Diary August 15, 1943

08-1943, Diary WW2, War Diary, Year 1943 / 1 minute of reading / By Kretaner

Evacuation of wounded Germans by plane — Evacuation of wounded German soldiers from Sicily by Ju 52 transport planes.

WW2 War Diary for Sunday, August 15, 1943:

Mediterranean

Sicily: Allies capture Milazzo and Taormina and threaten Axis rearguard around Messina from west and south.

Air War

Britain: 90-plane raid on Portsmouth.
Western Europe: First of series of B-17 Flying Fortress raids on French airfields intended to deceive Germans into believing that Allies will land in Pas de Calais (Operation Starkey).

Sea War

Pacific: Farcical invasion of Kiska Island (Operation Cottage). Following massive preparatory bombardment by 3 battleships, 2 cruisers, 7 destroyers and 168 aircraft, 35,000 US and Canadian troops land unopposed – unaware that Japanese have abandoned the island 18 days previously.
Americans land on Vella Lavella (Solomons).
Battlecruiser Alaska launched at Camden, New Jersey.

Politics

Spain: Castellano, representative of Badoglio Government, arrives in Madrid and informs British Ambassador Hoare that Italy wishes to join the Allies.

About The Author

Kretaner

My name is Norman 'Kretaner' and since my childhood I am interested in history and strategy games. Later, I have learned programming and the development of computer games, and finally with the Internet, also web design. I'm in the fortunate position to combine all my interests with my work and to live on a place of my choice, on Crete. All information, figures, specifications and statistics used here had been compiled from a variety of sources and the large, over decades collected, library of the author about military history, WW2 and weapons.