Air Operations, Aleutians

7 28th Composite Bomb Group B-25s based at the airfield on Adak attack Kiska, as do B-24s, B-25s, A-24s, and 343rd Fighter Group P-38s based at the airfield on Amchitka.

Air Operations, CBI

• 4 23rd Fighter Group P-40 fighter-bombers attack Japanese Army positions at Lungling.
• After being grounded for several weeks by bad weather, the 23rd Fighter Group’s 16th Fighter Squadron, based at Yunnani, mounts offensive patrols over western China and northern Burma, but no contacts are made.

Air Operations, East Indies

Between midnight and 0145 hours on August 13, 9 380th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s based at the airfield at Fenton, Australia, attack oil facilities at Balikpapan, Borneo. The mission is 1,200-miles from Australia to Borneo, and back, and the B-24s are in the air for 17 hours. 1 fuel-starved B-24 crash-lands, but its crew survives.

Air Operations, Europe

To try to force the Badoglio government to surrender, the US 12th Air Force carries out a second heavy raid on Rome using 106 B-17s, 102 B-26s and 66 B-25s. About 500 tons of bombs are dropped causing serious damage.

US B-24s from North Africa bomb The Messerschmitt works at Wiener Neustadt, 27 miles from Vienna. This is the first Allied attack on an Austrian city.

• To try to force the Badoglio government to surrender, the US 12th Air Force carries out a second heavy raid on Rome. Fighter-escorted NASAF bombers totaling 106 B-17s, 66 B-25s, and 102 B-26s attack several marshalling yards in and around Rome with more than 500 tons of bombs. Although fighter opposition is reported as being 'strong', 1st and 14th Fighter Group P-38 escorts account for only 1 Bf-109 and 1 Mc-202.
• 2 B-26s are lost
• NASAF B-25s attack an Axis ship off Pizzo.
• NATAF bombers and IX Bomber Command B-25s attack Piedimonte.
• IX Fighter Command P-40s attack bridges and shipping along the southwestern coast.

• In the first Allied bombing mission against a target inside Austria (Operation JUGGLER), 61 of 114 IX Bomber Command B-24s dispatched attack an aircraft factory and ball-bearing factor at Wiener-Neustadt. The flight to the target and back from bases around Benghazi, Tunisia, is 1,200 miles. Flak and fighter opposition over the target is extremely light. The aircraft factory's output of Bf-109 airframes is reduced by one-third in the wake of the attack and severe damage is inflicted on the ball-bearing plant.
• 2 B-24s are lost

Air Operations, New Guinea

In the largest single strike in the theater to date, 37 V Bomber Command B-24s, 13 43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s, and 9 22nd Medium Bomb Group B-26s attack targets in and around Salamaua with a record 173 tons of bombs.

Air Operations, Pacific

B-24s raid the Balikpapan oil installations on Borneo.

Air Operations, Sardinia

While conducting a sweep over southern Sardinia, NAAF P-40s strafe a rail junction, small boats, and a power station.

Air Operations, Sicily

• NATAF bombers and IX Bomber Command B-25s attack Falcone.
• NATAF bombers attack bridges near Scaletta.
• NATAF A-36s, IX Bomber Command B-25s, and IX Fighter Command P-40s attack shipping in the Straits of Messina.
• IX Fighter Command P-40s attack various targets of opportunity in northeastern Sicily and along the battlefront.

Air Operations, Solomons

• The first AirSols airplanes—4 XIII Fighter Command P-40s—land at the Munda Point airfiled on New Georgia. After refueling, they mount a sweep over Kolombangara.
• 9 XIII Bomber Command B-17s attack a supply depot; 2 B-17s attack Vila, Kolombagara; 13 B-24s attack the Kahili airfield on Bougainville; 8 B-24s attack the airfield at Ballale; and 2 B-24s attack Sauvanau Point.
• A 6th Night Fighter Squadron P-38 damages a G4M 'Betty' bomber over Guadalcanal during the evening.

Allied Planning

Over the next 12 days the British and American military leaders meet in Quebec ('Quadrant') and are joined by Roosevelt and Churchill to discuss future Allied strategy.

Gen Morgan's plans for the invasion of Europe are presented and accepted as the basis of more detailed work. The target date for the cross-Channel invasion ('Overlord') is set for May 1, 1944. Britain is committed to producing Mulberry Harbors - artificial ports which will be placed of the French beaches. Churchill accepts that the Supreme Commander for the invasion should be an American. In the Mediterranean the British are pleased that some exploitation of the defeat of Italy is provided for. The Pacific operations will continue, as agreed before, with the US authorities in full control. There is some difficulty in devising plans for Burma, however. It is decided to prepare another Chindit operation and to continue with the policy of sending aid to Chiang Kai-shek. Adm Mountbatten is selected to lead a new Southeast Asia Command (SEAC).

Invasion Loading for Kiska Operation

Arctic Ocean

U-boat group Dachs ('Badger') lays mines in the Kara Sea. U-639 is lost on August 28.

Borneo

The US 5th Air Force sends 380 planes of the 380th Heavy Bomber Group to raid the oilfields at Balikpapan from its bases in Australia.

Eastern Front

The Soviets are now very close to Kharkov, having taken Bolshaya and Danilovka. A new offensive has begun by the Kalinin Front under Yeremenko and the West Front under Sokolovsky in the Smolensk area. Von Kluge's Army Group Center is forced to retire and Spas-Demensk, west of Kirov, is taken by the Russians.

The Mga Offensive continues but is achieving little save a high butcher's bill.

The Kalinin Front joins the attack against Smolensk, its 39th and 43rd Armies advancing toward Dukhovshina.

The Steppe Front is tightening its grip on Kharkov. The Soviet Southwestern Front begins its Donbas Offensive against the 1st Panzer Army (which has been weakened by the deployment of panzer units to the north to counter other Soviet offensives). The front has 565,000 troops.[MORE]

US Troops Moving around a Cliff

US 10th Engineer Battalion Builds a Bridge

India

Gen Sir Claude Auchinleck, C-in-C India, proposes that there should be no more British offensive land operations in Burma. Instead, he argues, efforts should be concentrated on the air supply of Chinese force in the north.

Japan, Planning

Japanese Imperial Headquarters orders Japanese forces to withdraw from the central Solomons and consolidate forces for an anticipated attack from the Central Pacific area.

Mediterranean

The convoy MKS-21 is attacked by He-111 torpedo planes of KG26. The Germans claim devastating results, but only 2 ships are actually damaged.

Pacific

• The US attack transport John Penn (APA-23) is sunk by enemy aircraft in the Guadalcanal area.
• The US submarine Sunfish (SS-281) sink the Japanese gunboat Edo Maru (1299t) 180 miles from Chichi Jima.
• The US freighter M.H. De Young (7176t) is torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-19 while en route to Espritu Santo. Although damaged, she remains afloat being manned by her master and 2 officers along with the 25-man Armed Guard. Submarine chaser SC-67 takes off her wounded the next day. The Canadian steamship Quebec tows her to port two days later.

Sicily

The Germans abandon Randazzo, which is occupied by the 39th Regt of the American 9th Div. In the north, on the coast road, units of the US 3rd Div push on eastwards towards Patti.

Solomons

The first American aircraft land on Munda airfield, New Georgia, which the occupation forces have quickley got back into use.

B-24 over Salamaua