Air Operations, CBI

• 10th Air Force bombers attack 2 ships at sea south of Rangoon.

• 4 23rd Fighter Group P-40 fighter-bombers attack Tengchung.

August 16, 1943 - Portsmouth bombed, many casualties, alert in Plymouth, five bombers shot down.

Portsmouth Bombed

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 5 V Bomber Command B-25s attack Larat.
• 15 P-38s of the V Fighter Command’s 475th Fighter Group and 32 P-47s of the V Fighter Command’s 348th Fighter Group intercept a Japanese strike force that is preparing to attack an Allied transport off Tsili Tsili. The USAAF pilots down 2 B5N 'Kate' bombers, 7 Ki-43 'Oscar' fighters, and 6 A6M Zeros over the airfield at Marilanan between 1500 and 1530 hours. This is the first time either group has been engaged in combat, and the first time P-47s have ever appeared in combat against the Japanese.

Air Operations, Pacific

Over the next 8 days the Japanese airfields around Wewak, New Guinea are subjected to a series of attacks by planes of 5th Air Force from Australia. Many Japanese aircraft are destroyed on the ground for small losses to the attackers.

Air Operations, Solomons

• 9 XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack targets at Rekata Bay and 5 B-17s, 12 B-25s, and more than 30 Marine Corps aircraft attack the Vila airfield on Kolombangara/Vila Field.
• Artillery fired by Japanese Navy ground troops on Baanga Island strikes the Munda Point airfield on New Georgia for the first time.

Allied Planning

The Allied Supreme Command issued the final directives for the landing in Italy: between September 1 and September 4 the British XIII Corps, with 2 divisions, the 1st Canadian and the 5th British, will be put down on the coast of Calabria. This operation, code-name BAYTOWN, will be followed on September 9, or not more that 48 hours later, by the landing of the American 5th Army at Salerno called Operation AVALANCHE.

Eastern Front

The Soviet 50th Army takes Zhidra, northeast of Bryansk.

On August 16, 1943, the Greek village of Kommeno was destroyed, and one hundred fifty villagers massacred. 74 were children under the age of 10. (Photo source: Kommeno. A narrative reconstruction of a war crime committed by the Wehrmacht in Greece.)

Greek Village of Kommeno Destroyed

Italy, Home Front

Anti-Fascist parties issue joint demand for peace and the release of political prisoners.

New Guinea

Australians and Americans encircle Mt Tambu.

Sicily

The Germans continue to retire on Messina as quickly as possible. The British attempt a small seaborne attack on the east coast but it is too late to cut off any of the retreating Germans. In the evening US forward patrols reach the outskirts of Messina.

Private Stanley Davis of 5th Seaforth Highlanders rides a pack mule with a swastika emblem branded on the animal’s neck, 16 August 1943. The animals were now being employed by 51st Highland Division in the hilly terrain near Mt Etna.

German Animals Employed by the British

Solomons

2 American regiments are despatched to take Baanga Island , from which Japanese guns have been shelling Munda airport.