Air Operations, Bismarcks

V Bomber Command B-17s attack Japanese Navy airfields at Rabaul and Gasmata.

Air Operations, Europe

3 American-volunteer 'Eagle Squadrons' are to be transferred from the RAF to the USAAF.

• 9 Bostons to Den Helder, but turn back; 4 of 6 Mosquitos bomb chemical factory in Wiesbaden without loss.

• 369 aircraft to Essen; includes some training group aircraft.
• Much of the bombing is scattered, but is considered successful attack; 33 large and 80 medium fires are started; 8 industrial and 6 transport facilities are hit; Krupps works are hit by 15 high-explosive bombs as well as by a crashing bomber filled with incendiaries; 47 people killed and 92 injured. Many other towns hit including Bocham with 50 fires and 4 people killed; Wuppertal with 13 killed; Heme with a large fire in a truck garage; and Cochem, a small town on the Moselle 90 miles to the south, which received a bomb load destroyin 4 houses and killing 15 people.
• 21 Wellingtons, 9 Lancasters, 5 Stirlings, 3 Halifaxes and 1 Whitley are lost.

Air Operations, Libya

During the night, USAMEAF B-24s attack the harbor at Benghazi.

Air Operations, New Guinea

1 V Bomber Command B-17 attacks Japanese Navy landing barges at Sanananda and 1 3rd Light Bomb Group A-20 bombs and strafes several Japanese Army targets in the Owen Stanly Mountains.

Aleutian Islands

The Japanese have evacuated Attu Island, transferring the garrison to Kiska.

Arctic Ocean

Just after 0300 U-457 penetrates the screen of Convoy PQ-18, but is spotted by the destroyer HMS Impulsive. The destroyer gains asdic contact and delivers an immediate attack with depth charges which is later confirmed to have sunk the U-boat.

U-457

Battle of the Atlantic

The US freighter Commercial Trader (2606t) is torpedoed and sunk by U-558 east of Trinidad. 7 of the 29-man crew are lost in the attack as well as 3 of the 9-man Armed Guard sailors. The survivors reach Tobago on the same day.

China

Gen Claire L. Chennault suggests that the prime task of his aircraft should be the defense of the air-lift between India and China.

A Chinese Soldier guards A North American B-25 at an airfield somewhere in China. 16 September 1942

Chinese Soldier Guarding a B-25

Diplomatic Relations

The United States protests to the Vichy government against the mass deportation of Jews.

Eastern Front

There is heavy fighting in Stalingrad around the Mamayev Kurgan (Mamai) Hill. It is taken and re-taken several times by each side during the next few days, and thoughout the battle will be the scene of many extremely fierce confrontations.

A Stug III Assault Gun near Stalingrad, September 1942

After bitter fighting, the 13th Guards Division clears the central landing stage of German troops and retakes the railway station, it having changed hands 15 times in 3 days' fighting. One regiment of the 13th Guards and another of the 112th Rifle Division counterattack at dawn, storming the 295th Infantry Division's positions on the Mamayev Kurgan. Bloody fighting eventually sees the Soviets retake the summit, but the Germans immeadiately counterattack with tanks and infantry. Despite heavy losses, the Soviets cling to the hill.

Madagascar

The Governor-General of the island asks for armistice terms.

Mediterranean

The British submarine Talisman is lost on a mine in the Sicilian Passage with the loss of her entire crew of 63.

New Guinea

The Japanese advance across the mountains but their attacks are brought to a halt before Ioribaiwa and with the benefit of local air superiority and the American troops who are now arriving at Port Moresby. Further south the Australians, firmly established on Imita Ridge, prepare a counteratatck.