Eleanor Roosevelt and Fala.
By: Phil Kohn. Dedicated to the memory of his father, GM3 Walter Kohn, U.S. Navy Armed Guard, USNR, and all men and women who have answered the country’s call in time of need. Phil can be contacted at ww2remembered@yahoo.com.
In North Africa, British Gen. Bernard Montgomery launches the Second Battle of El Alamein on October 23, 1942, with a 1,000-gun bombardment against German forces around the city. The British Eighth Army gains ground on a six-mile front and repulses Axis counterattacks. On Guadalcanal, Japanese infantry and armor cross the Matanikau River, triggering the Battle for Henderson Field. The defenders repulse the attack soundly, killing over 600 Japanese.
Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of the U.S. president, arrives in London on October 24 for a three-week visit as a guest of King George VI. At Stalingrad, activities of the German Sixth Army slow due to exhaustion and the onset of cold weather. In North Africa, Gen. Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma takes command of the Afrika Korps after its commander, Gen. Georg Stumme is killed during an advanced reconnaissance patrol.
From left, AVM R A Cochrane, Wg Cdr Guy Gibson, King George VI and Gp Capt Whitworth discussing the ‘Dambusters Raid’ in May 1943
Japanese naval vessels bombard U.S. positions and shipping off Lunga Point, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on October 25. Another Japanese offensive is launched against Henderson Field and is repulsed by the Marine defenders. The attack is renewed later that evening and is once again turned back. At El Alamein, Egypt, four Allied brigades begin to penetrate German lines, but take very high losses. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel breaks off his sick leave in Germany and hurriedly returns to North Africa to take charge of the critical situation in which the Axis forces now find themselves. In eastern Europe, the Germans launch a fresh offensive in the Caucasus.
On October 26, U.S. naval forces attack a large Japanese supporting fleet off Guadalcanal in what is known as the Battle of Santa Cruz. The Americans shoot down 100 Japanese aircraft and damage two aircraft carriers, one battleship and three cruisers. On land, the Battle for Henderson Field ends in an American victory, with the Japanese losing over 3,000 killed.
A German submarine wolfpack designated “Battleaxe” on October 27 attacks Convoy SL-125 (37 ships), which is sailing from Sierra Leone to the United Kingdom. The attack begins off the northwest coast of Africa, not far from Gibraltar, and continues until 31 October 1942. During this time 12 merchant vessels (a total of 80,005 gross tons) are sunk and seven are damaged. For the duration of the submarine attacks, the Allies re-route all convoys associated with the “Operation Torch” landings in North Africa. German and Italian armored units attempt an attack near El Alamein, Egypt. In Europe, the Soviet 37th Army is defeated in the Caucasus. Off New Guinea, the Battle of Goodenough Island ends in an Australian victory. The island is turned into a staging, supply and medical base by the Allies for future operations in the area. At Stalingrad, the Germans make headway between the Barricades housing development and the Red October metals factory. In Berlin, 17-year-old Helmuth Hübener, of Hamburg, is executed by guillotine for high treason. His crime: listening to foreign radio transmissions (the BBC) and distributing pamphlets containing news and information gathered from the broadcasts.
The 1,700-mile Alaska Highway is completed on October 28. It connects the contiguous U.S. with Alaska via Canada. The highway starts in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada, passes through Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, and ends at Delta Junction, Alaska, about 160 miles southeast of Fairbanks. It will be used primarily to transport war materiel. In North Africa, an Australian night attack near El Alamein gains some ground. In New York, the U.S. government orders the seizure of two entities operated by the previously seized Union Banking Corporation. The government declares that the Holland-American Trading Corporation and the Seamless Steel Equipment Corporation are Nazi front organizations. Actor Clark Gable graduates from Officer Candidate School and is commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Forces. This allows him to re-grow his trademark mustache that he had to shave off when he enlisted as a private in August.
The Germans on October 29 capture Nalchik, in the Caucasus, only 50 miles from the Grozny oil fields. In London, leading British clergymen and politicians — including British Prime Minister Winston Churchill — hold a public rally to denounce the Nazis’ persecution of Jews. Some 590 miles north of the Azores, the British vessel M/V Abosso — carrying 149 military and 61 civilian passengers, 20 Royal Navy gunners, 163 crew, 400 bags of mail and 3,000 tons of wool — sailing alone and unescorted from Cape Town, South Africa, to Liverpool, England, is torpedoed and sunk by German sub U-575. The 31 survivors of the 393 souls aboard Abosso are rescued by a passing Allied convoy two days later.
