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.

Portsmouth Bombed

Air Operations, Europe

• 171 1st Heavy Bomb Wing B-17s attack the Paris/Le Bourget Airport with more than 397 tons of bombs about 0930 hours.
• 4 bombers are lost, 46 damaged; 1 crewman killed, 4 wounded, 31 missing
• In s saparate attack between 0911 and 0923, 66 4th Heavy Bomb Wing B-17s each drop have their bombs on Poix Airdrome and half on Abbeville/Drucat Airdrome.
• There are no losses, 38 planes are damages; no crew losses
• 31 387th Medium Bomb Group B-26s attack the Bernay St.-Martin Airdrome about 1115 hours.
• At 1700 hours, 29 322nd Medium Bomb Group attack the Beaumont-le-Roger Airdrome and 3 B-26s attack Concnes Airdrome.
• 4th Fighter Group P-47s down 18 Luftwaffe aircraft while escorting 1st Heavy Bomb Group B-17s over and around Paris.
• 3 P-47s are lost, 2 more written off after crash-landing in the UK

• NASAF B-25s and B-26s attack Staletti and a temporary bridge across the Angitola River at Angitola.
• NATAF A-36s and P-40s attack various communication targets throughout the toe of Italy.
• 86 IX Bomber Command B-24s attack the airdrome complex and city of Foggia.

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, Sicily

NATAF A-20s, NATAF and IX Bomber Command B-25s, and IX Fighter Command attack shipping and landing craft in and around the Straits of Messina.

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.

Greek Village of Kommeno Destroyed

Italy, Home Front

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

Mediterranean

The US freighter Benjamin Contee is hit by an aerial torpedo just north of Bone, Algeria. Of the 1,800 Italian POWs on board, 264 are killed and 142 injured in the explosion. There are no casualties among the 43-man crew, 27-man Armed Guard, 26 British guards and 7 Army security personnel. The ship ultimately returns to service.

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.

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.