Saturday, June 16, 2012

Day 1021 June 17, 1942

225 miles West of Land’s End, Cornwall, England, 12 German Ju88 bombers attack British destroyer HMS Wild Swan and a group of Spanish trawlers, sinking 3 of the trawlers. HMS Wild Swan shoots down 6 aircraft but is damaged by several near misses and sinks after ramming another trawler (31 killed, destroyer HMS Vansittart picks up 133 crew, including 5 seriously injured, and 11 Spanish fishermen).

The Soviet defensive line North of Sevastopol begins to collapse. Germans overrun Forts Maxim Gorky, Molotov, Schishkova, Volga and Siberia, although some Soviet troops will hold out in underground tunnels and continue fighting for many days.

Libya. Rommel continues pursuing the British 8th Army’s withdrawal towards Egypt.

In the Gulf of Mexico. 280 miles South of Galveston, Texas, U-158 sinks Panamanian SS San Blas at 4.50 AM (30 killed, 14 survivors on 4 rafts picked up on June 29 by a US Navy Catalina flying boat 195 miles North just of the Texan coast) and Norwegian tanker SS Moira at 1 PM (1 killed, 18 survivors rescued next day by a fishing boat). At 11 PM 10 miles North of Cuba, U-129 sinks American SS Millinocket (11 killed, 24 survivors picked up by 3 Cuban boats next morning).

In the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, American SS Santore sinks on a mine laid by U-701 on June 11 (3 killed, 43 survivors picked up after 30 minutes by the US Coast guard).

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