August 24th, 1943 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
The USAAF's VIII Air Support Command and VIII Bomber Command in England fly missions to France.
- VIII Air Support Command Missions 33A and 33B: B-26B Marauders fly 2 diversions for the VIII Bomber Command B-17s.
- VIII Bomber Command Mission 86 Part I: An air depot and airfields in France are targeted:
1. 110 B-17s are dispatched to the Villacoublay Air Depot; 86 hit the target at 1800-1805 hours; they claim 1-0-1 Luftwaffe aircraft.
2. 42 B-17s are dispatched to the Conches and Evreux/Fauville Airfields; 22 hit the target at 1844-1858 hours; they claim 0-0-2 Luftwaffe aircraft; a B-17 is lost.
3. 35 of 36 B-17s fly a diversion without incident.
- VIII Bomber Command Mission 86 Part II: 85 B-17s, which had flown to North Africa after attacking Regensburg, Germany on 17 August, are dispatched to the Merignac Airfield at Bordeaux; 58 hit the target at 1157-1200 hours; they claim 3-3-10 Luftwaffe aircraft; 3 B-17s are lost.
Nine B-17s return to North Africa after encountering difficulties.
Frigate HMS Fitzroy laid down.
GERMANY: Himmler is appointed as Minister of the Interior. Neurath resigns as Protector of Bohemia and Moravia with Frisch as his replacement.
U-867 launched.
DENMARK: Today and tomorrow there are several bomb
incidents in Copenhagen, Denmark and strikes in shipyards, courtesy of the Danish
resistance.
U.S.S.R.: Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: HS "Shkval" - by U-boat gunfire, at Gelenjik area (Sergey Anisimov)(69)
ITALY: Northwest African Tactical Air Force (NATAF) fighter-bombers hit a railroad tunnel and cruiser offshore at Sibari, tracks and buildings at Castrovillari, and the town area at Sibari; and RAF Desert Air Force airplanes strafe motor transport north of Reggio di Calabria and provide withdrawal cover for the NATAF fighter-bombers.
CHINA: 7 B-24 Liberators and 6 B-25 Mitchells of the USAAF's Fourteenth Air Force, escorted by 22 P-40s and P-38 Lightnings, bomb airfields at Hankow and Wuchang; 4 B-24s are lost; 24 IJA interceptors are claimed shot down.
NEW GUINEA: The Australian 3 Division is
replaced by the 5 Division during the final phases of operations against
Salamaua. This attack is really a feint; the main objective is Lae and the main
body of Australian forces are approaching it from the interior of the island.
U.S. forces continue their operations to capture Dot
Inlet.
In the air, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24s thoroughly
pound Wewak and bomb Salamaua while B-25s bomb Larat and barges east of Wotap.
EAST INDIES: Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb Larat Island in the Tanimbar Islands of the Netherlands East Indies.
NEW HEBRIDES ISLANDS: The Japanese submarine HIJMS
I-25 launches a "Glen" (Yokosuka E14Y, Navy Type 0 Small
Reconnaissance Seaplane) to reconnoitre Espiritu Santo Island.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: US Army troops capture Bairoko Harbor on New Georgia ending the battle for the island.
- 25 Thirteenth Air Force B-24s, with fighter escort, bomb Papatura Fa Island and attack the eastern shore of Ringa Cove on New Georgia Island. P-39Airacobras strafe barges at Kakasa on Choiseul Island.
CANADA: The Quadrant Conference between U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill and Canadian Prime Minister W.L. MacKenzie King in Quebec City, Quebec, ends. Operation OVERLORD, the invasion of north-western Europe, target date is 1 May 1944, and Operation POINTBLANK, the Combined Bomber Offensive to destroy economic and military power of Germany as a prelude to OVERLORD, shall constitute the primary effort against Germany. Plans for the invasion of Italy are approved, but the forces to be employed are confined to those already allotted by TRIDENT, the U.S.-British conference held in Washington, D.C., USA, in May 1943. Advances against Japan are to be made along both the Central Pacific and the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA) route. Action in the Central Pacific is to begin with invasion of Gilberts and Marshalls Islands. In the SWPA, Rabaul on New Britain Island, Bismarck Archipelago, will be neutralized but not captured; New Guinea w ill be neutralized as far west as Wewak; Manus Island in the Admiralty Islands and Kavieng on New Ireland Island, Bismarck Archipelago, are to be secured as bases from which further advances can be supported. A new Allied command, Southeast Asia Command (SEAC), is authorized to simplify command structure in Asia; British Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten is to be Supreme Commander and U.S. Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell will be his deputy. The China Theater is not included in SEAC; as China is an area of U.S. strategic responsibility, General Stilwell is responsible to Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. The North Burma offensive is scheduled to begin in February 1944. President Roosevelt opposed recognition of a DeGaulle government, but Churchill recognizes French General Charles DeGaulle's National Committee as a wartime ally. Although there was growing unity on military strategy, there was also growing political disunity especially involving Italy.Corvette HMCS Rimouski completed foc'sle extension refit Liverpool, Nova Scotia.
U.S.A.: The US Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command is redesignated I Bomber Command and reassigned to the First Air Force after the USAAF and US Navy reach an agreement under which the USAAF withdraws from antisubmarine operations.
Destroyer escort USS Brister launched.
Destroyer escorts USS Gillette and Price laid down.
Submarine USS Spot laid down.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Two German submarines are sunk:
- U-134 is sunk in the North Atlantic near Vigo, Spain in position approximately 42.07N, 09.30W by 6 depth charges from an RAF Wellington Mk XIV of No 179 Squadron based at Gibraltar. All 48 men on the U-boat are lost.
- U-185 is sunk in the mid-Atlantic, in position 27.00N, 37.06W, by depth charges from 3 USN TBF Avengers of Composite Squadron Thirteen (VC-13) in the escort aircraft carrier USS Core (CV-13). 22 of the 51 crewmen in the U-boat survive.