Air Operations, Europe

• 1 Mosquito bombs Chocques power stations, returns safely

Air Operations, Mediterranean

• USAMEAF B-24s attack an Axis convoy southwest of Crete and claim 2 ships probably sunk.
• Luftwaffe Bf-110 fighters force a straggling B-24 to crash-land at sea, all aboard are declared missing.

Air Operations, Solomons

Several VMF-223 F4Fs strafe fleeing Japanese troops who had taken part in night-long attacks against Guadalcanal's Lunga Perimeter. In their first defensive action 4 VMF-223 F4Fs attempt to intercept Rabaul-based bombers attacking Henderson Field, but are deterred by their A6M Zero escorts. 3 Zeros are shot down to the loss of 1 F4F.

Eastern Front

Army Group A penetrates almost as far as Novorossiysk on the Black Sea. Krymsk is captured on the north coast of the Black Sea not far from Novorossiysk. (when?)German troops plant the Swastika flag on Mt Elbruz in the Caucasus. Troops from Army Group B cross the Don near Kletskaya.

Bitter fighting continues around Abganerovo and Tinguta as the Germans repeat their unsuccessful attacks.

Map of the Battle of the Tenaru

August 21, 1942: USS Hornet CV-8 and USS Atlanta CL-51 en route to Guadalcanal.

USS Hornet and USS Atlanta Heading to Guadalcanal.

Guadalcanal

Ichiki's force makes a series of wild attacks across the Tenaru River. At 0130 the Japanese launch their first attack in an attempt to seize the west bank of the Ilu. 200 Japanese come storming up to the trip wire with bayonets fixed, hurling grenades ahead of them and officers swinging their long Samurai swords. The marines turn rifles and machine guns on them and the Japanese begin to fall. Some of the Japanese go over, around and through the wire, but the Marines hold their ground. The Japanese remaining east of the Ilu are surrounded and destroyed in concerted attacks by the 2nd and 1st Battalions of the 1st Marines. The 1st Battalion crosses the river upstream and attacks the enemy from the rear while the 2nd, with the light tank platoon spearheading, attacks at the mouth of the river.

The 1st Battalion squeezes the Japanese into a coconut grove on the shore of the island. There are charges and countercharges but the marines do not break through. The majority of the Japanese die in the palm grove. Col Ichiki and several of his officers commit suicide. The Ichiki force of nearly 1,000 men have lasted just 3 days on Guadalcanal. Only 15 prisoners are taken. The marines lose 35 killed and 75 wounded.

The Lunga garrison, already strengthened by raiders and paratroopers, is further increased by the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Marines from Tulagi. Limited quantities of rations and aviation supplies are landed.

Japanese soldiers, killed while assaulting US Marine positions, lie dead on the sandbar at the mouth of Alligator Creek, Guadalcanal after the battle on August 21, 1942.

Japanese Dead at the Mouth of Alligator Creek

New Guinea

The Japanese convoy reported on August 20 lands reinforcements at Salamaua, completing the force which is to attack and capture Port Moresby. The Australian 18th Bde reaches Milne Bay and joins up with the Australian 7th Bde, which has been in position there since July.

Pacific

• 5 merchant ships and 2 fishing boats are sunk off northern Japan by the US submarine Guardfish.
• The US submarine Cuttlefish (SS-171) damaged the Japanese ammunition ship Nichiro Maru (6534t).
• The US submarine Tambor (SS-198) sinks the Japanese collier No. 6 Shinsei Maru (4733t) off Ponape Island.

United States, Home Front

Roosevelt restates the principle of holding the occupying power officials responsible for war crimes against civilian populations: 'It seems only fair that they should have this warning that the time will come when they shall have to stand in courts of law in the very countries which they are now oppressing and answer for their acts.