Air Operations, Europe
RAF BOMBER COMMANDEvening Ops:
- 4 Mosquitos are sent to Duisburg, 39 aircraft lay mines in the Frisians and south of Texel and there are 2 OTU sorties.
- 1 mine-laying Stirling is lost.
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]Air Operations, New Guinea
- V Bomber Command B-24s mount light attacks against Manokwari and Sorong.
- 9 Japanese bombers with a fighter escort bomb and strafe the Finschhafen airstrip in Allied hands, but only 1 A6M Zero is downed, by a 475th Fighter Group P-38.
| ]Air Operations, Solomons
The new Barakoma airfield on Vella Lavella is declared operational and used for the first time by an Allied plane.
[ | ]Atlantic
In Operation PROBESTUCK (TEST PIECE) 29 German MTBs lay mines off Harwich.
[ | ]Eastern Front
The Soviets capture Borispol just east of Kiev and farther north the Germans begin to evacuate Smolensk and Roslavl. Smolensk has been one of the strongest positions in the Soviet Union.
CENTRAL SECTORAfter a long battle the Germans pull out of Smolensk, the 31st Army of the Kalinin Front having virtually isolated the city from the north and the 5th and 68th Armies of the West Front from the east and south.
SOUTHERN SECTORBorispol falls to the Voronezh Front as it draws closer to Kiev. The 3rd Guards Tank, 27th and 40th Armies consolidate their bridgehead at Bukrin.
[ | ]New Guinea
The Australians break the Japanese defenses on the Bumi River. Finschafen airfield is captured. Offshore Japanese aircraft attempt to attack supply convoys but achieve little.
[ | ]Solomons
The first Allied aircraft land on Vella Lavella airfield. The new airstrip here will give cover for the northerly Solomon Islands operations.
[ | ]Pics from September 24, 1943
Vella Lavella Airstrip in the Solomons |
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Forward Observation Post |
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A Sherman Tank Crew with a Local Italian Girl in Cava, 24 September 1943 |
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A Bulldozer for the Airstrip |
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German Prisoners Escorted through the Town of Vietri, 24 September 1943 |
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