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• USS Gar sank a Japanese ship in daylight with one of three torpedoes fired. ww2dbase [Gar | CPC]
• Otto Skorzeny returned to mainland Italy after being shot down by British fighters two days prior. ww2dbase [Otto Skorzeny | CPC]
• German Admiral Canaris' sources informed him that Benito Mussolini might be held prisoner on the island of Elba, Italy. ww2dbase [Joachim von Ribbentrop | CPC]
• Admiral Chester Nimitz submitted a general plan for the invasion of the Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Marshall Islands Campaign | CPC]
• USS Bailey arrived at San Diego, California. ww2dbase [Bailey | DS]
• Shortly after midnight, while searching the northern coast of Vella Lavella Island for more Japanese landing barges from the convoy encountered the previous night, destroyers USS Nicholas, USS Chevalier, USS O’Bannon, and USS Taylor located and attacked two barges near the shore. One was sunk and the other was damaged. The destroyers then retired at high speed toward Tulagi while they were attacked almost continuously by Japanese aircraft, inflicting no damage. ww2dbase [Nicholas | Solomon Islands Campaign | DS]

• Baanga island, located just off western New Georgia in the Solomon Islands, was secured by elements of the US Army 43rd Division. ww2dbase [Solomon Islands Campaign | CPC]

• Six B-25 bombers of US 14th Air Force attacked Tianhe Airfield in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China, claiming five Japanese fighters shot down over Guangzhou. ww2dbase [Tianhe Airfield | Guangzhou, Guangdong | CPC]

• German Army formed XXII Gebirgskorps in Greece; Hubert Lanz would soon be named its commanding officer. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Part of Air Group 9 departed. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]
• USS Honolulu entered Drydock #1 at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ww2dbase [Honolulu | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | DS]

• USS S-31 completed training services at Nouméa, New Caledonia. ww2dbase [S-31 | Nouméa | CPC]

• USS Whale suffered some damage in the East China Sea during a typhoon. ww2dbase [Whale | East China Sea | CPC]
• USS Wahoo sank a small vessel with her deck guns in the Sea of Okhotsk; six nearby fishermen surrendered and were taken prisoner. Two hours later, she destroyed another small vessels. ww2dbase [Wahoo | Sea of Okhotsk | CPC]

• Soviet and German tanks engaged in combat in the fields near Kharkov, Ukraine; the Soviets were defeated after losing 184 T-34 tanks. ww2dbase [Fourth Battle of Kharkov | Kharkov | CPC]

• USS Alabama departed Norfolk, Virginia, United States. ww2dbase [Alabama | Norfolk Navy Yard | Portsmouth, Virginia | CPC]
• USS St. Louis entered drydock #3 at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard ww2dbase [St. Louis | Mare Island Navy Yard | Vallejo, California | DS]

20 Aug 1943 Interactive Map