Air Operations, Bismarcks

V Bomber Command B-24s attack Cape Gloucester and a freighter near Talasea.

Air Operations, CBI

• 8 11th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s and 8 23rd Fighter Group P-40s attack warehouses and rail facilities at Chiuchiang.

Air Operations, Europe

• 26 aircraft lay mines in the Frisians and off Brest and there are 21 OTU sorties.
• There are no losses.

44 of 73 3rd Medium Bomb Wing B-26s dispatched attack the Beauvais/Tille Airdrome with 65 tons of bombs at 0937 hours.

• XII Bomber Command B-17s attack the bridge and town of Benevento.
• VIII Bomber Command B-24s on detached service with the XII Bomber Command attack Bastia and Leghorn.
• XII Bomber Command B-25s and B-26s attack landing craft and a ferry near Elba and bridges at Cancello Arnone and Capua.
• NATAF aircraft attack troop concentrations, tanks, motor vehicles, and German-occupied towns beyond the expanding Salerno beachhead area.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 22nd Medium Bomb Group B-26s, 3rd Light Bomb Group A-20s, and RAAF bombers attack Finschhafen and Tami Island while B-25s attack Bogadjim and Langgoer.
• 6 Ki-21 'Sally' bombers attack Allied ships assembling in Huon Gulf for the impending Finschafen invasion. No hits are scored as P-40s from the 49th Fighter Group’s 8th Fighter Squadron down 4 of the 'Sallys' and 6 fighters between 1735 and 1745 hours.
• 2 Australian Army infantry brigades are airlifted from the airfield at Nadzab to the airfield at Kaiapit, from which they begin a pursuit of Japanese ground forces fleeing up the Markham Valley toward Dumpu.

Air Operations, Solomons

• 1 XIII Fighter Command P-38 downs 2 G4M 'Bettys' over Guadalcanal between 0400 and 0402 hours.
• More than 20 XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the airfield at Buka.

Britain, Home Front

Churchill describes the Salerno landings as 'the most daring amphibious operation we have yet undertaken.'

Corsica and Sardinia

The Germans complete their evacuation of Sardinia and move to Corsica.

Eastern Front

The Soviets take Demidov, north of Smolensk. Troops from Rokossovsky's Central Front take Chernigov, between Gomel and Kiev which was completely destroyed by the Luftwaffe in 1941, and Sinelnikovo, a little to the east of Dnepropetrovsk, is also captured.

The 43rd Army of the Kalinin Front captures Demidov. The 60th Army of the Central Front enters Chernigov, destroying the defending Germans in a bitter 3-day battle.

Leading elements of the 3rd Guards Tank Army reaches the Dniepr opposite Kanev. Farther south, the 1st Panzer Army is pushed back to the Dnepropetrovsk bridgehead. Sinelnikovo falls to the Southwest Front.

Italy

Gen Alexander draws up his plan for future operations. There will be four phases: first, consolidation of the positions on the Salerno-Bari line; second, capture of Naples and Foggia; third, capture of Rome; and fourth, possible attacks on Florence and Arezzo.

In the US 5th Army's VI Corps area, the 3rd and 45th Divisions continue north over the mountains toward the east-west Highway 7, meeting delaying opposition just south of Acerno and west of Oliveto, respectively. The 34th Division, whose 133rd Infantry is to reinforce the VI Corps for the drive on Avellino, begins landing at Paestum. The Germans are falling back everywhere except in the vital passes leading to Naples.

Mediterranean

The US freighter William W. Gerhard (7176t), in a Salerno-bound convoy, is torpedoed by U-238 and abandoned by her 46-man crew and 29 of the 30-man Armed Guard having lost 1 sailor in the initial explosion. Reboarding the ship the crew begins to prepare the ship for towing but to no avail. She is abandoned a second time and explodes later that night.

New Guinea

The 20th Brigade Group, Australian 9th Division, sails from Lae to occupy Finschhafen and the 22nd Brigade moves from Lae toward Langemak Bay. The 21st and 25th Brigades, Australian 7th Division, are air-lifted from Nazdab to Kaiapit to follow up the Japanese garrison from Lae, which is withdrawing along the valley of the Markham River.

Pacific

• In Operation JAYWICK Australian commandos enter Singapore harbor in canoes and sink 2 Japanese transports.
• The US submarine Haddock (SS-231) torpedoes the Japanese collier Shinyubari Maru west-northwest of Truk.
• The US submarine Trigger (SS-237) sinks the Japanese fleet oilers Shiriya (6500t) and Shoyo Maru (7498t) and merchant cargo ship Argun Maru (6662t) north of Keeling, Formosa.
• The US submarine Wahoo (SS-238) sinks the Japanese merchant fishing vessel Hokusei Maru (1394t) northeast of Hokkaido, Japan.

Solomons

On Arundel Island the Americans discover that the Japanese, having lost 600 men defending it, have abandoned it as well as Sagekarasa and the other neighboring islets. The Japanese troops are leaving the Central Solomons and concentrating in the southern islands.

Pics from September 21, 1943

B-17F-100-BO 'Spot Remover'

Italian Soldiers Taken Prisoner