Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Day 1115 September 19, 1942

At 3 AM 50 miles Southwest of Lisbon, Portugal, U-552 sinks British anti-submarine trawler HMS Alouette (17 dead and 27 survivors).

At 6.48 AM 300 miles Northeast of Barbados, U-516 sinks US MV Wichita (all 40 crew and 10 gunners lost).

At 10 AM in the Bougainville Strait, off Papua, US submarine USS Amberjack damages Japanese transport ship Shirogane Maru (3 killed). Shirogane Maru will be towed to Shortlands Island, grounded to prevent sinking but ultimately abandoned.

U-156 bounces back from the Laconia incident and sinks British SS Quebec City at 3.46 PM with a torpedo, 7 rounds from the deck gun and 58 rounds from the 37mm anti-aircraft gun, 500 miles Southwest of Liberia (5 killed, 38 crew and 3 gunners picked up by British destroyer HMS Decoy).

Convoy PQ-18 reaches Murmansk in the Kola Inlet. Despite losing 13 freighters, 28 merchant ships arrive safely and the convoy is considered a success by the British and Soviets, establishing again the viability of the Northern convoy route for supplies to USSR. No Allied warships have been lost while 3 U-boats have been sunk and about 30 Luftwaffe torpedo bombers shot down.

North of Stalingrad, XIV Panzer Corps on the ground and Luftwaffe dive bombers in the air again repel attacks by Soviet 24th and 66th Armies and 1st Guards Army. Heavy fighting continues in the city, but German infantry do not make much progress without Luftwaffe support which has been diverted to the Northern sector.

At 7.37 PM 60 miles East of Martinique, U-512 sinks neutral MV Monte Gorbea despite identifying her as Spanish (23 crew and 29 passengers killed, 23 crew and 4 passengers reach Martinique in a lifeboat).

Overnight, 118 RAF bombers (72 Wellingtons, 41 Halifaxes, 5 Stirlings) inaccurately attack Saarbrücken, Germany (13 houses destroyed, 27 houses damaged, 1 man killed). 3 Wellingtons and 2 Halifaxes are lost. 68 Lancasters and 21 Stirlings inaccurately bomb Munich, Germany (3 Lancasters and 3 Stirlings lost).

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