1940
APRIL
1940
Germany
Invaded Norway
Norwegian
Landings - The
first Allied landings took place
between the 14th and 16th. In the north, British
troops
occupied Harstad in preparation for an attack on
Narvik.
They were reinforced by French and Polish units
through
into May. Royal Marines led British and French
troops
into Namsos ready for an attack south towards
Trondheim.
The British went ashore in the Andalsnes area to
try to
hold central Norway with the Norwegian Army. By
the 27th,
Allied plans to attack towards Trondheim and
hold central
Norway proved impossible. The decision was taken
to pull
out of central Norway and the evacuation of
Andalsnes and
Namsos got under way.
MAY
1940
Norwegian
Evacuations start -
In three days and
nights ending on
the 2nd/3rd, the last 10,000 British and French
troops
were evacuated from Namsos and around Andalsnes
following
the failure to attack towards Trondheim and hold
central
Norway. Other troops were later landed further
north,
including at Bodo in an attempt to block the
German
advance from Trondheim towards Narvik. The
Allies
continued to build up forces for the attack on
Narvik.
Germany
Invaded Holland, Belgium and France
Landings
in
Iceland & Dutch West Indies - On the
10th as
Germany attacked France and the Low Countries,
British
Royal Marines landed from two cruisers at
Reykjavik,
Iceland then part of the Danish Crown. More
troops
followed to set up air and sea bases that became
vital to
Britain's defence of the Atlantic supply routes.
Soon
after Germany invaded Holland, Allied troops
landed on
the Dutch West lndies islands of Aruba and
Curacoa to
protect oil installations.
Holland
and Belgium Evacuations -
British Admiralty
plans had already
been made to withdraw shipping from the Low
Countries,
block main ports, demolish installations and
remove gold
and diamonds. Most of these duties were carried
out with
the aid of Royal Navy destroyers which suffered
heavy
losses over the next few weeks.
Northern
France
Landings - Destroyers carried Allied
troops to Boulogne and Calais on the 20th and
remained in
support. Over the next four days, five Allied
destroyers
were lost and others damaged in the area.
Dunkirk,
Northern France Evacuation
(Operation 'Dynamo') - Initial plans were
to lift off
45,000 men of the British Expeditionary Force
over a
two-day period under the direction of
Vice-Adm B. H. Ramsey. In the next five
days, 8,000 men on the 27th May, 18,000 on the
28th,
47,000 on the 29th, 54,000 on the 30th and
68,000 on the
31st were carried to Britain - a total of
195,000, both
British and French. Every phase of the operation
was
subject to heavy air, sea and land attack. Forty
British,
six French and a Polish destroyer took part,
together
with 800 other vessels, large and small. Losses
were
considerable. The Dunkirk evacuation continued
into June.
JUNE
1940
Norwegian
Evacuation concluded -
Following the capture
of Narvik,
Allied forces totalling 25,000 men were
evacuated over
the period 4th-8th from northern Norway, by
which time
King Haakon VII and his Government were on their
way to
Britain aboard heavy cruiser “Devonshire”.
Dunkirk
Evacuation concluded - As
the evacuation
continued under
heavy ground and air attack, destroyers “KEITH”,
“BASILISK”, “HAVANT” and the French “LE
FOUDROYANT”
were
bombed
by the Luftwaffe and lost off the beaches, all
on the
1st. The evacuation of the BEF and some of the
French
troops trapped within the Dunkirk perimeter came
to an
end on the 4th. In the first four days and
nights of
June, 64,000, 26,000, 27,000 and 26,000 men were
saved to
bring the overall total to 340,000, including
the bulk of
Britain's army in northern France. Naval and
civilian
shipping losses were heavy. In destroyers alone
the Royal
Navy lost six sunk and 19 badly damaged, the
French Navy
seven sunk.
Italy
Declared War
Western
France Evacuations - The
Battle for France
began on the 5th
with a German advance south from the line River
Somme to
Sedan. 10th - The evacuation of British
and Allied
forces from the rest of France got underway.
Starting
with Operation 'Cycle', 11,000 were lifted off
from the
Channel port of Le Havre. 15th -
Operation
'Aerial' began with the evacuation of Cherbourg
and
continued for the next 10 days, moving south
right down
to the Franco-Spanish border. 17th - The
only
major loss during the evacuation from western
France was
off St Nazaire. Liner “Lancastria”
was
bombed and sunk with
the death of
nearly 3,000 men. 25th - The Allied
evacuation of
France ended with a further 215,000 servicemen
and
civilians saved, but Operations 'Aerial' and
'Cycle'
never captured the public's imagination like the
'miracle' of Dunkirk. On the final day of the
evacuation,
Canadian destroyer “FRASER”
was
rammed and sunk by AA cruiser
“Calcutta” off the Gironde Estuary leading into
Bordeaux.
JULY
1940
French
Navy in the Atlantic and Britain -
Carrier “Hermes” and cruisers
“Dorsetshire” and Australian sister-ship
“Australia” lay off Dakar, French West
Africa on the
8th
after negotiations were refused on the future of
French
battleship “Richelieu”. Attacks made included
one with depth-charges from a fast motorboat.
This failed
and a torpedo strike by Swordfish inflicted only
minor
damage. In Britain, two World
War 1
French battleships "Courbet" and
"Paris" and several destroyers and submarines,
including the giant "Surcouf" were in British
ports. On the 3rd they were boarded and seized,
but not
before there were casualties on both sides
including
three British and one French dead.
AUGUST
1940
British
Somaliland,
East Africa Evacuation - Italian forces
from Ethiopia invaded British Somaliland. The
capital of
Berbera was evacuated on the 14th and the
garrison
carried across to Aden. Italians entered the
town five
days later, just as a British mission went into
Ethiopia
to help organise uprisings against the Italians
there.
SEPTEMBER
1940
Dakar,
West Africa Expedition (Operation
'Menace') - Because
of
Dakar's strategic importance to the North and
South
Atlantic shipping routes, an expedition was
mounted to
acquire the port for Allied use. Free French
troops led
by Gen de Gaulle were carried in ships escorted
and
supported by units of the Home Fleet and Force H
under
the command of Vice-Adm John Cunningham. They
included
battleships "Barham" and
"Resolution", carrier "Ark Royal",
three heavy cruisers and other smaller ships
including
Free French. Naval forces at Dakar included the
unfinished battleship "Richelieu" and two
cruisers recently arrived from Toulon (see
below).
Attempts to negotiate on the 23rd soon
failed and
as Vichy French ships tried to leave harbour,
shore
batteries opened fire, damaging heavy cruiser
"Cumberland"
and two destroyers. Shortly afterwards, the
Vichy
submarine "PERSEE" was sunk by gunfire and
large destroyer "L'AUDACIEUX" disabled by
cruiser "Australia" and beached. A Free French
landing was beaten off. Next day, on the 24th,
Dakar was bombarded by the warships and
"Richelieu" attacked by "Ark Royal's"
aircraft. Vichy submarine "AJAX" was sunk by
destroyer "Fortune". The bombardment continued
on the 25th, but battleship
"Resolution"
was
now
torpedoed and badly damaged by submarine
"Beveziers" and "Barham" hit by
"Richelieu's" 15in gunfire. At this point the
operation was abandoned and the Anglo-Free
French forces
withdrew.
NOVEMBER
1940
Greece
&
Crete, Landings in - As the Greek Army
pushed
back the Italians into Albania, RAF squadrons
were sent
from Egypt to Greece and the Royal Navy carried
over the
first Australian, British and New Zealand troops
by
cruiser. Mediterranean Fleet established an
advance base
at Suda Bay on the north coast of Crete.
1941
JANUARY
1941
North
African Naval Operations - As the British
advance
continued into Libya, Bardia was taken on the
5th.
Australian troops captured Tobruk on the 22nd
and Derna,
further west by the end of the month. The Royal
Navy's
Inshore Squadron played an important part
in the
campaign - bombarding shore targets, carrying
fuel, water
and supplies, and evacuating wounded and
prisoners of
war.
MARCH
1941
Norway,
Combined
Operations Raid - A successful commando
raid
was carried out on the Lofoten Islands, off
northwest
Norway with installations destroyed and shipping
sunk.
Escort was provided by destroyers and cover by
units of
the Home Fleet.
British
Somaliland
Landings - British forces were
transported
from Aden to Berbera in British Somaliland on
the 16th.
From there, they advanced southwest into
southern
Ethiopia. To the north, Keren fell to the
attacking
Indian troops and the road was opened to the
Eritrean
capital of Asmara and Red Sea port of Massawa.
APRIL
1941
Greece,
Evacuation of - Germany
invaded both countries on the
6th. By the 12th they had entered Belgrade and
within
another five days the Yugoslav Army surrendered.
Greek
forces in Albania and Greece suffered the same
fate.
Starting on the 24th and over a period of five
days,
50,000 British, Australian and New Zealand
troops were
evacuated to Crete and Egypt in Operation
'Demon'. The
Germans occupied Athens on the 27th. 27th -
As
units of the Mediterranean Fleet carried out the
Greek
evacuation, destroyers "DIAMOND" and "WRYNECK"
rescued troops from the bombed
transport "Slamat", but were then sunk by more
German bombers off Cape Malea at the southeast
tip of
Greece. There were few survivors from the three
ships.
North
Africa, Siege of Tobruk - Germans
entered Benghazi on the 4th
and by mid-month had surrounded Tobruk and
reached the
Egyptian border. Attacks on the British and
Australian
troops defending Tobruk were unsuccessful, and
an
eight-month siege began.
Iraq
landings - A pro-German
coup in Iraq on the 1st
threatened Allied oil supplies. British and
Indian units
were entering the country through the Persian
Gulf by the
middle of the month. The campaign continued
through May.
MAY
1941
Crete,
Evacuation of - Most
of the Mediterranean Fleet with
four battleships, one carrier, 10 cruisers and
30
destroyers fought the Battle for Crete.
For the
Navy there were two phases,
both of
which took place under intense air attack,
mainly German,
from which all losses resulted. Phase One was
from
the German airborne invasion on the 20th until
the
decision was taken on the 27th to evacuate the
island.
During this time the Mediterranean Fleet managed
to
prevent the sea-borne reinforcement of the
German
paratroops fighting on Crete, but at heavy cost.
Most of
these losses happened as the ships tried to
withdraw from
night-time patrols north of the island out of
range of
enemy aircraft. During this phase, two cruisers
and four
destroyers were sunk, and one carrier, two
battleships
and three cruisers badly damaged.
Phase Two was
from
27th May to 1st June when over 15,000 British
and
Commonwealth troops were evacuated. Ten thousand
had to
be left behind - and again the naval losses were
heavy. 28th
- The decision to evacuate was made, and
cruisers and
destroyers prepared to lift off the troops. As
they
approached Crete, cruiser "Ajax" and destroyer
"Imperial"
were
damaged to
the southeast. 29th
- Early in the morning, 4,000 men were lifted
off from
Heraklion on the north coast. As they did the
damaged "IMPERIAL" had to be scuttled, and
"HEREWARD" was
hit and left behind to go down off
the eastern tip of Crete. Shortly after,
cruisers "Dido" and "Orion" were
badly damaged
to the southeast. 30th
- Early in the day, more troops were lifted from
the
southern port of Sphakia by another cruiser
force. Well
to the south the Australian cruiser "Perth"
was
bombed and damaged. 1st
June
- As the last men were carried from Crete,
cruisers
"Calcutta" and "Coventry" sailed from
Alexandria to provide AA cover. "CALCUTTA"
was
sunk north of
the Egyptian coast.
Some 15,000 troops were saved but at a cost to
the Royal
Navy of 2,000 men killed.
North Africa,
Supply of
Besieged Tobruk - A British offensive
started from
the Sollum area on the 15th in an attempt to
relieve
Tobruk. Two weeks later both sides were back to
their
original positions. The first of many supply
trips to
besieged Tobruk were made by Australian
destroyers
"Voyager" and "Waterhen" and other
ships of the Inshore Squadron.
JUNE
1941
Germany
Invades Russia
North Africa,
Tobruk -
Another unsuccessful British offensive to
relieve Tobruk
started from Sollum on the 15th (Operation
'Battleaxe').
Within two days the operation was called off. A
heavy
price was paid for the supply of besieged Tobruk
by the
Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy ships
involved. All
trips took place under continual threat of
German and
Italian aircraft attack: 24th - Sloop
"AUCKLAND"
was
lost off
Tobruk. 30th -
Australian destroyer "WATERHEN"
was bombed
and sunk off Bardia.
JULY
1941
North
Africa, Tobruk - On the Tobruk Run,
destroyer "DEFENDER"
was
bombed by
German or
Italian aircraft and went down off Sidi Barrani
on the
11th.
AUGUST
1941
North
Africa, Tobruk - Covering the transport
of troops
into and out of besieged Tobruk, cruiser
“Phoebe”
was
hit by an
aircraft torpedo on the
27th.
Persia
(Iran)
Landings - The possibility of a pro-Axis
coup
d'etat led to Anglo-Soviet forces going into
Persia on
the 25th from points in Iraq, the Persian Gulf
and
Russia. A cease-fire was announced within four
days, but
later violations led to Teheran being occupied
in the
middle of September. The landings in Persia from
the Gulf
were made from a small force of British,
Australian and
Indian warships of the East ladies Command.
OCTOBER
1941
North
Africa, Tobruk - Over a period of 10
days,
cruiser-minelayers "Abdiel" and
"Latona" transported troops and supplies to
besieged Tobruk and carried out Australian
units. On the
last mission on the 25th, "LATONA"
was bombed
and sunk north of Bardia by
Ju87s Stuka divebombers
NOVEMBER
1941
North Africa,
Tobruk
- A major British offensive (Operation
'Crusader)
started on the 18th, again from the Sollum area
and by
January had reached El Agheila. Axis forces
around Sollum
and Bardia were by-passed in the drive on
Tobruk. The
first link-up with the besieged garrison was
made by New
Zealand troops on the 27th. On the 27th,
Australian sloop "PARRAMATTA" escorting an
ammunition ship on
the Tobruk Run was sunk by "U-559" off the
port. Since the siege started destroyers and
other
warships had been carrying in men and supplies
almost
nightly. As it came to an end the cost could be
counted -
25 warships of all sizes and five merchantmen
lost.
DECEMBER
1941
Japan
Declares War
Norway,
Combined
Operations Raid - Separate commando raids
took place in northern Norway on the Lofoten
Islands
and further south on Vaagso
Island. The aim was to destroy
installations and
sink and capture shipping. The first force was
led by
cruiser “Arethusa” with limited results. The
second with cruiser “Kenya” was more
successful. On the 27th, cruiser
“Arethusa”
was
damaged in
German bombing attacks.
1942
JANUARY
1942
Submarine
Cloak
and Dagger Operations - Submarine
"TRIUMPH" sailed from Alexandria on 26th
December for a clandestine landing near Athens
before
patrolling in the Aegean. She reported the
landing on the
30th, but failed to rendezvous back there on the
9th and
was presumed mined off the island of Milo,
southeast of
the Greek mainland. This was one of many such
landings
and pick-ups by submarines, coastal forces and
other
ships and craft that took place in all theatres
throughout the war
FEBRUARY
1942
Northern
France,
Combined Operations Raid - Commandos
carried
out a raid on Bruneval in
northern
France to capture radar equipment in which they
were
successful. They were lifted off by Royal Navy
coastal
forces.
Singapore
Evacuation - On the 8th, Japanese forces
started
crossing over to Singapore Island. Heavy
fighting took
place, but by the 15th Singapore surrendered and
over
80,000 mainly Australian, British and Indian
troops were
doomed to captivity. Others attempted to escape
in a
variety of small ships and craft. 14th -
Sailing
for Batavia, auxiliary patrol ship "LI WO" with
a single 4in gun attacked a
troop convoy south of Singapore and was soon
sunk by a
Japanese cruiser. Commanding officer Lt Thomas
Wilkinson
RNR was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
MARCH
1942
Combined
Operations Command - Lord
Louis
Mountbatten was promoted Vice-Adm and appointed
Chief of
Combined Operations as planning continued for
the raids
on St Nazaire and later Dieppe.
Western
France, Raid on St Nazaire -
Concerned
about the
possibility of battleship "Tirpitz" breaking
out into the Atlantic, the decision was made to
put out
of action the only dry-dock in France capable of
taking
her - the 'Normandie' at St Nazaire. Ex-US
destroyer
"Campbeltown" would be loaded with high
explosives and rammed into the lock gates while
British
commandos, carried over in Royal Navy ML's or
motor
launches were to land and destroy the dry-docks
installations. The force sailed from southwest
England on
the 26th, and by a number of ruses
penetrated the
heavily defended port early on the 28th.
In the
face of intense fire, "Campbeltown" was placed
exactly in position and many of the commandos
got ashore
to carry out their mission. Losses in men and
coastal
forces' craft were heavy, but when "CAMPBELTOWN"
did blow up, the lock
gates were put out of commission for the rest of
the war.
The Victoria
Cross was
awarded to
three
members of the Royal Navy taking part - Cdr
Robert Ryder
RN, Commanding Officer, Naval Forces sailing
with his
staff on board "MGB-314", Lt-Cdr Stephen
Beattie RN, Commanding Officer, HMS Campbeltown,
and
posthumously to Able Seaman William Savage,
gunner on
"MGB-314" for gallantry under heavy fire.
Java,
Dutch East lndies Evacuation
-
Strong Japanese naval forces patrolled the
Indian Ocean
south of Java to stop the escape of Allied
forces and
shipping. Old destroyer "STRONGHOLD"
was
sunk in
action with the 8in cruiser
"Maya" and two destroyers on the 2nd. Two days
later Australian sloop "YARRA" and the ships she
was escorting
were also destroyed.
MAY
1942
Madagascar,
Indian Ocean Landings
(Operation 'Ironclad') - Concerned
about the Japanese carrier sorties into
the Indian Ocean and the vulnerability of the
Cape of
Good Hope/Middle East convoy routes, Britain
decided to
take Diego Saurez at the north end of Vichy
French
Madagascar. Under the command of Rear-Adm E. N.
Syfret
(recently appointed to Force H), a large force
of ships
including battleship "Ramillies" and carriers
"Indomitable" and "Illustrious"
assembled at Durban, South Africa towards the
end of
April. The assault took place on 5th May in
Courrier Bay
to the west of Diego Saurez. As usual the Vichy
French
forces resisted strongly. Submarine "BEVEZIERS"
was sunk, but the only Royal Navy casualty was
corvette "AURICULA" mined on the 5th. The
advance on Diego Saurez was held up and next day
a Royal
Marine unit stormed the town from the sea. By
the 7th the
fighting was over and the important anchorage
was in
British hands. On the 7th and 8th, French
submarines
"LE HEROS" and "MONGE" were sunk by
joint air and sea attacks. On the night of the
30th,
Japanese submarines "I-16" and "I-20"
launched midget submarines for attacks on Diego
Saurez.
"Ramillies"
was
torpedoed and
badly damaged and a tanker sunk.
By September the complete occupation of
Madagascar became
necessary.
JUNE
1942
French
and
French North African Invasion Plans -
Winston
Churchill flew to Washington DC for another
series of
meetings with President Roosevelt. Agreement did
not come
easily on the question of where to open a Second
Front in
1942. The Americans wanted to land in France to
take
pressure off the Russians, but the British
considered
this impossible at present and proposed the
invasion of
French North Africa. The President did not come
to accept
this until July. Planning then started on what
became
Operation 'Torch'.
AUGUST
1942
Northern
France, Raid on Dieppe
(Operation 'Jubilee') - Unable
to open a Second Front in Europe, the
Western Allies decided to mount a large-scale
raid on the
French coast to take some of the pressure off
the
Russians. The plan was for a largely Canadian
force
supported by British commandos to assault the
defended
port of Dieppe in northern France. Over 200
ships and
landing craft, including escort destroyers and
coastal
forces under the command of Capt J.
Hughes-Hallett,
sailed with 6,000 troops from south coast of
England
ports on the 18th. The attempted landings
took
place early on the 19th against heavy
defensive
gunfire. One flanking attack by commandos
achieved some
success, but the other and the frontal assault
with tanks
were total failures. By noon the decision was
taken to
withdraw. As this went ahead under constant air
attack,
escort destroyer "BERKELEY"
was
bombed and sunk. Others were
damaged. Canadian casualties in dead, wounded
and
prisoners were high, and Dieppe proved an
expensive but
important lesson on the problems of landing in
occupied
Europe at a defended port.
Guadalcanal,
British Solomon Islands
Landings - The Japanese
were
now extending their hold in the southern
Solomons
and building an airfield on the island of
Guadalcanal.
From there they could move against the New
Hebrides, New
Caledonia and other islands along the supply
routes to
Australia and New Zealand. After the Japanese
presence
was discovered, the US 1st Marine Division was
landed on
the 7th, soon capturing the airstrip which was
renamed
Henderson Field. Close cover was provided by a
force of
American and Australian cruisers.
9th
- Battle of
Savo Island - In
the early hours of the 9th a Japanese force of
seven
cruisers and a destroyer headed for Savo Island
to the
north of Guadalcanal to get at the US
transports. Instead
they stumbled on five patrolling cruisers. Taken
completely by surprise, heavy cruisers
"CANBERRA" and the American "ASTORIA",
"QUINCY"
and "VINCENNES"
were
hit by a torrent of gunfire and
torpedoes and sank in an area soon known as
lronbottom
Sound. The fifth cruiser "Chicago" escaped and
Australian cruisers "Australia" and
"Hobart" were close by but took no part in the
action. The transports were untouched.
Papua, New Guinea
Operations
- In their move on Port Moresby,
Japanese troops
landed at Milne Bay at the extreme southeast tip
of Papua
on the 25th. The mainly Australian resistance
was strong
and by the 30th, the invaders were starting to
evacuate.
By early September they had gone - the first
major
setback Japanese forces had experienced on land.
Before
then on 29th August, Japanese submarine "R0-33"
attacked Australian troop
reinforcements bound for Port Moresby and was
sunk off
the harbour by Australian destroyer "Arunta".
SEPTEMBER
1942
North
Africa, Raid on Tobruk (Operation
'Agreement') -
To help
relieve the pressure on Eighth Army in the
Alamein area,
a combined operations raid was planned on Tobruk
to
destroy installations and shipping. An attack
was to be
launched from the landward side by the Long
Range Desert
Group (LRDG) while simultaneously destroyers
"Sikh" and "Zulu" together with
coastal forces craft would land Royal Marine and
army
units from the sea. AA cruiser "Coventry" and
'Hunts' provided cover. In the night of the 13th/14th,
a few troops got ashore but "SIKH"
was
soon disabled by shore
batteries.
She went down off Tobruk early in the morning of
the 14th.
As the other ships withdrew, heavy attacks by
German and
Italian aircraft sank cruiser "COVENTRY" and
destroyer "ZULU" to the northwest of Alexandria.
The land attack also failed.
Madagascar,
Indian
Ocean Landings - Britain decided to
occupy the
rest of the Vichy French island in the Indian
Ocean.
Starting on the 10th, British, East African and
South
African troops were landed through the month at
points in
the northwest, east and southwest. By the 23rd
the
capital, Tananarive, was captured but fighting
continued
into October. The Vichy French did not surrender
until
early November, by which time they had been
driven into
the extreme southeast corner of the large
island.
Timor,
SE
Asia Operation - Australian troops were
carried to
the occupied island of Timor by Australian
destroyer "VOYAGER" to strengthen the Sparrow
Force
guerrilla unit. She ran aground on the south
coast on the
23rd, was bombed by the Japanese and had to be
destroyed.
OCTOBER
1942
Submarine
Cloak
and Dagger Operation, French North Africa -
In
preparation for Operation 'Torch', US Gen Mark
Clark
landed in Algeria from submarine "Seraph" to
help persuade the Vichy French authorities to
support the
coming Allied landings. Gen Giraud was to be
smuggled
from unoccupied France, again in "Seraph", to
head pro-Allied Frenchmen.
NOVEMBER
1942
8th
- French North
African Landings: Operation 'Torch'
By July 1942 the
Allies had accepted that a cross-Channel assault
on German-occupied Europe was not yet possible,
and instead opted to land an expeditionary force
in French North Africa. For political reasons
the
main landing forces would be American. Their
arrival was timed to coincide with Eighth Army's
offensive. Plans were formally approved in
October, by which time the large amounts of
shipping needed had been organised and
assembled.
To provide them, Russian convoys and those to
and
from Britain and Gibraltar/West Africa had been
suspended and the Home Fleet stripped bare. The
Allies' greatest concern was the hundred or more
U-boats at sea. Outline order of battle was:
Allied
Commander-in-Chief
- US Gen
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Allied
Naval
Commander Expeditionary Force - Adm Sir
Andrew Cunningham
Landing
Areas: |
Casablanca,
Morocco
|
Oran,
Algeria
|
Algiers,
Algeria
|
Forces
landing: |
35,000
US
troops
|
39,000
US
troops
|
33,000
US & British
troops
|
Departure
from: |
United
States
|
Britain
|
Britain
|
Naval
Task Forces:
Commanders:
|
Western
Rear-Adm H K Hewitt USN
|
Centre
Cdre T H Troubridge
|
Eastern
Vice-Adm Sir H Burrough
|
Battleships
Carriers
Cruisers
Destroyers
Other warship
Troopships, supply ships, tankers etc
|
3
5
7
38
16
36
|
-
2
2
13
41
47
|
-
2
3
13
40
33
|
Total
Ships |
105
USN
|
105
RN
|
91
RN
|
Most of
the task
force carriers were escort carriers,
and the US
totals included a heavy cover force.
In the
Mediterranean, British Force H
reinforced by Home
Fleet and under the command of
Vice-Adm Sir
Neville Syfret, covered the Algerian
landings.
Their main task was to hold off any
attack by the
Italian fleet. Strength included three
capital
ships, three fleet carriers, three
cruisers and
17 destroyers. Various other forces
added to the
number of Allied ships in the area.
Over 300
ships were therefore directly involved
in what at
the time was the greatest amphibious
operation in
history, and the forerunner of even
greater ones
to come before the war was over.
Throughout
October and early November convoys
sailed for the
landings on Vichy French soil in the
early hours
of the 8th. Negotiations with
the French
were not completed in time to avoid
resistance.
There was bloodshed on both sides.
Casablanca,
Morocco - US troops landed at
three
points along a 200-mile stretch of
Atlantic
coastline. By the 10th they
prepared to
attack Casablanca itself, but this
became
unnecessary when the French forces
stopped
fighting. Before this happened the
Western Task
Force had fought a series of fierce
actions with
Vichy French warships. Battleship
"Jean
Bart" was seriously damaged and a
cruiser
and several destroyers and
submarines sunk or
beached.
HMS
Fishguard, sister ship to
"Walney" and "Hartland"
Oran,
Algeria - Within the
Mediterranean,
the landings to the west and east of
Oran were
followed by an attempt to smash
through the
harbour boom and land troops
directly from ex-US
Coast Guard cutters "WALNEY" (Capt
Peters) and "HARTLAND". Both were
disabled by
ship and shore gunfire and soon
sank. (+ Capt
Frederick Peters RN of the "Walney"
was
awarded the Victoria Cross for
gallantry. Five
days later he was kiIled in an
aircraft
accident.)
Cruiser
"Aurora" (Capt Agnew) and destroyers
fought off an attack by French
destroyers outside
the port. The large destroyer
"EPERVIER" was driven ashore and
"Tornade" and "Tramontane"
disabled. In addition, destroyers
"Achates" and "Westcott"
accounted for submarines "ACTEON"
and
"ARGONAUTE". US troops fought their
way
into Oran, which fell on the 10th.
Algiers,
Algeria - A similar opening
attack
was mounted by old destroyers
"Broke"
and "Malcolm". The latter was badly
damaged but "BROKE" eventually broke
through
the boom to land her troops. Hard
hit by shore
batteries, she got away but
foundered next day on
the 9th. Algiers was soon in
Allied hands
and Adm Darlan, C-in-C Vichy French
forces was
captured. It was not Gen Giraud as
originally
intended, but Adm Darlan who
broadcast the
ceasefire on the 10th.
|
Algeria
Landings continued - Further Allied
landings
were made to the east of Algiers where there was
little
air cover. Attacks by German aircraft on these
and other
targets sank or damaged a number of ships. On
the 10th,
sloop "IBIS"
was
hit by an aircraft torpedo and went
down off Algiers. The first of the further
Allied troop
landings were made at Bougie and Bone on the
11th and
12th, well on the way to the Tunisian border.
DECEMBER
1942
'Cockleshell
Heroes',
Western France - Maj H. G. Hasler led
Royal
Marine Commandos in canoes up the Gironde
Estuary in
southwest France and damaged several blockade
runners
with limpet mines on the 7th.
1943
FEBRUARY
1943
Burma
- Col Orde Wingate mounted the first Chindit
Operation behind Japanese lines,
northwest
of Lashio. Success was limited, losses heavy
and the
survivors started to withdraw in late March
1943. In the
south-west, the Arakan Offensive
failed to make any progress.
APRIL
1943
'The
Man
Who Never Was', Spanish Mediterranean Coast -
Submarine "Seraph" released the body of a
supposed Royal Marine officer into the sea off
Spain. His
false papers helped to persuade the Germans that
the next
Allied blows would fall on Sardinia and Greece
as well as
Sicily.
JULY
1943
10th - Invasion of
Sicily: Operation 'Husky'
The
Americans still wanted to concentrate on the
cross-Channel invasion of France, but at the
Casablanca Conference somewhat reluctantly
agreed
to go ahead with the Sicily landings. Amongst
the
benefits would be the opening of the
Mediterranean to Allied shipping. The final plan
was approved in mid-May and not much more than a
month later the first US troop convoys were
heading across the Atlantic for an operation
even
greater than the French North African landings
the previous November.
Allied
Naval
Commander Expeditionary Force - Adm Sir
Andrew Cunningham
The
grand total of 2,590 US and British warships
- major and minor (summarised below) - were
mostly allocated to
their own landing sectors, but the Royal Navy
total included the covering force against any
interference by the Italian fleet. The main
group
under Vice-Adm Sir A. U. Willis of Force H
included battleships "Nelson",
"Rodney", "Warspite" and
"Valiant" and fleet carriers
"Formidable" and Indomitable".
Seven Royal Navy submarines acted as navigation
markers off the invasion beaches. Many of the
troops coming from North Africa and Malta made
the voyage in landing ships and craft. As they
approached Sicily with the other transports late
on the 9th in stormy weather, Allied airborne
landings took place. Sadly, many of the British
gliders crashed into the sea, partly because of
the weather. However, early next day, on the 10th,
the troops went ashore under an umbrella of
aircraft. The new amphibious DUKWS (or
"Ducks") developed by the Americans
played an important part in getting the men and
supplies across the beaches.
Landing
Areas: |
Gulf
of
Gela, S coast
|
South
of
Syracuse, SE coast
|
Forces
landing: |
US
7th
Army - Gen Patton
66,000 troops
|
Eighth
Army
- Gen Montgomery
115,000 British & Canadian
troops
|
Departure
from: |
United
States,
Algeria, Tunisia
|
Egypt,
Libya,
Tunisia, Malta; Canadian division
from
Britain
|
Naval Task
Forces:
Commanders: |
Western
Rear-Adm H K Hewitt USN
|
Eastern
Adm Sir B Ramsey
|
Naval
Forces
Battleships
Carriers
Cruisers
Destroyers
Submarines
Other warship
Troopships, supply ships, LSIs etc
Landing Ships and Craft (major) |
U.S.A.
-
-
5
48
-
98
94
190
|
British
&
Allied
6
2
10
80
26
250
237
319
|
Totals
|
435
USN
|
930
RN
|
Plus Landing
Craft (minor) |
510
USN
|
715
RN
|
New
Guinea, SW Pacific Landings - On
30th June, Allied forces landed south of
Salamaua. By
mid-July they linked up with the Australians
fighting
through from Wau, and prepared to advance on
Salamaua
itself. The struggle against the usual fierce
resistance
continued right through July and August.
AUGUST
1943
Sicily
Landings
concluded - As the Germans and Italians
prepared to evacuate Sicily across the Strait of
Messina,
the Allies started the final push - US Seventh
Army along
the north coast aided by three small amphibious
hops and
Eighth Army up the east side from Catania with
one small
landing. Gen Patton's men entered Messina just
before Gen
Montgomery's on the 17th. Sicily was now in
Allied hands
but 100,000 Axis troops managed to escape
without any
serious interference.
Aleutian
Islands,
North Pacific Landings - In mid-month US
and
Canadian troops landed on Kiska after heavy
preliminary
bombardments to find the Japanese had quietly
left. The
Aleutian Island chain was completely back in US
hands.
SEPTEMBER
1943
Italy -
Surrender and
Invasion
The
Italian
surrender was signed in Sicily on
the 3rd,
but not announced until the 8th to
coincide with
the main Allied landing at Salerno,
and in the
forlorn hope of preventing the
Germans from
taking over the country. Meanwhile
the invasion
and occupation of southern Italy got
underway. A
start was made on the 3rd
when British and
Canadian troops of Gen Montgomery's
Eighth Army
crossed over the Strait of Messina
from Sicily in
300 ships and landing craft
(Operation
'Baytown') and
pushed north through Calabria,
eventually joining
up with forces landed at Salerno.
Early on the
9th, in conjunction with these
landings, the
Eighth Army's 1st Airborne Division
was carried
into Taranto by mainly British
warships (Operation
'Slapstick').
Shortly afterwards the Adriatic
ports of Brindisi
and Bari were in Allied hands. 9th
-
Around midnight in Taranto harbour,
cruiser-minelayer "ABDIEL" (abelow
- Navy Photos/Bob Hanley),
loaded with 1st Airborne
troops, detonated one of the
magnetic mines
dropped by E-boats "S-54" and
"S-61" as they escaped, and sank
with
heavy loss of life.
|
9th
September
- Salerno Landings, Operation
'Avalanche'
|
Landing
Areas: |
Gulf
of Salerno, S of Naples
|
Forces
landing: |
US
5th Army - Gen Mark Clark
55,000 British & US troops
with 115,000 follow-up
|
British
10th
Corps
|
US
Sixth
Corps
|
Departure
from:
|
Tunis,
Libya
|
Algeria
|
Naval Attack
Forces
and Commanders: |
Western
Vice-Adm H K Hewitt USN
|
Northern
Cdre G N Oliver
|
Southern
Rear-Adm J L Hall USN
|
Naval
Assault &
Follow-up Forces
|
British
&
Allied
|
U.S.A.
|
Cruisers
|
4
|
4
|
Destroyers
|
8
|
18
|
Other
warships
|
77
|
90
|
Troopships,
supply ships, LSIs etc
|
29
|
13
|
Totals
|
128
|
125
|
Landing
Ships and Craft (major only)
|
333
|
In
addition to
the grand total of 586 Allied naval
units
directly engaged in the landings, most
of which
were in their respective British or
American
sectors, Adm Cunningham as C-in-C
provided a
strong Royal Navy cover force and
carrier support
group. The cover force was again Force
H under
Adm Willis with battleships "Nelson",
"Rodney", Warspite",
"Valiant" and carriers
"Formidable" and
"Illustrious". Rear-Adm Vian commanded
the support carriers with light
carrier
"Unicorn", escort carriers
"Attacker", Battler",
"Hunter" and "Stalker", three
cruisers and destroyers. Most of the
troops were
carried to Salerno via Sicily in the
landing
ships and craft, and, early on the
9th, without
any preliminary air or naval
bombardment, landed
in the face of strong German
resistance. By the
end of the day, with the support of
the covering
warships and carrier aircraft, both
the British
and Americans had established
bridgeheads but
with a gap in between. Over the next
few days the
Germans counter-attack and on the 13th
and 14th
came dangerously close to breaking
through the
Allied lines and reaching the beaches.
They were
held, and much of the credit went to
the
supporting warships, especially
"Warspite" and "Valiant"
which arrived on the 15th. On the
16th, the
threat of dislodgement was over. 13th
-
All this time German Do127 aircraft
using both
types of guided bombs were attacking
Allied
shipping laying off the beaches. On
the 13th,
cruiser "Uganda"
was
damaged providing
supporting gunfire. 16th - On
the 16th,
after "Warspite" had done her most
valuable
work, she was hit and near-missed by
three or
four guided bombs. Damaged, she had to
be towed
to Malta. |
British
Aegean Campaign Landings -
With the surrender of Italy, Winston Churchill
wanted to
seize the Italian Dodecanese islands in the
southern
Aegean before the Germans could establish
themselves
there. From here the Allies could threaten
Greece and
support Turkey, but the Americans and some
British
commanders were lukewarm to what they saw as a
sideshow
compared with the battle for Italy. Insufficient
forces
and especially aircraft were made available, and
the
Germans soon took Rhodes from where, together
with other
bases, they maintained air superiority
throughout the
coming campaign. On the 15th and 16th, British
troops
occupied Kos, Leros, Samos and other smaller
islands. The
Royal Navy had the task of supplying and
reinforcing
them, as well as attacking German supply routes.
The
potential parallels with Norway, Greece and
Crete all
those many months back were obvious, if only in
hindsight. 26th - After carrying troops
to Leros,
destroyers "Intrepid" and Greek "Queen
Olga" were attacked by Ju88s while at anchor in
the
harbour. "QUEEN OLGA" soon went down and
"INTREPID"
capsized next day.
Singapore,
Malaya
Canoe Raid - Working for Special
Operations
Executive (SOE), a small group of Australian and
British
servicemen were carried from Australia in an old
fishing
vessel, and on the night of the 24th/25th
penetrated
Singapore harbour in canoes. Several ships were
sunk. In
a similar raid in September 1944 the attackers
were
captured and executed.
New
Guinea,
SW Pacific Landings - As the Allies
fought
towards Salamaua, further north a three-pronged
attack
was launched on Lae by mainly Australian troops
- from
landings to the east, by men airlifted inland to
the
northwest, and from the direction of Wau. As the
Japanese
withdrew from both areas towards the north coast
of the
Huon Peninsular, Australians entered Salamaua on
the 11th
and Lae five days later. To prevent the Japanese
holding
on to the Peninsular, Australian forces landed
north of
Finschhafen on the 22nd as others moved overland
from Lae
in the direction of Madang.
OCTOBER
1943
Solomon
Islands,
SW Pacific Landings - In preparation for
the
invasion of the northern Solomons island of
Bougainville,
New Zealand troops were landed on the Treasury
Islands on
the 27th.
NOVEMBER
1943
British
Aegean
Campaign Evacuations - German forces
landed on
Leros on the 12th and captured the Island after
four
day's heavy fighting against the British and
Italian
defenders. The campaign came to an end when
Samos was
evacuated on the 20th, but not before two more
'Hunts'
fell victim, this time to Hs293 glider bombs: 11th
-
"ROCKWOOD"
was
severely
damaged off
Kos following an attack with other destroyers on
Kalymnos
(Calino). She was not repaired and went into
reserve. 13th
-
"DULVERTON"
was sunk
off Kos as she withdrew from searching
for German shipping making for Leros.
DECEMBER
1943
Normandy,
Northern
France Invasion Plans - In late December
the
commanders for the invasion of Europe were
announced. US
General Eisenhower would be Supreme Allied
Commander with
Air Marshal Tedder as deputy. In charge of all
naval
operations under the code name 'Neptune' was Adm
Sir
Bertram Ramsey. From Italy, Gen Montgomery,
Eighth Army
commander returned to England to prepare for his
part in
the Normandy invasion. Gen Eisenhower also
headed for
England.
Burma
Command - Under Adm Mountbatten, Supreme
Allied
Commander South East Asia, Gen Slim's 14th Army
prepared
for a major offensive into northern Burma from
the area
of Kohima and lmphal in India. Throughout the
rest of the
war, Adm Mountbatten's plans to prosecute the
campaign
even more vigorously in South East Asia were
continually
frustrated by his lack of amphibious capability.
Bismarck
Archipelago,
SW Pacific Landings - Gen MacArthur was
ready to complete his part in the isolation of
Rabaul by
preliminary landings on the southwest coast
of
New Britain,
followed by a
major assault at the
western tip of Cape Gloucester on the 26th.
Cover was
partly provided by Rear-Adm Crutchley with
cruisers
"Australia" and "Shropshire".
Fighting continued until March 1944 when,
assisted by
further landings, the western third of the
island was
secured. By November 1944, when Australian
troops
relieved the US forces, considerable numbers of
Japanese
were still penned in around Rabaul where they
stayed
until war's end
1944
JANUARY
1944
22nd
January
- Anzio Landings, Operation
'Shingle'
|
Landing
Areas: |
N
and S of Anzio town
|
Forces
landing: |
US
6th Corps - Gen Lucas
50,000 British & US troops
with 115,000 follow-up
|
British
1st
Division
|
US
3rd
Division
|
Departure
from: |
Naples
|
Naval
Assault Forces
and Commanders: |
Naval
Commander
Rear-Adm F J Lowry USN
|
Northern
Rear-Adm T Troubridge
|
Southern
Rear-Adm F J Lowry USN
|
Naval
Assault & Follow-up
Forces |
British
&
Allied
|
U.S.A.
|
Cruisers
|
3
|
1
|
Destroyers |
14
|
10
|
Other
warships
|
30
|
59
|
LSIs,
landing
craft & ships (major only) |
168
|
84
|
Totals
|
215
|
154
|
Grand Total
|
369
|
The
British and
US warships were not strictly
allocated to their
own sectors and two Royal Navy
submarines
provided the usual navigational
markers. Landings
took place early on the 22nd
and were
virtually unopposed. By next day the
beachheads
were secured, but by the time Sixth
Corps was
ready to move out on the 30th,
powerful
German reinforcements were ready to
stop it in
its tracks. For over a month until
early March
the Allies were hard pushed to hold on
to their
gains. Supporting warships were
heavily attacked
from the air: 23rd - On patrol
off the
beaches, destroyer "JANUS"
was
torpedoed
and sunk by a He111
bomber. 29th - Six days later,
cruiser "SPARTAN"
was
hit
by a Hs293 glider bomb and
capsized with many casualties. |
New
Guinea, SW Pacific Landings - US Army
troops land at Saidor on the
2nd covered by Rear-Adm
Crutchley's mixed force of Australian and
American
warships. Saidor was soon taken as the
Australian forces
continue to push along the north coast and
overland from
Lae. They link up with the Americans near Saidor
on the
10th February, and the Huon Peninsula was now
almost
entirely in Allied hands.
FEBRUARY
1944
Norway
- Norwegian resistance fighters sank a cargo
of heavy
water bound for Germany for nuclear research.
MARCH
1944
Bismarck
Archipelago,
SW Pacific Landings - To complete Allied
strategic control of the Bismarcks, Gen
MacArthur's US
forces landed on the
Admiralty
Islands
on the last
day of February. Further
landings were made during March, but by the end
of the
month, in spite of fierce resistance, they were
secured.
Some fighting continued through until May 1944.
The main
island of Manus became one of the major Allied
bases for
the rest of the war.
APRIL
1944
New
Guinea, SW Pacific Landings - As
Australian forces
approached Madang, entering there on the 24th,
the
Japanese concentrated their weakened divisions
around
Wewak. Now Gen MacArthur was ready to occupy
most of the
north coast with a series of leapfrog landings
with US
troops beyond the Japanese fallback positions.
He started
on the 22nd with
Aitape
and across the
border in the Dutch half of the Island around
Hollandia,
which was
soon secured. Aitape
took longer.
MAY
1944
New
Guinea, SW Pacific - US forces made their
next
landings
on Wadke
Island
on the
16th, and
further west still on Biak
Island
on
the 27th. The Japanese were not yet finished and
fought hard
against US attempts to
break out from their positions around Aitape, on
the
mainland near Wadke Island, and on Biak, in some
cases
right through until August 1944. All this time
the
Australians were pushing west along the north
coast from
Madang. Rear-Adm Crutchley's TF74 and other
units of
Seventh Fleet landed Gen MacArthur's troops and
supported
and supplied them. In June 1944 they drove off a
determined Japanese operation to reinforce Biak
Island by
sea.