The German Jet Bomber Arado was the first jet-powered bomber. For a more thorough description of its capabilities and history click this link. Click on the photo to enlarge.
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.
Hamburg, Germany, is bombed for a third time on July 30, 1943. Meanwhile, at Bentlage, in northwestern Germany, the German Arado Ar 234 — the first jet-powered bomber — takes to the air. Used mostly for reconnaissance, the airplane has a maximum speed of 480 miles per hour, can fly at 36,000 feet and has a range of 1,240 miles.
On July 31, the freight-carrying passenger ship SS Bagé — en route from Belém to Rio de Janeiro, and the largest vessel in Brazil’s commercial fleet — is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-185. Of the 129 passengers and 102 crew members aboard, 41 passengers and 37 crew members are killed in the explosion or drown. In Sicily, American troops capture Santo Stefano di Camastra, about 62 miles east of Palermo and 83 miles west of Messina.
Heavy fighting continues on Sicily on August 1, with some of the fiercest battles yet seen. The USAAF loses 54 out of 178 Libyan-based B-24s in a disastrous raid (the longest yet attempted) on the Ploieşti oil fields in Romania while inflicting only superficial damage on 40% of the refining facilities. Hitler orders the immediate evacuation of the Orel salient in Russia. Lydia Litvyak, 21, the top-scoring Russian female fighter pilot of the war (12 kills) — known as “The White Rose of Stalingrad” — is shot down and killed while flying her fourth sortie of the day against German positions. The Germans take over the defense of the island of Crete from Italian troops. Italy repeals all anti-Jewish laws of the previous Fascist government; 12,000 Jews that had been arrested are ordered released.
On August 2, U.S. Navy Lt.(j.g.) John F. Kennedy’s torpedo boat, PT-109, is rammed by a Japanese vessel, splits in two and sinks off the Solomon Islands. Two crewmen die in the accident; Kennedy and ten others are ultimately rescued. Hitler orders that German armies are to hold fast in Russia and Ukraine, but Field Marshal Erich von Manstein ignores him and uses a “flexible defense” in the Kharkiv sector. The fourth and final bombing raid on Hamburg, Germany, is made. The final tally: 50,000 killed and 800,000 left homeless. Canadian troops capture Regalbuto, in eastern Sicily.
The Red Army on August 3 launches an offensive from the Belgorod area in Russia after the failure of the Germans’ “Operation Citadel.” The Italian government puts out peace feelers to the Allies, who lay down the following conditions for an armistice: the Italian fleet is to be handed over; all Italian territories are to be made available to the Allies for military operations; Allied prisoners in Italy are to be freed and not be allowed to fall into German hands; and all air and ground forces are to be disarmed. In New York City’s Harlem, three days of rioting — triggered by a black soldier being shot, falsely rumored as fatally, by a white NYC policeman — come to an end. The tally: 6 dead, nearly 400 injured, 500 arrested and $5 million in damages.
On August 4, U.S. bombers drop 153 tons of bombs on Kiska Island, in the Aleutians, in preparation for an assault against the Japanese forces there. At the V-2 rocket-assembly plant in Peenemünde, Germany, it is decided to use concentration-camp slave labor to build the missiles. Ten of each 11 workers at the factories will be camp inmates provided by the SS.
Catania, Sicily, is captured by British forces on August 5. In the Soviet Union, Red Army troops retake Belgorod, only 25 miles from the Ukrainian border, and drive towards Kharkiv, Ukraine. The Russian town of Orel is also recaptured by the Soviets after 23 days of fighting.
