22 October 1939

1934 (MONDAY)

GERMANY: President of the Reichstag Hermann Göring, speaking in Chancellor Adolf Hitler's name, offers to guarantee all of Romania's borders, including those with the Soviet Union and Hungary, and to completely rearm Romania with modern weapons, if it will pledge to oppose any attempt by Soviet troops to cross Romanian territory. Nicolae Titulescu, the Romanian Prime Minister, however, had previously promised the French and Czechoslovaks to allow the Soviets to cross Romania in case of war. Titulescu then attempts to conceal Göring's offer from his ministry and the Romanian government.

1936 (THURSDAY)

BELGIUM: Belgium's most important Fascist party is led by the charismatic Leon Degrelle. He founded the Christus Rex (Rexist Party) in 1935 and within a year has won 21 seats in Parliament. Today, the Belgian government proclaims martial law and clamps down on the fascists and Degrelle is arrested in the crackdown.

GERMANY: The first test-drive of the Volkswagen ("people's car") vehicle ("The Beetle") began today, and Porsche employees drove the VW 3-series model over 800 kilometers (497 miles) a day, making any necessary repairs at night. After three months of vigorous testing, Porsche and his engineers concluded, in their final test verdict, that the Volkswagen "demonstrated characteristics which warrant further development."

SPAIN: The Spanish Republicans (Socialists) transfer Spain's gold reserves to the Soviet Union.

October 22nd, 1939 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: U.S. freighter SS Patrick Henry, detained by the British since 10 October, is released.

FRANCE: U.S. freighters SS Endicott and SS West Gambo are detained by French authorities at LeHavre and portions of their cargo ordered ashore as contraband; 750 bales of carbon black from West Gambo and 2,276 bars of copper and 1,796 bags of carbon black from Endicott.

GERMANY: Berlin: The propaganda minister, Josef Goebbels, calls Churchill a liar in a radio broadcast.

FINLAND: Helsinki: Finnish envoys leave for new talks in Moscow.

EGYPT: U.S. steamship SS President Hayes is detained by British naval authorities at Alexandria and searched for contraband.

UNITED STATES: The first National Football League game is televised by the National Broadcasting Company's W2XBS; the Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Eagles 23-14 at Ebbetts Field in Brooklyn. The play by play announcer is Allen (Skip) Walz.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The British motor ship Trevanion (5299 BRT) is stopped and sunk by the Graf Spee. (Navynews)

22 October 1940

October 22nd, 1940 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Battle of Britain: In foggy weather, five German crashes lead to the loss of several senior officers.

There is widespread fog in the south, clearing to rain later. During daylight several small scale bombing attacks are reported in Devon, Sussex, Surrey and Kent. No bombs fall in London. After dark the Germans consider London of secondary importance, and launch their main attacks against the Midlands causing considerable damage in Coventry. The Coventry raids commence at 1958 hours and cease at 2155 hours causing widespread fires and considerable damage. Fires are reported at Armstrong Siddeley, shops and residential property. St Mary's Hall, the Queen's Hotel, and a Public Shelter are hit by high explosives and a number of people are trapped, but all are extricated alive. The spare parts department of the Daimler Works is hit, and an unexploded bomb is also suspected. The situation is well in hand and all fires (150) are brought under control by 2200 hours. It is reported that during this raid about 200 persons have been rendered homeless.

There are also some minor incidents reported in Essex. RAF Fighter Command claims 3-1-1 Luftwaffe aircraft; the RAF loses six aircraft and four pilots.

Losses: Luftwaffe, 11; RAF, 5.

Between 0750 and 0904 hours, Dover, is again shelled from German guns in France. Two shells fell on the land and one in the sea. Thirty houses are slightly damaged and four persons slightly injured. Road A259 to Folkestone is partially blocked but is reported to be available for single line traffic.

FRANCE: Montoire: Hitler discusses France's role in Europe's "new order" with the vice-premier, Pierre Laval. Laval offers his own collaboration and arranges a meeting two days later with Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain, head of the Vichy French state.

GERMANY: Rhineland: More than 15,000 German Jews are deported to internment camps in France, at the foot of the Pyrenees. Conditions in the camps result in the deaths of nearly 2,000 deportees.

U-68 launched.

U-108 commissioned.

RED SEA: Italian destroyer Francesco Nullo, which was run aground yesterday by the British light cruiser HMS Leander (75), which is on loan to the New Zealand division, and the destroyer HMS Kimberley (F 50), is destroyed by RAF Blenheims as she lies aground, in the Red Sea. (Mike Yared)(284)

U.S.A.: Richardson protests the unreality of the existing War Plans to Stark.

The USAAC ordered that the national star insignia was to be (1) placed on the fuselage and (2) removed from the top of the right wing and the bottom of the left wing. The USAAC also ordered that rudder stripes were to be removed.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Canadian destroyer HMCS Margaree is lost in collision with merchantman SS Port Fairy as she escorts Liverpool-out convoy OL8 450 miles to the west of Ireland at 53 24N, 22 50E. Cut in half the forward half of the ship sinks immediately, the after half remaining afloat is eventually sunk by gunfire from the Port Fairy. She sinks with 142 casualties, but 31 crew survive. Compounding the tragedy, 86 of those lost are survivors of the Fraser disaster. Margaree is the second destroyer lost due to collision within four months. This is the last of the short lived fast OLs from Liverpool. (Alex Gordon)(108)

22 October 1941

October 22nd, 1941 (TUESDAY)

FRANCE: Bordeaux: 100 more hostages are taken and a curfew is imposed following the assassination of another German officer.

GERMANY: U-406 commissioned.

U.S.S.R.: Odessa: A massive delayed-action Soviet bomb blows up General Ioan Glogojanu, the commander of the Romanian 10th Infantry Division, and the first city commandant appointed to occupied Odessa, and 51 of his staff (Sixteen officers - twelve being Royal Romanian Army officers and four German Kriegsmarine officers - were killed, together with thirty-five soldiers and nine civilian officials (including a pair of interpreters in German service). As the building chosen for Romanian headquarters was situated near the former NKVD building, the likelihood of its having been boobytrapped had been brought up several times (even Antonescu admitted to having received at least two such warnings) but no action was taken. The explosion was devastating indeed, the blast throwing glass and debris across several city blocks.

Enraged Romanian leader Ion Antonescu ordered reprisals. Two hundred hostages were to be shot for every officer killed and one hundred for every soldier. Originally these were to be Communists, but in Romanian eyes Jews were essentially the same thing. Executions took place in Odessa and the outlying districts -- hangings, head shots, machinegunnings en-masse, and other methods as struck the fancy of individual military commanders. The reprisals quickly got out of hand, and became an orgy of killing and mutilation directed mainly against the city's Jewish population. Elements of the German "Einsatzgruppe D" execution commando - which had been given free rein to "cleanse" the areas occupied by Romanian forces, and had already shot some five to six thousand Jews and Communists in Bessarabia, also participated in this prolonged massacre. Totals of victims executed in reprisal actions range from between nineteen and twenty-three thousand according to official Romanian accounts all the way up to forty-one thousand when the outlying districts are included. There were for the most part Romanian actions. Victims of the local SS Einsatzgruppe were in addition to these horrifying excesses. (Michael F. Yaklich and Greg Kelley)(122 and 123)

In the Ukraine, the Germans post a notice is posted in Kiev informing the citizens that 100 hostages will be shot for every act of sabotage.

ETHIOPIA: With British success in Libya cutting off the airborne reinforcement route, the Regia Aeronautica is put on strict fuel rationing. (Mike Yared)(284)

JAPAN: The Japanese Foreign Office sends messages to Japanese embassies in Singapore, Federated Malay States, and Batavia, Netherlands East Indies, inquiring about the air forces in both locations.

TERRITORY OF HAWAII: Final flight of 26 B-17's under LTC Eugene Eubank arrive in Hawaii.

U.S.A.:

Submarine USS Trigger launched.

Destroyer USS Bristol commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: An aircraft dropped two bombs on U-203 in the North Atlantic; the boat survived but suffered some damage.

U-68 sank SS Darkdale.

22 October 1942

October 22nd, 1942 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Submarine HMS Totem laid down.

Destroyer HMS Quilliam commissioned.

Submarine HMS Thule launched.

The first echelon of Headquarters, USAAF Twelfth Air Force begins a movement from the U.K. to North Africa.

FRANCE: Vichy Radio, quoting a Stockholm, Sweden, telegram, states that Germany and her allies are planning to denounce the Geneva Convention of 1864, re the Red Cross and prisoners of war. According to the telegram, the Axis declares that "England, by her methods of war, has been the first to cast off the obligations arising from this Convention."

During the night of 22/23 October, 11 RAF Bomber Command Stirlings laid mines off the southern Biscay coast without loss. Five laid mines in the Gironde Estuary, four off Bayonne and two off St. Jean de Luz.

GERMANY: RAF Bomber Command dispatches 22 Wellingtons on cloud-cover raids to Essen, the Ruhr and the Dortmund-Ems Canal at Lingen. Thirteen aircraft bombed estimated positions through cloud, nine at Essen and four at Lingen . One of the Wellington's came down low and machine-gunned a train near Lingen, setting some of the carriages on fire. No aircraft are lost.

U-645 commissioned. and

SWEDEN: Douglas DC-3-268, msn 2132, registered SE-BAG by the Swedish airline ABA (AB Aerotransport or Swedish Air Lines), is shot down by a Luftwaffe Ju-88 near Hallo. Thirteen of the 15 people aboard are killed in the ensuing crash.

U.S.S.R.: The first snow of the winter falls at Stalingrad.

At Stalingrad, against fierce Soviet resistance, units of the German Sixth Army capture most of the Red October and Barricades factories in the northern part of the city.

On Lake Ladoga all three Italian 12th Naval flotilla MASs co-operate with the German pontoons in an attack against the Sucho islet. (Arturo Lorioli)

ITALY: During the night of 22/23 October, 112 RAF Bomber Command Lancasters and the Pathfinders are dispatched to Genoa to recommence the campaign against Italy to coincide with the opening of the Eighth Army offensive at El Alamein, Egypt; 100 aircraft bomb the city. It is a perfectly clear moonlight night and the Pathfinder marking is described as "prompt and accurate." The bombing by this comparatively small force of aircraft, carrying only 180 tons (163 metric tonnes) of bombs, could hardly have been carried out under more ideal conditions. No Lancasters are lost. Details from Genoa are not precise but very heavy damage is caused in the city centre and in the eastern districts. Provisional estimates of casualties are 39 dead and 200 injured but the actual figures may have been higher. Local reports mention the severe effect on the morale of the people of Genoa.

CRETE: US Army, Middle East Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses sent to bomb Candia, abort because of weather.

ALGERIA: The US General Mark Clark lands for secret talks with senior pro-Allied French officers and Resistance leaders.

EGYPT: The British Eighth Army moves secretly into assault positions during the night of 22/23 October.

Advance U.S. Air headquarters of the US Army, Middle East Air Force, previously attached to the RAF Advanced Air HQ, Western Desert, to gain field experience, becomes Headquarters, Desert Air Task Force (DATF), located at Burg el Arab, Egypt, with Lieutenant General Lewis H Brereton as Commanding General.

US Army, Middle East Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb dispersed aircraft while P-40s escort bombers, attack tent areas and motor transport along the coastal road near El Hammam, fly reconnaissance and fighter sweeps west of El Daba, and bomb artillery positions. The P-40s claim two fighters destroyed.

INDIA: A combined planning staff conference opens to consider an offensive in Burma.

CHINA: Chungking: The opening session of the Chinese People's Council today was marked by the absence of any Communist delegates and a warning from Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. Speaking obliquely about the continued factional fighting between Kuomintang and Communist troops, he pointed out that it was wasting manpower and materials and endangering the Chinese war effort. Success on the war front would not save China from Japan if the divisive internal economic and political battles continued, he warned.

D'ENTRECASTEAUX ISLANDS: To secure the northeast coast of Papua, New Guinea, the Australian 2/12th Battalion of the 18th Brigade embarks in two Australians destroyers, HMAS Arunta (I 30) and Stuart (D 00), at Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea, and during the night of 22/23 October, land at a points on Goodenough Island., from which submarines have withdrawn 60 of the 353 Japanese stranded there on 25 August.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: General Holcomb, Commandant USMC, tours front line positions of his Marines, on Guadalcanal, amid occasional Japanese artillery fire. He also observes an air raid by 12 Vals escorted by 12 Zeros at 1:00 pm. 29 Wildcats of the Cactus Airforce intercept and 2 Vals are lost. Their target, the destroyer USS Nicholas. (Note: My favorite destroyer! <G) They missed her. (John Nicholas)

Heavy Japanese artillery firce closes Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, for most of the day.

On Guadalcanal, during the evening the troops of Lieutenant General Maruyama Masao's Second Division reach their deployment line, 4 miles south of Henderson Field. They are actually 6 - 7 miles south. The division is strung out over approximately 18 miles of rain-soaked trails. Despite some serious doubts, the attack is scheduled by HQ 17th Army, at Kokumbona on the coast, for the 23rd (tomorrow). The Japanese plan an attack of two prongs from the mouth of the Matanikau early on the 23rd. Col. Oka and Col. Nakaguma will command these. That night the attack south of Henderson Field will have a right wing attack under Lieutenant General Kawaguchi Kiyotake (of Bloody Ridge), commander of the 35th Brigade, a left wing under Major General Nasu Yumio, commander of the Infantry Group 2nd Division, and the main attack under General Maruyama.

PACIFIC OCEAN: USS Grayback (SS-208) sinks a transport about 54 nautical miles (100 kilometres) southeast of Rabaul at 04-45 S, 152-53 E. (Skip Guidry)

In the Bering Sea, a USAAF Eleventh Air Force weather reconnaissance aircraft reports a submarine about 376 nautical miles (696 kilometers) north of Adak Island, Aleutian Islands, in position 52.08N, 177.21 W; a USN aircraft later makes contact and drops a depth charge but the result is unknown.

USN destroyers USS Mahan (DD-364) and Lamson (DD-367), detached from Task Force 16 to "shoot up the Japanese picket boat line" west of the Gilbert Islands, sink a Japanese gunboat about 320 nautical miles (593 kilometers) south-southeast of Tarawa Atoll, Gilber Islands, in position 03.30S, 175.15E.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Lethbridge completed refit Liverpool, Nova Scotia and departed for workups Pictou, Nova Scotia.

NEWFOUNDLAND: Corvettes HMCS Kitchener, Calgary and Camrose departed St John's for UK with Convoy SC-106. SC-106 arrived safely in Liverpool on 5 Nov 42. and

U.S.A.: The Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, by amendment to a USN design study contract, is authorized to construct two 19A axial flow turbojet powerplants. Thereby, fabrication is initiated of the first jet engine of wholly American design.

The motion picture "Now, Voyager" opens at the Hollywood Theater in New York City. Directed by Irving Rapper, this romantic drama based on an Olive Higgins Prouty novel stars Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Gladys Cooper, Bonita Granville and John Loder. The plot has a depressed middle-aged unmarried woman (Davis) who is transformed from a frump to an elegant, independent lady. The film is nominated for three Academy Awards including Best Actress in a Leading Role (Davis) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Cooper); it wins the Best Music Award. This film is ranked Number 23 on the American Film Institute's list of "The 100 Greatest American Love Stories."

Minesweeper USS Jubilant laid down.

Destroyer USS Tingey laid down.

Destroyer escort USS Gilmore launched.

Destroyer USS Trathen launched. and

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-412 (Type VIIC) is sunk 22 Oct, 1942 northeast of the Faroes, in position 63.55N, 00.24E, by depth charges from a British Wellington aircraft (Sqdn. 179/B). 48 dead (all crew lost). (Alex Gordon)

U-443 sank SS Donax and SS Winnipeg II in Convoy ON-139.

In the North Atlantic, U-662 transferred an ill crewmember to U-382, which reached base some days later. and

22 October 1943

October 22nd, 1943 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Major General Sir Robert Laycock becomes the British Chief of Combined Operations.

NETHERLANDS: During the night of 22/23 October, RAF Bomber Command sends 17 aircraft to lay mines: eight lay mines in the Frisian Islands and seven drop off Texel Island.

FRANCE: About 60 USAAF Ninth Air Force B-26 Marauders bomb Fauville Airfield at Evreux; 140+ others abort missions against other airfields because of bad weather.

GERMANY: Devastating air raids on Kassel, Ludwigshafen, and Mannheim. (Glenn Stenberg)

During the night of 22/23 October, RAF Bomber Command sends 569 aircraft, 322 Lancasters and 247 Halifaxes, to Kassel; 486 aircraft bomb the city. The German controllers are again successful in assessing the target and 43 aircraft, 25 Halifaxes and 18 Lancasters, are lost, 7.6 per cent of the force. The initial "blind" H2S marking overshot the target but eight out of the nine "visual" markers correctly identified the centre of Kassel and place their markers accurately. Although German decoy markers may have drawn off part of the bomber force, the main raid is exceptionally accurate and concentrated. The result is the most devastating attack on a German city since the firestorm raid on Hamburg in July and the results at Kassel would not be exceeded again until well into 1944. The fires are so concentrated that there is a firestorm, although not as extensive as the Hamburg one. Thirty three Lancasters and Mosquitos carry out a diversionary raid to Frankfurt-am-Main The bombing is scattered and one Lancaster is lost. Nine Oboe Mosquitos attack the Knapsack power-station at Cologne and one attacks Dortmund.

It is on this night that an RAF ground radio station in England, probably the one at Kingsdown in Kent, started its broadcasts with the intention of interrupting and confusing the German controllers' orders to their night fighters. The Bomber Command Official History describes how, at one stage, the German controller broke into vigorous swearing, whereupon the RAF voice remarked, "The Englishman is now swearing." To this, the German retorted, "It is not the Englishman who is swearing, it is me."

U-1229 launched.

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: The Russians have cut the railway which provides the Germans with their main escape route from their stronghold of Dnepropetrovsk in the Dnieper Bend. General Malinovsky's men are now advancing on Krivoi Rog and are threatening to encircle almost a million Germans in the sweep of the river.

The Germans are well aware of the danger facing them. The Berlin correspondent of the Scandinavian Telegraph Bureau reports that the situation is "extremely serious" and that the Germans would be "compelled to retreat to avoid further encirclement."

German officials quoted by the Stockholm newspaper Aftonbladet say that "catastrophe threatens the whole German front in South Russia." But while the Germans appreciate the threat of the Russian advance there seems to be little that they can do about it except retreat and keep on retreating.

They had confidently expected to hold the Dnieper line. They scattered leaflets telling the Russian soldiers: "Germany has clad the west bank of the Dnieper in concrete and shod it with iron."

"We have created an Eastern Rampart there, impregnable as is our Western Rampart on the Atlantic Coast. You are being sent to your deaths. Death awaits you at the Dnieper. Stop before it is too late." But the Russians did not stop. Many of them died, but they crossed the Dnieper.

ITALY: The British 8th Army crosses the Trigno River.

In the U.S. Fifth Army's VI Corps area, the 133d Infantry Regiment of the 34th Infantry Division takes a road junction south of St. Angelo d'Alife, from which the German rear guards have withdrawn, and prepares to attack the town.

In preparation for a general advance on Rome (the line Pasture-Evasion-Rome), the 78th Division of British Eighth Army’s V Corps crosses a battalion over the Trigno River during the night of 22/23 October.

USAAF XII Bomber Command B-26 Marauders bomb railroad bridges north and southeast of Omvieto and B-25 Mitchells hit a railroad bridge south of Grosseto. The XII Air Support Command, along with other elements of the Northwest African Tactical Air Force (NATAF), hit town areas, highways, vehicles, gun positions, railroad communications, strongpoints, and targets of opportunity at or near San Salvo Teano, Venafro, Cantalupo el Sannio, Isernia, Cassino, Montenero, and Boiano. Aquino Airfield southeast of Rome is also bombed.

During the night of 22/23 October, 47 bombers of the RAF No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group bomb the railroad bridge at Guilianova.

USAAF bombers use Italian airfields for the first time to launch attacks on targets in Austria.

GREECE: Whilst engaged in diversionary tactics associated with the landing of stores on Leros Island, Dodecanese Islands in the Aegean Sea, the Greek escort destroyer RHS Adrias (L 67, ex-HMS Border) strikes a mine laid by the German minelayer Drache. The destroyer loses her entire bow and when the British escort destroyer HMS Hurworth (L 28) comes to her aid, Hurworth strikes a mine and is sunk about 54 nautical miles (101 kilometers) east of Kalimnos on Kalimnos Island, Dodecanese Islands in position 36.59N, 27.06E. Eighty survivors come ashore in Turkey and are soon repatriated. RHS Adrias is declared a constructive total loss and is scrapped in 1945. (Alex Gordon)(108)

USAAF XII Bomber Command B-25 Mitchells bomb Eleusis Airfield, 10 miles (16 kilometers) west of Athens.

BURMA: A USAAF Tenth Air Force B-25 Mitchell strike against a railroad bridge on the Ye-u branch line over the Mu River between Ywataung and Monywa fails to damage the structure. This raid marks the final assault of the year on this bridge.

NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, 20+ USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells carry out a low-level attack in the Wewak area, sinking two small freighters, and strafing barges and airplanes while Madang is strafed by four P-39 Airacobras and two Australian

Boomerangs.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Forty six Australian (P-40) Kittyhawks hit Gasmata Airfield on New Britain Island.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: The I Marine Amphibious Corps directs the 2d Parachute Battalion of the 1st Marine Parachute Regiment, Fleet Marine Force, to land at Voza on Choiseul Island during the night of 27 October, to conduct a diversionary raid and, if feasible, establish a permanent base there.

On southern Bougainville Island, Kahili Airfield and the surrounding areas are attacked by 22 USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators, 30+ P-39 Airacobras and P-40s and about 160 USN fighters and dive bombers; other USN aircraft bomb Kara Airfield. Eighteen B-24s and USN airplanes hit targets in the Choiseul Island area and a single B-24 claims hits on an aircraft carrier northwest of Buka Island.

PACIFIC OCEAN: 0400 hours: USS Grayback (SS-208) sinks an armed merchant cruiser at 26-30 N, 125-05E. (Skip Guidry)

CANADA: In Labrador, the German submarine U-537 arrives at Martin Bay, tasked with setting up an automatic weather station. The weather station consisted of various measuring instruments, a 150-watt transmitter and ten canisters containing batteries weighing 220 pounds (99.79 kg). For the next day, the crew of the submarine manhandles the equipment ashore via rubber boats and the station is set up 400 yards (366 meters) inland on a 170-foot (52 meter) hill.

The submarine departs by 1740 hours local the next day and the weather station begins operating normally. However, a few days later, the frequency used by the weather station was apparently jammed although nobody has claimed credit for it and there is no evidence that the Allies knew about the station.

Frigate HMCS Matane commissioned.

Minesweeper HMCS Portage commissioned.

U.S.A.: The Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS) approve the plan, submitted by General Henry H "Hap" Arnold, Commanding General U.S. Army Air Forces, and the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), to create a new Air Force (the Fifteenth) in Italy from part of the Twelfth Air Force to be used in strategic bombing against Germany as well as in support of ground operations.

The USN escort aircraft carrier Keweenaw (CVE-44) is transferred to the British under Lend-Lease as HMS Patroller (D 07); she is the 26th escort aircraft carrier transferred to the Royal Navy. The ship is returned to the USN on 13 December 1946.

Minesweeper USS Incessant launched.

Destroyer escort USS Foreman commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-68 sank SS Litiopa.

22 October 1944

October 22nd, 1944 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Corvettes HMCS Leaside and Humberstone departed Londonderry as escort for the 37-ship Southend to New York Convoy ON-261. ON-261 arrived safely in New York City on 5 Nov 44.

WESTERN EUROPE: Weather prohibits USAAF Ninth Air Force bomber operations; fighter sweeps and armed reconnaissance support US Third and Seventh Army elements in eastern France and western Germany.

NETHERLANDS: Breskens on the south bank of the Scheldt Estuary finally falls to repeated attacks of Canadian Units.

Elements of Company E, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, accompanied by two forward observer teams of the 321st Glider Field Artillery Battalion, crossed the Lower Rhine east of Arnhem in British small boats. They brought back 125 members of the British 1st Airborne Division, ten Dutch resistance fighters and five USAAF pilots from the German occupied north side of the river. These men had been hiding out since the night of September 26th when 2,163 survivors of the 1st Airborne had been withdrawn across the river. The Germans were unaware of the operation and not a round was fired. This was the end of the Battle of Arnhem. (Jay Stone)

In the Canadian First Army's II Corps area, Breskens falls to the Canadian 3d Division. The Breskens Pocket is now less than half its original size. In the British I Corps area, the Canadian 4th Armoured Division reaches Esschen.

In the British Second Army area, XII Corps begins a westward offensive to clear the region west of the Maas River. The 15th Division heads for Tilburg and the 7th Armoured and 53d Divisions, followed by the 51st Division, towards Hertogenbosch.

Advance Headquarters of the USAAF Ninth Air Force's XXIX Tactical Air Command (Provisional) and HQ 84th and 303d Fighter Wings move from Arlon, Belgium to Maastricht to maintain close association with the US Ninth Army.

FRANCE: General de Gaulle's administration is recognized by the Allies as the "de jure" Provisional Government of FRANCE.

100th Infantry Battalion takes Biffontaine, suffering many casualties attempting to hold Biffontaine. (Gene Hanson)
While fighting here, US 442nd Regimental Combat Team soldier, Barney Hajiro, and a fellow soldier concealed themselves in an outpost security position about 50 yards to the right front of their platoon and ambushed an 18-man, heavily armed German patrol. They killed two, wounded one and took the rest as prisoners. (MOH)

In the U.S. Third Army's XII Corps area, the 26th Infantry Division, untried in combat as a unit, makes a limited attack to gain experience and to improve positions east of Arracourt, securing ground west of Moncourt with support of troops from 704th Tank Destroyer Battalion.

In the U.S. Seventh Army's XV Corps area, the 79th Infantry Division finishes clearing the high ground east of Forêt de Parroy. In the VI Corps area, the 3d Infantry Division advances steadily northeast along the Mortagne River toward St Die. The 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division, completes the mop up of Brouvelieures; the 180th forces the Mortagne River east of Fremifontaine but falls back under German fire.

GERMANY: East Prussia: Soviet forces stop short of Insterburg, 45 miles from Hitler's Rastenburg headquarters.

The USAAF Eighth Air Force flies Mission 685: 1,131 bombers and 785 fighters are dispatched on PFF attacks on targets in western Germany; two bombers and a fighter are lost. Two marshalling yards (M/Ys) are hit: 353 bombers attack the M/Y at Munster and 343 bomb the M/Y at Hamm and two armored vehicle factories are hit: 171 aircraft attack the Hannomag factory at Hannover and 149 hit the NAG plant at Brunswick. Targets of opportunity are: 35 aircraft bombing the industrial area at Bielefeld, ten hit the industrial area at Recklinghausen and 13 aircraft hit miscellaneous targets.

During the day, 97 RAF Bomber Command Lancasters bomb Neuss; none lost. This G-H raid is not as concentrated as the recent Bonn raid and bombing is scattered. The local report says that 94 houses and three industrial buildings are destroyed and 545 houses, 18 industrial buildings and a public building are seriously damaged.

During the night of 22/23 October, 44 RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos bomb Hamburg, four hit Wiesbaden and two each attack Düsseldorf and Cologne. Meanwhile, 38 Lancasters and Halfaxes lay mines in the Kattegat.

U-2522 launched.

U-3007 commissioned.

FINLAND: Advance units of the Russian 14th Army reach the Norwegian border in the far north.

ARCTIC SEA: U-737 is attacked by a Soviet aircraft. Three crewmembers were injured and the boat suffered slight damage.

YUGOSLAVIA: With the fall of Sombor, southwest of Subotica, Soviet forces control most of the east bank of the Danube as far north as the Hungarian town of Baja.

ITALY: Cervia falls to Canadian units of the British 8th Army.

In the U.S. Fifth Army area, the South African 6th Armoured Division continues toward the crest of Mt. Salvaro in a drenching rain. The II Corps receives verbal orders to continue their offensive on the right flank to a line Ribano Hill-Mt. Castelazzo, then to Highway 9. Accordingly, the 88th and 85th Infantry Divisions jump off, on the night of 22/23 October, and get about a mile (1,6 kilometers) beyond Mt. Grande by dawn, taking Hill 568, Mt. Castellaro, and Hill 459. The British XIII Corps is ordered to take Mt. Spadura and continue northward between Imola and Castel San Pietro roads. The 78th Division places fire on Mt. Spadura. The German withdrawal to the east permits other units of the corps to advance. The 21st Brigade, the Indian 8th Division, takes Mt. Romano without opposition.

In the British Eighth Army's V Corps area, the Indian 10th Division expands its Savio River bridgeheads westward, the 20th Brigade pushing almost to the crest of Mt. Cavallo. The 4th Division is unable to progress from its bridgehead until heavy equipment can be crossed to it. In the Canadian I Corps area, the Canadian 1st Division is handicapped by the swollen Savio River and is unable to cross supporting weapons into the bridgehead.

On the Savio River, Seaforth Highlanders Private Ernest Alva 'Smoky' Smith shows conspicuous heroism, holding the Savio River crossing against German counter-attacks and destroying at least two German tanks; awarded the Victoria Cross.

Bad weather grounds all USAAF Twelfth and Fifteenth Air Force bombers; Twelfth Air Force fighters and fighter-bombers, flying less than 20 sorties, hitting rail lines and trains in northern Italy.

CHINA: Two USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells knock out two railroad bridges at Pingnam while eight P-51 Mustangs attack the town area; 54 P-40s and P-51s on armed reconnaissance attack town areas and general targets of opportunity at Nampang, Kuanyang, Shekpo, Pingnam, Kweiping, near Menghsu, China, and Wanling, Burma.

BURMA: Over 40 USAAF Tenth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts hit a variety of targets including bridges at Panghkam, and at two other points along the northern Burma rail corridor, the towns of Manna and Kyaungle, a bivouac in the Indaw area, and various targets of opportunity.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: On Leyte, In the U.S. Sixth Army's X Corps area, the 7th Cavalry Regiment (General George Custer’s outfit) of the 2d Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, mops up Tacloban and takes the rest of the hill to the southwest. The 5th Cavalry Regiment of the1st Brigade, after laborious effort to advance over difficult terrain west of Caibaan, is ordered to halt and maintain current positions. The 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, assisted by artillery fire and naval aircraft, secures the Pawing area with the capture of a hill to west. The 19th Infantry Regiment repels counterattacks against Palo, killing 91 Japanese, and mops up. In the XXIV Corps area, after night- long shelling of Labiranan Head, the 1st Battalion of the 383d Infantry Regiment, 96th Infantry Division, recaptures it while other elements of the regiment seize San Roque on Highway 1. The 382d Infantry Regiment takes Tigbao and Canmangui and sets up three night perimeters: one at Mati, one 800 yards (732 meters) east of Bolongtohan, and one 500 yards (457 meters) southeast of Tigbao. The 32d Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, gets about halfway to Burauen against sporadic resistance. The 84th, assisted by aircraft of the Seventh Fleet, advances more rapidly, gaining 2,800 yards (2 560 meters) before being ordered to halt until the 32d Infantry Regiment can come abreast.

The Japanese naval forces under Vice Admirals KURITA Takeo, commander of the Second Fleet, and NISHIMURA Shoji, commander of the Southern Force, sail from Brunei, British Borneo, for Leyte Gulf. The decoy carrier unit under Vice Admiral OZAWA Tokusaburo, commander of the Northern Force, is already at sea from Japan. Between them, Kurita and Nishimura, command 7 battleships, 13 cruisers and 19 destroyers. The plan is for Ozawa to draw off Admiral William F. Halsey's Third Fleet aircraft carriers and fast battleships, so these heavy units can attack the vulnerable invasion transports. The invasion force is escorted by Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid’s Seventh Fleet; six battleships, 14 escort carriers, eight cruisers and 40 destroyers.

USAAF Far East Air Force B-25 Mitchells and P-38 Lightnings attack shipping in the Sulu Archipelago and Jolo harbor on Jolo Island and Zamboanga harbor on Mindanano Island while B-24 Liberators hit Opon and Lahug Airfields on Cebu Island; B-25s hit Ternate on Samar Island and B-24s pound Matina Airfield in the Cagayan Islands, and Likanan on Mindanao Island.

EAST INDIES: USAAF Far East Air Force B-25 Mitchells hit Piroe Bay supply dumps on Ceram Island and gun positions and fighter-bombers hit Kairatoe Airfield on Halmahara Island, Amahai Airfield on Amahai Islands south Ceram Island and targets of opportunity in Binnen Bay.

NEW GUINEA: USAAF Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs blast pillboxes and occupied areas in the Metimedan-Sawar Rivers sector of Dutch New Guinea.

CAROLINE ISLANDS: USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Yap Island with harassment raids during the day, operating singly or in groups of two or three aircraft.

NAURU ISLAND: USAAF Seventh Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb Nauru Island. Nauru Island is a 21 square kilometer (8 square mile) island in the South Pacific Ocean, located about halfway between the Gilbert and Solomon Islands. The island is rich in phosphate deposits and was occupied by the Japanese on 25 August 1942.

PACIFIC OCEAN: In the South China Sea, USN submarine USS Darter (SS-227) detects a group of Japanese warships about 76 nautical miles (140 kilometers) north-northwest of Jesselton, British Borneo, in position 07.31N, 115.22E. This is Vice Admiral NISHIMURA Shoji's Southern Force, that sailed from Brunei, British Borneo, for Leyte Gulf earlier today. (See below.) The sub trails the Japanese reporting their position.

At 0700 hours, the USN submarine USS Sea Dog (SS-401) sinks a Japanese cargo ship about 161 nautical miles (298 kilometers) south-southwest of Kagoshima, Kyushu, Japan, in position 29.19N, 129.44E. Later in the day, the sub sinks a gunboat about 144 nautical miles (267 kilometers) south-southwest of Kagoshima in position 29.18N, 129.44E. (Skip Guidry)

U.S.A.: Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-272 was commissioned at New York with LT E. Ayers, USCGR, as commanding officer. She departed New York on 15 November 1944 for the Southwest Pacific where she operated during the war at Parang, Philippines.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-985 hit a mine and was damaged so seriously that she was decommissioned some weeks later.

22 October 1945

October 22nd, 1945 (MONDAY)

CANADA:

Minesweeper HMCS Kelowna paid off Esquimalt, British Columbia.

Minesweeper HMCS Ash Lake cancelled. Completed as survey ship Cartier.

Minesweeper HMCS Birch Lake cancelled. Completed as mercantile MV Aspy III.

Minesweeper HMCS Cherry Lake cancelled. Completed as mercantile Petite Brad D'Or.

Minesweeper HMCS Fir Lake cancelled. Completed as mercantile Regina Polaris.

U.S.A.: Escort carrier USS Rendova commissioned.

1946 (TUESDAY)

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: S class destroyer HMS Saumarez is mined in the Corfu Channel and is able to return to Malta, but is not repaired. The incident followed a declaration by the Albanian government of ownership of the waters between the mainland and Corfu. With Yugoslav assistance, mines were laid, and a force of British destroyers was ordered to pass through the Straits to test their right of free passage. Saumarez and Volage struck mines, and Britain was awarded damages in the International Court (which have never been paid). There were 31 casualties. (Alex Gordon)(108)

Top of Page

Yesterday Tomorrow

Home