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1935   (FRIDAY)

UNITED STATES: Tycoon and film maker Howard Hughes sets a new land plane speed record of 352.388 miles per hour (567,1135 kilometers per hour) in his single-engine H-1 racer at Santa Anita, California. This beats the old record by almost 40 mph (64,4 km/h). Representatives of the National Aeronautics Association and the Internationale Federation Aeronautique, including Amelia Earhart Putnam and Hollywood stunt pilotd Hughes and his racer.

September 13th, 1939 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The Home Office opens an inquiry into black-out rules.

Navy suspends transfers to the Fleet Reserve after 20 years service and retains men on active duty.

Destroyer HMS Mayrant commissioned.

Paris: The stained glass windows of Notre-Dame are removed for safety.

Edouard Daladier, the French Prime Minister, sends the president of the republic, Albert Lebrun, the long awaited details of his war cabinet. The prime minister will retain the portfolios of war and national defence and in addition will take over foreign affairs. The former foreign minister, Georges Bonnet, goes to the ministry of justice. There are two new portfolios, those of Raoul Dautry as minister of armaments and Georges Pernot as minister of blockade, each with responsibilities specifically related to the war effort. Daladier has taken such trouble over putting his team together because he is keen to have a war cabinet that will enable France to put recent divisions behind it and fight the war in a spirit of national unity. The task may prove difficult; several members of the new cabinet were until recently convinced that France must at all costs stay out of the war.

POLAND:

The 11th Polish Infantry Division near Przemysl had been reduced to barely six battalions, each numbering not more than 300 men.

"The German planes raided us at frequent intervals. There was no shelter anywhere; nothing but the accursed plain. The soldiers rushed off the road trying to take cover in the furrows..."

     U.S. Ambassador to Poland Anthony J. Drexel Biddle, Jr., reports on German bombardment in Poland.". . . in. my opinion the German forces are taking advantage of every opportunity, without regard to the danger to the civilian population which may be involved. It is also evident that the German bombers are releasing the bombs they carry even when they are in doubt as to the identity of their objectives."

The 98th Gebirgs. Regiment under the command of Oberstleunant Ferdinand Schorner capture Hill 374 and Zbolska Heights. (Gene Hanson)

CANADA: Patrol vessel HMCS Takla (ex fishing vessel) chartered at $240 per month.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-27 sank SS Davara.
U-29 sank SS Neptunia.

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September 13th, 1940 (FRIDAY)

Battle of Britain: The weather is unsettled. During the day, Luftwaffe activity is on a light scale, but during the morning small raids are continuously active over Kent and the London area. Bad visibility hindered interception by RAF fighters. As a result of an SOS signal a fighter sweep is carried out 20 miles (32 kilometers) North-east of Kinnairds Head, but no reports of interception have been received.

In the South East from 0730 hours, a number of raids, mostly by single aircraft, crossed the Coast between Hastings and Beachy Head and penetrated to the Thames Estuary and London area. Up to 0930 hours some six such raids are reported, but thereafter a steady stream of raids developed, most of which originated from the Dieppe, France, area. It is reported that German aircraft crossed the Coast at the rate of one about every eight minutes. One raid penetrated to Chelmsford, but practically all the others proceeded to the South London area, returning to Dieppe, France.

During the night of 13/14 September, there are renewed attacks against London and Buckingham Palace is again hit. German activity commences at about 2045 hours when hostile raids are plotted leaving the Cherbourg, France, area. From 2100 to 0030 hours, raids originated from the Cherbourg, Dieppe and Calais/Boulogne, France, areas. The main objective is London but a few raids are active over East Anglia and Duxford area. One raid is plotted in the Firth of Forth. Between 2300 and 0100 hours, about four raids from the Channel Islands flew to Bristol Channel and South Wales.By 0130 hours, activity had practically ceased, but at 0200 hours a second wave originating from the Dutch Islands approached London from the North-east, having crossed the Coast between Clacton and Harwich. Luftwaffe activity continued over London and North of the Thames Estuary until 0525 hours when all raids had finally withdrawn.

RAF Fighter Command: Small daylight raids on London, causing little damage. At night London is raided.

Buckingham Palace is again hit. At 11:10 building is straddled by a stick of six bombs dropped by a low-flying aircraft. Two of these burst in the Quadrangle, some eighty yards from the window behind which the King and Queen were discussing the day's arrangements with the King's secretary, Sir Alexander Hardinge. The blast showered them with broken glass.
Two other bombs fell in the forecourt. One wrecked the Royal Chapel and one exploded harmlessly in the garden.

Other raids include one on Belfast Loch and incendiaries are dropped on Bangor, NI. 

Ten bombs dropped on Eastbourne's centre start large fires and cause 20 casualties. 

At West Ham (London) the Ravenshill School where homeless were being accommodated is hit mid-morning and 50 casualties result.

The main eight-hour raid on London commences at 20:45. Although only five night fighter sorties are flown, Flg Off M.J. Herrick in ZK-A of 25 Squadron manages to bring down a He-111H 5J+BL of 3/KG 4 near North Weald.

Losses: Luftwaffe, 4; RAF, 1.

The battleships HMS Rodney and HMS Nelson at Rosyth in Scotland, and HMS Revenge at Plymouth move to likely invasion sites. HMS Hood is at Rosyth.

Luxury liner SS City of Benares leaves Liverpool with British children being evacuated to Canada to escape World War II. The ship is torpedoed by U-boat during the night about 600 miles out to sea; only 13 of the over 90 children survive.

NORTH AFRICA:
An Italian offensive starts at Sollum, on the border of Libya and Egypt.
After months of prodding by a Mussolini hungry for victory, Marshal Rodolfo Marquis Graziani's Italian 10th army with over 200,000 men, is making a ponderous advance in North Africa and has finally crossed the barbed-wire fence that marks the Egyptian border with Libya. Bells are being rung in Rome to celebrate the capture of Sollum, a tiny settlement of mud huts.
Graziani has insisted on "digging in" at frequent points along the coastal road, harassed continually by British defenders.     

The attack on British forces in Egypt was to coincide with Operation Sealion (the invasion of England by Germany). When it became apparent to Benito Mussolini that "Sealion" was postponed indefinitely, he orders Marshal Graziani, Governor-General of Libya and Commander in Chief North Africa, to launch an attack into Egypt by the seven divisions of his 10th Army. British tanks and armored cars make bold attacks into Libya, forcing the Italians to transfer troops from the 5th Army to the 10th and acquiring 2,500 motor vehicles and gaining the delivery of 70 M-11 medium tanks from Italy. The British retreat to buy time and receive reinforcements. After four days and a 60 mile (97 kilometer) advance into Egypt, Graziani halts his attack due to logistics. Graziani was now 80 miles (129 kilometres) west of the British defenses in Mersa Matruh; to risk going any farther, Graziani said, would risk being defeated until supplies were available. Mussolini, angered over the sudden stop of the 10th Army, urges Graziani to continue 300 miles (483 kilometres) into the port of Alexandria. Graziani is appalled. Eventually Field Marshal Pietro Badoglio, Chief of the Supreme General Staff, promises 1,000 tanks to Graziani but this promise is never kept. The recent military operations in Ethiopia and Spain drained Italy of many needed supplies and equipment and Graziani is forced to change his attack plan and he cannot penetrate further than Sidi Barrani. 

EAST AFRICA:
Italian troops from Ethiopia advance 20 miles into the British colony of Kenya.

CHINA:
Pre-production Mitsubishi A6M2, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter Model 11s, assigned to the 12th Rengo Kokutai (12th Combined Naval Air Corps), are flown in combat for the first time over Chungking, China. The Japanese pilots destroy 99 Chinese aircraft for the loss of two A6M2s to ground fire. 

U.S.A.: Destroyer USS Kearny commissioned.

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September 13th, 1941 (SATURDAY)

GERMANY: The food shortage is beginning to bite in the Third Reich. In a report soon to be issued by the ministry for food and nutrition, Germans will be urged to be more economical in the way that they eat potatoes.

"In every household in Germany, potatoes should now only be served in their skins," it says. "It is most important that in canteens and restaurants, potato peelers are not used."

U-378, U-459 and U-460 launched.

U.S.S.R.: German forces under Kleist and Guderian link near Lokhvitsa. This cuts the pocket of 600,000 soviet soldiers east of Kiev. Chernigov on the Desna is evacuated under German attacks.

The Russian, General Winter, arrives on the Eastern Front with the first snowfall of the season being reported.

General Georgii K. Zhukov, Commander-in-Chief Leningrad Front, arrives in Leningrad. He has orders from Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin to take command and save the city from capture. German Chancellor Adolf Hitler by this time has already decided not to storm the city but to starve it into surrender.

IRAN: The government orders the departure of Axis diplomats.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Drumheller commissioned.
Corvettes HMCS Levis and Mayflower departed St John's as escort for the 54-ship Sydney to Liverpool Convoy SC-44.
Minesweepers HMCS Malpeque and Minas depart Esquimalt for Halifax.

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September 13th, 1942 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Salisbury, Wiltshire: Lt. William George Foster (b.1881), Home Guard, threw himself onto a grenade which had rolled back into his trench. He died instantly. (George Cross)

NETHERLANDS: During the night of 13/14 September, individual RAF bombers bomb Leeuwarden and Texel Airfields.

FRANCE: VICHY FRANCE: The authorities have instituted a Service National du Travail (STO) [National Work Service] which introduces compulsory labour for all men aged between 18 and 50 and unmarried women between 21 and 35.

GERMANY: The most bombed city in Europe, Bremen in northern Germany, suffers its 1,000th air raid.

RAF Bomber Command dispatches 446 aircraft to attack Bremen; 374 bomb the target with the loss of 21 aircraft, 15 Wellingtons, two Lancasters, a Halifax, a Hampden, a Stirling and a Whitley, 41 percent of the force are lost. The Lloyd dynamo factory is put out of action for two weeks and various parts of the Focke-Wulf factory for from two to eight days. Five nearly completed aircraft are destroyed and three more damaged. The report also lists seven cultural and historical buildings hit in the center of the town as well as six schools and two hospitals. Seventy people are killed and 371 injured. Two aircraft bomb Oldenburg as a target of opportunity. 

NORWEGIAN SEA: German aerial and submarine attacks begin against convoy PQ 18, bound for Archangel, USSR, approximately 100 miles (161 kilometres) southwest of Spitsbergen. U.S. freighter SS Oliver Ellsworth is torpedoed by German submarine U-589 and abandoned; one Armed Guard sailor is killed in the attack. Survivors (42 merchant seamen and 27 Armed Guard crewmen) are rescued by merchantman SS Copeland and British armed trawler HMS St. Kenan; the latter scuttles the crippled Oliver Ellsworth with gunfire. Later that day, German planes attack, torpedoing freighter SS John Penn; three of the 40-man merchant crew are killed. British destroyer HMS Eskimo and minesweeper HMS Harrier rescue the survivors, who include the 25-man Armed Guard; SS John Penn is scuttled by escort vessels. Shortly thereafter, freighter SS Oregonian is also torpedoed; escort vessels rescue 21 of the 40-man crew, in addition to 8 of the 14-man Armed Guard. 

U-408 sank SS Oliver Ellsworth and SS Stalingrad in Convoy PQ-18.

U-589 rescued four Luftwaffe airmen in the Arctic. She did not have the chance to bring them to shore as she was herself sunk the very next day.

U.S.S.R.: The perimeter held by the Red Army at Stalingrad is closed to 30 miles. General Chuikov is appointed to command the Soviet 62nd Army at Stalingrad.

Female Soviet fighter pilot Lidya Litvyak shoots down two German aircraft on her third mission, including one piloted by a decorated German ace. (K. Jean Cottam)

Convoy QP 14 (Archangel, U.S.S.R. to Iceland) sails today with 15 ships to gain the protection of the British escort aircraft HMS Avenger [D 14, ex SS Rio Hudson, ex U.S. Navy (USN) BAVG-2] and the cruiser and destroyer force escorting Convoy PQ 18. (Jack McKillop & Dave Shirlaw)

LIBYA: The British Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) and the Special Air Service (SAS) Unit under Major David Stirling attack airfields at Benghazi and Bare. Attempts at amphibious landings at Tobruk are beaten off with heavy casualties. 

Stirling lost a quarter of his men after his modest plan for the raid is inflated into a full scale assault. The plan went against everything that Stirling believed is essential for a successful raid. He is forced to swell his ranks with newcomers, all of whom are not SAS trained; the element of surprise could not be achieved because a large force is being used and, finally, the use of a pre-arranged time table clamped the SAS's mobility resulting in the inability to strike as and when the opportunity presented itself.

During the night of 13/14 September, US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24s attack Tobruk and shipping in Benghazi harbor.

EGYPT: US Army, Middle East Air Force B-25 Mitchells hit landing grounds southeast of Matruh.

MADAGASCAR: British General Sir William Platt, Commander-in-Chief East Africa Command, establishes his headquarters ashore at Majunga. The East African 22nd Brigade continues toward Tananarive, hampered chiefly by roadblocks.

CHINA: U.S. Lieutenant General Joseph W. Stillwell, Commander-in-Chief U.S. China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater of Operations and Chief of Staff to Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek, present a proposed plan of operations to Chiang Kai-Shek for the USAAF Tenth Air Force’s China Air Task Force, callinf for the defense of ferry routes from India to China as its primary mission.

ENTRECASTEAUX ISLANDS: USAAF 5th Air Force P-40s strafe P-40s strafe buildings on Goodenough Island which is off the eastern extremity of Papua New Guinea.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley, Commander South Pacific Area and South Pacific Force, orders the 7th Marine Regiment, now on Espiritu Santo Island in the New Hebrides Islands, to reinforce the Guadalcanal garrison.

Marine defenders defeat an IJA ground attack to seize Henderson Field. During the day, aerial reinforcements arrive: (1) pilots from USS Hornet (CV-8) ferry 18 F4F Wildcats to the island; and (2) in the afternoon, 12 SBD Dauntlesses of the USN's Scouting Squadron Three (VS-3) and 6 TBF Avengers of Torpedo Squadron Eight (VT-8), both assigned to the USS Saratoga (CV-2), are flown to Henderson Field while the Saratoga returns to Hawaii fro repairs. 4 of the 18 new F4Fs are lost in air battles during the day..

Staff Officers from the IJA 17th Army at Rabaul scout Guadalcanal aboard "Irving" recon aircraft. Despite interception by 28 Wildcat replacement fighters from Henderson Field, they report the airstrip held by the Japanese.

In late afternoon 12 SBDs of VS-3 from Saratoga arrive to join the Cactus Airforce on Henderson Field. There have been a total of 60 new planes join the Cactus AF during the last 3 days. 

Colonel Oka Akinosuke, commander of the 1st Marine Raider Battalion, again radios General Kawaguchi Kiyotake, Commanding Officer 35th Brigade, to ask for a delay in his attack against the west flank of the Lunga Perimeter. The answer is No!

Colonel Merritt Edson, Commander of the 1st Marine Raider Battalion, regroups his units on the ridge after the fighting last night. He pulls back 200 yards to stronger positions that will be unfamiliar to the Japanese. His line consists of small combat groups of approximately platoon strength at 100 yard intervals. He cannot man a continuous line. Col. Merrill B. Twining visits the line and recommends immediate replacement of these troops. Division Reserve, 2nd Bn, 5th Marines moves up, but not into place by nightfall. At 1830 hours Kawaguchi attacks again.

At 2130 hours, bombardment of the perimeter begins, IJN light cruiser Sendai, and destroyers Shikinami, Fubuki and Suzukaze are offshore. Then an attack against the ridge begins. Col Edson has a combined 840 men between his Raider Battalion and the attached Marine Parachute Battalion. General Kawaguchi has 3 battalions, with 2,506 men, attacking. But the jungle has slowed the arrival of 2 battalions, his attack is very disjointed. The also get bogged down between the ridge and the Lunga River. Finally about 1 hour before daybreak the Japanese commanders begin to gain control of their units. They regroup to attack the next night.

By 2130 Marine artillery (75s) is dropping 200 yards in from of the line. 

By 2200 the 105s are also involved. Division Command Post (near Henderson Field) is under sniper fire. Major Bailey brings forward a re-supply of grenades and ammo at 0300. Reserves are fed into the line around 0400. 7th Company, 4th Regiment IJA breaksthough a gap in the US lines and reaches the fighter airstrip about 0530 and are stopped by HQ Co and Co. D.

Daylight brings the attacks to a near stop. Kawaguchi finds that 1 Bn did not find the front line, but its CO and Exec are dead; Col Oka has not attacked despite orders; the attack against the eastern perimeter did not take place either. Col. Matsumoto, from the 17th Army, radios back to Rabaul on the 14th that the major attack will occur tonight due to the heavy jungle. The Battle of Edson's (Bloody) Ridge had already happened.

NEW GUINEA: On the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea, the Japanese fire mortars and artillery at the Australian defenders at Ioribaiwa but the night is uneventful.

US 5th Air Force B-26 Marauders pound the airfield at Lae while B-17 Flying Fortresses unsuccessfully attack a cruiser southeast of Rabaul, New Britain Island, Bismarck Archipelago.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIANS: The US 11th Air Force dispatches an LB-30 Liberator and 2 P-38 Lightnings to fly a photo reconnaissance, antisubmarine coverage and strafing mission over Kiska Island lakes and harbor; a tender in the harbor is slightly damaged, 1 Japanese float fighter is downed; a P-38 is hit by AA fire and fighters damage the LB-30.

CANADA: Corvettes HMCS Dundas, Edmunston, Timmins, Quesnel and New Westminster depart Esquimalt for Halifax.

U.S.A.: Minesweeper USS Prevail launched.
Destroyer USS Wickes launched.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: German U-Boat torpedoes destroyer HMCS Ottawa; BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC growing in intensity.

A man from U-66 took his own life. [Matrose II (Masch.) Horst Keller]

U-506 sank SS Lima.
U-515 sank SS Ocean Vanguard and Nimba.
U-558 sank SS Empire Lugard, Suriname and damaged SS Vilja in Convoy TAG-5.
U-594 sank SS Stone Street in Convoy ON-127

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September 13th, 1943 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The US Eighth Air Force activates the 1st, 2d, and 3d Bombardment Divisions at Brampton Grange, Horsham St Faith and Camp Blainey respectively. They are formed from complements of VIII Bomber Command's 4 bombardment wings which are redesignated Combat Bombardment Wing (Heavy) effective this date; each bombardment division is organized into combat bombardment wings. Commanding Officers of the Bombardment Divisions are Major General Robert B Williams (1st), Brigadier General James P Hodges (2d), and Major General Curtis E LeMay (3d).

HMCS Loch Achanalt (ex-HMS Loch Achanalt, ex-HMS Naver) laid down Leith, Scotland.

Frigate HMS Garlies commissioned.
Destroyer HMS Teazer commissioned.

GERMANY: During the night of 13/14 September, ten RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos are dispatched to bomb Cologne and Duisburg. Two bomb Cologne, and individual aircraft bomb Duisburg , Dusseldorf and Munchen-Gladbach .

U-889 laid down
U-295 and U-1101 launched.

HUNGARY: Seventy three USAAF Eighth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses, escorted by 63 P-51 Mustangs, continuing the UK-USSR-Italy-UK shuttle-bombing mission, take off from bases in the U.S.S.R., bomb steel and armament works at Diosgyor and proceed to USAAF Fifteenth Air Force bases in Italy.

U.S.S.R.: Stary Kermenchik, in the Donets basin, is liberated by Russian units.

ITALY: At Salerno the Germans rapidly reinforced the battle area, and the Allied situation continues to deteriorate.

German General Heinrich von Vietinghoff launches a major counter-attack against the Allied beachhead, albeit with divisions which were not yet fully reconstituted after the fighting in Sicily.

The Hermann Göring and 15th Panzer Grenadier Divisions attack the British 10 Corps, while elements of the 26th and 29th Panzer Grenadier and the 16th Panzer Divisions drove against the U.S. VI Corps and the lightly defended area along the Sele River. The Germans penetrate the American lines during the afternoon, overrunning a battalion of the 36th Infantry Division and threatening the rear of the Allied position.

For a time, the situation is so precarious that Lieutenant General Mark Clark, Commanding General U.S. Fifth Army, directs his staff to begin planning to evacuate one of the two beachheads and land its forces on the other. American resistance stiffens along the Calore River as artillery, tank, and tank destroyer units hold their ground, pouring shot after shot directly into the attacking Germans. By nightfall the German attacks falter, and the Allies began to regroup.

General Clark has recognized that his position is precarious. Seaborne reinforcements from Sicily could not arrive in time, and British Eighth Army advances were being slowed by heavily damaged roads and logistic problems. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Commander in Chief Allied Expeditionary Force Mediterranean, had earlier made the 82d Airborne Division available to Fifth Army, and Clark requested its use. The airborne unit represented the only force that could move to the area rapidly enough to make a difference. During the night of 13-14 September, 80+ USAAF Twelfth Air Force C-47 Skytrains drop 1,300 soldiers of the 504th PIR into the beachhead ; these troops immediately move into defensive positions bolstering the 36th Infantry Division. 

Light cruiser HMS Uganda heavily damaged by a German radio-guided bomb during the landings at Salerno. Uganda was built by Vickers Armstrong, at Barrow. She was commissioned into the RN on 03 Jan 43 and served for a short time with the Home Fleet before departing for Ops in the Mediterranean as part of the Support Force (East). Repairs were undertaken at the Charlestown US Navy Yard between Oct 43 and Oct 44. Commissioned into the RCN on 21 Oct 44, HMCS Uganda sailed for the UK the following month for further work. In Jan 45 she sailed for the Pacific, via the Suez Canal, to join the 4th Cruiser Squadron of the British Pacific Fleet.

     In southern Italy, the British Eighth Army continues to advance and takes Cosenza.  
     In the air, RAF heavy bombers, under the operational control of the USAAF Ninth Air Force's IX Bomber Command, hit Potenza. B-17s of the USAAF Twelfth Air Force's XII Bomber Command bomb roads in the Torre del Greco area, a highway at Sala Consilina, and a road junction, railway and bridge at Atena Lucana; B-25s attack a viaduct, rail and road junctions, and rail lines in the Pompeii-Castellammare di Stabia-Torre Annuziata areas; XII Air Support Command A-36 Apaches destroy 25 to 30 vehicles near Potenza, and fighters maintain convoy patrol; and USAAF and RAF light and medium bombers of the Northwest African Tactical Bomber Force hit town areas, road junctions, and vehicles in the Auletta-Pompeii-Sala Consilina-San Severino Rota areas.  
     During the night of 13/14 September, 91 RAF bombers of the 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group bomb the highway at Pompeii.

GREECE: The Italian Acqui division resists a German attack in Keffalonia.

British units occupy Kos Island in the Dodecanese Islands in the Aegan Sea. The RAF moves units to the island shortly.

     During the night of 13/14 September, RAF heavy bombers of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group bomb three airfields in Athens: 32 aircraft bomb Tatoi Airfield, 28 attack Kalamaki Airfield and 25 hit Eleusis Airfield.

CHINA: Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek is elected President of the Republic of China by the Central Executive Committee. He succeeds President Lin Sen, who died on 7 August and will serve a three-year term. The committee permits President Chiang to keep his post as Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese army.

NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, units of the Australian 15th Brigade, 7th Division,  capture Salamaua. The contracting forces are rear-guards. The main Japanese force having already abandoned Lae and is trying to escape over the Saruwaged Range. 

On 8 September, Lieutenant-General Nakano Hidemitsu, commander of the 51st Division, had issued orders for the withdrawal. On or about 10 September, the main body of about 7,000 left in four groups. They carried half rations for a 14 day journey. They had intended to withdraw along a pre-prepared withdrawal route across the Huon Peninsula to Sio. Food dumps were spaced along the route. 

However, at the Busu River the Japanese found that Australian commandos were already in possession of the bridge across the swollen Busu River. These commandos were the flank guard of the advancing 9th Division. The Japanese lost three days while they built a new bridge across the Busu further up. Then they had to follow a different route without any food. Many died of starvation or disease in the ensuing weeks ... (Michael Mitchell)

Pressure at Lae continues as the Japanese perimeter contracts. US Fifth Force B-24s escorted by P-38 Lightnings, bomb airfields and ammunition dumps in the Wewak area while B-25s hit Lae.

NEW GUINEA: Pte. Richard Kelliher (1910-63), Australian Military Forces, went out twice to put a machine-gun post out of action, then went out a third time to rescue his wounded commander. (Victoria Cross)

AUSTRALIA: Three Japanese Dinah's of the 70th Independent Chutai, fly a photo-reconnaissance mission escorted by 36 Zeros of the 220nd Kokutai. Eight RAAF Spitfires intercept and three are shot down by the Zeros. The Japanese lose one Zero. (Steve Alvin)(136)

PACIFIC OCEAN: USN submarine USS Snook (SS-279) sinks a 9,650 ton Japanese army transport southeast of Shanghai, China. Although escorting destroyer HIJMS Shiokaze claims her destruction, USS Snook survives the depth charge attacks and escapes. 

CANADA: The government orders two home-defence divisions disbanded.

U.S.A.: Aircraft carrier USS Boxer laid down.
Destroyer USS Little laid down.
Destroyer escort USS Roy O Hale laid down.
Heavy cruiser USS Toledo laid down.
Destroyer escort USS Swenning launched.
Escort carrier USS Mission Bay commissioned.
Destroyer escort USS Blair commissioned.
 

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September 13th, 1944 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS: The US Eighth Air Force in England flies 3 missions. Numbers in parenthesis indicate the number of aircraft bombing the target.

POLAND: The 2nd Belorussian Front takes Lomza on the Narew River. Belated Russian supply drops to the Polish Home Army in Warsaw begin

     B-24 Liberators of the USAAF Fifteenth Air Force in Italy bombs two targets: 96 bomb the I.G. Farben oil refinery at Oswiecim and 25 bomb the marshalling yard at Wadowice. The Auschwitz concentration camp is located near Oswiecim and some of the bombs land inside the main camp destroying a barracks, killing 15 SS men and injuring 28. A cluster of bombs is also mistakenly dropped farther west at Birkenau, damaging the railroad but missing the crematoria. 

ROMANIA: The armistice between the Allies and Romania is signed.

ITALY: The British 8th Army has cleared the Coriano Ridge of German positions.

For 24 hours it seemed that the Eighth Army was about to break through the Gothic Line at the Germmano and Coriano ridges and pour through onto the plains beyond. Then it came up against its old adversary: the weather. The rivers are flooding. Tanks of the 1st Armoured Division stand impotently in fields of mud at San Savino, while the British 4th Infantry Division has come under heavy artillery and mortar fire, delaying its move up to the start line. The delay has given the German chief, General von Vietinghoff, time to move his infantry into place, closing the gate to the Allies.

U.S. forces continue attacking the Gothic line but make little progress against stiff resistance.

     US Twelfth Air Force B-25 Mitchells destroy a bridge at Peschiera del Garda, cutting the Milan-Verona line; B-25s and B-26 Marauders bomb guns and defensive positions north of Florence; fighter-bombers attack railroads, rolling stock, and bridges in northern Italy, although a heavy overcast hampers operations in the northwest.

     USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb three targets: 50 bomb the railroad viaduct at Aviso, 28 bomb the railroad bridge at Ora and 27 bomb the railroad bridge at Mezza Corona.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Carrier-based aircraft of the USN's Task Groups 38.1, 38.2 and 38.3 make unopposed attacks against Japanese faculties in the central Philippines. Because of the lack of a reaction from the enemy, Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr. recommends that the invasion of the Palau Islands be scrapped and the invasion of the Philippines be moved forward.

JAPAN: During the night of 13/14 September, three USAAF Eleventh Air Force B-24 Liberators strike Kurabu Cape shipping and airfield on Paramushiru Island in the Kurile Islands.

EAST INDIES: Far East Air Force B-24 Liberators and B-25 Mitchells hit 4 airfields and bomb villages on Morotai Island and Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells hit Langgoer Airfield in the Kai Islands .

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC: In New Guinea, A-20s and fighter-bombers hit 2 airfields on Efman Island; A-20s, B-25s, and fighter-bombers hit Babo AA positions and airfields at Manokwari and Ransiki.

PALAU ISLANDS: A USN task force under Vice Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf, comprised of five old battleships, [USS Maryland (BB-46), USS Mississippi (BB-41), USS Pennsylvania (BB-38), USS Tennessee (BB-43) and USS West Virginia (BB-48)], nine cruisers, and destroyers begins two days of bombardment of Peleliu and Angaur Islands. Additional support is from four Third Fleet escort aircraft carriers. Minesweeping begins to clear approaches for the landing craft.
     While sweeping mines 750 yards (686 meters) off the southeast coast of Angaur Island, a violent underwater explosion, starboard side amidships, shakes the high speed minesweeper USS Perry (DMS-17). All steam to her main engines is lost and the forward fireroom is demolished and flooded. Steam and oil sprayed in all directions and the ship takes on a 30 degree list to port. The list increases and, at 1420 hours, the commanding officer ordered "abandon ship". With the aid of the destroyer USS Preble (DD-345) final attempts to save the vessel are made, but, at 1515 hours, all remaining personnel are ordered off. At 1605 hours, USS Perry capsizes. She brakes in two at the point of damage and, at 1607 hours, sinks in 40 fathoms (240 feet or 73 meters) of water. 

CANADA: Frigate HMCS Prestonian commissioned.

U.S.A.: The destroyer USS Warrington (DD-383) and the stores ship USS Hyades (AF-28) are caught in the center of a hurricane off the Florida coast in the U.S. In the evening of the 12th, the storm forced the destroyer to heave to while Hyades continued on her way alone. Keeping wind and sea on her port bow, Warrington rode relatively well through most of the night. Wind and seas, however, continued to build during the early morning hours of the 13th. Warrington began to lose headway and, as a result, started to ship water through the vents to her engineering spaces. The water rushing into her vents caused a loss of electrical power which set off a chain reaction. Her main engines lost power, and her steering engine and mechanism went out. She wallowed there in the trough of the swells continuing to ship water. She regained headway briefly and turned upwind, while her radiomen desperately, but fruitlessly, tried to raise Hyades. Finally, she resorted to a plain-language distress call to any ship or shore station. By noon on the 13th, it was apparent that Warrington's crewmen could not win the struggle to save their ship, and the order went out to prepare to abandon ship. By 1250 her crew had left Warrington; and she went down almost immediately. A prolonged search by USS Hyades, the destroyer escorts USS Frost (DE-144), USS Nuse (DE-145), USS Inch (DE-146), USS Snowden (DE-246), USS Swasey (DE248), USS Woodson (DE-359), USS Johnnie Hutchins (DE-360), ATR-9, and ATR-62 rescued only 5 officers and 68 men of the destroyer's 20 officers and 301 men.
(Note: The USS WARRINGTON is named after Lewis Warrington born on 3 November 1782. He entered the USN on 6 January 1800 and on 28 February 1844, he temporarily took over the duties of the Secretary of the Navy. He relinquished the office in March 1844 and served as Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance until he died on 12 October 1851.

The Warrington was a Somers-Class Destroyer. These vessels were originally intended to comprise a new Destroyer Leader class of vessels. She was 1,850 or so tons and armed with 4 dual 5 inch / 38 calibre single-purpose mounts and twelve 21 inch torpedoes. Unfortunately the heavy guns mounts were not dual-purpose and their AA armament was rather weak with mixtures of 1.1 inch, 40mm, and 20mm weapons. The Warrington served in both the Pacific and Atlantic and was credited with 2 Japanese aircraft downed near Guadalcanal. (Ron Babuka))

Washington: Enrico Fermi loads the first uranium slug into a plutonium-producing reactor.

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September 13th, 1945 (THURSDAY)

POLAND: Amon Göth is hanged at the place of his most egregious crimes on the former KZ-Plaszow. (Russell Folsom)

IRAN: In response to the Iranian government's demand for the withdrawal of American, British, and Soviet occupation forces, the Allied governments assured the Iranians that Allied forces would complete their evacuation by 2 March 1946.

SINGAPORE: Admiral Mountbatten receives the surrender of Japanese forces in Southeast Asia.

NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, Japanese Lieutenant General ADACHI Hatazo, commander of the 18th Army, signs the surrender document at Wom Airstrip just west of Wewak.

NAURU ISLAND: The Australian frigate HMAS Diamantina (K 377) arrives off the island at 0700 hours local. A Japanese envoy is ordered to have the 3,200 Japanese troops and 500 Koreans ready for embarkation by 1500 hours. At 1445 hours, the commander of the Japanese garrison and five staff officers board the frigate and surrender.

U.S.A.: Destroyer USS Power commissioned.

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