UNITED KINGDOM: In England, the US Eighth Air Force's VIII Air Support Command VIII Bomber Command fly missions.

- The VIII Air Support Command flies Missions 21, 22A and 22B against airfields in France without loss. 
(1) 31 B-26B Marauders bomb Bernay St Martin Airfield at 1117 hours. 
(2) 29 B-26Bs attack Beaumont Le Roger Airfield at 1700 hours and 3 hit Conches Airfield at 1703 hours. 
(3) A third B-26 group flies a diversion.

- The VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 83 against Luftwaffe facilities in France. 
(1) 171 B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb Le Bourget air depot in the Paris area at 0929-0937 hours; they claim 29-3-11 Luftwaffe aircraft; 4 B-17's are lost; this mission is escorted all the way to the target by P-47 Thunderbolts using drop tanks. 
(2) 66 B-17s attack Poix and Abbeville Airfields at 0911-0923 hours without loss.

Frigates HMS Torridge and Wye launched. Frigate HMS Capel commissioned. Frigate FS La Surprise is laucnhed. Corvettes HMS Shrewsbury Castle and Tunsberg Castle are launched.

NORWAY: A state of siege is declared throughout the country.

GERMANY: U-828 laid down.

U.S.S.R.: Baltic Fleet and Ladoga Flotilla: (Sergey Anisimov)(69)Submarine loss "S-12" - by depth charges of surface ships, close to Bolshoi Tuters Is.

The Soviet Army begins an offensive against the Mius line toward Stalino. 

Bialystock: Germans enter the Jewish ghetto and start deporting its 25,000 inhabitants.

Soviet forces take Zhidra, north-east of Bryansk.

ITALY: The British make an amphibious flanking movement on the east coast of Sicily. They miss the retreating Germans. US forward units reach the edge of Messina.

86 US Ninth Air Force B-24s bomb the city area and 100+ P-40's hit shipping at Messina and in the Straits of Messina, as the enemy continues the withdrawal of rear guard troop to mainland Italy. Before midnight, US patrols enter Messina, which is under fire from the Italian coast.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: Oil tanks at Balikpapan, Borneo are hit by 2 US Fifth Air Force B-24s.

NEW GUINEA: A Japanese raiding company get behind allied lines near Salamaua. Early today they attack a troop of 2/6 Field Regiment (Arty) Australian army. The gunners defend the gun position with small-arms. They took casualties (3 KIA and 7 WIA) without inflicting any on the Japanese, but held their position. Therefore, the raiders  were unable to capture any of the guns.

The Japanese commander was dissatisfied with the lack of progress of his men. He drew his sword and stood up to urge his men forward. A nearby Australian gunner was an ex-infantryman with an Owen gun who  riddled the Japanese officer with a full magazine. The Japanese raiding party withdrew, their only casualties two officers KIA. The guns were in action by 9.30am. (102 and 103) (Michael Mitchell)

TIME

Vol. XLII No. 7

Aug. 16, 1943

World Battlefronts: The Bloody Story of Lieut. Kliebert

Lieut. Nicholas Kliebert, with 37 men, had gone to protect some wounded on the Munda trail. While they were holding a bridge against a frontal attack their three Browning automatics became overheated, could no longer be used. Later, in the presence of his commanding officer, Lieut. Kliebert told correspondents what happened next: "The Japs who got through to one of our litter cases propped the man against a tree and five Japs took turns bayoneting him. I got three of them. . . . We saw Japs pull blankets off litter cases and line them up. ... They cut one of the poor lads from the top of his head to his feet, meanwhile laughing deliriously. Then they shot him through the head."

The battle lasted for seven hours. When the Japs finally withdrew, Kliebert had lost three of the handful of brave men who had fought beside him while others were evacuating the wounded, had killed 175 Japs. He estimated that the Japs killed at least 20 of the wounded, most of whom could not walk. (Skip Guidry)

Wewak: The US 5th Air Force begins seven days of attacks today. The Japanese airfields around Wewak are on the targets.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: 9 US Thirteenth Air Force B-24s bomb Papatura Fa  Island while 12 B-25 Mitchells, 5 B-17s, and 30+ USMC aircraft attack Vila Airfield on Kolombangara Island. On New Georgia Island, Munda airfield is bombarded by IJN artillery on Baanga Island.