August 28th, 1943 (SATURDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Frigate HMS
Cranstoun launched.
Sloop HMS Lark launched.
Frigates HMS Dacres and Tees commissioned.
Destroyer HMS Venus commissioned.
Over the NORTH SEA, Douglas DC-3-268, msn 2133, registered SE-BAF by Sweden's AB Aerotransport, is shot down by a Luftwaffe fighter while enroute from the UK to Sweden. All 7 people aboard the DC-3 are killed.
GERMANY: Yet another month of devastating bombing by the Allies is drawing to a close. On 1 August the USAAF wreaked havoc in the Ploesti oilfields in Romania; on 17 August the RAF hit the secret rocket-testing centre at Peenemunde; and last night more than 3,000 people died in a raid on Nuremburg.
The German propaganda machine has given up minimising the damage, and instead newspapers publish instructions and advice to the beleaguered German people. Headlines such as "Protect your property and your life" or "Equipment for air-raid protection and self help" have become commonplace. Citizens in high-risk areas are advised to send valuables to relatives for safe-keeping and to equip their shelters with as much water as possible to extinguish fires. But with some 300,000 people a month now being bombed out of their homes, good advice is simply not enough.
DENMARK: The Danish government refuses German demands to declare a state of emergency and execute saboteurs. The Germans oust the government and King Christian X threatens to abdicate causing angry Danes to attack German units in Copenhagen and other towns. (John Nicholas and Jack McKillop)
ARCTIC OCEAN: The German submarine U-639 is sunk at 1030hrs in the Kara Sea north of Mys Zhelaniya, in approximate position 76.40N, 69.40E, by torpedoes from the Soviet submarine S 101. All hands on the U-boat, 47-men, are lost.
U.S.S.R.: Polar Fleet and White Sea Flotilla: RS "Shkval" - mined close to Vaigach Is.(Sergey Anisimov)(69)
BULGARIA: Sofia: The death of King Boris, often spoken of as "Hitler's pathetic dupe", has been followed by anti-German demonstrations in Sofia and calls for a general strike throughout Bulgaria. Despite an official statement that the king died of heart failure and double pneumonia, many Bulgarians believe that he was murdered on Hitler's orders.
Boris threw in his lot with the Germans after seeing Hitler at Berchtesgaden in November 1940. But most of his subjects remained hostile to the Germans and, in spite of his king's efforts, the king was unable to raise "volunteers" for service in Russia.
Reports surfacing in Switzerland say that Hitler demanded full mobilization of Bulgaria, the building of extra defence lines along the Turkish frontier and a free hand for the Gestapo in the country. Boris, it is said, decided to abdicate rather than give in. He was then shot by one of his bodyguards. Under Bulgarian law, the king has the right to appoint three regents before his death. The fact that Boris did not do so suggests that either he was unconscious for some time before his death, or he died suddenly.
ITALY: Italian Torpedo Boat
Lince is sunk in Taranto by British submarine HMS Ultor. (Jack McKillop
Northwest African Strategic Air Force B-17s bomb the
marshalling yard at Terni; B-26s hit the Aversa marshalling yard and Sparanise;
and B-25s hit the Cancello Arnone marshalling yard. P-40s fly intruder missions
over Sardinia, bombing and strafing industry and town area. Northwest African
Tactical Air Force light and medium bombers attack railroad facilities at
Lamezia and Catanzaro, Italy; fighter-bombers hit road and rail junctions, and
marshalling yards at Castrovillari, Cosenza, and Catanzaro.
SARDINIA: USAAF P-40s fly intruder missions bombing and strafing industry and town area.
NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs and B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb Japanese installations at Lae and barges in the Lae-Salamaua area while 26 B-25 Mitchells attack shipping in Hansa Bay located on the north coast between Madang and Wewak sinking two vessels.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: US Thirteenth Air Force B-25s and P-40s, and USMC F4U Corsairs bomb and strafe barges, buildings, and personnel in the Sigolehe Island-Barora Ite Island area.
ELLICE ISLANDS: Elements of 2 USN Seabee battalions and the 7th Marine defence Battalion land on Nanomea Island, only 400-miles (644 km) from the Japanese-held Gilbert Islands. Work immediately begins on an airfield.
CANADA: HMC ML 106 commissioned.
U.S.A.: U-107 had laid mines off Charleston, then this morning sighted freighter ALBERT GALLATIN, under escort of blimp K-34. The sub fired three torpedoes which hit but did not detonate (which seems surprising this late in the war, when I think the problems with German torpedoes had been solved). K-34 held her under while GALLATIN escaped. An Army Air Force B-25 sighted the sub and attacked, dropping four depth charges which missed. Eastern Sea Frontier headquarters sent out eleven ships to search for the U-boat, and K-34 stayed aloft to home them in. The search continued for several days but U-107 escaped. (Keith Allen)(68)
Destroyer escort USS Finch launched.
Destroyers USS Norman Scott and Robinson launched.
Submarine USS Dorado commissioned.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-302 sank SS Dikson.
U-107 sank SS Albert Gallatin.