Friday 9 October, 1942

US NAVY

PACIFIC—U.S. troop convoy, TG 62.6, consisting of transports McCawley (AP‑10) and Zeilin (AP‑9) and eight high speed transports (Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner) sails from Nouméa, New Caledonia, for Guadalcanal with the U.S. Army 164^th Infantry Regiment embarked.

            Auxiliary aircraft carrier Copahee (ACV 12) ferries 20 USMC F4Fs (VMF 121) to Henderson Field, Guadalcanal.

            Small reconnaissance seaplane from Japanese submarine I‑7 reconnoiters Espiritu Santo.

            Submarine Drum (SS‑228) sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship Yawatasan Maru, 33°27'N, 136°01'E.

ATLANTIC—U.S. freighter Coloradan is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U‑159 approximately 214 miles southwest of Cape Town, South Africa, 35°47'S, 14°34'E; six crewmen are killed in the attack. Survivors (who include 33 merchant seamen and the 15 man Armed Guard) divide themselves between two lifeboats; the men in lifeboat no.1 are questioned by the Germans and are given a course to Cape Town (see 11 and 19 October and 2 November 1942).

            German submarine U‑505 is damaged by aircraft off Trinidad, B.W.I.

            U.S. freighter Examelia is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U‑68 20 miles south of the Cape of Good Hope,34°52'S, 18°30'E; U‑boat officers question the survivors before the enemy submersible leaves the area. U.S. freighter John Lykes subsequently rescues the survivors (30 of 38 merchant sailors and 10 of the 13 man Armed Guard) (see 2 November 1942).

US ARMY AIR FORCE

EIGHTH AF—B‑24’s join air assault in first US mission in which more than 100 bombers are dispatched from UK. The principal targets are the steel and engineering works of the Compagnie de Fives at Lille and the locomotive and freight car works of Ateliers d’Hellemmes at Lille, which are attacked by 69 B‑17’s and B‑24’s. Other targets attacked (by 10 Heavy Bombers) are Courtrai/Wevelghem and Saint-Omer airfields and the city of Roubaix.

US ARMY MIDDLE EAST AIR FORCE—B‑24’s strike shipping and harbor facilities at Bengasi. P‑40’s fly escort and strafe a landing ground W of El Daba and emplacements in battle area W of El Alamein.

FIFTH AF—14 B‑25’s hit airfield at Lae. 30 B‑17’s pound numerous targets at Rabaul.

ELEVENTH AF—7 B‑17’s and 10 B‑24’s escorted by 6 P‑38’s and 4 P‑39’s bomb Kiska Harbor, installations and shipping 6 times. Targets include shipping in Gertrude Cove, small cargo vessels in Kiska Harbor, installations at North Head, hangar, Main Camp area (hit several times), and various shore facilities.

US ARMY

GUADALCANAL—Rear echelon of 2d Marines, 2d Marine Division, arrives. 164th Infantry of Americal Division sails to Guadalcanal from Nouméa, New Caledonia. Whaling Group and 7th Marines force cross the Matanikau and, with artillery assistance of 11th Marines, drive N to coastal area; retire eastward across Matanikau River mouth, covered by 5th Marines, concluding 3-day action during which Japanese lose nearly 700 men as against 65 marines killed and 125 wounded.

FRANCE—In heaviest daylight raid to date, about 100 U.S. heavy bombers with strong RAF and U.S. fighter support attack industrial targets at Lille. Many enemy planes are encountered and more than 100 are damaged or destroyed.

US MARINE CORPS

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