Air Operations, East Indies

During the night, 380th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack targets in the Molucca Islands while V Bomber Command B-25s attack Lautem, Timor.

Air Operations, Europe

• 4 OTU Wellingtons drop leaflets over France without a loss.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-25s attack Japanese Army headquarters and ground emplacements in the Lae area.

Air Operations, Pacific

223 Allied planes, including some B-17 bombers, make a 12-hour attack on Bougainville. Shipping offshore and the airfields between Buin and Faisi are attacked. The action is a major success. 49 Japanese aircraft are shot down, and many others destroyed at the devastated airfield at Kahili. Dauntless dive-bombers and Avenger torpedo-bombers sink 7 ships in Buin-Faisi harbor, including a light cruiser(?) and the destroyer Hatsuyuki, losing only 6 aircraft.

Air Operations, Solomons

• During the morning, 7 XIII Bomber Command B-24s, 35 AirSols TBFs, and 36 AirSols SBDs, escorted by 114 AirSols fighters, attack Japanese shipping in the Shortland Islands area. Claimed as destroyed are one Japanese destroyer (confirmed) and seven other vessels (unconfirmed).
• US Marine Corps F4Us down 36 A6M Zeros, 1 F1M 'Pete' reconnaissance plane, and 1 A6M2-N 'Rufe' fighter-bomber over Tonolei Harbor, the Kahili airfield on Bougainville, and southern Bougainville. 2 US Marine Corps SBDs each down an A6M Zero. VB-11 and VT-11 SBD and TBF crews down 3 A6M Zeros in the Kahili area. P-38s of the 347th Fighter Group’s 339th Fighter Squadron down 6 Zeros over Kahili between 0925 and 0940 hours. 1 TBF, 1 SBD, 1 F4U, and 2 P-38s are lost in the day's action.
• A 6th Night Fighter Squadron P-38 downs a G4M 'Betty' bomber over Guadalcanal at about 2245 hours.

Eastern Front

The Soviet drive north and west of Orel is gradually slowed down by German tank forces. Moscow announces that Russian troops have completely recaptured the positions they held before July 5 south of Orel. In the south of the Kursk salient the German fighting withdrawal continues. Farther south still, Malinovsky's Southwest Front opens attacks around Voroshilovgrad.

The 11th Army supports the attacks of the 11th Guards Army while the 4th Tank Army tries to speed up the advance. The LV Corps manages to slow the Soviet advance, inflicting heavy losses. To the east the XXXV and LIII Corps continue their dogged resistance against the 3rd and 63rd Armies.

Soviet Lieutenant Treats German Prisoners with Cigarettes. July 17, 1943.

Tolbukhin's South Front and Malinovsky's Southwest Front begin probing attacks along the Mius and Donets. Light attacks strike Mackensen's 1st Panzer and Hollidt's 6th Armies, alerting Manstein to what he believes is the next Soviet offensive. He therefore begins to move II SS Panzer Corps south to deal with this threat. This move denudes the southern face of the Kursk sector of a significant portion of its armor, 4th Panzer retaining the battered XLVIII Panzer Corps while XXIV Panzer Corps remains in reserve. The latter unit will also soon leave for the Mius line. Manstein is not expecting a major Soviet attack north of Kharkov, believing the Voronezh Front to be spent and being unaware of the existence of large-scale Soviet reserves.

SA Column of German Tanks Pz.Kpfw. III Moves to the Battlefield, Kursk, July 17, 1943

Germany, Planning

Hitler orders the reinforcement of German units in the Balkas, believing the Allies' next landing will be there.

Mediterranean

The British battleship Warspite bombards Catania.

New Guinea

Units from the Australian 3rd and the American 41st Divs move toward Salamaua. This is merely a holding action in preparation for a later move against Lae, the Markham River valley and the Huon peninsula from which it will be possible to control the Vitiaz and Dampier Straits.

Sicily

The American 3rd Div takes Agrigento and Porto Empedocle. In line with Gen Alexander's directives, Gen Patton's II Corps makes for the north coast of the island.

In the eastern sector the troops of the British XIII Corps reinforce the bridgehead over the Simeto, in the coastal area. During the night the 2 brigades of the 50th Div begin to attack northwards towards Catania; The Hermann Goering Panzer Div and the Schmalz Group, putting up a lively resistance to the attacking forces, block the coast road in defense of the city.

AMGOT, the Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories, is established in Sicily. Gen Alexander is appointed Allied military governor of Sicily, and 'benevolent' control of the island is to be established by non-Fascist Italians under AMGOT.

Solomons

During the night the Japanese garrison on New Georgia launches the only co-ordinated counter-offensive of the whole campaign, penetrating into the American positions at some points.