Air Operations, East Indies

• 380th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Saumlakki in the Molucca Islands.
• V Bomber Command B-25s attack Fuilaro, Koepang, and Lautem on Timor.

Air Operations, Europe

There are heavy Allied air raids by B-17s, B-24s and Wellingtons on Avellino, Salerno and Foggia.

• 8 Mosquitos are sent to Berlin, 1 Mosquito is lost.

Wrecked Japanese planes, oil and gas drums are a mass of rubble on Kiska, Aleutian Islands, on August 19, 1943, as a result of Allied bombings. (NARA)

Result of Allied Bombings on Kiska

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-24s attack Manokwari, Larat, and small craft near Babo.

Air Operations, Solomons

• Pairs of 42nd Medium Bomb B-25s, each with a fighter escort, mount anti-shipping strikes and attack a radio station.
• Japanese Navy aircraft in the Solomons open an interdiction campaign against Allied forces on Vella Lavella.
• Following days of inconclusive fighting on Baanga Island, a US Army ground force captures Japanese Navy field artillery pieces that have been used to bombard the Munda Point airfield on New Georgia. The remaining Japanese on the island withdraw.
• A VMF-215 F4U downs 2 A6M2-N 'Rufe' fighter-bombers over Rekata Bay during the late afternoon.

Diplomatic Relations

The Italians have made approaches to the Allies to negotiate a surrender. | ]

Eastern Front

Leading units of the 53rd Army clear the forests west of Kharkov, while Rotmistrov's 5th Guards Tank becomes bogged down in bitter street fighting with the XI Corps. Furious battles cost the 5th Guards Tank another 180 tanks disabled. The 6th Panzer Division, fighting the hordes of Soviet vehicles, number just 15 operational panzers. Meanwhile, the 57th Army swings around the German flank south of Kharkov in an effort to take Army Detachment Kempf in the rear. The 69th Army moves to support the 53rd Army.

Germany, Command

The Chief of Staff of the Luftwaffe, Jeschonnek, commits suicide after being criticized for the effects of the attacks on Peenemünde and Schweinfurt.

Germany, Planning

In a special report to the Führer, Georg von Mackensen, the German ambassador in Rome, looks optimistically at the Italian situation: 'There is a widespread desire for peace among the Italian people, but the present government wants to fight on, because they are aware that they cannot obtain peace without turning the whole of Italy into a battlefield.

'Joyous Marchers, Italian POWs on the Route to Messina', c. August 19, 1943. (Photo: Robert Capa. Courtesy Magnum Photos/Daniel Blau)

Italian POWs

New Guinea

Under pressure by Australians and Americans, the Japanese abandon Mount Tambu and the Komiatum Ridge, the last natural obstacles of any size in front of Salamaua, and fall back on new defensive positions on the Francisco River.

Pacific

The Japanese submarine I-17 is sunk by US naval land-based aircraft (VS-57) and a New Zealand naval vessel off easter Australia.

Solomons

The big guns that have been firing on Munda airfield from Baanga Island are captured by American troops.

August 19, 1943: The caption reads “Women aircraft workers signing their names on the B-17 bomber, Memphis Belle in Long Beach, Calif.

The Memphis Belle