1943
JANUARY 1943
Casablanca Conference,
Morocco - Prime Minister Churchill and President
Roosevelt with their Chiefs of Staff met for this
important conference. Major areas for discussion included
the European invasion in 1944, landings in Sicily and
Italy after the Tunisian campaign, the bombing of Germany
and the continuation of the war in Burma and the Pacific.
Losses due to U-boats and the shortage of shipping would
prove to be significant constraints on Allied plans. At
this time the two Western Allied leaders announced a
policy of unconditional surrender of the Axis powers.
Attacks off Algeria
-
Axis attacks continued against Allied ships in Algerian
ports and convoys off the coast. There were losses on
both sides: 1st - Cruiser "Ajax"
was severely damaged in Bone harbour by
Ju87s. 13th - Canadian corvettes on convoy escort
accounted for two submarines. On the 13th, "Ville de
Quebec" sank "U-224" west of Algiers. 19th - Canadian
corvette "Port Arthur" sank Italian submarine "TRITONE" off Bougie by gunfire.
30th
- As corvette "SAMPHIRE" escorted Gibraltar/North African ports
convoy TE14 she was torpedoed by Italian submarine
"Platino" near Bougie.
Axis Supplies to
Tunisia - Attempts by the Italian Navy to supply the
Axis armies in Tunisia led to heavy losses, especially on
mines laid between Sicily and Tunis by fast minelayers
"Abdiel" and "Welshman", and
submarine "Rorqual". 9th - Destroyer "CORSARO" hit one of "Abdiel's"
mines northeast of Bizerta. 17th - Returning from
Tunisia, destroyer "BOMBARDIERE"
was sunk off western Sicily by submarine
"United". 31st - Torpedo boat "PRESTINARI" and corvette "PROCELLARIA" went down on mines laid by
"Welshman" in the Strait of Sicily.
Axis Supplies to Libya
- Final supply trips to Tripoli by Italian submarines led
to more losses north of the Libyan capital. 14th -
"NARVALO"
was attacked
by a RAF Beaufort and finished off by destroyers
"Pakenham" and "Hursley", escorts
with Malta/Alexandria convoy ME15. 20th - "SANTAROSA"
was torpedoed off Tripoli by MTB-260,
one of the growing number of coastal forces operating
along the North African coast.
Libya - Gen
Montgomery resumed the advance on the 15th, and Bueret,
outflanked by British Armour and New Zealand troops was
soon taken. The defences in front of Tripoli were
similarly outflanked and on the 23rd the victorious
Eighth Army entered the capital.
|
PROSPECTS FOR ALLIED
VICTORY - The
Russians gained a famous victory with the German
surrender at Stalingrad in January 1943. Taken with the
October 1942 British Battle of El Alamein and June 1942 American Battle of
Midway, the
three Allied successes are usually considered as
marking the turning point in the 40 month old war
against the Axis powers. The Battle for
Guadalcanal,
ending as it did Japanese hopes of controlling
the South West Pacific should also be added to
this roll-call of victory. However, more than 30
months of struggle and bloodshed had to be
endured before victory was certain. |
FEBRUARY 1943
1st - As
cruiser-minelayer "WELSHMAN" sailed from Malta to Alexandria after
minelaying operations in the Strait of Sicily, she was
sunk by "U-617" north of Bardia.
3rd - Italian
destroyer "SAETTA" and destroyer escort "URAGANO", supplying Axis forces in Tunisia,
sank on cruiser-minelayer "Abdiel's" mines
northeast of Bizerta.
North Africa - As
Rommel prepared his Mareth line defences in southern
Tunisia, Eighth Army units crossed the border from Libya
on the 4th. All of Libya was now in Allied hands and the
Italian North African Empire ceased to exist. From
Mareth, Rommel could switch his forces to the northwest
or east as he wished. His supply lines were also much
shorter. The battle for the rest of North Africa was not
yet over. Leaving much of his forces to hold Mareth, in
mid-month he launched an attack against the US Second
Corps to the northwest. The aim was to break through the
Allied lines around Gafsa and reached the sea near Bone.
Gafsa soon fell and the Allies were pushed back in the
Battle of Kasserine Pass and other passes. After a
week of struggle the Axis forces were held. They withdrew
to concentrate on the Mareth defences as the bulk of
Eighth Army approached.
Northern Tunisia
Campaign - German and Italian operations against
Allied shipping off Algeria led to further losses: 6th
- Canadian corvette "LOUISBERG" escorting UK/North Africa convoy KMS8 was
torpedoed by German aircraft off Oran. 8th - The
Royal Canadian Navy took its revenge when corvette
"Regina sank the Italian submarine "AVORIO" off Philippeville.
17th - A
patrol of escort destroyers "Bicester",
Easton", Lamerton" and Wheatland" shared
in the sinking of two Axis submarines. The Italian "ASTERIA" went down off Bougie on the 17th.
23rd
- Six days later the same escort destroyer patrol
sank "U-443" to the northwest of Algiers.
Southern Tunisia
Campaign - As the Mediterranean Fleet Inshore
Squadron continued to support the advancing Eighth Army,
ships were lost on both sides: 9th - Corvette "ERICA" on escort duty sank on a British
mine off Benghazi. 17th - "U-205" attacked Tripoli/Alexandria convoy
TX1 northwest of Derna, and was then sunk by South
African aircraft of No 15 Squadron and destroyer
"Paladin". 19th - Combined air and sea
attacks also accounted for "U-562" northeast of Benghazi. This time
the convoy was Alexandria/Tripoli XT3, the warships
destroyers "lsis" and "Hursley" with
aircraft from No 38 Squadron RAF.
MARCH 1943
Tunisia - In the
south, before his final recall from Africa, Field Marshal
Rommel attacked Eighth Army positions in front of the
Mareth Line, but was easily held. On the 20th the main
Eighth Army offensive started with British and Indian
forces going in near the sea, as the New Zealanders once
again moved up to outflank. Meanwhile, from the
northwest, the US Second Corps alongside the British
First Army was attacking towards Gafsa and Gabes,
endangering the Axis rear. By the 29th, the Mareth Line
was broken and the Germans and Italians had retreated to
a strong position north of Gabes at Wadi Akarit. The
Inshore Squadron was still in attendance on Eighth Army
in the south and the battles of the supply routes in the
north and south continue: 8th - Cruiser-minelayer
"Abdiel" laid more mines in the Axis supply
routes to Tunisia. The field north of Cape Bon sank three
destroyers in March, starting with destroyer escort "CICIONE" on the 8th.12th - In a
sortie against Axis shipping bound for Tunisia, Force Q
destroyer "LIGHTNING"
was
torpedoed and sunk off Bizerta by
German E-boat "S-55". 19th - Attacks by
German aircraft on Tripoli harbour sank two supply ships
and damaged escort destroyer "DERWENT" so badly she was not fully
repaired. This was the first German success using
circling torpedoes. 24th - "Abdiel's"
Cape Bon minefield sank two more Italian destroyers on
the 24th - "ASCARI" and "MALOCELLO".
APRIL 1943
Tunisia - The
Battle of Gabes in southern Tunisia started on the
5th when Eighth Army attacked the Wadi Akarit defences.
Within two days the Axis was retreating. The same day -
the 7th - US troops of Second Corps met Eighth Army units
near Gafsa - the long awaited link-up. By the 10th Sfax
had fallen to Eighth Army, but a British First Army
breakthrough at Fondouk was too late to cut off the
retreating Germans and Italians. The 14th saw the Axis
well established in the main defence lines running around
Tunis and Bizerta from Enfidaville in the south, through
Longstop Hill and to the sea west of Bizerta. For the
rest of April heavy fighting took place as the Allies
slowly closed in. Numerous Axis supply ships on the
Tunisian route fell victim to Royal Navy submarines.
16th - Destroyers
"Pakenham" and "Paladin" out of Malta
encountered an Italian supply convoy north of Pantelleria
island. In a running gun battle with the four escorting
torpedo boats, Italian "CIGNO"
was
sunk and another damaged, and "PAKENHAM" disabled. She had to be scuttled.
'The Man Who Never
Was'- 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 after North Africa would fall
on Sardinia and Greece as well as Sicily.
MAY 1943
North Africa and Tunis:
The End for the Axis - The Allied Armies continued to
push on, and on the 7th Tunis was taken by the British
and Bizerta by the Americans. The Axis surrender came on
the 12th and nearly 250,000 Germans and Italians were
taken prisoner. All North Africa - French and Italian -
was under Allied control after nearly three years
struggle.
4th - As the
Tunisian campaign ended, destroyers "Nubian",
Paladin" and "Petard" sank Italian torpedo
boat "PERSEO" and a supply ship near Cape Bon. 25th
- Escorting corvette "Vetch" sank "U-414" northeast of Oran.
Merchant Shipping War -
In the first five months of 1942 Allied forces had sunk
over 500
Axis merchantmen of 560,000 tons throughout the Mediterranean. In contrast,
the end of the Tunisian campaign marked a major upturn in
the fortunes of Allied shipping. By mid-month
minesweepers had cleared a channel through the Strait of
Sicily, and the first regular Mediterranean convoys since
1940 were able to sail from Gibraltar to Alexandria
(GTX). Return XTG's start in June 1943. The opening of
the Mediterranean was equivalent to commissioning a large
amount of new Allied merchant ship tonnage.
JULY 1943
Invasion of Sicily: Operation 'Husky' -
Many of Gen Patton's US troops sailed from Algeria and
Tunisia; all of Gen Montgomery's British forces from
Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Malta. (A Canadian division
sailed direct from Britain). Some of the troops
made the voyage in landing ships
and craft.
North Africa played little further direct
role in the war
1944
1945
