70 Years Ago Today: Saturday, September 11, 1943 London: Since US 9th Air Force is soon to be transferred to the United Kingdom, General Devers names General Eaker, Commanding General of the US 8th Air Force, as commanding general of all US Army Air Forces in the United Kingdom. North Pacific, Aleutian Islands: 11th Air Force sends 12 B-25s and eight B-24s to attack Paramushiru Island in the Kurile Islands for the third and last time this year. Targets include the Kashiwabara staging area, shipping in Kashiwabara harbor and Paramushiru Straits. One freighter and one large transport are sunk while one other transports and cargo ships are damaged. Targets hit on land include two buildings and an ant-aircraft battery on Shimushu Island. Of 40 enemy fighters giving battle, 13 are shot down. Meanwhile, two B-24s force-land in the USSR, one with a mechanical defect, the other after being hit. Another B-24 is downed by anti-aircraft fire. Overall seven B-25s and two B-24s are lost in the most disastrous day for the 11th Air Force. It will be another five months before it is able to strike at the Kurils again. General Butler, Commanding General of the 11th Air Force, is transferred to the European Theater of Operations (ETO), and is succeeded by Major General Davenport Johnson. European Theater, Strategic (Pointblank): VIII Air Support Command Mission 56 – 55 B-26s are dispatched to the Rouen power station and the Beaumont le Roger Airfield in France, also hitting the shipyard at Le Trait as a secondary target. No planes are lost, but four men are listed as killed. Western Mediterranean: 12th Air Force B-17s bomb the Benevento marshalling yard and bridge and highway junction nearby, while B-25s and B-26s hit highways and junctions at Castelnuovo, Ariano, Mignano, and Isernia in Italy. Meanwhile, P-40s fly an uneventful sweep over southern Sardinia and US and RAF airplanes continue to provide beachhead cover in the Salerno area, hit road communications throughout the day, and attack road and rail bridges, junctions, airfield, and town areas at Saptri, Corleto, Perticara, Auletta, and Gioia del Colle, Italy. On the ground, Brindisi falls to the British 1st Air Borne Division, which continues clearing the heel of Italy without opposition. The US Fifth Army expands its beachhead on the Salerno plain, while British light forces move rapidly northward in an effort to pin down the enemy, taking the port of Crotone. A German Fritz X guided aerial bomb cripples the USS Savannah off Salerno, Italy, killing about 200 men. Malta: What is left of the Italian Navy arrives at Malta and formally surrenders its warships to Admiral Cunningham. Corsica: A French submarine sails from Algiers for Corsica with a small French force embarking to help patriots clear the island of Germans. Additional French forces are later moved to Corsica from time to time as shipping becomes available. The enemy garrison of Sardinia is being evacuated via Corsica. China – Burma – India Theater (China): 14th Air Force dispatches 10 B-25s and 11 P-40s to attack the Hankow docks and Wuchang cotton mills, while three P-38s bomb ammunition and fuel depots at Tayeh and strafe warehouses and barracks at Yangsin. South Pacific Area: Air Command North Solomons sends 18 B-25s, from the 13th Air Force, to attack the area west of Vila Airfield on Kolombangara Island and west of Disappointment Cove on New Georgia Island. The airfield is hit again in the evening by three B-24s, while 25 B-24s, with fighter escort, bomb Kahili Airfield on Bougainville Island. Meanwhile, P-40s and P-39s support Navy dive bombers in striking gun positions at Hamberi on New Georgia Island. Southwest Pacific Theater: 5th Air Force B-24s bomb Makassar on Celebes Island. Elsewhere, on the ground in New Guinea, Australian forces cross the Francisco River to Salamaua Airfield as Japanese forces retreat toward Lae.
Posted on: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 12:50:23 +0000