Australia’s War Diary

Malta. Sgt Parkinson claims an Re 2001.

July 2-Malta. Predawn, PIO Ross and Sgt Thompson in Beaufighter X77161A probably destroy a Ju 88.

July 3 – North Africa. Eight Kittyhawks of 3 Squadron bomb and strafe south of Mikheisin. PIO Pfeiffer’s flak damaged aircraft crash-lands. Over El Alamein, F/O John Pain, veteran of the Battle of Britain and Malta, of 73 (Hurricane) Squadron claims a Me 109.

Malta. Evening. PIO Tim Goldsmith leaves for Gibraltar in a

Whitley. He has been credited with 12 destroyed and is the first RAAF pilot in WW2 to receive both the DFM and DFC.

July 4 – North Africa. Kittyhawks of 450 and 3 Sqns RAAF bomb landing grounds west of Daba. While returning, 450 strafes vehicles, and Sgt McBurnie shoots the tail off a Me 110.

Pacific. A Hudson of 32 Squadron, PIO P McDonnell and crew, is lost during a sortie over Salamaua.

Britain. First operation of the US 8th Air Force. 12 Bostons of 226 Squadron RAF, six with USAF crews, bomb Dutch airfields. Two American flown aircraft are lost. July 5 – North Africa. The 8th Army at El Alamein is reinforced by the Australian 9th Division east of Ruweisat Ridge. SgtsF Beste (captured) and S Simpson (KIA) of450Squadron fail to return from a bombing mission. Malta. Sgt Yarra in Spitfire BR387/W destroys a Ju 88 and probably a Me 109. Eastern Front. All organised Russian resistance in the Crimea has been crushed. July 6 – Malta. Heavy fighting. PIO Bisley and FIO Don Smith, share a Cant Z. 1007 and SgtIrwin shares a Ju 88. July 7 – Malta. Flying Spitfire AB562/X-R, PIO Paul Brennan on his last operation destroys a Me 109. Sgt Mahar also shoots down a Messerschmitt and Sgt Yarra in BR387/ W destroys two Re 2001s but is shot up by 1O9s and crashlands. At night, in Beaufighter X7642, FIO Mervyn “Ship” Shipard downs a Ju 88. July 8 – North Africa. 3 Squadron, flying top cover to Kittybombers, claims one Me 109 probable by Sgt Donald. W ICdr Mayers, leading 250Squadron, destroys a 109 over LG 21. Malta. Heavy fighting. Sgt Frank Johnson is wounded in the left arm and leg but successfully forced Spitfire BR183 back at Takali. Meanwhile, FIO Don Smith in BR122 claims a probable Me 109, later confirmed. July 9-Arctic. Stragglers from shattered Convoy PQ-17 begin arriving in Russian ports singly and in groups. From 36 freighters and a tanker plus 19 escort vessels, the Germans have sunk 24 ships containing 3,350 vehicles, 430 tanks, 210 aircraft and 96,000 tons of other equipment, for the loss of only five planes. Because of this disaster, there will be no more Arctic supply convoys to Russia until September.

Malta. Sgt Parkinson in Spitfire X-S claims a 109.

July 10-NorthAfrica. Ov:er El Alamein, PIO Foskett of 80 Sqn

destroys a 109 but FIO Osborne of 450 Sqn is shot down and

captured. As Rommel attacks in the south, the 26th Australian Brigade attacks in the north, taking 1,000Italians prisoner.

Malta. FIO Don Smith in Spitfire BR366 destroys a Ju 88.

Britain. At Drem, 453 Squadron is declared “Ready for operations”. July 11 – North Africa. Australians storm Tel el Eisa Ridge, capturing 500 Germans without loss.

Malta. Newly commissioned PIO Yarra in Spitfire BR305/N scores his 12th by shooting down a yellow nosed Me 109. PIO Yates in BR301/UF-S shares another.

Britain. Sunderland W4019/RB-A (F/Lt Eddie Yeoman and crew) of 10 Squadron damages submarine U-162 before it escapes below the surface. July 13 – Malta. FIO Don Smith and Sgt Irwin destroy a Ju 88 each. Irwin’s Irwin’sSpitfire is hit by return fire but he lands safely. Sgt Parkinson claims a Me 109 probable.

Britain. F/Lt Tony Gazein Spitfire VI,YQ-6, leads 616 Squadron on a sweep to Abbeville and damages a Fw 190, later changed to “probable” on camera gun evidence. Germany. Hitler, ignoring his generals’ advice, alters the strategic plan for his summer Eastern Front offensive, designating Stalingrad a major objective.

July 14 -North Africa. Kittyhawks of 3 Squadron bomb around Bir Makhkad. Sgt Neill shoots down a 109.

Malta. New AOC, New Zealand born AVM Keith Park MC DFC, formerly OC 1 1 Group, Fighter Command, during the Battle of

Britain, arrives by Sunderland. Sgt Parkinson downs a Me 109 and Don Smith a Ju 88 but his Spitfire (BP992) is shot up by the escorts, one bullet hitting his ankle and severing the artery. Under continuous attack, he reaches Malta and lands without flaps or brakes. After collapsing through loss of blood he is rushed to hospital. July 15 – Australia. North Western Area reorganisation includes the establishment ofNo 1 Repair and Salvage Unit,No 1 Mobile Works Unit,Nos 5 and 9 Replenishment Centres and No 2 Base Personnel Staff Office. Operational RAAF squadrons in the area are No 12 at Pell airstrip (from today), No 2 at RAAF Darwin,. No 13 at Hughes and No 34 (Transport) Sqn at Manbulloo, west of Katherine. No 5 Fighter Sector, comprising RAAF and 49th US Fighter Group Interceptor Control Squadron personnel, is at Berrimal where they control interception of raids aided by the increasing net of radar stations. North Africa. Four Kittyhawks of 3 Squadron, with 450 Squadron, carry out a bombing : reconnaissance west of El Alamein.

PIO Dougall is lost.

Malta. Operation ‘Pinpoint’. 31 out of 32 Spitfires fly in from HMS Eagle. New Australian arrivals are Sgts Noel Pashen and

” Wal” Parks. Spitfire, EP117 crashes into the bridge on takeoff and is pushed over the side to enable those following to go. Pilot SgtBill Knox- Knox-Williams is uninjured. /

July 18 – Britain. Off Le Touquet, F/Lt Gaze of 616 Squadron

shoots down one Fw 190 and damages another. July 19 – North Africa. Ready to strafe LG 21, 460 Squadron Kittyhawks, while still carrying their bombs, encounter four landing Ju 52s and a Ju 87 and shoot them all down. Scorers: S/Ldr Ferguson one Ju 87 and one Ju 52 shared with F/Lt Parker who gets a second; Sgt Dyson and Sgt Brown share a Ju 52; and Sgt Lindsay one Ju 52. They then strafe five Ju 87s, three Me 109s and a Ju 88. July 19/20-Malta. FIO Shipard in BeaufighterX7702, destroys a Ju 88 July 20-North Africa. Heavy raids on Fuka and Daba. Over the target a 109 shoots down Sgt Brown from 450 Squadron. 239 Wing Leader, W/Cdr Clive Mayers DFC, also fails to return. Originally from Melbourne, Mayers has a personal score of over eleven and has been recommended for a DSO. Searching Spitfires find his crash-landed Kittyhawk with an empty cock- pit. (He was apparently captured but ironically killed when a Ju 52 in which he was being transported to Sicily, was shot down over the Mediterranean by a Spitfire. ) Malta. Sgt Irwin claims a Me 109 probable.

July 21-Malta. Operation ‘Insect. Of 32 Spitfires from HMS Eagle, one crashes into the sea and another (Sgt R Buntine) is damaged and fails to take off. Also arriving from Gibraltar are elements of 86 (Beaufort) Sqn with experienced torpedo pilots from the UK including S/Ldr Jimmy Hyde.

July 21/22-New Guinea. Japanese forces from General Horil’s 18th Army land at Gona and Buna. First sighting of a Japanese convoy at Buna is made by F/Lt L “Gogs” Manning in a Hudson of 32 Squadron. These landings will initiate the grim campaign along the Kokoda trail over the Owen Stanley Mountains to threaten Port Moresby.

Malta. Beaufighter X7695 has radar failure, so F/O Shipard cir- cles waiting for the raid to finish. His English operator, Sgt Doug Oxby, using a small torch and screwdriver, strips and repairs the set. They then locate and destroy a Ju 88. Next day, Shipard nominates Oxby for a DFM.

July 22-New Guinea. After bombing Buna, Hudson A16-201 of 32 Squadron, piloted by P/O Warren Cowan, encounters six (some say nine) Zeros, the pilots of which include Japanese aces Saburo Sakai, Junichi Sasai and Hiroyoshi Nishizawa. In an incredible dogfight, Cowan continually outfights the Zero pilots but the end result is inevitable and the Hudson eventually crashes in flames killing all on board: Cowan, P/OD Taylor, Sgts R Polack and L Sheard.

North Africa. Because of unnecessary losses, Australian and New Zealand infantry are critical of the failure of British armour to back up their gains. Rommel, his supply lines stretched to the limit, decides he cannot make further attacks. Both sides now pause to rest and regroup.

July 23- New Guinea. Advancing Japanese encounter Australian positions near Wosida. By the 27th the Australians will be pushed hack to Kokoda itself Eastern Front. Heavy fighting along the Don from Rostov to Tsimlyansk.

July 24-Malta. Since January 1, Malta has had only one 24 hour period without raids. Sgt Len Reid in Spitfire AB526 claims a Ju 88. Meanwhile, increasing pressure is mounted against Axis shipping. S/Ldr Hyde’s Beaufort, AW355/G, is destroyed by flak (only his gunner surviving) during a torpedo attack on the Italian merchantman, Vetor Pisani. Two other Beauforts are lost but the vessel is mortally hit. July 25-North Africa. Sgt George O’Neal bellylands his Kittyhawk among forward British troops. For the second time this month he needs transportation back to 450 Squadron.

New Guinea. Sgt N Clarke (32 Squadron) carries out a nuisance raid on Gona. The plan is to stay over the target for 1/ hours dropping a bomb and a flare alternately at intervals. After luckily hitting an ammunition dump, Clarke’s Hudson is chased off by an unidentified aircraft.

Kittyhawks of 75 and 76 Squadrons fly to the new base at Milne Bay.

July 27-New Guinea. The Japanese occupy Kokoda. North Africa. Ten Kittyhawks of 3 Sqn bomb vehicles near Mukheisin. Separated, Sgt Cashmore is attacked by two 109s, one of which he probably destroys. Later, 3 Squadron covers 450 Squadron bombing around Deir el Dhib. P/OT Forsyth of 450 Squadron is shot down by 109s, his Kittyhawk spinning into the ground and bursting into flames.

Atlantic. RAF Coastal Command’s three sqns in West Africa are hard pressed to combat U-boats harassing convoys south of the Cape Verde Islands. Flying from Jeswang, Gambia, F/OJ Swain of 200 (Hudson) Sqn damages a U-boat found surfacing in the path of merchantman, Winchester Castle.

July 28-New Guinea. Japan’s Imperial General Staff orders the capture of eastern New Guinea. Plans are made for an amphibious invasion of Milne Bay with land and sea attacks on Port Moresby. The Australians retake Kokoda, but are threatened by enemy reinforcements from Buna.

North Africa. 459 Squadron attacks German F-boats using the Tobruk-Mersa Matruh route. These vessels are tank landing craft, armed with one 75mm and two 20mm guns plus machine guns. One F-boat is damaged (later found beached) for the loss of one Hudson to flak and another damaged. After this, 459’s crews exchange their depth charges for ten 100lb bombs and over a 17 day period will fly 85 sorties accounting for 12 of the 16 F-boats sunk. Britain. F/Lt Reg Marks and crew in Sunderland T9110/RB-C locate two armed trawlers escorting a convoy in the Bay of Biscay. A covering Me 109 is shot down in flames but AA fire heavily damages the Sunderland. Marks returns to MountBatten safely.

Jidy 29 – New Guinea. The Japanese retake Kokoda and consolidate.

July 30-Darwin, Australia. 27Bettys and 15-20 Zeros are intercepted by 34 USAAF P-40s. Six bombers and three fighters are claimed for the loss of one P-40, the pilot bailing out. During July 25-30, a total of 24 Bettys of the Tokao Ku, operating at night, have made six raids damaging little but keeping the area awake.

Britain. 10 Squadron Sunderland W3994/RB-X is shot down on an anti-shipping patrol along the Spanish coast just outside territorial waters. Missing, believed killed, are F/Lt Eric Martin and his crew.

Malta. Colin Parkinson in Spitfire BP989/N-4 shoots down a 109. The island has food and fuel to last just 3 weeks.

July 31 – Britain. 460 Squadron sends eight Wellingtons for the first of three raids on Düsseldorf, the administrative centre of the German steel industry. Bright moonlight favours the defences and although all will return safely, one will be badly hit byAA fire and two others will confront night fighters. July operations have been costly. Losses suffered include two on a raid to Bremen on the 213rd; one minelaying on the 1 2113th; two when bombing Duisburg on 25126th; and two more the following night attacking Hamburg. S/Ldr J Leighton of Hurlstone Park NSW, a highly experienced flight commander formerly of 52 and 149 Squadrons RAF, is killed on the 26th. Pacific. Aircraft and ships of US Task Force 63 escort an amphibious force leaving Fiji for the Solomon Islands. Bombing of Guadalcanal and Tulagi commences in preparation for a landing. At night, two RAAF Catalinas, A24-14 and 25 captained by P/O Bill Miller and S/Ldr DickAtkinson, repeating previous sorties of the 29th, bomb stores dumps near Lunga Plain airfield and Kukum causing fires. Meanwhile, since losing Buna and Gona, Catalinas of 11 and 20 Squadrons have carried out harassing night raids, anti-submarine patrols and supply drops to Coast Watchers.