Air Operations, Aleutians7 28th Composite Bomb Group B-24s attack Kiska. [  |   ]Air Operations, CBIBURMA
| ]Air Operations, Europe177(164?;178?) American B-24 Liberator bombers commanded by
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B-24s at Low Altitude |
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Oil Storage Tanks at the Columbia Aquila Refinery |
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| In 1943, crude and refined oil from the Ploesti oil fields provided about 35 percent of all Axis oil supplies, five times what runner-up Austria provided. Strategic planners concluded that the destruction of the Axis oil industry held the key to the Luftwaffe’s defeat, and that of Germany as well. In this photo oil storage tanks at the Columbia Aquila refinery, one of eleven in the Ploesti refinery complex, burn after the raid by Libyan-based B-24 bombers of the U.S. Ninth Air Force, assisted by Liberators from the Eighth Air Force based in England. |
A B-24 Clearing the Stacks of the Astra Romana Refinery |
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| B-24 Liberators approached Ploesti’s oil refineries at low altitude to avoid detection by German radar. This iconic image, one of the most famous of World War II, shows The Sandman, piloted by Robert Sternfels, as it emerges from a pall of smoke, barely clearing the stacks of Astra Romana refinery, the largest of Ploesti’s refineries. |
25 German bombers cause heavy damage in Palermo.
RAF BOMBER COMMAND | ]1 V Bomber Command B-24 attacks the Malahang airfield at Lae.
[ | ] | ]In Operation WUNDERLAND II, a planned combined anti-convoy operation, the Lützow and 4 U-boats sink only 2 ships later in the month on August 27 and 28.
[ | ]Nationalist China breaks off diplomatic relations with Vichy in protest against the hand-over of the French Concession in Shanghai to the 'Central Government of China'.
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With the initiative in the east firmly in the hands of the Red Army and Hitler's attention fixed on the west, Army Group Center is given permission to withdraw from the exposed Orel salient to the Hagen line, an ad hoc defense position east of Bryansk.
SOUTHERN SECTORThe top-scoring Soviet female pilot, Junior Lieutenant Lydia Litvak of the 73rd Guards Fighter Air Regt, is shot down and killed in the Ukraine. Her awards are as follows: Order of the Red Star, Order of the Red Banner, medal 'For the Defense of Stalingrad', Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and Hero of the Soviet Union (the latter awarded posthumously in 1990.
THE AIR WARThe Americans carry out a major daylight raid on the Ploesti oilfields in Rumania, destroying more than 40 percent of the refining capacity and seriously affecting the supply of fuel to the German units on the eastern front. It is from this period onward that the Germans are to suffer severe damage to their manufacturing and transport infrastructure and in turn their ability to effectively supply the increasingly committed combat armies.
[ | ]The Free French reorganize their leadership. Giraud will now preside in the National Liberation Committee only when purely military matters are discussed. | ]
The 1st Cossack Cavalry Div is formally established in the army's order of battle. It comprises two brigades, each one made up of 3 sabre squadrons and an artillery battalion.
[ | ] A Sherman Tank of ‘A’ Squadron, 50th Royal Tank Regiment |
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Tokyo announces that Burma is now independent and has declared war on the United States and Britain. The head of the puppet government, Ba Maw, signs a secret treaty with the Japanese.
In Indonesia a party of national unity has recently been founded under Japanese aegis and has set up a central council which is collaborating in the creation of the sphere of common prosperity in Asia to which the Japanese look forward.
As for Thailand, it has been an ally of Japan since 1942 under its regent, Marshal Pibul Songgram. At this period the Japanese Empire has about 500 million people under its control. It controls 95% of the world production of rubber, 70% of the production of rice and of tin and almost the whole world production of quinine. The Allies have found several substitutes for quinine, and have increased - as the Germans have also - the production of synthetic rubber.
[ | ]A Burmese puppet government is formed by Ba Maw. A secret Burmese-Japanese military treaty is signed and Burma declares war on Britain and the United States.
[] PT-117, Beached with a Gaping Hole in her Bow |
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PT-164, With Bow Demolished |
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| ]There is heavy fighting around Troina as the American 1st Div attacks and Axis forces put up a strong defense. In the British sector the 231st Bde, supported by units of the Canadian 1st Div, succeeds in penetrating into Regalbuto. Axis resistance near Centuripe continues, taking advantage of the terrain which in the northeast of the island is very rugged and greatly helps defense.
[ | ]In New Georgia the Americans advance to the edge of the Munda airfield without resistance. The Japanese Imperial Staff realizing that New Georgia is no longer defensible, has decided to concentrate all available men and materials on Kolombangara Island, northeast of New Georgia. The units left in New Georgia, however, are ordered to defend the airfield to the last man.
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