Odessa Falls
After dark on 15 October 1941, the Soviet troops of 51st Army, 9th Independent Army and Separate Coastal Army holding the pocket at Odesa break contact with the Romanian troops surrounding the city and head to troop transports. This is the 72nd day of the siege, a far longer period of time than anyone expected. The Soviet Black Sea Fleet ships take the 35,000 evacuees (including both soldiers and civilians) to Sevastopol in the Crimea, where they are needed to defend that area next.
During their evacuation, the Soviet troops set off explosives in Odesa that destroy port facilities and other installations that the Germans can find useful. The Soviets board two cruisers, four destroyers, and smaller ships for the perilous passage east. During the evacuation, Heinkel He 114 seaplanes of the Romanian Naval Air Force successfully stop and capture a Soviet armed freighter.
The fall of Odessa is important for a number of reasons. It is a very useful port for supplying the advanced Wehrmacht troops advancing further east. It frees up Axis troops, though Romania begins discharging a large portion of its own forces soon after the city’s capture in the belief that its part in the war now is largely over — thus, this advantage is not as great as it might first appear. The Luftwaffe and Romanian Air Force now can operate from the city’s airfields and serve as a defense against Red Air Force bombing attacks on the Romanian oilfields further west. The capture of Odessa is the most significant achievement by any of Germany’s satellites throughout the entire war. It marks a high point of their achievements — though, of course, nobody can know that at the time.
Romania now can develop its new Transnistria Governorate (not to be confused with a later government in the 1990s). This is a significant area of 44,000 km2 and a population of 2.3 million inhabitants. Romania divides Transnistria into 13 counties: Ananiev, Balta, Berzovca, Dubasari, Golta, Jugastru, Movilau, Oceacov, Odessa, Ovidiopol, Rîbnița, Tiraspol and Tulcin. The Romanians begin a process of Romanization. The Romanians also deport between 150,000 and 250,000 Ukrainian and Romanian Jews were to Transnistria, where they are held in ghettos and camps. Many of these unfortunate people perish due to inadequate living conditions. Those who collaborate with the Romanians — or simply are suspected of collaborating with them — face horrors of their own when the Soviets manage to recapture the region in 1944.
In Russia, German 1st Panzer Division turned northwest, thus away from Moscow, to attack Soviet Northwestern Front from the rear. The Soviet GKO ordered the NKVD, various agencies, and various foreign legations to evacuate from Moscow to Kuibyshev (now Samara).
Extremely heavy fighting is reported in the Kalinin area as Soviet forces launch massive and desperate attacks against the city and the attacks stop the advance of the German Third Panzer Army.
In Moscow, ten inches (25,4 centimeters) of snow fall in the area around the city. The Soviet government is evacuated to Kuibyshev, 600 miles (966 kilometers) to the east. Roads to the east are jammed with cars filled with party officials. Offices and factories are abandoned and the railway stations are besieged by throngs of desperate people trying to flee the city. Premier Joseph Stalin, after assurances from General Georgi Zhukov, Commander of the Central Front, decides to stay.
The Lubyanka Prison staff began the evacuation from Moscow, Russia, transferring the first group of prisoners to Kuibyshev (now Samara) and Saratov on this day.
German authorities begin transporting approximately 183,000 German, Austrian, and Czech civilians of Jewish or suspected Jewish ancestry to ghettos, transit ghettos, killing centers and killing sites in the Baltic States, in Belorussia, in the Generalgouvernement, and the Lodz ghetto. The rail network is the primary means of transport, so the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) coordinates the moves with the rail schedules established by the Transport Ministry — which also is responsible for supplying the troops in the East. This means that any space used by the RSHA for these deportations cannot be used to equip, feed, and clothe the men fighting in the Russian winter.
Mass deportations of German Jews to the east begin. Priests are told that Christian “non-Aryans” will be evacuated only when earlier conflicts with the Gestapo have occurred. For the time being, “non-Aryans” in mixed marriages will not be affected by these measures.
German authorities announce that any Jews found outside of ghetto walls in Poland would be executed on sight. German SS General Hans Frank, the Nazi Governor-General of occupied Poland, issued a general order proclaiming that any Jews leaving the Warsaw ghetto would be liable for the death penalty as would any person who knowingly gave shelter to such Jews. Dritte Verordnung über Aufenthaltsbeschränkungen im Generalgouvernement – the Third Regulation on Residence Restrictions in the General Government – imposed the death penalty on Jews who left their designated districts of residence without authorization and on those who would consciously provide a Jew with a hiding place.
German SS-Brigadeführer Franz Stahlecker of Einsatzgruppe A sent a 130-page report to Berlin, Germany on this date. He reported that, among other things, 71,105 Jews had been liquidated in Lithuania and 30,000 Jews in Latvia, and 3,387 Communists in Russia.
A new wave of anti-Semitism in Berlin these days is characterized by the following developments:
- The Jewish Kulturbund, which provided theatrical performances, concerts and movies for the Jewish. population, has been dissolved and its artists sent to work in munitions factories, on road building projects and similar chores. Jews already were barred from all cultural institutions available to nonJews.
- Grocers dealing in vegetables and fruits may not inscribe Jews on their customers’ lists for these two kinds of products. For some time before Jews had been barred from purchasing sweets, condensed milk and many other canned goods.
- The synagogues in Levetzow and Münchener Streets, which remained among the few houses of worship permitted to the Jews, were closed recently and all space available inside them filled with straw sacks. It is believed the building will be used to house large numbers of Jews.
- Some 2,000 Jewish families living in flats and apartments received notices during the past ten days to prepare to leave them. Persons receiving such notices were forbidden to look about for other quarters. They were told they would be assigned quarters when the time comes to move.
- All Jews receiving the evacuation notice must fill out an inventory of all their possessions, from the pianos to collar buttons. They must fill out a list entitled “normal needs of consumer.” The Jews fear that when they move they will be deprived of everything except those goods listed as “normal needs” that include only a bare minimum of clothes and personal articles.
The new Australian Prime Minister, John Curtin, announced that the Australian garrison in Tobruk, Libya would be withdrawn immediately. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, in fit of rage, bitterly complained to Beaverbrook: “We are at war with almost every country, including Australia!”
German submarine U-553 begins onslaught against convoy SC 48, torpedoing and sinking British motorship Silvercedar at 53°36’N, 30°00’W, and Norwegian freighter Ila at 53°34’N, 30°10’W, before the U-boat is driven off by Canadian destroyer HMCS Columbia [ex-US destroyer Haraden (DD-183)]. U-432, U-502, U-558 and U-568, followed by U-73, U-77, U-101 and U-751 converge on the convoy, and one of these boats, U-568, torpedoes and sinks British steamer Empire Heron at 54°55’N, 27°15’W, before being driven off by British corvette HMS Gladiolus. Consequently, TU 4.1.4 (Captain Hewlett Thebaud), comprising four U.S. destroyers, is directed to proceed to SC 48’s aid as the west-bound convoy it had been escorting, ON 24, is dispersed (see 16-18 October).
British authorities reported that, in the week ending at 0600 hours on 15 October 1941, an estimated 61 people were killed and 69 seriously injured by German bombing.
RAF Bomber Command, Day of 15 October 1941
12 Blenheims on escorted raid to Le Havre docks. A tanker and a 10,000-ton merchant ship were claimed hit but the long, steady bombing run employed resulted in 2 Blenheims being shot down. 12 further Blenheims made sweeps off the Frisians and claimed 1 ship hit, but 5 of these aircraft were lost.
RAF Bomber Command, Night of 15/16 October 1941
Cologne
27 Wellingtons and 7 Stirlings. 3 Wellingtons lost.
Crews reported large fires in Cologne but the city recorded only a handful of bombs with no damage or casualties. Villages well east of the Rhine were hit, however, and in one of them, Lindenthal, a children’s hospital was hit, though casualties are not mentioned. The synthetic-oil refinery at Wesseling, 7 miles south of Cologne, was hit by a high-explosive bomb which caused 8,000 tons of fuel production to be lost. Duisburg, 30 miles from Cologne, was also bombed, probably in error.
8 Wellingtons bombed Boulogne. No losses.
Hans-Joachim Marseille arrived at Munich-Riem Airfield in Germany to be introduced to the new Bf 109E-7 and Bf 109F4 variant designs.
U-553, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Karl Thurmann, sank British steamer Silvercedar (4354grt) in 53-36N, 29-57W and Norwegian steamer Ila (1583grt) in 53-34N, 30-10W from convoy SC.48 on the 15th. At 0800 hours on 15 Oct 1941, U-553 entered the convoy SC.48 on the surface from ahead between column 7 and 8 and at 0815 hours sank the Silvercedar in station #72 with the first torpedo, while the second torpedo fired two minutes later missed the intended target but was observed to hit a ship behind it, a claim that is not confirmed by Allied reports. Due to a misunderstanding, the torpedo data computer was no longer set correctly and the remaining three torpedoes were fired with wrong settings. However, the third torpedo missed its target and hit the Ila in station #74 at 0823 hours. The U-boat then passed ahead of the British motor merchant Silverelm in station #83, which unsuccessfully tried to ram her and missed this ship with the stern torpedo. Eventually Thurmann fired the last bow torpedo at W.C. Teagle in station #103, missing her due to the wrong settings and passed behind her stern to outrun the convoy on its starboard bow. The U-boat had been observed by at least three ships in the convoy but they could not open fire due to the danger of hitting other ships and the two corvettes on the starboard side did not spot the enemy.
The Silvercedar (Master Thomas Keane) had originally been in station #73 but changed to #72 after the ship ahead of her straggled from the convoy. She was hit by one torpedo on the starboard side, just forward of the engine room and sank after about 7 minutes on an even keel. Both starboard lifeboats had been destroyed by the explosion that had blown off the #3 hatch and much debris into the air, but the crew managed to launch one of the port boats and a raft. The seven men on the raft were soon rescued by the lifeboat, along with three survivors from Ila swimming in the water. Later the lifeboat capsized but all 29 occupants were picked up by FFL Mimosa (K 11) (Cdr R.R. Birot, FNFL) at 0930 hours. 19 crew members and seven gunners (the ship was armed with one 4in, one Bofors AA gun and four machine guns) were landed at Reykjavik on 20 October. The master, 17 crew members, two gunners and one passenger (DBS) were lost. The 4,354 ton Silvercedar was carrying general cargo and steel, including small tanks and a deck cargo of three aircraft and was bound for Liverpool, England.
The Ila (Master Thore K. Johnsen), armed with one 4in and four machine guns, had just evaded wreckage and people in the water from Silvercedar when she was struck on the starboard side amidships by a torpedo and apparently immediately broke in two after a boiler explosion, causing her to sink in less than one minute. There was no time to launch any of the lifeboats and one of the rafts had been destroyed and the other jammed under a davit. Ten survivors kept themselves afloat on wreckage and a capsized lifeboat, but the first engineer soon died of exhaustion. Three of the survivors were rescued by the lifeboat from Silvercedar and were picked up by FFL Mimosa (K 11) (Cdr R.R. Birot, FNFL) at 0930 hours, which then picked up five more survivors from Ila but one of them shortly thereafter died on board and was buried at sea. HMCS Baddeck (K 147) (T/Lt A.H. Easton, RCNR) then searched the area for 90 minutes and located another survivor on a lifebuoy, unfortunately he died after being rescued and was buried at sea later that day. The master and six crew members were landed in Reykjavik on 20 October. The 1,583 ton Ila was carrying steel and general cargo and was bound for Glasgow, Scotland.
The U-432, U-502, U-558 and U-568, followed by U-73, U-77, U-101 and U-751 would now converge on the convoy. Consequently, U.S. Navy Task Unit 4.1.4, under command of Captain Hewlett Thebaud, comprised of four destroyers, was directed to proceed to convoy SC.48’s aid as the west-bound convoy it had been escorting, ON.24, was dispersed.
On the 16th, U-568 sank British steamer Empire Heron (6023grt) from convoy SC.48 in 56-10N, 24-30W. Thirty three crewmen and nine gunners were lost on the steamer. Only one survivor from Empire Heron was rescued by corvette HMS Gladiolus, but this survivor was lost with the corvette.
U-553 on the 17th sank Panamanian steamer Bold Venture (6595grt) from convoy SC.48 in 56-10N, 24-30W. Seventeen crewmen were missing on steamer Bold Venture.
On the 17th, U-558 sank British tanker W. C. Teagle (9552grt) in 57N, 25W, Norwegian tanker Erviken (6595grt) in 56-10N, 24-30W, and Norwegian steamer Rym (1369grt) in 57-01N, 24-20W from convoy SC.48. The submarine claimed damaging another steamer. Thirty crewmen were lost on tanker W. C. Teagle. Nine survivors were rescued by destroyer HMS Broadwater and were lost when the destroyer was sunk. Twenty six crewmen were lost on steamer Erviken. Two survivors were picked up by destroyer Broadwater and were lost when the destroyer was sunk. The entire crew of steamer Rym was rescued.
On the 17th, U-432 sank Greek steamer Evros (5283grt) in 57N, 24-30W and Norwegian tanker Barfonn (9739grt) in 56-58N, 25-04W from convoy SC.48. The submarine claimed sinking one more steamer and damaging another. Thirty crewmen were lost on steamer Evros. Two survivors were rescued. Thirteen crewmen and one gunner were lost on tanker Barfonn.
On the 17th, U-568 damaged American destroyer USS Kearney, which joined convoy SC.48 after escorting convoy ON.24, in 57N, 24W. Eleven enlisted men were killed and eight ratings were seriously wounded in the destroyer. Destroyer Kearney was assisted by destroyer Greer. The destroyer was able to proceed to Hvalfjord under her own power. After temporary repairs at Hvalfjord, the destroyer sailed on 25 December for Boston where repairs were completed on 5 April 1942.
Corvette HMS Gladiolus (Lt Cdr H. M. C. Sanders DSC, DSC, RD RNR) in convoy SC.48 was sunk on the 17th by U-558 or U-432 in the North Atlantic. Sanders, T/Lt S. H. Gifford RANVR, T/Lt J. G. Gifford-Hull RNVR, T/Lt J. C. Miller DSC RNVR, T/Sub Lt R. B. Ross RNVR, and fifty nine ratings were missing in the loss of the corvette.
Destroyers HMS Highlander, HMS Bulldog, HMS Amazon, HMS Georgetown, and HMS Richmond and corvettes HMCS Pictou and HMS Veronica joined the convoy on 17 September.
Destroyer HMS Broadwater (Lt Cdr W. M. L. Astwood) was sunk by U-101 south of Iceland from convoy SC.48 on the 18th. Lt J. S. Parker RNVR, was killed. Parker was an American and was believed to be the first American killed in the Royal Navy. T/Lt R. J. Sampson RNVR, and one rating died of wounds. Lt A. Knowles, T/A/Gunner (T) F. W. Turner, and thirty nine ratings were missing.
U-558, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Günther Krech, sank Canadian steamer Vancouver Island (9472grt) in 53-37N, 25-37W. At 2154 hours on 15 Oct 1941 the unescorted Vancouver Island (Master Eric Lacey Roper) was spotted by U-558, which was searching the convoy SC.48 west of Ireland. Due to her high speed of about 15 knots the U-boat immediately went on full speed to get into a favorable attack position and fired a spread of three torpedoes from about 2000 meters at 2249 hours, hitting the ship with two of them after 144 seconds. The vessel was hit in the fore part and amidships and stopped but did not sink. Because Krech wanted to continue the search for the convoy he fired two coups de grâce from more than 1000 meters at 2308 and 2317 hours, hitting the ship fore and aft and causing her to sink fast by the stern. The Germans had observed how the crew abandoned ship in lifeboats after the first hits, but HMS Dianthus (K 95) (LtCdr C.E. Bridgman, RNR) sent to her assistance from the dispersed convoy ON.24 did not find any survivors. On 31 October, a lifeboat with the bodies of two officers from the ship was found by a British warship in 56°08N/20°45W. The master, 64 crew members, eight gunners and 32 passengers were lost. The 9,472 ton Vancouver Island was carrying passengers, general cargo, copper, aluminum, zinc, asbestos, and steel and was bound for Cardiff, Wales.
Submarine HMS L.27 made an unsuccessful attack on a steamer off Cherbourg.
Battleship HMS Royal Sovereign and destroyers HMS Bedouin and HMS Anthony departed the Clyde at 1330 for Scapa Flow. The battleship arrived at 1500/16th, escorted by destroyers HMS Oribi and Anthony.
Heavy cruiser HMS Suffolk and destroyers HMS Impulsive, HMS Escapade, and HMAS Norman departed Archangel late on the 15th to sweep off the north of Finland then proceed to Scapa Flow. The sweep was cancelled and ships were ordered to return to Archangel. Destroyer HMAS Norman was detached for the United Kingdom, via Seidisfjod. However, at 2056 on the 17th, destroyer HMAS Norman was also recalled to Archangel, where she arrived at 1500/19th.
Anti-aircraft ship HMS Carlisle passed through the Suez Canal northbound to rejoin the Mediterranean Fleet.
Destroyer HMS Encounter arrived in the Canal area to rejoin the Mediterranean Fleet.
Submarine HMS Thunderbolt made an unsuccessful attack on a tanker in the Aegean.
Polish submarine ORP Sokol made two unsuccessful attacks on steamers in the Gulf of Athens.
Corvettes HMS Jonquil and HMS Coreopsis departed Gibraltar escorting Norwegian tanker Sandar westwards and then joined arriving tanker Velma.
Submarine HMS Severn departed Gibraltar for Freetown.
Convoy SL.90 departed Freetown escorted by destroyers HMS Brilliant to 18 October, HMS Gurkha and HNLMS Isaac Sweers to 17 October, and HMS Vansittart to 20 October, and corvettes HMS Armeria to 20 October, HMS Aster to 18 October, HMS Clover to 18 October, HMS Crocus to 18 October, and HMS Cyclamen to 18 October. On the 18th, sloops HMS Folkestone to 6 November, HMS Londonderry to 29 October, and HMS Weston to 6 November joined. The convoy arrived at Liverpool on 6 November.
In Washington today, President Roosevelt’s visitors included William Phillips, Ambassador to Italy; the Ambassador of Belgium presenting Paul Henri Spaak, Minister of Foreign Affairs in the refugee Belgian Government; Harold Smith, Director of the Budget; William S. Knudsen, Director General of OPM, and Senator Josh Lee.
The Senate was in recess. An Appropriations Subcommittee ended lend-lease hearings. The Education and Labor Subcommittee heard Donald Nelson on shortages in materials.
The House passed the bill authorizing the Navy to acquire 400 small patrol vessels; heard opposition to the Argentina-United States trade treaty; received preliminary recommendations of the special committee investigating air crashes and adjourned at 4:15 PM until 11 AM tomorrow. The Foreign Affairs Committee approved an amendment to the Neutrality Act authorizing the arming of merchant ships and the Rules Committee gave the right of way to the amendment. The Banking and Currency Committee heard Isidor Lubin on the price-control bill.
The armed merchantman bill won unusually swift endorsement by a House committee. Repeal of the Neutrality Act’s ban on arming of cargo vessels was approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee without a record vote only six days after President Roosevelt had termed it a matter of “immediate necessity and extreme urgency.”
Whenever Congress authorizes such action the Navy Department is ready and equipped to put guns and gun crews on all American merchant ships as rapidly as they can be put into port for the installations, Secretary Knox told his press conference today. Mr. Knox said that the arming of these ships, on the basis of British experience, should greatly abate the menace to them from Axis submarines and airplanes. Further, when attacking submarines know a ship is unarmed they come to the surface and try to sink it by gunfire in order to conserve their torpedoes, the Secretary said; but on the other hand an armed ship can keep attacking submarines below the surface, slowing them down and impairing their marksmanship.
Within twenty-four hours after the return to the United States of William Phillips, United States Ambassador to Italy, President Roosevelt held a long conference with the envoy at the White House today.
Calling upon the government and labor to “adjourn politics,” former Governor Alfred E. Smith made an urgent plea yesterday for national unity behind President Roosevelt’s foreign policy. He declared that all Americans must stand back of the President in the present crisis.
Sidney Hillman, co-chief of the Office of Production Management, was informed today that the government would have to provide financial assistance to assure labor peace at the huge bomber plant of the Consolidated Aircraft Corp. At a luncheon honoring the O.P.M. official, Major R. H. Fleet, company president, announced he would not sign a wage agreement with A.F.L. machinists unless the government helped pay the raises for workers. “On the basis of our present business (a $750,000,000 backlog), the agreement would cost the company $82,000,000,” said Fleet. “That would break the company.
R.J. Thomas, president of the C.I.O.’s United Automobile Workers, agreed today to abandon the union’s strike at the Hillsdale Steel Products Company plant in Hillsdale, thus clearing the way today for resumption of full production on Army tanks.
Defense officials gave the automotive industry a double-barreled jolt today, ordering a 51 percent cut in passenger car production in January, and warning simultaneously that materials shortage would probably force a much greater curtailment. Leon Henderson, civilian supply director of the Office of Production Management, declared he had made no effort to fix a quota for January but, instead, was setting a maximum limit “to which the manufacturers can produce if they are successful in obtaining sufficient materials.”
The American Federation of Labor dealt two telling blows at racketeering today. It voted by roll-call to oust George E. Browne, indicted president of the Stage Employes and Motion Picture Operators Unions, from the A. F. L. executive council, and it ordered all central labor and other central bodies of delegates to deny seats to convicted racketeers and criminals. This was the reply of the convention to criticism of A. F. L. methods in handling the racketeer issue. In going a step farther than previous conventions it made the federation’s stand on racketeers almost identical with the attitude it took years ago with respect to Communists, who were barred from seats in central bodies through a change in the constitution.
In an attempt to rectify what has become known as an obvious blunder on behalf of the American Military, the Congress of the United States presents and then passes a resolution restoring the full rank of brigadier general to Billy Mitchell. Although Mitchell had died in 1936, it is obvious that the military had acted out of political self-interest and that Mitchell had been fully justified in voicing his concerns over the indolence and arrogance in American military leadership. The resolution did virtually nothing for Mitchell or his family, other than restore honor to his name and his years of military service to his country.
The comic book characters Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper and Jughead Jones all made their first appearances in Pep Comics issue #22 (cover date December).
In Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, the government prohibits the private use of glycerin because it is needed for explosives.
The first Canadian built Fort ship, the Fort St. James, launched for use by Britain.
The new U.S. trade agreement with Argentina, giving canned meat, hides, wool and certain dairy products a more free entry to this country, was denounced by several Republican Representatives from the farm States today as a blow to American agriculture.
While the highest Japanese Government quarters continued their day and night conferences, which included another two-hour audience given by Emperor Hirohito to the Premier, Prince Fumimaro Konoe, Captain Hideo Hiraide, director of the naval intelligence section of Imperial Headquarters, declared in a public speech that relations between Japan and the United States “are now approaching the final parting of the ways.” Without referring to the American-Japanese conversations in Washington Captain Hiraide predicated his warning on the assumption that the United States might extend its convoy system from Iceland to the British Isles and that the United States would seek compensation for assistance to Russia — presumably meaning bases in Siberia. Both developments, he declared, would gravely affect Japan. Captain Hiraide then continued: “America, feeling her insecurity in this situation, is carrying out naval expansion on a large scale. But at present America is unable to carry out naval operations in both the Atlantic and Pacific simultaneously. “The imperial navy is prepared for the worst and has completed all necessary preparations. In fact, the imperial navy is itching for action, when needed. “In spite of strenuous efforts by the government, the situation is now approaching a final parting of the ways. The fate of our empire depends upon how we act at this moment. It is certain that at such a moment our Navy should set about on its primary mission.”
A Japanese-American conflict is inevitable as soon as both nations have completed their preparations, the Central China Daily News, organ of the Japan-sponsored regime in Nanking, said today. Neither Washington nor Tokyo ever had any real hope that the current Japanese-American diplomatic negotiations could lead to a broad general understanding with regard to the Far East, the newspaper said, but each found a period of “negotiation” convenient to mask its preparations for war.
Tatsuta Maru departed Yokohama, Japan for the United States; she carried American nationals who wished to return to the U.S. due to the rapidly deteriorating US-Japan relations. She would maintain radio silence throughout the entire journey.
Japanese Navy Captain Shutoku Miyazato, Chief Equipping Officer of Battleship No. 1 (Yamato), was promoted to the rank of rear admiral.
Raizo Tanaka was promoted to the rank of rear admiral.
Rear Admiral Senkichi Ozawa was made the commanding officer of Maizuru Naval Arsenal in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan.
Hozomi Ozaki, a Japanese author, journalist and spy for the Soviet Union under Richard Sorge, was arrested for treason. He was a member of a high-level, policy-planning brain trust that advised the Japanese Prime Minister and was in a position to pass on high-level secrets to Soviet spy Sorge. Ozaki was executed along with Sorge in 1944, his letters to his wife and daughter were published after the war and became a best seller, with a Japanese people struggling to come to terms with the defeat and looking for new heroes from their past, untainted by the crimes of the militarists.
The U.S. War Department releases a large number of jeeps, ambulances, trucks and sedans for shipment to the Philippine Army, “subject to the availability of shipping.”
U.S. Marine Corps Major James P. S. Devereux relieved Major Lewis A. Hohn as the commanding officer of the Wake Island Marine Detachment. Devereux also temporarily took on the responsibility of the island’s overall commander.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 120.52 (-1.3)
Born:
Don Stevenson, American rock drummer, singer, and songwriter (Moby Grape — “Omaha”), in Seattle, Washington.
Ken Miller, American football coach (CFL: Saskatchewan Roughriders 2008-11), in The Dalles, Oregon (d. 2024).
Naval Construction:
The U.S. Navy Chanticleer-class submarine rescue ships USS Greenlet (ASR-10) and USS Macaw (ASR-11) are laid down at Moore Shipbuilding and Dry Dock, Co. (Oakland, California, U.S.A.).
The U.S. Navy Adroit-class minesweeper USS Fidelity (AM-96) is laid down by the Nashville Bridge Co. (Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A.).
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boat U-270 is laid down by Bremer Vulkan-Vegesacker Werft, Bremen-Vegesack (werk 35).
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boat U-921 are laid down by Neptun Werft AG, Rostock (werk 508).
The Royal Navy “T”-class destroyer HMS Tyrian (R 67) is laid down by Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson Ltd. (Wallsend-on-Tyne, U.K.); completed by Wallsend.
The Royal Canadian Navy Fisherman’s Reserve Nenamook-class patrol vessel HMCS Moolock (FY 16) is launched by Victoria Motor Boat & Repair Works Ltd. (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada).
The U.S. Navy 77-foot Elco patrol motor torpedo boat USS PT-61 is launched by the Electric Launch Company Ltd. (Elco), (Bayonne, New Jersey, U.S.A.).
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boat U-335 is launched by Nordseewerke, Emden (werk 207).
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boat U-379 is launched by Howaldtswerke AG, Kiel (werk 10).
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boat U-599 is launched by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg (werk 575).
The U.S. Navy Accentor-class coastal minesweeper USS Brambling (AMc-39) is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Ensign John Edwin Johansen, USNR.
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boat U-88 is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Kapitänleutnant Heino Bohmann.
The Nihon Kaigun (Imperial Japanese Navy) B1 type (I-15-class) submarine HIJMS I-25 is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Lieutenant Commander Tagami Meiji.
The Royal Canadian Navy Flower-class corvette HMCS Sudbury (K 162) is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is T/Lieutenant Alexander McAllister McLarnon, RCNR.
