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, 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, 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 | ]

Air Operations, Europe

To try to force the | ]

Air Operations, Pacific

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

Kiska Operation, August 1943. Troops march up the beach at Adak, Aleutian Islands, during pre-invasion loading for the Kiska Operation, 13 August 1943. Photographed by Lt. Horace Bristol, USNR, of the Steichen photographic unit. LCM behind the soldiers is from USS Zeilin (APA-3). The battleship USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) is in the far right distance. Note the troops' packs and M1 rifles. (NARA)

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 [MORE]

30th Infantry troops moving around the Cape Calavà cliff where the roadbed had been blown out by the Germans.

US Troops Moving around a Cliff

13 August 1943: US 10th Engineer Battalion builds a “bridge in the sky” along steep seaside cliff at Cape Calava, Sicily.

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.

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.

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, 13 August 1943 - Note Smoke from Bomb Bursts