Chronology of World War II

August 1943

Wednesday, August 18

Air Operations, Europe RAF BOMBER COMMAND Evening Ops: 30 OTU Wellingtons make leaflet flights over France without a loss. During the night 570 British four-engined bombers pound the 'V1' and 'V2' factories at Peenemünde, on the Baltic coast. [ | ] B-24 Raid on Paramushiru Island - Japan - 18 August 1943 Air Operations, New Guinea 17 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s, 9 43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s, and 53 V Bomber Command B-25 strafers, supported by more than 100 V Fighter Command fighters, mount a mid-morning attack against the airfields at Wewak, Boram, But, and Dagua. 3 B-25s and 2 P-38s are lost. 475th Fighter Group P-38s down 15 Japanese fighters over Wewak between 0935 and 0955 hours. [ | ] Air Operations, Solomons As Japanese Navy bombers continue to mount minor attacks against ships off Barakoma, 1 LST is temporarily beached following a near miss. 1 VMF-123 F4U downs 1 D3A 'Val' dive bomber over Vella Lavella at 0800 hours and VMF-215 F4Us down 2 A6M Zeros over Kahili and Rekata Bay at 0845 hours. Japanese Navy artillery fire from Baanga Island continues to strike the Munda Point airfield on New Georgia. During the night, as US and Japaneses destroyers are about to clash off Horaniu, Vella Lavella, 8 AirSols TBFs bomb the Japanese warships without result. [ | ] Diplomatic Relations

The Quebec Conference

Principal participants gather for a photograph during the Quebec Conference, August 18, 1943. Seated, left to right: Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill. Standing, left to right: General Henry H. Arnold, Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal, General Sir Alan Brooke, Admiral Ernest J. King, Field Marshal Sir John Dill, General George C. Marshall, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound, and Admiral William D. Leahy. (GCMRL/Photographs)

An agreement is reached between Britain and Portugal on the establishment of air bases in the Azores.

Eastern Front

Soviet losses in the Orel bulge have been high since their counteroffensive began on July 12. The 50th Army has lost 5,400 killed and missing and 17,700 wounded while the 11th Army has lost 5,000 killed and missing and 15,000 wounded. The 4th Tank Army has suffered 2,400 killed and 5,000 wounded. In all the Bryansk Front has lost 39,000 killed and 123,000 wounded and the Central Front 47,700 killed and 117,000 wounded. The 2 fronts have also lost 2,586 tanks, 892 arty pieces and 1,014 aircraft.

The South front attack along the Mius River has ripped apart the XVII and XXIX Corps of Hollidt's 6th Army. While the 2nd Guards, 28th and 44th Armies pin the Germans frontally, the 5th Shock Army pushes south toward the Azov coast, threatening to isolate the XXIX Corps at Taganrog.

Mediterranean

• Plans for the air support of Operation AVALANCHE are issued. US cruisers and destroyers bombard Palmi and Gioai Taura on the Italian mainland.
• The British submarine Saracen is sunk by the Italian corvette Minerva off Bastia.

Occupied Soviet Union

As the Red Army pushes west, the Germans are trying to erase all traces of their killings. A special unit, Sonderkommando 1005, made up of prisoners, begins to exhume and cremate the corpses of Babi Yar (those who slacken are shot at once). The prisoners haul the bodies to a cremation pyre composed of wooden logs, doused in gasoline, on a base of railroad ties. The bones that cannot be incinerated are crushed by tombstones from a local Jewish cemetery. The ashes are then sifted for any gold or silver they might contain.

Sicily

All German resistance on the island ceases.

Infantrymen of the 48th Highlanders of Canada Advancing towards Adrano, August 18, 1943

Solomons

The Americans land new forces on Baanga Island. A Japanese convoy of 20 motorized lighters carrying 400 men and escorted by 4 destroyers is intercepted on its way to Vella Lavella, first by aircraft, the by 4 American destroyers. The Japanese lose some of their lighters, but manage to land their reinforcements on Vella Lavella, in Kokolope Bay, and escape from the American pursuit.