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• US 83rd Infantry Division was activated. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Submarine Snook was launched, sponsored by the wife of Navy Cross winner Lieutenant James C. Dempsey. ww2dbase [Snook | CPC]
• Submarine Pompon was launched, sponsored by Miss Katherine Mary Wolleson. ww2dbase [Pompon | CPC]
• German submarine U-705 attacked Allied convoy SC-95 570 miles west of Ireland at 0358 hours, sinking US ship Balladier; 13 were killed, 32 survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• British submarine HMS Porpoise sank Italian merchant ship Lerici 140 miles west of Crete, Greece. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German aircraft detected an Allied westbound convoy in the Kara Sea. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]
• Léon Degrelle was awarded the Eastern Front Medal. ww2dbase [Léon Degrelle | CPC]
• USS Bailey completed submarine tracking exercises around New London, Connecticut and departed for New York Navy Yard, arriving later that day. ww2dbase [Bailey | DS]
• USS Nicholas departed Boston Navy Yard to act as an escort to USS Savannah bound for Norfolk, Virginia. ww2dbase [Nicholas | DS]

• Submarine USS Thresher arrived at Fremantle, Australia and ended her fourth war patrol. ww2dbase [Thresher | Fremantle | DS]

• USS S-39, which ran aground after dark on 13 Aug 1942, had her list increased to 60 degrees. Her remaining four torpedoes were deactivated and fired into the water. Australian minesweeper HMAS Katoomba arrived at about 1200 hours and took on the crew members. ww2dbase [S-39 | Yela | CPC]

• Finnish patrol boat VMV 5 sank Soviet submarine M-97 with depth charges 3 miles off of the Estonian coast in the Gulf of Finland. ww2dbase [Gulf of Finland | CPC]

• Destroyers USS Colhoun, USS Gregory, USS Little, and USS McKean made the first supply mission for US Marines at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Guadalcanal Campaign | CPC]

• Uckermarck and Ermland departed Royan, France, escorted by torpedo boats T4 and T10, in an attempt to pass through the English Channel for coast of the Bay of Biscay. ww2dbase [T10 | Ermland | T4 | Second Happy Time | Altmark | Royan, Aquitaine | CPC]
• Comandante Cappellini departed Le Verdon-sur-Mer, Aquitaine, France at 0800 hours, arriving at La Pallice, La Rochelle, France at 1722 hours. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | Le Verdon-sur-Mer, Aquitaine | CPC]

• 131 British bombers attacked Düsseldorf, Germany in poor weather; one stray 4,000-pound bomb hit the town of Neuss, killing 1 civiliand and wounding 13; 4 bombers were lost on this mission. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Düsseldorf | CPC]

• Bluie West Three radio direction finding station in Greenland began operations. ww2dbase [Bluie West Three | Simiutak, South Greenland | CPC]

• Zuikaku arrived at Hashirajima anchorage in the Seto Inland Sea of Japan and joined Carrier Division 1. ww2dbase [Zuikaku | Seto Inland Sea | CPC]

• Tanker Ohio, under tow by three British destroyers and one British minesweeper, arrived at Malta at 0700 hours; she would later sink in Valetta Harbour, Malta from her damage after her cargo of fuel was unloaded. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | CPC]

• USS S-38 departed New Britain waters. ww2dbase [S-38 | CPC]

• German troops attacked Grozny, the capital of Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in southern Russia; it was defended by troops of Soviet 9th Army and 37th Army. ww2dbase [Caucasus Campaign | Grozny, Chechen-Ingush | TH, CPC]
• Troops of German 6th Army attacked the remnants of Soviet 4th Tank Army on the west bank of the Don River bend at 0430 hours. ww2dbase [Battle of Stalingrad | CPC]

• The British Royal Air Force formed the Pathfinder Force under the command of Group Captain (later Air Vice Marshal) D. C. T. Bennett with its headquarters at Wyton in Huntingdonshire (today a part of Cambrideshire), England, United Kingdom. An elite corps of crews with exceptional technical and navigational skills the gallantry of its pilots and crews would become legendary. Initially consisting of five squadrons the Pathfinder Force would grow to 19 Squadrons by the end of the war. ww2dbase [AC]

• United States Marine Corps established the Air, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific at San Diego, California, United States. It was to organize personnel and supplies for the 1st and 2nd Marine Aircraft Wings and the 4th Marine Base Defense Battalion. ww2dbase [San Diego, California | CPC]
• The keel of submarine Hackleback was laid down by William Cramp and Sons in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. ww2dbase [Hackleback | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | CPC]
• The 82nd Infantry Division became the US Army's first airborne division, and it was redesignated as the 82nd Airborne Division. ww2dbase [AC]
• Destroyers USS Shaw and Allen arrived at San Francisco, California escorting 5 ships. ww2dbase [Shaw | San Francisco, California | DS]

• USS Flying Fish departed Midway Atoll for her second war patrol. ww2dbase [Midway Bases | Flying Fish | Midway | CPC]

15 Aug 1942 Interactive Map