Air Operations, Aleutians

Patrol Wing 4 PBYs attack a freighter, a transport and ground targets at Kiska.

Air Operations, Asia

US planes attack Japanese installations in Canton, China.

Air Operations, CBI

11th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s attack the Tienho airfield at Canton and other targets in the Canton area. 23rd Fighter Group P-40s, in an escort role, shoot down Japanese fighters over Canton.

Air Operations, Europe

• 12 Lancasters lay mines in Kiel Bay and off Denmark
• No losses

Air Operations, New Guinea

5th Air Force B-17s, B-25s and 22nd Medium Bomb Group B-26s attack the airfields at Lae and Salamaua and other targets of opportunity. 32 35th Fighter Group P-400s bomb and strafe ground targets at Kokoda and Yodda.

Air Operations, Solomons

23 torpedo-laden G4M 'Betty' bombers and 15 escorting A6M Zeros from Rabaul attack the Allied fleet off Guadalcanal at 1156 hours. Vf-6 F4Fs down 4 'Bettys' and 1 Zero and an SBD gunner is credited with downing another Zero. Despite these victories and 13 other 'Bettys' brought down by ships' fire, 1 US Navy destroyer is severely damaged by a torpedo and a transport is set afire and runs aground after a severely damaged Zero crashes into it.

Allied Command

Roosevelt and Churchill agree that Gen Eisenhower shall lead Operation TORCH, the Allied invasion of North Africa.

Battle of the Atlantic

• A dozen mines are laid near St John's Lightship off Jacksonville, Florida by a German submarine. They are discovered 3 days later and destroyed.
• The US freighter Kaimoku, en route to Liverpool in Convoy SC-94, it torpedoed and sunk by shellfire from U-379 losing 2 of her crew and 2 of the Armed Guard in the attack. The survivors are rescued by the Canadiand corvette HMCS Battleford.

Eastern Front

Army Group A continues to drive south as well as consolidate its gains near the Kuban River. Army Group B captures Surovniko, west of Stalingrad. The Germans reach the Maikop oilfield in the Caucasus, which has been destroyed.

Zubtsov falls to the Soviets after a costly battle. The Germans restore their lines east of Sychevka, having repelled the massed Soviet armored forces.

The German attacks in the Don Elbow takes Surovniko as the XIV and XXIV Panzer Corps penetrate into the flanks of the 62nd Army and the 1st Tank Army. Soviet armored losses are crippling as the Luftwaffe pounds Soviet movement.

India, Politics

The Indian Congress asks for independence from Britain.

New Guinea

Kokoda is temporarily recaptured from the Japanese by a mixed force of Australian and Papuan troops.

North Africa

Churchill appoints Gen Alexander to succeed Gen Auchinleck as Commander-in-Chief, Middle East. Auchinleck is sent to command the Iraq-Persia sector.

Secret War

6 German agents, arrested after landing by submarine on the US east coast, are electrocuted. 8 saboteurs had been put ashore on Long Island and Florida but were quickley apprehended by the FBI. The 2 others are given life sentences instead of being executed because of cooperating with the government.

Solomons

The remainder of the first American wave lands on Guadalcanal. The forces advancing inland easily seize the village of Kukum and the Japanese airstrip which is renamed Henderson Field. The capture of Tulagi, Gavutu and Tanambogo is completed. Waves of Japanese aircraft attack the American naval forces carrying the landing force, sinking the transport George F. Elliott (AP-13) and damaging the transport Barnett (AP-11) and the destroyer Jarvis (DD-393), which sinks the next day trying to reach Noumea. Because of the intense air and submarine activity. Fletcher decides, probably incorrectly, to withdraw his carriers but the cruisers and transports near Guadalcanal remain.

The Japanese have failed, however, in their aim of attacking the transports unloading off Lunga Point. The transports are withdrawn because of the Japanese threat. The Marines are left very short of heavy equipment and with only about half their supplies.[MORE]

The U.S. Navy destroyer-minesweeper USS Hopkins (DMS-13) steams past the transport area between Guadalcanal and Tulagi, 8 August 1942. The ship burning in the left center distance is USS George F. Elliott (AP-13), which had been hit by a Japanese air attack earlier in the day.

US Destroyer-Minesweeper Hopkins Passing Transport Area

Japanese Navy Type 1 land attack planes (G4M1s) ("Betty") make a torpedo attack on the Tulagi invasion force, 8 August 1942. The burning ship in the center distance is probably USS George F. Elliott (AP-13), which was hit by a crashing Japanese aircraft during this attack.

Japanses Planes Attack the Tulagi Invasion Force

Japanese Navy Type 1 land attack planes (later nicknamed "Betty") fly low through anti-aircraft gunfire during a torpedo attack on U.S. Navy ships maneuvering between Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the morning of 8 August 1942. Note that these planes are being flown without bomb-bay doors.

Japanses Planes Make Torpedo Attack

Ships maneuvering between Tulagi and Guadalcanal during the Japanese aerial torpedo attack on 8 August 1942. USS President Jackson (AP-37) is at left. HMAS Australia is in the center distance, with anti-aircraft shells bursting nearby. Photographed from USS Ellet (DD-398).

Ships Maneuvering During Torpedo Attack

A Japanese torpedo plane attack on U.S. transports between Guadalcanal and Tulagi, 8 August 1942. Several G4M1 bombers are visible, flying low through anti-aircraft shell bursts near the destroyer in the center.

Japanese Torpedo Plane Attacking Transports

A Japanese aircraft burns on the water after it was shot down by anti-aircraft fire during an attack on U.S. transports between Guadalcanal and Tulagi, 7-8 August 1942. Guadalcanal is in the background, with the heights above Cape Esperance at the right.

Japanese Plane Shot Down by Anti-Aircraft Fire

Scene just after the Japanese torpedo plane attack on shipping between Guadalcanal and Tulagi, 8 August 1942. USS George F. Elliott (AP-13) is afire in the left center. She had been hit by a crashing enemy aircraft. The other two smoke plumes mark the locations of planes that crashed into the water.

Scene Following the Japanese Torpedo Attack

USS George F. Elliott (AP-13) burning between Guadalcanal and Tulagi, after she was hit by a crashing Japanese aircraft during an air attack on 8 August 1942.

George F. Elliott Burning

Crewmen of USS Ellet (DD-398) look at the floating wreckage of a Japanese Navy Type 1 land attack plane (a type later code named "Betty"), which crashed during the aerial torpedo attack on the Allied invasion force off Tulagi Island on 8 August 1942.

Destroyer Crewmen Looking at Wreckage of Japanese Plane