13 July 1939

Yesterday Tomorrow

July 13th, 1939 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: £500 million in new defence borrowing is announced.

U.S.A.: Appointment of RADM Richard Byrd as commanding officer of 1939-1941 Antarctic Expedition.

13 July 1940

July 13th, 1940 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - Industrial targets at Mannheim, Leverkusen and Gravensbruk.
10 Sqn. Three aircraft to Mannheim. All bombed.
51 Sqn. Three aircraft to Mannheim. Two bombed. One hit by flak, landed Honington.
58 Sqn. Ten aircraft to Leverkusen and Gravensbruk. Eight bombed.
77 Sqn. Seven aircraft to Mannheim. Six bombed, two hit by flak. One landed at Martlesham Heath and one at Duxford.

The first Free Polish fighter squadron of the RAF is formed. This was No. 302 "Poznanski" Squadron at Leconfield, Yorkshire.

London: Lord Beaverbrook’s appeal to the women of Britain to "Give us your aluminium and we will turn your pots and pans into Spitfires and Hurricanes, Blenheims and Wellingtons" has brought an amazing response. Women, keen to help the RAF pilots who are defending them, have rushed to the depots set up by the Women’s Voluntary Service to hand over some of their cooking utensils. A typical response to the Minister of Aircraft Production’s appeal was that of a woman aged about 80 who walked a mile and a half to donate a saucepan. "It is very useful," she said, "but I give it gladly to the country."

Hundreds of tons have already been collected although the appeal is only a couple of days old. In one town so much was collected that a steam roller was used to flatten the utensils in order to make more room. As well as pots and pans, tennis racket presses and cigarette cases, an artificial leg and a racing car with an aluminium body are among the possessions that their owners hope will be turned into fighters and bombers.

GERMANY: Berlin: Hitler’s Directive no. 15 orders the Luftwaffe to destroy the RAF in preparation for Operation Sealion - the invasion of Britain.

While Hitler still hopes that Britain will make peace, he has already set in train preparations for invasion. On 2 July he ordered a study of the idea, and today he has issued a military directive to the effect that Germany must gain air superiority over the RAF before an invasion can take place. Hitler tells his generals that Britain is only fighting because of hope that Russian assistance. He goes further in confiding that it may become necessary to invade Russia.

Today Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, the German naval commander, stated that invasion should be regarded as a last resort to make Britain sue for peace. He believes, however, that Britain can be brought to her knees more effectively by throttling its maritime trade and bombing its cities.

Hitler writes to Mussolini declining his offer of Italian troops and aircraft for the invasion of Britain.

Hitler has said that the invasion will begin on August 5th.

Mediterranean and Arabia: Italian aircraft raid the British possessions of Malta and Aden.
The Regia Aeronautica continues its heavy raids on the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet under Admiral Cunningham as it continues its retirement from Malta towards its base Alexandria. Despite the contributions the four Sea Gladiators of HMS Eagle's 813 Fighter Flight had made in breaking up raids on 11 July, a decision was made to rely solely on the massed AA guns of the fleet during the 14 raids on 12 July. However, as, 13 July saw the Sea Gladiators again intercepting several of the seven raids made on the fleet off Crete throughout the morning and early afternoon. In a series of sharp actions, Eagle's Commander Flying, Commander Charles Lindsay Keighly-Peach, RN claimed one S-79 and shared another with his wingman, Lieutenant (A) L. K. Keith, RN. Later, Lt. Keith downed an S-81. Again, losses were not the whole tale, as the valiant fighters broke up several of the attacks, and the Italians were unable to obtain any hits. The day marked the end of three days of intense air activity that had seen some three hundred bombing sorties achieve but a single hit on HMS Gloucester on the 11th.(Mark Horan)

13 July 1941

July 13th, 1941 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Britain and the Soviet Union sign a mutual aid pact, providing the means for Britain to send war materiel to the Soviet Union.

FINLAND: Germans in Lappland (Gebirgsarmee Norwegen) continues its attacks towards Murmansk. The advance bogs down soon and on 16 July Germans are forced to regroup for defence.

LITHUANIA: Efraim Zuroff is kidnapped by a hang of Lithuanians roaming the streets looking for Jews with beards to arrest. He is taken to Lukiskis Prison, the main gaol in the city, and is murdered, along with his wife and two boys. More... (Scott Peterson)

U.S.S.R.: German troops push on from Pskov.

TURKEY: Repatriated Soviet Berlin Embassy staff arrive through Bulgaria, at Svilengrad. The German embassy staff are then permitted to leave the Soviet Union. (Greg Kelley)(274 pp 337 - 338)

U.S.A.: Baseball's New York Yankees begin a four-game series against the Chicago White Sox in Comisky Park, Chicago, Illinois. In a doubleheader, Yankee star Joe DiMaggio goes 3-for-4 in the first game against White Sox pitchers Ted Lyons and Jack Hallett. In the second game, DiMaggio hits a single off White Sox pitcher Thornton Lee thus extending his hitting streak to 53 consecutive games.

13 July 1942

July 13th, 1942 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: USAAF 52nd Fighter Group HQ is established at Eglinton, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The group is equipped with the Spitfire Mk V.

Sloop HMS Pheasant laid down.

Destroyer HMS Zephyr laid down.

U.S.S.R.: Hitler designates Stalingrad as a major objective for Army Group B.

Von Bock is dismissed from the command of Army Group B and replaced by von Weich.

4 Pz. Armee is transferred from A/G B to A/G A. (Jeff Chrisman)

Soviet submarine SC-405 sunk in Minefield Tiger near Seskar island. All hands lost.

The Paulus Potter was in station #11 of Convoy PQ-17, when the convoy was dispersed on Admiralty order on 4 Jul 1942. The ship continued her journey together with the British SS Bolton Castle and the American SS Washington. The next day, they were attacked several times by German Ju 88 aircraft of the III/KG 30 ENE of Bear Island and all three ships were hit by bombs or badly damaged by near misses. The British ship caught fire and sank after an explosion, the American ship stayed afloat but sank the next day and the Dutch vessel was abandoned by the crew in lifeboats after two hits when they believed that she would sink. The 51 crewmembers, 14 gunners and eleven Russian passengers suffered terribly from exposure and hunger before they made landfall after five days at Novaya Zemlya where they managed to make a fire from timber they found on the shore and caught some ducks to cook them. On 14 July, the men came across the survivors from Washington and together they rowed southwards, where they found the abandoned American SS Winston-Salem, which had run aground. They boarded the vessel and eat their first real meal in ten days. Later they were taken off by a Soviet whaling vessel and on 17 July transferred to the British steam merchant Empire Tide, anchored in the Matochkin Strait. On 20 July, the ship was part of a small convoy of five merchants and eleven escorts that left for Archangel where they arrived four days later. Today the abandoned Paulus Potter was found drifting by U-255 during a sweep at the 76th parallel. The II WO and two mates boarded the ship and tried to start the engines, but this was not possible because the engine room was flooded. They searched the ship and took blankets, cigarettes and other useful materials with them, including a heavy box with confidential documents found on the bridge. The ship was sunk by a coup de grâce at 0825.

NORTH AFRICA: In Libya during the night of 13/14 July, the US Army, Middle East Air Force (USAMEAF) dispatches B-17 Flying Fortresses to bomb Tobruk harbor and B-24 Liberators to hit ships and harbor at Bengasi; heavy AA fire accounts for the loss of 1 B-24.

CHINA: Japanese marines capture Juian.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: PBY-5 Catalinas of Patrol Squadron Seventy One (VP-71) attempt a daylight raid of Japanese installations on Tulagi and Gavutu but weather forces cancellation of the mission.

CANADA: 46-foot wooden Boom Attendant Vessels ordered from JH LeBlanc Shipbuilding CO Weymouth, Nova Scotia - HMC HC 156, HC 163, HC 208, HC 209 and HC 210.

German U-boats sink three more merchant ships in Gulf of St. Lawrence; Quebec outcry for protection forces secret Commons session.

U.S.A.: Washington: Roosevelt has today approved the formation of a central intelligence agency for America. Called the Office of Strategic Services, it has grown out of an organization called the Office of the Co-ordinator of Information and is headed by "Wild Bill" Donovan, a millionaire lawyer from Wall Street. Donovan, a forceful "can do" man, has close ties with Britain's Special Operations Executive (SOE) and has carried out missions for Mr. Churchill.

Major General George C. Kenney, Commanding General 4th Air Force in the western U.S., is ordered to Australia to replace Lieutenant General George H. Brett as Commanding General, Allied Air Forces, Southwest Pacific Area.

CARIBBEAN SEA: German submarines sink two U.S. merchant vessels.

U-166 sinks unarmed Oneida freighter with one torpedo about 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Cape Maysi, Cuba. The torpedo was seen by a lookout but it was too late to take evasive action and it struck on the starboard side amidships just aft of the engine room. The explosion blew away about 20% of the side and caused the ship to sink within three minutes. The survivors among the eight officers and 21 crewmen abandoned ship on two rafts because there was no time to launch the lifeboats. Two officers and four crewmen were lost; three of them on watch below. The survivors made landfall five miles northwest of Cape Maysi several hours later. They walked to the Cape and were taken in the Cuban schooner Zoila to Baracoa, Cuba.

At 0735, the unescorted R.W. Gallagher was hit on the starboard side by two torpedoes from U-67 about 80 miles from Southwest Pass, Mississippi. The first torpedo struck at the #3 tank just forward of amidships and the second hit abaft the midships house between the #8 tank and the pump room. The explosions buckled parts of the ship and started a fire that quickly spread the length of the vessel and into the water. The tanker immediately took a 30° list to starboard, capsized at 0900 and sank at 1130. With the steam whistle jammed, the eight officers, 32 crewmen and twelve armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in, one 3in, two .50cal and two .30cal guns) abandoned ship in one lifeboat, one raft and by jumping into the water because the fire had destroyed the other boats and rafts. The master was the last man that jumped overboard after he waited for 40 minutes on the bow. Two officers, four crewmen and two armed guards were lost. USCGC Boutwell picked up the survivors within one hour and three of the most seriously wounded were taken by a USCG plane from Biloxi Air Station to Lake Pontchatrain, transferred to the USCGC CG-6264 and taken to the Marine hospital in New Orleans. Two crewmen died ashore from severe burns after reaching the hospital

At 0408, the unescorted Andrew Jackson on a nonevasive course was attacked by U-84 with two torpedoes about 20 miles off Cardenas Light, Cuba. Only one of the torpedoes struck just aft of amidships. The blast killed three men on watch, destroyed the engines and vented through the deck above the engine room, collapsing portions of the stern. The eight officers, 30 crewmen and 11 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, four .50cal and two .30cal guns) abandoned the ship before a second torpedo struck, which sank the ship immediately. The survivors landed at Vavendaro on the north coast of Cuba in three lifeboats 12 hours after the attack. The master Frank Lewis Murdock was also in command of the Yaka, which was damaged by U-624 in Convoy ONS-144 and sunk by U-522 on 18 Nov 1942. (Jack McKillop and Dave Shirlaw)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0221, the Sithonia, dispersed from Convoy OS-33, was torpedoed and sunk by U-201 west of the Canary Islands. Seven crewmembers were lost. The master and 20 crewmembers made landfall after 18 days at Timiris, Senegal and were interned by the Vichy French authorities at Port Etienne. The chief officer and 24 crewmembers were picked up after sailing about 820 miles in 14 days by a Spanish fishing vessel and landed at Las Palmas.

13 July 1943

July 13th, 1943 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Discussing the invasion of Italy, Churchill asks "Why should we crawl up the leg like a harvest bug from the ankle up? Let us rather strike at the knee."

Destroyer HMCS Assiniboine completed refit at Liverpool.

Light cruiser HMS Ceylon commissioned.

GERMANY: Rastenburg: Hitler confers with Kluge and Manstein (the Army Group Commanders of the Kursk offensive) and orders German operations around Kursk to end, and starts to redeploy forces to Italy. Manstein is upset as he believes that he could still achieve victory. (Glenn A. Steinberg)

U-1276 laid down.

ITALY: Augusta, Sicily is captured by the British 5th Division. The Herman Göring Panzer division engages British forces near Vizzini.

USAAF Ninth Air Force B-24 Liberators strike the airfields at Crotone.

On the ground in Sicily, the British effort to break out onto Catania Plain by establishing bridgehead over Simeto River near Lentini is firmly opposed.

In the air during the night of 12/13 July, Northwest African Strategic Air Force Wellingtons hit Caltanissetta, Gerbini Airfield, and Enna. During the day, B-17 Flying Fortresses, B-25 Mitchells, B-26 Marauders, and fighters attack Enna, Milo Airfield, Carcitella landing ground, Randazzo, and targets of opportunity while Ninth Air Force B-24s hit the airfield at Vibo Valentia. Northwest African Tactical Air Force aircraft hit truck convoys, trains, railway stations, troops, and numerous targets of opportunity over wide areas in Sicily. Ninth Air Force B-25s attack the Leonforte road and harbor at Termini while P-40s patrol the Licata area.

The Northwest African Coastal Air Force continues sea patrols, reconnaissance, and convoy protection and attack ship convoy northeast of Palermo.

Shortly before 2100, HMS Unruly torpedoes and sinks Italian submarine Acciaio off Cape Vaticano near Messina, Sicily.

PACIFIC: USN Task Group 36.1 under Rear Admiral Walden L. Ainsworth engages IJN forces under Rear Admiral Izaki Shunji during the Battle of Kolombangara. The Allied forces consist of the light cruisers HMNZS Leander, USS Honolulu (CL-48) and USS St. Louis (CL-49) and ten destroyers; the Japanese force consists of the light cruiser HIJMS Jintsu and five destroyers.

The battle began at 0110 hours local when the Allied ships opened fire; HIJMS Jintsu is sunk by gunfire and torpedoes and the destroyer HIJMS Yukikaze is damaged. But four Japanese destroyers, waiting for the Allied ships to turn, launch 31 torpedoes at the formation. USS Honolulu, USS St. Louis and the destroyer USS Gwin (DD-433), manoeuvring to bring their main batteries to bear on the enemy, turn right into the path of the deadly "long lance" torpedoes. USS Honolulu is struck by a torpedo on the starboard side at 0211 hours causing hull damage; USS St. Louis took a torpedo which hit well forward and twisted her bow, but caused no serious casualties; and USS Gwin received a torpedo hit amidships in her engine room. USS Gwin is scuttled by another destroyer; 61 men perish on the ship.

Light cruiser HMNZS LEANDER is also torpedoed and seriously damaged. Her Executive officer is Commander Stephen W. Roskill RN, who later wrote the official history of the Royal navy in the war, "The War at Sea".

The torpedo that struck the Leander blew a huge, jagged hole in her port side amidships and exploded into No. 1 boiler-room, which was badly wrecked by the blast. All those on duty there were killed. The hole was about twenty feet in depth from the lower deck level and thirty feet in length, with distortion of armour and shell plating and frames extending more than fifty feet fore and aft. There were bad cracks in the ship's side and in the lower deck, which was lifted between three and four feet over the main damage area. The explosion threw up a great column of water, most of which fell on the after part of the ship and swept several men overboard. Blast from the explosion vented up a boiler-room fan casing and blew seven members of a 4-inch gun's crew over the side.

Unfortunately, the Leander, which was steaming at high speed when hit, had travelled a considerable distance before it was known that the men had gone. The port quadruple torpedo-tube mounting, situated about fifty feet abaft the seat of the explosion, was lifted bodily aft for several feet, leaving the torpedoes lolling over the ship's side.

The LEANDER took an immediate list of ten degrees to port. Main steam failed to the two after engines (inner shafts) and electric power was cut off everywhere forward of No. 3 boiler- room, plunging the ship into complete darkness and bringing all auxiliary machinery to a dead stop.

Very soon, steam was lost on the port forward engine, due to the enforced evacuation of No. 2 boiler-room because of the intense heat when the air supply fans were disabled by blast. The ship had lost two-thirds of her 72,000 horse-power steaming capacity. The wrecking of the electrical installation caused a complete cut-out of all communications, except the very limited number of sound-powered telephones, and a total failure of all gunnery fire control and radio equipment. The telephone battery was put out of action by a short circuit on its leads. Not only had electric power failed, but the transmitting station, with its superhuman calculating machines which correlated a dozen different sets of data at once for the control and accurate firing of the guns, had been completely flooded and its operators compelled to leave the compartment. The Leander was in no condition to renew the action had the enemy returned, and when daylight came there was every likelihood of air attacks.

When some 600 square feet of her structure was blown open to the sea, five compartments were completely flooded—the forward boiler-room, main switchboard room, forward dynamo room, low-power room, and the transmitting station. Five fuel-oil tanks were wrecked and two others badly contaminated with sea water. There were big leaks through a damaged bulkhead into No. 2 boiler-room and the passage on the port side, as well as into the stokers’ mess-deck through the splits in the ship's side and the deck above. Major damage had been done to auxiliary machinery and steam, water, and fuel-oil pipe systems. It was found that the ship could steam at slow speed on the two outer engines, taking steam from No. 3 boiler-room. A south-easterly course was set to return to harbour and the /Leander/ gradually worked up to 12 knots.

Communication was established with the destroyers Radford and Jenkins, which had been detached by Rear- Admiral Ainsworth to stand by the Leander and which acted as anti-submarine and anti-aircraft screen during the passage to Tulagi <http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/name-025184.html>.

When No. 2 boiler-room had to be evacuated because of the stoppage of the air supply fans, it was not possible to close the stop valves of the main steam pipes because of the intense heat. Acting Chief Engine-room Artificer Morris Buckley went back a few minutes later and at great risk in the darkness and escaping steam succeeded in shutting down the valves. Led by Chief Shipwright J. W. Stewart, a damage control party set about the establishment of a flooding boundary. Working in almost total darkness and up to their waists in oil and water, they shored up damaged bulkheads and hatches and plugged holes and cracks. The most immediate danger was the imminent flooding of No. 2 boiler-room. Stoker Petty Officer A. Fickling and Leading Stoker J. R. Haliday volunteered to re-enter the compartment and shore up the damaged bulkhead. Measures were then taken to pump out the boiler-room by means of two portable electric pumps, with a capacity of sixty tons an hour, which kept the water level below the floor plates.

Commander S. W. Roskill had been injured on the leg and nearly swept overboard by the explosion, but for some hours he directed the work of his damage control parties until incapacitated by his wound. ‘The high standard of organisation and training shown by all hands was largely due to his initiative and leadership’, said the captain's report. Regular drills, lectures, and demonstrations had made all officers and men ‘damage control conscious’, and it was for this reason that in spite of severe casualties among the senior ratings of one party, correct action on their own initiative was taken by the survivors. The general reaction was: ‘Well, it was just what we had been told it would be like.’ A seaman boy, Mervyn Kelly, seventeen years of age, was employed as the commander's messenger. He, too, had been blown over and injured by the explosion, but he stuck gamely to his job, and during the period when all telephones were out of action he carried many important verbal messages speedily and accurately. He neither mentioned nor reported his injuries until long after daylight.

The port torpedo-tubes, which were about to be fired when the ship was hit, were dismounted by the explosion and most of their crew became casualties. A young petty officer, Charles A. Patchett, though badly shaken, immediately organised the survivors and the crew of the starboard tubes into repair parties. They rapidly restored power to a number of important circuits, thus greatly assisting Chief Electrical Artificer W. R. J. Jones, <http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2-2Epi-b2-WH2-2Epi-d.html#fn12-32-WH2-2Epi-d> who had taken charge of all electrical repair parties when he learned that the commissioned electrician and his staff had been killed in the main switchboard compartment. When he heard that there were badly injured men on the stokers’ mess-deck, Norman Craven, the youngest member of the sick berth staff, at once volunteered to go there and assist the first aid parties. Under conditions requiring more than ordinary courage, he attended to wounded men, showing much initiative and a sound knowledge of his duties. Chief Petty Officer Telegraphist C. J. Rosbrook showed great organising and technical ability in rapidly making good all breakdowns in the ship's wireless telegraphy system.

The first casualty arrived at the main dressing station six minutes after the explosion occurred, and almost all the fifteen cases were treated there within the next ten minutes. The seriously injured suffered mainly from a combination of multiple fractures of leg and ankle bones and the effects of blast. All were standing up when they were injured, with the exception of a leading stoker who was seated at a desk. Two ratings standing one on either side of him were killed instantly. The behaviour and morale of the injured men was of a high order both during the action and afterwards, and they were unselfish in their insistence that ‘we should treat the other fellow first’, reported Surgeon Lieutenant-Commander E. S. McPhail. ‘They appeared to be far more concerned with the damage inflicted on the enemy than with their own condition and wounds.’ Electric current failed in the main dressing station and forward first aid post, and emergency lighting had to be used until the repair parties restored power for the lights and sterilisers. The sick berth staff and auxiliary medical parties worked for eighteen hours without a break. Being in battle dress, all were continuously wet through as a result of perspiration from heat and lack of ventilation, but liberal rations of saline tablets and well-sweetened lime juice helped to prevent exhaustion. The condition of the wounded on their discharge to hospital was evidence of the medical staff's sound work.

The customary preparations for feeding the ship's company had been made before the action and proved adequate under most trying and difficult conditions. Approximately three days’ normal supply of bread was already baked. Two sandwiches per man were prepared, coppers were filled with hot soup and cocoa, and a large tub of iced lime juice placed in the galley. The issue room was fully stocked with tinned foods, especially fruits, and emergency supplies were placed in the main store. No damage to galley or bakery was caused by the explosion, but no electric power, steam, or fuel-oil was available for cooking from the time of the action until the afternoon.

FOR EIGHTEEN HOURS the engineers and stokers laboured in heat and semi-darkness to keep the ship afloat and steam her more than 200 miles back to harbour. Two-thirds of her boiler power was damaged and out of service. The only two available boilers, all the main and auxiliary machinery, and all the main and overflow feed water tanks were contaminated by salt water and fuel-oil. It is essential to good steaming and the safety of the plant that the water used to generate the high-pressure, superheated steam must be entirely free from salt and as pure as it is possible to make it. Distilled water is used, losses are made good by evaporators, and frequent tests are made in order to detect and quickly correct any salinity. But in the /Leander/ all the rules of good steaming had been upset by the intricate and extensive damage to her vitals. The boiler feed water quickly became contaminated with salt water and fuel-oil. This caused almost continuous ‘priming’^* <http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2-2Epi-c9-WH2-2Epi-d.html#fn1-29-WH2-2Epi-d> of both boilers. Both sets of evaporators were put on to make up feed water and the main feed tanks were allowed to overflow continuously. The boilers were blown down every ten minutes in order to reduce the density, which at one time was three degrees. These drastic measures resulted in a reduction of the density, by the time the ship arrived in harbour, to less than one degree. Subsequent examination of the boilers showed that many of the tubes were so badly coated internally with oil residue that burning-out must have been imminent.

Terse but graphic was the account of his experiences written by a young stoker who was on duty in No. 3 boiler-room:

The supply fans roared to the demand for higher air pressure as the engine throttles were eased open for full speed. Stop! Full astern! Full ahead! Stokers whipped off oil sprayers, on sprayers; the ship heeled.

Crash! Crash! Crash! Our boilers pulsated and roared. Furnace flames spat out with every salvo. Dull thuds around us. Bombs? No, enemy shells exploding in the sea, more likely. Loud speakers told us that our force had run into a Japanese cruiser and destroyer squadron. The ship quivered as the salvoes thundered. A crash—sudden darkness— the ship lurching and heeling over—an almost incredible silence. The water tenders flashed their emergency lights, the chief of the watch wrenched his fan throttle closed, the leading stoker slammed to a stop his oil-fuel pump as the needle of the steam-pressure gauge started to creep up. No safety valve lifted. An electrical repair party eventually gave some power and lights. Bilge water crept across the floor plates.

Minutes seemed like hours. Steam and water cut through gland packings, showering us with a scalding spray. Water levels raced from high to low in the gauge glasses, the boilers primed, turbo fans ‘hunted’, the steam pressure danced from high to low. We swung on valves, nursed our pumps and watched salty feed water upsetting all the laws of steady steaming.

With communication lines dead and in semi-darkness we did our best to give steam. Slow ahead! Two sprayers on each boiler, one on each, two, three on each, and so on, hour after hour, steam roaring through leaking glands and blow-down valves open. All day we flogged those boilers.

Nightfall saw us safe in harbour, battered, torn, but not beaten.

American fighter aircraft gave cover to the Leander from daylight on 13 July until her arrival in harbour. She was screened by the destroyers Radford and Jenkins, the latter being relieved by the Taylor at 8 a.m. Two other destroyers joined the escort during the afternoon and the Leander arrived in Tulagi <http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/name-025184.html> harbour at seven o'clock, just after dark. There was a moving scene when the ship's company assembled on the forecastle in the brilliant light of a full tropical moon and the chaplain read prayers for the dead and of thanksgiving for the safety of the ship. The captain, standing by the capstan, read the names of the dead and missing.

(Jack McKillop and Keith Allen and Dave Shirlaw and Daniel Ross)

Title: Leander <http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/name-100664.html> Author: S. D. Waters <http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/name-110130.html> In: Episodes & Studies Volume 2 <http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2-2Epi.html> Publication details: Historical Publications Branch <http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/name-110027.html>, 1950, Wellington <http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/name-008844.html>

Part of: The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945

The transports, however, still succeed in landing 1,200 Japanese troops.

In the Solomon Islands, 12 US Marine Corps SBD Dauntlesses attack Japanese ground forces within 1,000 yards (914 meters) of US infantry positions on New Georgia Island; this is the first mission of its kind in the Solomons. Japanese air strikes continue and Navy F4F Wildcat pilots shoot down 7 A6M "Zekes" early in the morning.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Louisburg (II) launched Quebec City, Province of Quebec.

U.S.A.: Baseball!

Escort carrier USS Tripoli launched.

Submarine USS Raton commissioned.

WEST INDIES: Admiral Georges Robert relinquished authority over Martinique and Guadeloupe and the United States Government accepted the appointment of M. Hoppenot as administrator.

ATLANTIC OCEAN:

U-487 sunk in the central Atlantic by five Avenger and Wildcat aircraft of the American escort carrier USS Core in position 27.15N, 38.05W. 31 dead and 33 survivors. One Wildcat shot down in the action.

U-607 sunk at 0800 in the Bay of Biscay NW of Cape Ortegal, Spain, in position 45.02N, 09.14W, by depth charges from an RAF 228 Sqn Sunderland. 45 dead and 7 survivors.

13 July 1944

July 13th, 1944 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The last of the LST carrying the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division from Normandy put into Southampton. In the Normandy campaign just passed the division had taken 4,670 casualties. Among the six divisions of VII Corps this was exceeded only by the casualties taken by 4th Infantry Division. On August 17, 1942 when he assumed command of the 101st, Major General William C. Lee told the soldiers of the division that. "The 101st . . . has no history but it has a rendezvous with destiny." The soldiers of the 101st had kept faith with General Lee and had met their first rendezvous. (Jay Stone)

The USAAF's Eighth Air Force in England flies Mission 471: 1,043 bombers and 609 fighters in three forces are dispatched to bomb targets in Germany; ten bombers and five fighters are lost:

1. Of 399 B-17s, 356 bomb Munich, six bomb the railroad at Munich and three hit targets of opportunity; four B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 292 P-38 Lightnings, P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51 Mustangs; they claim 2-1-2 Luftwaffe aircraft; a P-38 and a P-47 are lost.

2. Of 278 B-17s, 139 bomb Munich, 100 hit an aircraft engine plant at Munich and three hit targets of opportunity; they claim 11-4-8 Luftwaffe aircraft; five B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 170 P-38s, P-47s and P-51s; a P-51 is lost.

3. Of 366 B-24s, 298 hit Saarbrucken marshalling yards and three hit targets of opportunity; a B-24 is lost. Escort is provided by 81 P-51s; a P-51 is lost.

Twenty eight B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions during the night.

RAF Woodbridge, Suffolk: A Ju88G nightfighter landed on the runway here today. It was based at Deelen in Holland, but apparently the crew made a navigational error after a sortie. On board were three different radar sets, all designed to counter systems used by RAF bombers. The FuG 220 is impervious to "Window"; the FuG 227 Flensburg was found to be tuned to "Monica", used by bombers to warn of German fighters on their tails; and the FuG Naxos was tuned to H2S, which gives a downward radar scan. This will give British scientists food for thought.

Minesweeper HMS Coquette commissioned.

FRANCE: The US offensive toward St. Lo has ground to a halt. Plans for operation Cobra are being formed.

Bad weather prevents Ninth Air Force bomber operations and restricts the fighters; fighters fly armed reconnaissance in the Sens-Montargis area, hitting rail and highway traffic, warehouses, barracks, and armored cars and tanks; rail lines and bridges are hit in the Saint-Florentin-Dreux-Evreux-Chartres-Mamers-Gassicourt areas; IX Tactical Air Command fighters furnish area cover, bomb troop concentrations, vehicles, and gun positions in the Lessay-Coutances area, and attack rail traffic west of Angers, a landing field west of Alencon, a marshalling yard at Vendome, and a bridge at Tours.

GERMANY:

U-2512, U-3010 laid down

U-2325 launched.

ITALY: The French Corps is attacking 20 miles south of Florence, Italy.

The Fifteenth Air Force in Italy dispatches 581 bombers to attack targets in northeastern Italy; B-17s hit marshalling yards at Mestre and railroad bridges at Latisana, Pinzano al Tagliamento and Venzone; B-24s bomb marshalling yards at Brescia, Mantova and Verona, and oil storage at Porto Marghera and Trieste; P-38s and P-51s fly escort; other P-51s carry out a sweep over the Po River Valley.

Aegean Sea: The Allies take Symi island, north of Rhodes.

LITHUANIA: Vilna falls to the Soviet Army. Once part of Poland, the Lithuanian capital has been occupied by German troops since June 1941; now its garrison, prevented from surrendering by SS troops, has been annihilated. Among the casualties were paratroopers dropped into the city to "stand or die". Many were killed on the way down, others died as they landed on the city's roofs; the rest were wiped out in combat in the ancient streets. The way is now open for the Russians to cut off the Baltic states and advance into East Prussia. The indications are that the Wehrmacht is falling back to a new defence line on the Polish border just 55 miles from Warsaw.

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: The Red Army, demonstrating that it is powerful enough to strike anywhere along the eastern front, has launched a two-edged drive from the Ukraine aimed at crossing the river Bug and capturing Lwow, one of the principal cities of pre-war Poland. The Russian forces, commanded by Marshal Konev, are advancing on the town of Brody where they aim to trap some 40,000 Germans in a "cauldron" where they could be systematically annihilated.

There is an important political aspect to this new Soviet advance, for the Bug marks the so-called Curzon Line which Stalin wants recognized as the new western boundary of the Soviet Union. This would mean that Lwow, much loved by the fiercely patriotic Poles, would fall under Soviet Control.

PACIFIC: Task Groups 58.3 and 58.4 arrive off Guam to participate in the preinvasion bombardment. Task Force 58 now consists of:

Task Group (TG) 58.1:

- USS Cabot (CVL-28) with Light Carrier Air Group Thirty One (CVLG-31)

- USS Hornet (CV-12) with Carrier Air Group Two (CVG-2)

- USS Yorktown (CV-10) with CVG-1

TG 58.2

- USS Franklin (CV-13) with CVG-13

- USS Wasp (CV-18) with CVG-14

TG 58.3

- USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) with CVG-8

- USS Lexington (CV-16) with CVG-19

- USS Jacinto (CVL-30) with CVLG-51

TG 58.4

- USS Essex (CV-9) with CVG-15

- USS Langley (CVL-27) with CVLG-32

- USS Princeton (CVL-23) with CVLG-27

U.S.A.: The 21-minute U.S. Army documentary "Liberation of Rome" is released in the U.S. This short film depicts the successful Allied advance into Rome, freeing it from German control during World War II.

Destroyer escort USS Doyle C Barnes commissioned.

13 July 1945

July 13th, 1945 (FRIDAY)

ITALY declares war on Japan.

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: Japan may ready to do a U-turn on its refusal to surrender. Diplomatic sources believe that today's hastily-arranged meeting between the Japanese ambassador in Moscow, Nataoke Sato, and the Kremlin's commissar for foreign affairs, Mr. Molotov, included a Japanese request to the Soviet Union to sound out Britain and the US about negotiations for surrender.

The move came three days ago, as 1,022 American planes bombed the Tokyo area, and Allied battleships ten miles off the Japanese coast carried out a night bombardment of factories in the Hitachi area, 55 miles north-east of Tokyo. In Moscow as a special envoy with power to discuss Soviet-Japanese relations, especially the Manchurian issue.

The Kremlin response to the request - the second in two months - is cool. It believes that further talks without an offer of unconditional surrender, an essential Allied precondition to peace talks, are pointless. Marshal Stalin, however, will raise the matter at the talks in Potsdam next week.

JAPAN: The XXI Bomber Command in the Mariana Islands flies Mission 268, i.e., during the night of 13/14 July, 30 B-29 Superfortresses mine Shimonoseki Strait and waters at Fukuoka, Japan and ports at Seishin, Masan, and Reisui in Korea.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Task Force 95 consisting of the large cruisers USS Alaska (CB-1) and USS Guam (CB-2), four light cruisers and nine destroyers departs Leyte Gulf for an anti-shipping sweep of the East China Sea.

The scheduled attack by carrier-based aircraft of Task Force 38 against the Japanese home islands is postponed due to weather.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: In the Aleutian Islands, the USN's Task Force 93 under Rear Admiral John H. Brown, Jr., composed of the light cruisers USS Concord (CL-10) and USS RIchmond (CL-9) and five destroyers, commences an anti-shipping sweep off the Kurile Islands.

U.S.A.: The motion picture "The Story of G.I. Joe" is released in the U.S. This war drama based on Ernie Pyle's books "Brave Men" and "Here Is Your War," is directed by William Wellman and stars Burgess Meredith (as Ernie Pyle) and Robert Mitchum (in his first big movie role). The story is about Pyle following Company C, 18th Infantry Regiment in North Africa and later in Italy during the battles of San Vittorio and Cassino. The film is nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Supporting Actor (Mitchum).

Destroyer USS George K MacKenzie commissioned.

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