Algiers raid, evening of 13 January 1943

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Hello, I am currently searching the Axis raid against Algiers in the evening of 13 January 1943.

Both ORBs of 32 and 43 Sqn RAF reported that Maison Blanche airfield was attacked at 1950 hrs by approximately 5 enemy aircraft, that dropped two bombs. One fell in open ground and did no damaged, but the other set fire to a petrol dump, totally demolished the Station Sick Quarters where two nursing orderlies, AC1 Percival Charles Cole of 32 Sqn and Cpl Thomas William Lewzey of 43 Sqn, were killed and a third (so far unidentified) airman was wounded by shrapnel, and heavily damaged the Squadron HQ of 32 Sqn.

Beaufighter VI V8631 of 153 Sqn flown by Plt Off Williamson and Sgt Lake was on patrol between 1730 and 2035 hrs and claimed a four-engined e/a identified as a "Fw 200" shot down. Flg Off Hadeon and Sgt Murphy, also of 153 Sqn, scrambled at 1825 hrs with Beau V8625 and was vectored in quick succession towards 6 e/a without success until he got a contact on the last at max range at 11,000 feet. This was identified as a Piaggio P108 that was claimed shot down before landing at 2015 hrs.

153 Sqn scrambled three other Beaufighters, V8630 (Flg Off Barker and Sgt Skerbrooke) at 1835 hrs, V8526 (Flt Lt ??? and Sgt Millar) at 2000 hrs and V8623 (Plt Off Robert and Plt Off Legrand) at 2050 hrs. The only contact was made by Robert and Legrand who were vectored on to a Ju 88 and got a visual at 3 miles, but the e/a gained cloud cover and the weapons of the Beaufighter were u/s, so contact was lost.

All the above is from the ORB of 32, 43 and 153 Sqn.

The book "A history of the Mediterranean Air War 1940-1945, vol 3" pages 251-252 identified both bombers shot down by 153 Sqn as Piaggo P.108 of 274a Squadriglia BGR that had left Sardinia early in the evening on a mission to Algiers. A Cant Z.506S of 613a Squadriglia was despatched next day searching for survivors, without results.
Details of the Italian losses given by the book
P.108 MM 22004 left Decimomannu 1730, FTR; pilot Cap Giambattista Semprini, copilot Ten Giulio Cervi and four MIA
P.108 MM 24317 shot down by night fighters; pilot Ten Giovanni M. Sotgia, copilot Ten Guido Lucon and three KIA, Av Sc Lorenzo De Sario WIA

"Diaro Storico del Commando Supremo" has for the date of 13 January 1943 the following (translated by me): in the late afternoon, our (nb: Italian) aircraft bombed the ports of Algiers and Bone. 2 aircraft did not return to base."

A check of the British Admiralty War Diary, available on fold3, show no trace of raids on the ports of Algiers and Bone this evening. Bone's port was bombed by Ju 87 and Fw 190 by daylight relatively often that month and British Admiralty War Diary reports a part of these raids but not all of them.

There is a small article in the local newspaper "L'écho d'Alger" of 14 January 1943 (in French, available at https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bp...8/f1.item.zoom).
My translation:
"Alarm was souned yesterday evening at Algiers.
Alarm has been sounded at Algiers yesterday in the evening. No incident to report"
Nothing in the newspapers about a raid on Bone during the evening or the night, while two dailight raids in the morning and the afternoon of the 14th against Bone are reported.

Here end the results of my search.

I have the following questions for people on this forum.

1) does someone have the full crew lists for the two P.108 shot down ?

2) while the first Italian crew is listed as 6 MIA, the second is shown as 5 KIA and 1 WIA. Usually that means that the first crew was lost at sea, while the second probably crashed on land. Can someone confirm that ? Av Sc Lorenzo De Sario is reported WIA, but from the context he was probably captured too, especially as MAW3 reports the unsuccessfull sortie of a Cant Z506 to search survivors. Any idea to confirm this guy became a POW ? If he wa only WIA, meaning he returned to Axis control, I would be interested to know how.

3) from 153 Sqn ORB, at least 8 enemy aircraft were reported in Algiers area that evening: the first shot down by Williamson, six chased (one of them shot down) by Hadeon before 2015 hrs and one, identified as a Ju 88, sighted by Robert after 2050 hrs.
Has someone details of the Italian and/or German involvement in this raid (number of AC, unit) ? Can someone confirm that Ju 88(s) were there (it could also be an isolated recon) ?

4) MM 22004 is said to have left Decimomannu at 1730 hrs. I have no idea which difference was at the time between times used by Italians and in RAF ORBs. How much time will be needed for a P.108 to fly from Decimomannu to Algiers area ?

5) I would be interested to find 153 Sqn combat reports for this evening, but I am not sure they still exist. There is no 153 Sqn part in AIR 50, and in AIR 27 the Appendices (that may include combat reports for other units) only start in October 1943.

Thanks in advance