Air Operations, Bismarcks

1 V Bomber Command B-24 attacks Arawe.

Air Operations, CBI

• 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack rail facilities at Mandalay.

• 4 23Rd Fighter Group P-40 fighter-bombers attack warehouses at Tengchung and 6 P-40s attack rail and river traffic over a wide area around Puchi and Sinti.

Air Operations, East Indies

V Bomber Command B-25s attack Dili, Lautem and the Cape Chater airfield on Timor.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-25s and A-20s support US Army ground forces at Tambu Bay (5 miles from Salamaua) and attack Bogadjim, Komiatum, Logui, Madang airfield, and other targets, including supplies being staged at Madang for transshipment to Lae and Salamaua.

Air Operations, Pacific

US Land-based aircraft attack Japanese ships south of Choiseul Island in the Solomons. The destroyers Kiyonami and Yugure are sunk off Vella Lavella.

Air Operations, Solomons

• 18 XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Ballale airfield and the Kahili airfield on Bougainville.
• AirSols fighters attack barges near New Georgia.
• 42nd Medium Bomb Command B-25s mounting a skip-bombing attack on a Japanese Navy task force in the Shortlands area sink a destroyer.

Arctic

7 U-boats begin laying mines south of Novaya Zemlya in the Arctic.

Atomic Research

Roosevelt issues a firm order that atomic information should be shared with the British. Discussions between the British and American staffs follow and in August at the Quebec Conference, a formal agreement is signed by which Britain and the United States agree to share their knowledge, not to use atomic weapons against each other, not to use atomic weapons without the other's consent and not give information to any third party. The British deny any right to exploit atomic knowledge after that war except to the extent judged fair by the US President (see September 1944).

Battle of the Atlantic

The German submarine U-588 is sunk by US Army aircraft in the Bay of Biscay.

Eastern Front

The Germans retreat in both the northern and southern sectors of the Kursk front. Von Manstein orders withdrawal despite Hitler's instructions. Troops of Popov's Bryansk Front clear the Germans out of Mtsensk as the German Army Group North pulls back toward Orel.

Soviet antitank riflemen take aim at an enemy tank after the Battle of Kursk had wound down, July 20, 1943. The Battle of Kursk was the first battle in which a Blitzkrieg offensive had been defeated before it could break through enemy defenses and into its strategic depths.

Soviet Antitank Riflemen

Despite the introduction of their armor, the Soviet advance upon Orel bogs down as the 3rd Guards Tank becomes enmeshed in the bitter fighting with the LIII Corps. With ist tanks stalled the 3rd Guards Tank turns northeast and joins the thrust of the 3rd Army toward the Oka. Progress picks up but is still very slow.

New Guinea

American units begin a series of operations to take a line of hills that dominate Tambu Bay and Dot Inlet, a small creek.

Sicily

In the western part of the island the US 82nd Div takes Sciacca and Menfi and pushes on towards Trapani and Palermo. On the south the Americans reach Menfi and in the center of the island Enna is captured by the Canadian 2nd Bde of the 1st Div who also advance to within a few miles of Leonforte. The British 5th Div attacks Gerbini airport, northwest of Catania.

Gen Montgomery brings the 78th Div over from Africa, where it has been in reserve. He has given up the idea of a frontal attack on Catania and now proposes to carry out a turning maneuver to break through the enemy positions on Etna, using XXX Corps and the 78th Div.

With their forces apparently well on the way to complete victory in Sicily, the allies cancel the plans for Operation 'Brimstone', the invasion of Sardinia, and concentrate their attention on Naples, with its big harbor and relative proximity to Rome.

Solomons

On New Georgia the experienced 169th Infantry is replaced by the 145th Infantry. The 148th Infantry breaks through the enemy positions formerly held by the 145th. A road through the jungle between Laiana and the Munda Track is completed somewhat relieving the critical supply situation of the Allies. (21st?)2 Japanese destroyers are sunk while on a supply mission by US aircraft south of Choiseul..

Soviet Union, Home Front

The 'Free Germany National Committee' broadcasts Manifesto to the German army and people.

Their shipmates honored. The scene of a traditional burial at sea, after the cruiser HMAS Hobart was struck by a torpedo from the Japanese submarine I-11 while returning from a Coral Sea patrol on July 20, 1943. Regarded as the RAN's 'lucky ship' until then, Hobart lost 13 men dead and seven wounded. She was to be out of service for 18 months.

Traditional Burial at Sea