Air Operations, Bismarcks

V Bomber Command B-25s attack barges along the New Britain coast.

Air Operations, CBI

• 6 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack a factory and docking facilities in the Yoyang-Shihhweiyao area. 5 fighter-bombers attack trains, motor vehicles, and gun emplacements around Puchi and Sintsiang.
• A 76th Fighter Squadron P-40 downs a transport plane near Chiuchiang during the morning.

Air Operations, East Indies

V Bomber Command B-25s attack targets on Timor.

Air Operations, Europe

An 'around-the-clock' bombing of airfields and communications around Naples is begun. In attacks on German cities US bombers suffer heavily losing 45 out of 407 aircraft involved.

B-17 Down Near Ulm, Germany

Lockheed/Vega-built B-17F-30-VE, serial number 42-5942, named “Sky Shy/Wenatchee Special,” was shot up by flak, lost two engines on the Stuttgart mission of September 6, 1943, and crash landed near Ulm, Germany while trying to reach Switzerland. “Sky Shy” was assigned to the 563BS and on her fifth combat mission in the 388th, flown by F/O Byron A. Bowen’s crew which was on their 7th combat mission.

• 257 Lancasters and 147 Halifaxes are sent to Munich.
• The Pathfinders finde that Munich is mostly covered by cloud and neither their ground markers nor the skymarkers are very effective. Most of the Main Force crews can do nothing better than make a timed run from the Ammersee, a lake located 21 miles southwest of the target. Most of the bombing is scattered over the western and southern parts of the city.
• 13 Halifaxes and 3 Lancasters are lost.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-17s and B-24s attack the Malahang airfield at Lae and nearby defenses. B-25s and B-26s strafe defensive emplacements at and around Malahang.
• P-38s of the 49th Fighter Group’s 9th Fighter Squadron down 4 A6M Zeros and 3 other fighters in the Morobe area between 1345 and 1400 hours and a P-39 with the 35th Fighter Group’s 41st Fighter Squadron downs a Ki-43 'Oscar' fighter east of Lae at 1400 hours.
• 52d Troop Carrier Wing C-47s transport the US 871st Airborne Engineer Battalion to Nadzab to improve the airstrip on which the C-47s themselves are the first to land. During the afternoon, C-47s out of Tsili Tsili Airfield begin landing at Nadzab Airfield with Australian infantry.

Air Operations, Solomons

• XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack gun emplacements at Vila.
• 42nd Medium Bombardment Group B-25s and XIII Fighter Command P-39s attack ground troops at Kakasa.
• AirSols light bombers and fighters attack a radar site on Morgudaia Island.
• VMF-124 F4Us down 3 A6M Zeros and VMTB-233 TBFs down 2 Zeros over the Shortland Islands at 1255 hours. Also, a P-39 with the 347th Fighter Group’s 68th Fighter Squadron downs a Zero over Morgudaia Island and a VF-33 F6F downs another Zero over the Shortlands at 1430 hours.

Arctic

During the next 4 days the Tirpitz and Scharnhorst make a sortie to bombard Spitzbergen, successfully destroying the few small installations there. The base is re-established on October 15.

HMS Puckeridge, a Hunt Class destroyer, was sunk by U-617 on 6 September 1943.

China

Gen Stilwell suggests to Chiang Kai-shek that the Nationalist forces should collaborate with the Communist forces to anticipate the Japanese offensive to be expected as a reprisal for the raids on southern Chinese ports by the US 14th Air Force. Stilwell's suggestion is heresy to Chiang whose own units are largely employed in containing the Communists.

Eastern Front

It is another successful day for the Red Army in the south and on the Central Front. Makeyevka, just west of Stalino, Kromatorsk and Slavyansk are taken, as is the important railroad town of Konotop. Konotop is on the lines from Kursk to Kiev and from Moscow to Odessa. The Germans withdraw from the Don Basin leaving 'scorched earth' in front of the Russians and destroying the equipment of the coal mines.

The Russian advance southeast of Smolensk is temporarily halted by a defense line from Yelnya to the Desna River.

Konotop falls to the 60th Army of the Central Front, while farther south Kramatorsk and Slavyansk falls to the Soviet 6th Army and 1st Guards Army. The 3rd Guards Army succeeds in prising apart the junction of the 6th and 1st Panzer Armies around Konstantinovka, opening a 30-mile gap. A counterattack by elements of the XL Panzer Corps fails to close the gap.

The crew of a TBF Avenger of Torpedo Squadron (VT) 31 scrambles from the sinking aircraft after the pilot ditched it during flight operations on board the light carrier Cabot (CVL 28) on 6 September 1943.

Crew of a TBF Avenger Scrambles from Sinking Aircraft

Italy

The 8th Army continues to advance slowly up the toe of Calabria, capturing Palmi and Delianuova. There is little German resistance but demolitions cause much delay.

A line of Sherman tanks and their crews await the order to mount up and advance, September 1943.

Waiting to Advance

Mediterranean

• Allied shipping begins operating in the Strait of Messina in Italy.
• U-617 sinks the British destroyer Puckeridge about 40 miles east of Gibraltar with the loss of 62 of her crew. 129 men are rescued.

New Guinea

2 bdes, the 26th and 24th(?), of the Australian 9th Div advancing west toward Lae meet strong Japanese resistance on the Bunga River corssings. The 3rd bde of the div, 24th(?) Bde, is landed.

Solomons

The Americans on Arundel Island advance in the Bomboe and Stima peninsulas against strong resistance by the Japanese garrison. On the island of Vella Lavella a New Zealand contingent is engaged in mopping-up operations against the Japanese.

B-25C "We Dood It" 41-20276 in flight over New Britain jungle. Credit: USAAF, 3rd BG, 8th BS

6 September 1943.

A B-25C Over New Britain