Australia’s War Diary

November 4 – Britain. The Kenley Wing, including 452 Squadron, escorts three P-40 Tomahawks directing the firing of Dover’s coastal batteries across the Channel. P/O Ray Thorold-Smith shoots down the squadron’s first Focke-Wulf Fw 190 while S/Ldr Bob Bungey and F/Lt Bluey Truscott each destroy a Messerschmitt.

November 6 – Britain. Returning from a circus to Lille, 452 Squadron is attacked by Bf 109s. Truscott destroys 2 but his Spitfire is crippled. Nursing it towards the English coast with Bungey providing close escort he decides he cannot make it and bales out. Bungey notes his position. Truscott is picked up by an air sea rescue launch an hour later with Sgt Dunstan who had also bailed out.

This is 452 Squadron’s circus for the year as the bitter winter weather halts large air operations. Coordination of bombers and fighters in bad weather has become progressively more difficult. Snow, ice and fog will keep fighters grounded for days on end. November 7/8-Britain. Four Hampdens of 455 Squadron attack Cologne and four Wellingtons of 458 go to Mannheim. Cologne’s defences prove very active. Two Hampdens, P1201 and AE243, fail to return, Another, unable to identify the target, bombs into the anti-aircraft fire. P/O Tony Gordon’s crew is captured but his gunner Sgt Holte, dies from injuries. Sgt M A Jenkins and crew are KIA.

High British bomber losses have escalated recently and the practicality of the bomber offensive is being seriously questioned. Tonight, from 400 planes sent out, 37 or nearly 10%, fail to return. After this Churchill gives orders to conserve the bomber force until spring.

November 8/9 – Britain. In a light raid on Essen one out of two Hampdens from 455 Squadron returns because of an intercom failure.

November 12 – Eastern Front. The Germans make final plans for their offensive against Moscow. The temperature is 12° below zero and many troops are suffering frostbite. North Africa. PO Whalley and Lt Thomas of 451 Squadron fail to return from a Tac. R. mission.

Mediterranean. Operation ‘Perpetual’, 37 Hurricanes fly from HMS Ark Royal and HMS Argus to Malta. Three are lost en route and a fourth lands wheels up at Hal Far. Among the newcomers are two Australians, Sgt J L (Tony) Boyd of 242 Squadron and P/O Howard (Chuck) Lister of 605 Squadron. .

Malta. Eleven bomb carrying Hurricanes on their way to attack Comiso are intercepted by Italian MC202s. Hurribomber Z3158 flown by Australian Sgt Simpson of 126 Squadron is shot down into the sea near the coast. He is rescued by launch and taken prisoner.

November 13 – Mediterranean. HMS Ark Royal is severely damaged by the submarine U-81 off Gibraltar. An Australian serving aboard her as an observer in 807 Squadron (Fulmars) is Lt Victor Smith.

November 14 – Mediterranean. 2. 15am an inferno breaks out in Ark Royal’s engine room putting pumps out of action. Around 6. 00am the carrier sinks.

November 15/16 – Britain. 458 Squadron RAAF dispatches six aircraft, part of a 49 strong force, to raid Emden. Cloud obscures bombing results. Four fail to return including Wellington R1775 flown by F/OFurey and crew. Since beginning operations under a month ago 458 Squadron has lost three aircraft through enemy action. The others were Z1218/FU-D over Antwerp on October 20-21 with Sgt Hamilton and crew, Sgt Brown the tail gunner surviving, and two nights later F/Lt Sargeaunt’s Wellington, R1765, was abandoned near Farnborough after suffering flak damage over Le Havre.

November 17-North Africa. Everything stands ready for Operation Crusader, the second British Libyan offensive. No 1 Air Ambulance Unit, now operating three DH-86s and a Lodestar attached from the SAAF is awaiting orders. In the past week 3 Squadron has flown only 36 sorties without meeting air opposition while 451 has made only 3 reconnaissance sorties during the last days. Things are about to change dramatically. November 18-North Africa. Operation Crusader is launched. It is the largest assault in the Desert so far and the air fighting increases accordingly.

Lt W Andrew, a South African member of 451 Squadron, is shot down while on aTac. R. mission. He will return safely on foot next day.

November 19-North Africa. Four Bf 1O9s strafe LG 132, twenty miles north of Maddelena, damaging three of 451’s Hurricanes. F/O Frank Fischeris on a sweep with 3 Squadron RAAF when his Tomahawk’s engine develops oil problems. Returning alone to LG 110, he spots the strafing Bf 109s, and attacks, shooting one down. The others force him to crash land south of Sidi Omar. Fischer, slightly wounded by shrapnel, scrambles out of his aircraft before it is strafed and destroyed.

November 20-North Africa. 3 Squadron escorts bombers early and later joins 112 Squadron RAF in a sweep over the 7th Armoured Division. Each squadron claims two Bf 110s destroyed. Sgt Ron Simes one plus one shared between the rest of 3 Squadron while 112’s Sgt K Carson claims one and Sgt Rudolf Leu shares the second with two others. November20/23-Australia. Meetings are held between General Lewis Brereton, Commander US Far East Air Force, and senior RAAF officers in Townsville and Melbourne, developing air bases in northern Australia for the transit of US aircraft, particularly heavy bombers, to the Philippines. These bases will prove vital for USAAC expansion in Australia during 1942. The route is already in use. Beginning early in September, B-17s of the US 19th Bombardment Group have been making the long flight from Hawaii to Manila via Midway, Wake, Port Moresby and Darwin. November 21 – North Africa. 112 Squadron, patrolling near El Adem, destroy two Italian CR 42s. Sgt Leu one, and after a chase, P/O R Jeffries, Sgt Carson and another pilot dispose of the other. 451 Squadron loses Lt Smith, who crashes in flames on a Tac. R. mission.

November 22-North Africa. After a confused tank battle around Sidi Rezegh the Germans now hold the initiative having 170+ tanks left and the British less than 150.

It is a bad day for 3 Squadron RAAF. During an early escort mission, 45 Squadron loses four Blenheims and for 3 Squadron P/O Lane, F/Lt Saunders and F/O Watson fail to return. Later in the day, there is another violent battle with Bf 109s and this time F/Lt Knowles, F/O Roberts, F/O Kloster and P/O Lees do not return. Both W/Cdr Jeffrey and Sgt Simes are shot down, picked up by friendly troops and later return. Although there are several probables, only two kills are confirmed, one to S/Ldr Rawlinson and the other to the squadron as a whole. Having lost nine aircraft in two engagements, 3 Squadron will be unable to operate again until the 24th.

Of the Australians in 112 Squadron, P/O Bartle destroys a Messerschmitt but Sgt H Burney force lands and, evading capture, walks 30 miles (48km) across the desert before reaching the 4th Indian Division.

November 23 – North Africa. By the evening, Operation Crusader has gone astray and all hopes of quick success against the German armour has gone.

November 24 -Britain. Four officers and 117 airmen of 458 Squadron RAAF are separated off to be the nucleus of a new Wellington unit, 460 Squadron, which had begun to form at Molesworth on the 15th. W/Cdr Arthur Hubbard DFC, an Australian serving in the RAF, is the CO Australia. R. AN cruiser HMAS Sydney, known to be in the Indian Ocean, is overdue at Fremantle. A wide ranging search is organised. All available aircraft are deployed off the mid and northwest coasts of Western Australia. Three Hudsons from 13 Squadron, two Catalinas from 11 Squadron at Port Moresby, all serviceable Hudsons from two squadrons based at Pearce, together with Ansons from Geraldton SFTS begin combing the seas.

North Africa. Nine Hurricanes of 80 Squadron strafe an enemy column near Sidi Rezegh. They are intercepted by 12 Bf 110s. Sgt Russell Foskett of Sydney causes one to crash land and no less than four people clamber out!

November 25 – Australia. A Hudson from 14 Squadron finds three lifeboats carrying survivors near Carnarvon. They are from the German raider Kormoran. The Germans tell of a late afternoon battle on November 19 with HMAS Sydney which had sunk a few hours before their own vessel went to the bottom.

North Africa. 3 Squadron RAAF strafes German concentrations near Sidi Omar but encounter accurate ground fire. F/O Bothwell is KIA and F/Lt Manford has to crash land, he will later escape with the personnel of 451 Squadron evacuating Sidi Omar airfield. F/O Jewell is shot down between two columns of enemy transport and captured. When asked the way to Sidi Omar, he gives his captors wrong directions, and they drive straight into a New Zealand patrol. Jewell leaps to freedom as the Germans speed off. In a later action over Tobruk, 3 Squadron is highly successful against a force of 60 enemy aircraft. Scorers are: Sgt Rex Wilson (Bf 110 and two Fi 156s), Sgt F Reid (Bf 110), Sgt Baillie (two G-50s), W/Cdr Peter Jeffrey (Bf 110) and F/O John Jackson (probable Bf 110). F/O Evans fails to return.

Rommel collects his armour and advances along the Trigh el Abd to the Egyptian frontier. This ‘dash to the wire’ or ‘Matruh Stakes’ will create some panic in the Eighth Army’s rear but it is really a tactical error. The Germans will take losses and more significantly it will allow British tank units to regroup. During the afternoon Hurricanes of 451 Squadron, reporting the column’s movement, fly nine sorties.

November 26-Australia. The air search between Geraldton and Broome for possible survivors of HMAS Sydney continues. Hope is fading.

North Africa. At Sidi Azeiz 451 Squadron’s advanced party is taken into an armed camp established by the 5th New Zealand Brigade, the pilots sleeping beside their machines.

November 27 – Mediterranean. In the early hours, north-east of Tobruk, HMAS Parramatta is struck amidships by a torpedo fired from a shadowing U-boat. Within a few minutes she rolls to starboard and goes under. Only 24 ratings from her crew of 160 survive.

North Africa. At Sidi Azeiz, part of 451 Squadron’s maintenance party is overrun and captured, but the four Hurricanes take off in the dark without a flare path. Those captured will be taken to Bardia. Maj A Molloy and Cpt A Flemming of 1 (Aust) Air Support Control manage to escape several days later.

Units of the 4th and 6th NZ Brigades link with forces from the Tobruk garrison at El Duda.

Eastern Front. A Soviet counterattack reoccupies Rostov. Outside Moscow, Guderian’s Panzer forces have been fighting around Kashira for three days, but they cannot continue their drive forward unless reinforced.

November 29-Australia. The futile search for survivors of HMAS Sydney is called off. 645 lives have been lost.

November 30 – Eastern Front. German pressure on Moscow continues and in beleaguered Leningrad 11,000 people have died of starvation this month.

Atlantic. Allied shipping losses are the lowest of the war so far at 106,270 tonnes. U-Boats sink only 13 ships of 63,195 tonnes. North Africa. After renewed heavy fighting around Sidi Rezegh for the past two days, the hard fought for link between the NZ infantry and the Tobruk garrison is under serious threat and likely to be severed once more . . .

In a spectacular success against fifteen Ju-87’s escorted by 25 Italian and German fighters about to attack the New Zealanders at Sidi Rezegh, 3 Squadron claims eight enemy machines destroyed and 12 damaged while 112 Squadron destroys three Italian fighters, Sgt Leu shooting down a G-50. 3 Squadron’s initial tally is: S/Ldr Alan Rawlinson one MC 200, F/O T Trimble two MC 200s, F/O Bobby Gibbes one G-50, Sgt Walter Mailey two MC 200s, Sgt D Scott a G-50 and a Ju 87, Sgt Allan Cameron a G-50. “Tiny” Cameron’s Tomahawk is shot up and he bales out, but is picked up and flown back to base by W/Cdr Jeffrey, quite an achievement as Cameron is undoubtedly the biggest man in the squadron.

F/Lt Wilfred “Wolf” Arthur fails to return but he arrives back safely shortly afterwards, having force landed due to a faulty distributor. He has a personal bag of four, a G-50, an MC 200 and two Ju 87s bringing the squadron’s tally up to 12 confirmed, and an overall total score of 106.