World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 14 Sep 1942

• The Allied raid on Tobruk, Libya resulted in failure; 746 Allied personnel were killed, wounded, or captured; the Axis suffered 66 casualties. However, the raid on Barce, Libya was successful, destroying 16 aircraft on the ground; on the way out, the Barce raiders were strafed by Italian aircraft and lost several vehicles. ww2dbase [Raids in Libya | CPC]
• US 7th Marine Division departed Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides for Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [CPC]
• HMS Zulu (Commander R. T. White), badly damaged by German aircraft, sank whilst being towed back to Alexandria, Egypt. ww2dbase [AC]
• The 3rd Marine Regiment arrived at Tutuila, Samoa. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Vice Admiral Robert Ghormley requested General George Kenney to use the US 5th Air Force based in Brisbane, Australia to put greater pressure on the Japanese base at Rabaul, New Britain. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-515 sank British ship Harborough 40 miles east of Trinidad at 1410 hours; 5 were killed, 45 survived. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | CPC]
• German submarine U-91 sank Canadian destroyer HMCS Ottawa 440 miles east of St. John's, Newfoundland at 0205 hours; 109 were killed, 65 survived; HMCS Ottawa was escorting Allied convoy ON-127. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• British aircraft sank Italian submarine Alabastro in the Gulf of Stora off French Algeria. ww2dbase [Alabastro | CPC]
• HMS Cumberland joined HM Cruisers Sheffield, Suffolk and London to cover passage and landing of Norwegian party at Spitzbergen, Norway (Operation Gearbox. Note: This deployment also covered passage of Russian Convoy PQ18.). ww2dbase [Cumberland | London | DS]

• US fighters (including 14 P-39D and P-39F fighters of 54th Fighter Group) and bombers from the newly-completed airfield at Adak, Aleutian Islands attacked Japanese positions on Kiska, damaging Japanese submarines RO-63 and RO-64, sinking an ammunition ship, and downing two floatplanes. ww2dbase [Kiska | CPC]

• German submarine U-457 attacked Allied convoy PQ-18 20 miles south of Spitzbergen, Svalbard, Norway; destroyer HMS Impulsive detected U-457's approach, but she failed to deter the attack; U-457 fatally damaged British tanker Atheltemplar at 0400 hours (3 were killed, 58 survived but 16 would die of wounds later; the floating burning wreck would be sunk by U-408 at 1430 hours). Shortly after, U-589 attempted to attack, but was sunk by destroyer HMS Onslow and a Swordfish aircraft from escort carrier HMS Avenger (all 44 aboard were killed). At 1235 hours, about 20 German He 111 torpedo bombers of I./KG 26 attacked in failure with 11 of them shot down. Shortly after, 12 Ju 88 attacked, again losing 11 aircraft without scoring any hits. A third round of 25 aircraft (He 111 of I./KG 26 and Ju 88 of III./KG 26) attacked, sinking US ship Mary Luckenbach (189 were killed, 1 survived; detonation of her cargo of ammunition on board damaged nearby US ship Nathanael Greene and US ship Wacosta) at the cost of 9 aircraft lost. Finally, at 1430 hours, the final wave of 20 German aircraft attacked, scoring no hits and losing one aircraft. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]

• 290 miles northeast of Ascension Island, U-156 remained on the surface and attempted to help the hundreds of survivors of British troopship Laconia as they awaited the arrival of rescue ships. ww2dbase [Laconia Incident | CPC]
• Norwegian merchant ship Talisman rescued 18 survivors of American freighter California, which was sunk by Italian submarine Reginaldo Giuliani on 13 Aug 1942, in the Atlantic Ocean. One of the survivors with this group had died of exposure some days earlier. ww2dbase [CPC]
• At 0052 hours, Comandante Cappellini was ordered to make rendezvous with German submarine U-506 to coordinate with the rescue of survivors of British troop ship Laconia, which was sunk by U-156 in the Atlantic Ocean. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | Laconia Incident | CPC]

• USS S-43 departed Brisbane, Australia, starting her third war patrol. ww2dbase [S-43 | Brisbane, Queensland | CPC]

• The Japanese base at Rabaul, New Britain suffered an accidental ammunition explosion at about 1300 hours. ww2dbase [Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• Japanese troops attacked the Australian line at Ioribaiwa Ridge along the Kokoda Track in Australian Papua; the ridge was 25 miles north of Port Moresby. To the east, the Gili Gili airfield on the coast of Milne Bay was renamed Gurney Field in memorial of RAAF Squadron Leader C. R. Gurney. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 2 | Port Moresby | CPC]
• US 7th Pursuit Squadron, flying P-40 fighters, arrived at 14-Mile Airfield at Port Moresby, Australian Papua. ww2dbase [Port Moresby | CPC]

• The Japanese continued to attack the defensive line held by the US Marines near Henderson Field at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands without success. ww2dbase [Henderson Field | Guadalcanal Campaign | Lunga Point, Guadalcanal | CPC]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Truk | CPC]

• 202 British bombers attacked Wilhelmshaven, Germany; 77 civilians were killed. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Wilhelmshaven, Weser-Ems | CPC]

• In Operation GG 2, Italian auxiliary ship Olterra launched three frogmen against Gibraltar, sinking cargo ship Ravens Point. ww2dbase [CPC]

• HMS Sikh (Captain St. J. A. Micklethwait) was sunk by shore batteries during the raid on Tobruk, Libya. ww2dbase [Tobruk | AC]

• Soviet 62nd Army launched a counterattack in Stalingrad, Russia at dawn, but it would ultimately be turned back by German troops, with the Soviets hemming themselves into a narrow strip along the Volga River. From the other side of the river, Soviet 13th Guards Rifle Division crossed on barges amidst aerial and artillery bombardment to prevent German 71st Division and 76th Division from penetrating Soviet 62nd Army lines and reaching the Volga River. ww2dbase [Battle of Stalingrad | Stalingrad | TH, CPC]
• Yekaterina Budanova claimed her first aerial kill, a Bf 109 fighter, over Stalingrad, Russia; the kill was shared with fellow pilot Lydia Litvyak. ww2dbase [Yekaterina Budanova | Stalingrad | CPC]
• Lydia Litvyak shot down a German Bf 109 fighter over Stalingrad, Russia while flying a Yak-1 fighter. ww2dbase [Lydia Litvyak | Stalingrad | CPC]

• USS Washington, with USS Nicholas as an escort, arrived at Tongatabu, Tonga. ww2dbase [Washington | Nicholas | Tongatabu | DS]

14 Sep 1942 Interactive Map