August 1st, 1943 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Escort carrier HMS Atheling commissioned.
GERMANY: Berlin: Berliners at Sunday breakfast were shocked today to hear a radio broadcast by Josef Goebbels calling on all citizens not vital to the war industry to evacuate the city. Up to now propaganda sources have insisted that a major raid in Berlin is very unlikely, and this sudden announcement has fuelled rumours that the capital has been surrendered and this is the beginning of the end. Free travel permits are being issued to women, children, pensioners and the sick, together with ration cards and blankets.
Birthday of King Georgios II of the Hellenes. (Glenn Steinberg)
U-922 commissioned.
ROMANIA: The First Allied air raid is made on the Ploesti
oil complex in Romania. (Glenn Steinberg)
177 B-24s, of the US IX Bomber Command, including B-24's on loan from the Eighth Air Force
in England, are dispatched in a low-level attack on the oil refineries at Ploesti and
nearby Campina. The operation (TIDALWAVE) is costly; 41 aircraft are shot down, 13 are
lost in operational accidents and 532 airmen are lost, but damage to the targets is
severe. 5 airmen are awarded the Medal of Honor for this mission. They include
Lt-Col. Addison E. Baker.
U.S.S.R.: Soviet submarine S-12 of the Baltic Fleet is sunk in the Gulf of Finland by German and Finnish craft off Keri. (Mike Yared)(146 and 147)
U-255 set up a radio station near Spoyj Navolok on Novaya Zemlya.
ITALY: Sicily
The fighting is heavy around Troina.On the ground in Sicily, U.S. ground forces advance east along
the coast, approach Troina further inland, and begin a movement to flank
defences. The British, to the south, penetrate into Regalbuto.
In the air, 230+ P-40s, the largest Ninth Air Force
total to date, attack Adrano, the area near Randazzo, Messina, Milazzo, Taormina,
and shipping in the Straits of Messina. During the night of 31 July/1 August,
Northwest African Strategic Air Force Wellingtons bomb Randazzo and Adrano and
the next day, B-25 Mitchells hit Milazzo. Northwest African Tactical Air Force
light and medium bombers hit Paterno, Randazzo, Adrano, Bronte, Santa Maria di
Licondia, and motor transport in the Orlando area
Northwest African Coastal Air Force Beaufighters score hits on shipping between
Sardinia and Italy.
During the night of 31 July/1 August, Northwest African
Strategic Air Force Wellingtons drop leaflets on Rome and Naples. During the
following day, B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb Capodichino Airfield.
ALGERIA: Algiers: De Gaulle is made president of the National Defence Committee, ceding leadership
of the Fighting French to General Giraud only for purely military matters.
CHINA: Chungking:
The National Government breaks off diplomatic relations with Vichy France.
Nationalist president Lin Sen dies.
BURMA: Rangoon: The Japanese government today announced that the British colony of Burma is to be
independent. The Japanese military administration now occupying the country under Lt-Gen
Mazikazu Kawabe has handed over its powers to the Burmese nationalist leader Dr Ba Maw,
who has been premier under Japan for the last year.
The Burmese people heard of their new status this morning in a broadcast by Radio Tokyo:
"Burma has now become the fifth independent country in the Greater East Asia
Co-Prosperity Sphere, after Japan, China, Thailand and Manchukuo (Manchuria)."
The first act of the new independent state has been to declare war on Britain and the USA.
The declaration was read in the Burmese State Assembly by Dr Ba Maw, who on a recent visit
to Tokyo spoke of the "sharing of life and death with Japan in the war."
The Japanese move has been expected for some time. Burmese nationalists supporting the
Japanese during their 1942 invasion, and now formed into a Burmese National Army, rendered
great propaganda benefits to Japan, as has the creation of the Indian National Army, led
by Subhas Chandra Bose and recruited from Indian Army prisoners of war. Japan hopes that
the granting of Burmese independence will strengthen its claim to be fighting a war
against colonialism.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: US Thirteenth Air Force P-40s and 18 SBD Dauntlesses and 18 TBF Avengers of the US Marine Corps, again hit Munda on New Georgia Island bombing AA positions, ammunition dumps, and other targets. The USAAF sends 21 B-24s, 16 P-38 Lightnings, and P-40s, plus Marine aircraft, to attack Kahili Airfield on Bougainville Island; other P-40s and 80+ Marine aircraft hit shipping in nearby waters.
A Japanese destroyer rams and sinks Motor Torpedo Boat 109 (PT-109). Two
crewmen are killed but 11 survive including the captain, Lieutenant John F.
Kennedy, USNR. The 11 men are finally rescued by a PT boat on the evening of 7
August.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: 7 US Eleventh Air Force B-24s bomb the Main Camp area on Kiska Island through the overcast. The 5,183 Japanese troops that were on Kiska arrive at Paramushiru Island, Kurile Islands aboard Japanese ships.
U.S.A.: Ground is broken for the construction of the first uranium enriching plant at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The facility is built at a cost of US$280 million (US$2.745 billion in year 2000 dollars) and is completed in the summer of 1944.
In New York City, race-related rioting erupts in Harlem, resulting in several deaths.
Light fleet carrier USS Bataan launched.
Destroyers USS Wedderburn, Lewis Hancock, Hunt, Callaghan launched.
Submarine USS Golet launched.
Destroyer escorts USS Gendreau, Vammen laid down.
Destroyer USS Lowry laid down.
Destroyer escort USS Laning commissioned.
Destroyer escorts USS Brackett, Donaldson, Foreman, Lamons, Mitchell,
Reynolds launched.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The German Navy loses two submarines:
- U-383 is sunk west of Brest, France, in position 47.24N, 12.10W, by depth charges from a Sunderland of RAF No. 228 Squadron based at Pembroke Dock, Wales. All hands, 52 men, are killed.
The boat reported to BdU late on 1 Aug reported its inability to dive after an aircraft attack. It was apparently lost due to the extensive damages resulting from the attack. (Alex Gordon)
- U-454 is sunk in the Bay of Biscay north-west of Cape Ortegal, Spain, in position 45.36N, 10.23W, by depth charges from a Sunderland of the Royal Australian Air Force's No. 10 Squadron based at Mount Batten, Devonshire. 14 of the crew of 46 men survive.
SS Bage sunk by U-185 at 11.29S, 36.49W.
At 1851, U-198 fired its last torpedo at Convoy BC-2 and hit the Mangkalihat after 4 minutes 10 seconds. An earlier attack with two bow torpedoes had been unsuccessful. The crew abandoned ship because the engine room, boiler room and #3 hold were flooded. Ten crewmembers and eight passengers were lost. HMS Freesia took the ship in tow the next morning in 25°11S/34°06E, while a skeleton crew re-boarded the vessel. On 3 August, HMS Prudent came to assist and used her pumps to keep the ship afloat. In the early morning of 4 August, the tug took over the tow, but the Mangkalihat foundered during the day in 25°44S/33°32E.