong's 9.2" (234 mm) impedes ground troop progress on Pulau Ubin. The cruisers Atago and Chokai then attack the battery by taking advantage of the shelter of the Pengerang Point, whose 6" have fallen silent.
The duels continue for several hours, the adversaries firing at a low rate and without being able to adjust their fire. The only tangible result is a near-miss by Tekong on the Atago, which causes some casualties and tears in the forward stack.
16:00 - The last four Swordfish from Sembawang take off for a torpedo attack on the Atago and the Chokai off Pengerang. No torpedoes are scored and one Swordfish is shot down, but Admiral Kondo himself, furious, calls Kakuta to explain that the enemy air force, which in theory has been totally annihilated, still exists! If, by misfortune, the scandalous inattention of the fighters of his aircraft carriers allowed a British torpedo plane to hit a ship of His Imperial Majesty, someone would have to pay the price!
17:00 - As the monsoon squalls return, the lack of visibility puts an end to the exchange of fire.
.........
All night long, the Royal Engineers repair the narrow ammunition supply tracks of the batteries, filling in the most troublesome craters and clearing some of the felled trees to clear the field for the guns. The electric and hydraulic cables that had been disconnected to allow the batteries to fire at 360° are reconnected, since they are going to fight against ships, thus in the conditions foreseen during their construction.
Battle of Singapore - IV
The Japanese attack Singapore again!
04:00 - The troops of the Imperial Guard Division (which, despite the reinforcements received, do not exceed the strength of a brigade) land on the beaches of Ubin Island (Pulau Ubin), between the northeast coast of Singapore and the Johor coast. It is met with strong resistance, but this could not last long, as the defenders are too few in number.
The final assault on Singapore is launched.
A few minutes later, five Japanese divisions land on the northern, northwestern and western coasts of Singapore itself. The simultaneous landing of the Japanese on such a wide front disperses the artillery fire of the defenders and limits their ability to concentrate their reserves on the threatened points. In addition, the advance of the attackers on several axes creates confusion and some units are in danger of being flanked.
In the extreme east of the front, east of the Causeway, the troops of the 27th ID are pushed back. Following Yamashita's orders, they do not insist and regroup to prepare a new attempt. But on the rest of the front, the 5th, 9th, 18th and 33rd Divisions set up strong bridgeheads.
To cope more effectively and to counteract the effect of the total control of the airspace and artillery fire from the arc of Japanese positions on the hills along the south bank of the Johore River, Malaya Command decides to withdraw its units back to their sources of supply, first to the northwest, then to the west. This strategy is preferred to any attempt to send reinforcements to the front line, as the First Siege had demonstrated the extreme difficulty of moving reinforcements and supplies to the front under enemy bombardment. Moreover, the troops settle on a firm ground, that had not been ravaged by the fighting in April and May, and where the troops have vegetation cover. Finally, the contraction of the front allows the artillery to better concentrate its defensive fire, as the Allies have the advantage of internal lines of communication.
According to III Indian Corps staff reports: "In the northern region, the Japanese used 11-inch and 9-inch howitzers for artillery preparation, installed in dug-in positions with a counter-slope, which made counter-battery fire difficult. Getting the right angle of fall for the shells, in the right direction and at the right range, was a big problem. So few of these huge howitzers were hit by our fire, but some spectacular results were observed on what must have been their advanced ammunition depots. However, the 9" and 11" shells so severely damaged the fortifications and entrenchments in the western part of the Pier area that an effective and economical defense in this area has become impractical.
East of the Causeway, the troops landed by the enemy suffered heavy casualties and were repulsed.
To the west, on the other hand, the left wing of the 9th Indian Division withdrew under enemy pressure from the "coast line" and the "hill line" of the April battles on the positions built in the rubber plantation covered hills just to the rear.
This area was not severely damaged during the April-May fighting and allows the defenders to be under cover of enemy observation, while offering them good observation posts. The plantations allow our reserves to hide and to intervene without being hindered by the air force, the Japanese trying to exploit their success against the coastal defenses to advance towards the interior of the island were met with violent counter-attacks led by the infantry of the 17th Indian Division and by the Australian tanks. (...)
In the western region, the 11th Indian Division withdrew fighting, according to the plans, on the Krangi-Jurong line. Unfortunately, a large part of the artillery defending the beaches (old British guns or captured Japanese guns) had to be abandoned after having very quickly consumed all its ammunition by firing on Japanese ships and on the targets spotted in Johore. In spite of all the efforts and the care taken in arranging the guns to facilitate their retreat, the artillerymen and their supporting infantry found that, under the present tactical conditions and after the heavy storms which had rendered most tracks impassable, they had no choice but to destroy the guns."
.........
07:00 - In his CP at Battery Johore, Major Higgins looks at the horizon, where he expects to discover the first ships of the Japanese fleet. Pengerang is about to fall and bombers, probably from aircraft carriers, have begun support raids on the northwestern part of the island.
07:30 - Hastings, white cap riveted on his head, reddish beard trimmed to the George V style and pipe in hand, enters the telemetry room and carefully pats the flanks of the major's two Dobermans, Apollo and Zeus, lying quietly at the back of the room.
Higgins, steel helmet "flat with beard" slightly tilted to the right side, thin mustache and bamboo stick under his arm, greets him cordially, offering the few Chinese auxiliaries present a caricatured scene to the glory of the Empire.
09:00 - Singapore's microscopic air force goes into action! A Fairey Fulmar, which took off earlier escorted by two Hurricanes, identifies two old battleships (Fuso or Ise class), accompanied by two cruisers and two destroyers. They are at 35,000 yards from the southeastern tip of the island and are heading west across the Singapore Straits.
10:00 - At the Johore Battery CP, the squalls of the southern monsoon hamper the observation, but the Japanese battleships should be visible soon, if the Fulmar observer has done his job well.
10:15 - On the battleship Yamashiro, which is heading southwest at 8 knots, the 14" (356 mm) turrets, pointing at maximum elevation on the starboard beam, engage land at a distance of approximately 25,000 yards.
10:17 - Eight columns of dust and smoke rise with a deafening noise around Changi Road. The first broadside from Yamashiro has just hit*.
10:30 - DD Akebono and Nenohi, which recklessly entered the eastern pass between Johore and Singapore, are attacked by the two 6" of Pengerang which throw their last shells before the Japanese troops storm the battery. Quickly surrounded, the destroyers move away towards the open sea.
11:00 - At the Johore CP, the 356 mm shells hit hard, but the immediate damage is only to the vegetation and the access roads, which are gradually strewn with craters. Visibility has improved and the rangefinders now have in their reticules two well identifiable silhouettes. The tower-poles worthy of a Buddhist temple of Yamashiro and Hyuga are clearly visible on the horizon. Higgins and Hastings have not attended the same school, but they have recently pooled their experiences to develop a sighting rule that takes into account their respective shooting tables. The measurement by depression dear to the artillerymen is thus embellished with the taking into account of the the height of the goal's mast, which is dear to the sailors. The superstructures so typical of Japanese battleships will facilitate the application of this technique.
11:30 - First simultaneous firing of the three guns of the Johore battery on the Yamashiro. The sheaves surround the battleship, but only the short shots can be seen. The speed of the two enemy battleships is well taken into account by the fire direction, thanks to the rake implemented by Hastings.
13:00 - Tekong's 9.2" (234 mm) impedes ground troop progress on Pulau Ubin. The cruisers Atago and Chokai then attack the battery by taking advantage of the shelter of the Pengerang Point, whose 6" have fallen silent.
The duels continue for several hours, the adversaries firing at a low rate and without being able to adjust their fire. The only tangible result is a near-miss by Tekong on the Atago, which causes some casualties and tears in the forward stack.
16:00 - The last four Swordfish from Sembawang take off for a torpedo attack on the Atago and the Chokai off Pengerang. No torpedoes are scored and one Swordfish is shot down, but Admiral Kondo himself, furious, calls Kakuta to explain that the enemy air force, which in theory has been totally annihilated, still exists! If, by misfortune, the scandalous inattention of the fighters of his aircraft carriers allowed a British torpedo plane to hit a ship of His Imperial Majesty, someone would have to pay the price!
17:00 - As the monsoon squalls return, the lack of visibility puts an end to the exchange of fire.
.........
All night long, the Royal Engineers repair the narrow ammunition supply tracks of the batteries, filling in the most troublesome craters and clearing some of the felled trees to clear the field for the guns. The electric and hydraulic cables that had been disconnected to allow the batteries to fire at 360° are reconnected, since they are going to fight against ships, thus in the conditions foreseen during their construction.
August 21st, 1942
Rabaul - Operation Wart is another attempt to recognize the port. This time, three B-17s of the USAAF have to fly over it at high altitude to distract the fighters, while two RAAF Beauforts fly over the coast, emerge over the island and photograph the port at low altitude. But heavy clouds hinder the execution of the plan. The B-17s attract the fighters (one B-17 is damaged), but the Beauforts have to face a thick cloud cover. After following the coast under the cloud base, between 900 and 1,500 feet, they are forced to fly along all of Simpsonhafen very low, much too low. A Beaufort, hit by flak, hits the ground at Vunapopo (the whole crew is killed). The other one accomplishes the mission. The expensive pictures show in the harbor the battleship Nagato, two heavy cruisers, transports and light boats. The battleship seems damaged, its seaplane hangar burned (left over from the bomb impact of August 14th) and many barges and a repair boat are paired with it.
.........
In the Slot - Warned by Australian seaplanes that a small Japanese convoy had left Tassafaronga the previous day at dawn, the Americans launch three Dauntlesses on reconnaissance. They soon spot the convoy, which is approaching the limit of the bombers' range. The nine available aircraft take off immediately. Still novices, the pilots launch themselves without much coordination. The big Saigon Maru is the most targeted, but in the confusion that reigns on the sea as in the air, it is the small Ka Maru that is hit. It receives a 500-pound bomb which is enough to send it to the bottom. A Dauntless is damaged by flak.
This first and modest victory is to delight the Americans and greatly worry the Imperial Navy, which immediately decide on massive retaliatory measures to allow the Army to finish it once and for all.
.........
Guadalcanal - A platoon of Marines launches a raid against the Japanese outpost line. It is repulsed but the attack is a milestone, bringing the fighting to a head for the first time since the defeat of the force commanded by Colonel Ichiki.
.........
Tulagi - Arrival of the first boats of the "Midget Fleet", officially named "New Zealand Support Flotilla". This is New Zealand's contribution to the naval campaign. These are 40 small warships and service boats that will provide the Allied squadrons with a vital but often neglected support: patrols, buoy laying, minesweeping, support in the hunt for submarines, etc. - trivial tasks.
Their fate would be anything but mundane.
The heart of this force is the 25th Minesweeping Flotilla, commanded from the beginning by Commander P. Phipps (RNZN), on the HMNZS Moa (Bird class, 825 tons, 14 knots, 1 x 4 inches, 1 x 20 mm). This small minesweeper, soon to be known as "Phipps' battleship", is accompanied by the following boats: Manuka (612 t., 10 knots, 1 x 12 pounds, 2 x Lewis), Humphrey (207 GRT, 10 knots, 1 x 4 inches, 2 x Lewis), Kaiwaka (169 GRT, 8 knots, 2 Lewis) and eight Naval Auxiliary Patrol (NAP) pleasure craft. These were towed from Noumea, where they had arrived on the deck of various transports. To the amazement of the U.S. Navy sailors present, each has its own crew, which usually includes the actual owner of the boat! These boats have been re-labeled "Royal New Zealandese Navy Volunteer Squadron" (RNZNVS), but it is impossible to imagine a stranger collection of small boats. These would soon become known as the "Get your boots off my woodwork" boats, but the Marines would soon learn that they could be called upon at any place, any time, no matter how dangerous it was - as long as they didn't damage the varnish on their planking.
The New Zealanders immediately began to exchange foodstuffs (in particular "New Zealand hams" - in fact, one-gallon bottles of Royal Navy rum) for automatic weapons of all kinds. The skipper of a NAP even tried to get a complete LVT from its crew, but Phipps will force him to return it once everyone has sobered up a bit.
Rabaul - Operation Wart is another attempt to recognize the port. This time, three B-17s of the USAAF have to fly over it at high altitude to distract the fighters, while two RAAF Beauforts fly over the coast, emerge over the island and photograph the port at low altitude. But heavy clouds hinder the execution of the plan. The B-17s attract the fighters (one B-17 is damaged), but the Beauforts have to face a thick cloud cover. After following the coast under the cloud base, between 900 and 1,500 feet, they are forced to fly along all of Simpsonhafen very low, much too low. A Beaufort, hit by flak, hits the ground at Vunapopo (the whole crew is killed). The other one accomplishes the mission. The expensive pictures show in the harbor the battleship Nagato, two heavy cruisers, transports and light boats. The battleship seems damaged, its seaplane hangar burned (left over from the bomb impact of August 14th) and many barges and a repair boat are paired with it.
.........
In the Slot - Warned by Australian seaplanes that a small Japanese convoy had left Tassafaronga the previous day at dawn, the Americans launch three Dauntlesses on reconnaissance. They soon spot the convoy, which is approaching the limit of the bombers' range. The nine available aircraft take off immediately. Still novices, the pilots launch themselves without much coordination. The big Saigon Maru is the most targeted, but in the confusion that reigns on the sea as in the air, it is the small Ka Maru that is hit. It receives a 500-pound bomb which is enough to send it to the bottom. A Dauntless is damaged by flak.
This first and modest victory is to delight the Americans and greatly worry the Imperial Navy, which immediately decide on massive retaliatory measures to allow the Army to finish it once and for all.
.........
Guadalcanal - A platoon of Marines launches a raid against the Japanese outpost line. It is repulsed but the attack is a milestone, bringing the fighting to a head for the first time since the defeat of the force commanded by Colonel Ichiki.
.........
Tulagi - Arrival of the first boats of the "Midget Fleet", officially named "New Zealand Support Flotilla". This is New Zealand's contribution to the naval campaign. These are 40 small warships and service boats that will provide the Allied squadrons with a vital but often neglected support: patrols, buoy laying, minesweeping, support in the hunt for submarines, etc. - trivial tasks.
Their fate would be anything but mundane.
The heart of this force is the 25th Minesweeping Flotilla, commanded from the beginning by Commander P. Phipps (RNZN), on the HMNZS Moa (Bird class, 825 tons, 14 knots, 1 x 4 inches, 1 x 20 mm). This small minesweeper, soon to be known as "Phipps' battleship", is accompanied by the following boats: Manuka (612 t., 10 knots, 1 x 12 pounds, 2 x Lewis), Humphrey (207 GRT, 10 knots, 1 x 4 inches, 2 x Lewis), Kaiwaka (169 GRT, 8 knots, 2 Lewis) and eight Naval Auxiliary Patrol (NAP) pleasure craft. These were towed from Noumea, where they had arrived on the deck of various transports. To the amazement of the U.S. Navy sailors present, each has its own crew, which usually includes the actual owner of the boat! These boats have been re-labeled "Royal New Zealandese Navy Volunteer Squadron" (RNZNVS), but it is impossible to imagine a stranger collection of small boats. These would soon become known as the "Get your boots off my woodwork" boats, but the Marines would soon learn that they could be called upon at any place, any time, no matter how dangerous it was - as long as they didn't damage the varnish on their planking.
The New Zealanders immediately began to exchange foodstuffs (in particular "New Zealand hams" - in fact, one-gallon bottles of Royal Navy rum) for automatic weapons of all kinds. The skipper of a NAP even tried to get a complete LVT from its crew, but Phipps will force him to return it once everyone has sobered up a bit.
August 21st, 1942
Bulldog Track - The "Battle of Dead Chinaman" takes place shortly after the arrival of the Japanese and goes as Minchin planned. His men hold the center and repel two Japanese attacks, but the AIF soldiers covering the flanks did not fare so well: the Japanese have much more experience fighting in the jungle and easily repel them, with heavy losses. The survivors of Minchin's group - now less than 50 - are making their way to the rear. The performance of the AIF men dismays the staff, but perhaps less so than the publication by the press, a little later, of a report illustrated with photos, reported by two journalists who had followed the troops.
Kokoda Track - The 2/12th form three columns spaced 300 meters apart. They have to advance a thousand meters before stopping and forming a continuous front.
All day long, the fighting rages. The Japanese resist fiercely on the garden path and the columns of Captains Brocker and Harrison are stopped. They decide to launch a converging attack at dawn on the 22nd.
Milne Bay - In turn exhausted, the Japanese arrive in front of Halfway Creek, and stop.
Field, knowing that this position would be untenable once the enemy forces regroup, is already moving his men elsewhere. He finds a new defensive position, the flanks of which are well secured: it is a mountain pass, now indicated on the maps as Bloody Saddle.
Bulldog Track - The "Battle of Dead Chinaman" takes place shortly after the arrival of the Japanese and goes as Minchin planned. His men hold the center and repel two Japanese attacks, but the AIF soldiers covering the flanks did not fare so well: the Japanese have much more experience fighting in the jungle and easily repel them, with heavy losses. The survivors of Minchin's group - now less than 50 - are making their way to the rear. The performance of the AIF men dismays the staff, but perhaps less so than the publication by the press, a little later, of a report illustrated with photos, reported by two journalists who had followed the troops.
Kokoda Track - The 2/12th form three columns spaced 300 meters apart. They have to advance a thousand meters before stopping and forming a continuous front.
All day long, the fighting rages. The Japanese resist fiercely on the garden path and the columns of Captains Brocker and Harrison are stopped. They decide to launch a converging attack at dawn on the 22nd.
Milne Bay - In turn exhausted, the Japanese arrive in front of Halfway Creek, and stop.
Field, knowing that this position would be untenable once the enemy forces regroup, is already moving his men elsewhere. He finds a new defensive position, the flanks of which are well secured: it is a mountain pass, now indicated on the maps as Bloody Saddle.
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August 21st, 1942
East Coast of Australia (Operation Oni, Phase 3d) - The DEs Haraden and Ringgold (two old American four-pipers sent with their fellows Abbot and Cowell to participate in the ASW battle on the Australian coast) accompany the USS Alcor to Sydney. At 09:00, the Alcor hits a mine (probably laid by I-122) and stops. Believing it to be a torpedoing, the DEs start to search for a submarine, but at 09:20, the Ringgold hits a mine. The bow is broken and the ship remains afloat thanks to the work of its rescue teams, but threatens to sink at any moment. The American sailors understand what is happening, but at 10:15, the Alcor, drifting, hits another mine and sinks.
The two DEs finally manage to get out of the minefield, but not without immense difficulties. The crew of the Ringgold accomplished a real feat by bringing it back to Sydney and beaching it in Watson's Bay with the help of a harbour tug. The old DE is later refloated, but it will only be used as a source of spare parts.
In Sydney, Port Jackson is closed while a mine-free channel is established.
From Research for Australian Official Histories, 1949, notes by Mr Norman
East Coast of Australia (Operation Oni, Phase 3d) - The DEs Haraden and Ringgold (two old American four-pipers sent with their fellows Abbot and Cowell to participate in the ASW battle on the Australian coast) accompany the USS Alcor to Sydney. At 09:00, the Alcor hits a mine (probably laid by I-122) and stops. Believing it to be a torpedoing, the DEs start to search for a submarine, but at 09:20, the Ringgold hits a mine. The bow is broken and the ship remains afloat thanks to the work of its rescue teams, but threatens to sink at any moment. The American sailors understand what is happening, but at 10:15, the Alcor, drifting, hits another mine and sinks.
The two DEs finally manage to get out of the minefield, but not without immense difficulties. The crew of the Ringgold accomplished a real feat by bringing it back to Sydney and beaching it in Watson's Bay with the help of a harbour tug. The old DE is later refloated, but it will only be used as a source of spare parts.
In Sydney, Port Jackson is closed while a mine-free channel is established.
From Research for Australian Official Histories, 1949, notes by Mr Norman
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August 21st, 1942
Russian Front
- Baltic Sea
Operation Kegelrobbe (Grey Seal)
West of the Curonian Spit, around 01:00 - The small Soviet submarines M-77 and M-83 are patrolling between Ventspils and Liepaja. Unlucky, they do not spot the German fleet which passes forty nautical miles to the west, without regard for the Swedish waters of Gotland.
.........
Leningrad, 03:30 - Andrei Jdanov, first Secretary of the Party in Leningrad, sometimes, like many Soviet citizens, wakes up in the middle of the night: he is afraid that the door will open with two NKVD guards with Beria's glasses and mocking smile behind them. This time, the alarm siren reassures him: they are only German bombers.
While getting dressed, he asks on the phone to be put through to the air defense headquarters. He is already preparing his next communiqué for the radio: "The cowardly aggression of the fascist air force broke on the rock... the anvil... the armor... Well, we'll see". The duty officer, cautious, declares that the VVS have the situation under control and that the attack, pardon me, the fascist aggression, does not seem to be of exceptional gravity and is aimed at peripheral neighborhoods. Well, says Jdanov, a small blitz just good to impress the English or the Tunisians... But what if it hid something else? "Put all the aviation and flak in action. These bandits dare to touch the city of the Revolution! Tell General Sokolov to send me a report as soon as possible. And as soon as a fascist plane is shot down, I want the photograph on my desk within the hour!"
Jdanov has barely hung up the phone when he receives a new call: the Civil Defense of Karelia reports that a seaplane, or perhaps two, would have landed on the lake Ladoga, north of Shlissel'burg. Spies, saboteurs? A provocation from the Finns? Jdanov knows that President Risto Ryti and Marshal Mannerheim, head of the Finnish forces, chose (thanks to a real diplomatic a real diplomatic offensive of the Yankee capitalists) a cautious neutrality, but that certain elements of their army would like to turn Finland over to the Axis side.
He telephones to ask for reinforced surveillance measures on the north-western border.
The switchboards are full, and it is only at 06:45 that Jdanov receives precise information from the Gulf of Riga area. The typographers of the daily newspapers, who had just composed "Cowardly Fascist Aggression against Leningrad" have to rewrite their front page: "Cowardly Fascist aggression against Leningrad and Soviet Estonia".
The aggressors in question are a small group of BV 138 long-range seaplanes (nicknamed "flying clogs"). They dropped their bombs on the industrial suburb of Kolpino; they aimed at the tank factory but missed. One of them, while his teammates were bombing, dropped a dozen men, mostly anti-Soviet Estonians, on the Ladoga lake, with an outdated transceiver. The poor men try to hide from the NKVD for a few days. The last one will be denounced less than a week later by the "building's political leader", in other words the janitor, to a vague acquaintance in Leningrad.
On the way back, the seaplanes lose an aircraft disappeared at sea; another one will be damaged by a difficult landing, but could be repaired.
.........
Saaremaa, Estonian archipelago, 04:15 - The minesweeper (in fact, an armed trawler) Shuya has the reputation of a lucky ship. In ten weeks of operations in the Baltic, she has escaped all the torpedoes, bombs, mines and shells the Germans could throw at her. Its hull seems to digest iron, and its 21-K machine guns (an improved Russian version of a German weapon) claim to have shot down four Fascist planes, even if not all of them have been certified. But, tonight, her luck will change.
On her way back from a routine supply mission to Kuressaare, on the island of Saaremaa, the trained ear of the trawler pilot distinguishes a noise of engine coming from the south-east, against the wind. Light boats, perhaps minesweepers, trying to cut through the barrier parallel to the southern coast of Saaremaa. He fires a flare in the direction of the noise and the Shuya's gunners rush to their posts. Flares and tracer bullets fly off in all directions, drawing a curious fireworks display on the calm waters. Indeed, dragonflies appear in the flare's light! But the Shuya barely has time to adjust a burst when a 15 cm shell hits it at the bow, then a second one in the middle. The hull is smashed, the little boat sinks quickly, a machine gun firing until the last second. The light cruiser Leipzig, survivor of one of the first naval battles of the war in 1939, has just opened the score of the operation Kegelrobbe (Grey Seal).
06:30 - The day has dawned, but a curtain of artificial smoke veils the ships, which are hardly discernible. For more than an hour, the artillery of the German fleet (modest in fact:the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, the light cruiser Leipzig, the destroyers Z-23, Z-24, Z-26 and Z-28) pound the Soviet defenses. The Soviet batteries respond as best they can, but the duel is unequal. However, several barges fall victim to the artillery of the defenders or jump on mines, but the first wave of the 61. ID makes landfall west of Kuressaare, around the small fishing port of Nasva. The village, burned down, is fought over house by house. Further east, the 126. ID establishes another bridgehead from the beach of Sutu, which it manages to enlarge little by little; five small Pz-II tanks can even land.
The planes are rare around Saaremaa. Those of the Germans because Reichsmarschall Göring is not a lender, and those of the Soviets, for the North-Western command, because they are held up by the false alarm over Leningrad. Only a few seaplanes are fighting in the air. Connoisseurs can appreciate the duel between a German Ar 196, lighter and more mobile, to a MBR-2 M-34, better armed, but less agile. The MBR-2 arrives at wave level but it is forced to take altitude to fly over the German forces and his opponent can come and strafe him from underneath. Hard hit, the Soviet manages to reach safe waters, where the pilot is rescued.
07:00 - The Germans are able to form two bridgeheads: the one at Nasva, solid, but isolated by ponds, and that of Sutu, which stretches to the village of Pihtla.
A secondary detachment, supported by naval artillery, seizes the islet of Abruka, opposite Kuressaare.
07:40 - The Soviet submarines M-77 and M-83 take insane risks to cross the Irbe Strait, practically under the hulls of the Germans - the waters of the Gulf of Riga, whose depth does not exceed 54 m, offer few hiding places for submersibles. Alerted by radio with a delay, the two commanders understand that they are risking their lives for having let the invader through.
This temerity is rewarded: the M-83 drops a torpedo on a Siebel ferry coming from Riga with a reinforcement of troops. It misses it, then does it again (according to the Soviet manual of the time: launch torpedoes only one by one) and this time hits the ferry, which sinks shortly after. The escorts rush in, but luck is now with the M-83, which escapes the depth charges. Having fired its two torpedoes, it returns to Talinn on September 7th. As expected, the commander is subjected to a prolonged interrogation, but Admiral Tributs has him released after a few days - especially since the M-77 did not return. We need everyone!
11:00 - Ozerov gathers forces for a counter-attack. This one fails, but the Panzer IIs are destroyed by anti-tank guns and the Soviets succeed in stopping the enemy advance in the ruins of Pihtla. They thus prevent the Germans from immediately falling back on Kuressaare.
15:15 - A squadron of Soviet Pe-2s flies over the Sutu bridgehead and drops a few bombs, killing and wounding about twenty people. With another raid at 17:10, these will be the main actions of the VVS during this day. The mini-bombing of Leningrad and the unfounded fear of a Finnish aggression probably made the landing possible by diverting the Soviet air forces.
The following night, if the big German units withdraw to a safe distance, six torpedo boats and minesweepers patrol around the bridgeheads, occasionally spraying the Soviet lines.
The VVS, eager to make up for their absence during the day, launch a series of raids against the German flotilla (which gives nothing) and against the bridgeheads. All available aircraft, including the seaplanes of the navy and the training Polikarpov U-2. No one would have thought of using the U-2 in combat, but the Stavka does everything possible. The U-2 having the annoying habit of releasing very visible flame trails through their exhaust, the pilots stop the engine and arrive at the target in gliding. But the U-2s are used more for liaison than for harassing the enemy. Handy and robust, they can land on the small runways of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, carrying out several missions in the night.
Russian Front
- Baltic Sea
Operation Kegelrobbe (Grey Seal)
West of the Curonian Spit, around 01:00 - The small Soviet submarines M-77 and M-83 are patrolling between Ventspils and Liepaja. Unlucky, they do not spot the German fleet which passes forty nautical miles to the west, without regard for the Swedish waters of Gotland.
.........
Leningrad, 03:30 - Andrei Jdanov, first Secretary of the Party in Leningrad, sometimes, like many Soviet citizens, wakes up in the middle of the night: he is afraid that the door will open with two NKVD guards with Beria's glasses and mocking smile behind them. This time, the alarm siren reassures him: they are only German bombers.
While getting dressed, he asks on the phone to be put through to the air defense headquarters. He is already preparing his next communiqué for the radio: "The cowardly aggression of the fascist air force broke on the rock... the anvil... the armor... Well, we'll see". The duty officer, cautious, declares that the VVS have the situation under control and that the attack, pardon me, the fascist aggression, does not seem to be of exceptional gravity and is aimed at peripheral neighborhoods. Well, says Jdanov, a small blitz just good to impress the English or the Tunisians... But what if it hid something else? "Put all the aviation and flak in action. These bandits dare to touch the city of the Revolution! Tell General Sokolov to send me a report as soon as possible. And as soon as a fascist plane is shot down, I want the photograph on my desk within the hour!"
Jdanov has barely hung up the phone when he receives a new call: the Civil Defense of Karelia reports that a seaplane, or perhaps two, would have landed on the lake Ladoga, north of Shlissel'burg. Spies, saboteurs? A provocation from the Finns? Jdanov knows that President Risto Ryti and Marshal Mannerheim, head of the Finnish forces, chose (thanks to a real diplomatic a real diplomatic offensive of the Yankee capitalists) a cautious neutrality, but that certain elements of their army would like to turn Finland over to the Axis side.
He telephones to ask for reinforced surveillance measures on the north-western border.
The switchboards are full, and it is only at 06:45 that Jdanov receives precise information from the Gulf of Riga area. The typographers of the daily newspapers, who had just composed "Cowardly Fascist Aggression against Leningrad" have to rewrite their front page: "Cowardly Fascist aggression against Leningrad and Soviet Estonia".
The aggressors in question are a small group of BV 138 long-range seaplanes (nicknamed "flying clogs"). They dropped their bombs on the industrial suburb of Kolpino; they aimed at the tank factory but missed. One of them, while his teammates were bombing, dropped a dozen men, mostly anti-Soviet Estonians, on the Ladoga lake, with an outdated transceiver. The poor men try to hide from the NKVD for a few days. The last one will be denounced less than a week later by the "building's political leader", in other words the janitor, to a vague acquaintance in Leningrad.
On the way back, the seaplanes lose an aircraft disappeared at sea; another one will be damaged by a difficult landing, but could be repaired.
.........
Saaremaa, Estonian archipelago, 04:15 - The minesweeper (in fact, an armed trawler) Shuya has the reputation of a lucky ship. In ten weeks of operations in the Baltic, she has escaped all the torpedoes, bombs, mines and shells the Germans could throw at her. Its hull seems to digest iron, and its 21-K machine guns (an improved Russian version of a German weapon) claim to have shot down four Fascist planes, even if not all of them have been certified. But, tonight, her luck will change.
On her way back from a routine supply mission to Kuressaare, on the island of Saaremaa, the trained ear of the trawler pilot distinguishes a noise of engine coming from the south-east, against the wind. Light boats, perhaps minesweepers, trying to cut through the barrier parallel to the southern coast of Saaremaa. He fires a flare in the direction of the noise and the Shuya's gunners rush to their posts. Flares and tracer bullets fly off in all directions, drawing a curious fireworks display on the calm waters. Indeed, dragonflies appear in the flare's light! But the Shuya barely has time to adjust a burst when a 15 cm shell hits it at the bow, then a second one in the middle. The hull is smashed, the little boat sinks quickly, a machine gun firing until the last second. The light cruiser Leipzig, survivor of one of the first naval battles of the war in 1939, has just opened the score of the operation Kegelrobbe (Grey Seal).
06:30 - The day has dawned, but a curtain of artificial smoke veils the ships, which are hardly discernible. For more than an hour, the artillery of the German fleet (modest in fact:the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, the light cruiser Leipzig, the destroyers Z-23, Z-24, Z-26 and Z-28) pound the Soviet defenses. The Soviet batteries respond as best they can, but the duel is unequal. However, several barges fall victim to the artillery of the defenders or jump on mines, but the first wave of the 61. ID makes landfall west of Kuressaare, around the small fishing port of Nasva. The village, burned down, is fought over house by house. Further east, the 126. ID establishes another bridgehead from the beach of Sutu, which it manages to enlarge little by little; five small Pz-II tanks can even land.
The planes are rare around Saaremaa. Those of the Germans because Reichsmarschall Göring is not a lender, and those of the Soviets, for the North-Western command, because they are held up by the false alarm over Leningrad. Only a few seaplanes are fighting in the air. Connoisseurs can appreciate the duel between a German Ar 196, lighter and more mobile, to a MBR-2 M-34, better armed, but less agile. The MBR-2 arrives at wave level but it is forced to take altitude to fly over the German forces and his opponent can come and strafe him from underneath. Hard hit, the Soviet manages to reach safe waters, where the pilot is rescued.
07:00 - The Germans are able to form two bridgeheads: the one at Nasva, solid, but isolated by ponds, and that of Sutu, which stretches to the village of Pihtla.
A secondary detachment, supported by naval artillery, seizes the islet of Abruka, opposite Kuressaare.
07:40 - The Soviet submarines M-77 and M-83 take insane risks to cross the Irbe Strait, practically under the hulls of the Germans - the waters of the Gulf of Riga, whose depth does not exceed 54 m, offer few hiding places for submersibles. Alerted by radio with a delay, the two commanders understand that they are risking their lives for having let the invader through.
This temerity is rewarded: the M-83 drops a torpedo on a Siebel ferry coming from Riga with a reinforcement of troops. It misses it, then does it again (according to the Soviet manual of the time: launch torpedoes only one by one) and this time hits the ferry, which sinks shortly after. The escorts rush in, but luck is now with the M-83, which escapes the depth charges. Having fired its two torpedoes, it returns to Talinn on September 7th. As expected, the commander is subjected to a prolonged interrogation, but Admiral Tributs has him released after a few days - especially since the M-77 did not return. We need everyone!
11:00 - Ozerov gathers forces for a counter-attack. This one fails, but the Panzer IIs are destroyed by anti-tank guns and the Soviets succeed in stopping the enemy advance in the ruins of Pihtla. They thus prevent the Germans from immediately falling back on Kuressaare.
15:15 - A squadron of Soviet Pe-2s flies over the Sutu bridgehead and drops a few bombs, killing and wounding about twenty people. With another raid at 17:10, these will be the main actions of the VVS during this day. The mini-bombing of Leningrad and the unfounded fear of a Finnish aggression probably made the landing possible by diverting the Soviet air forces.
The following night, if the big German units withdraw to a safe distance, six torpedo boats and minesweepers patrol around the bridgeheads, occasionally spraying the Soviet lines.
The VVS, eager to make up for their absence during the day, launch a series of raids against the German flotilla (which gives nothing) and against the bridgeheads. All available aircraft, including the seaplanes of the navy and the training Polikarpov U-2. No one would have thought of using the U-2 in combat, but the Stavka does everything possible. The U-2 having the annoying habit of releasing very visible flame trails through their exhaust, the pilots stop the engine and arrive at the target in gliding. But the U-2s are used more for liaison than for harassing the enemy. Handy and robust, they can land on the small runways of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, carrying out several missions in the night.
- Status