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• Soviet troops in the Caucasus region of southern Russia launched the Novorossiysk Defensive Operation. ww2dbase [Caucasus Campaign | CPC]
• German submarine U-507 stopped Brazilian sailing vessel Jacyra at 0530 hours, forced her crew of 6 to abandon ship, and scuttled her at 0800 hours with charges. At 0907 hours, U-510 sank British merchant ship Cressington Court 200 miles off French Guiana; 8 were killed, 36 survived. German submarine U-406 attacked Allied convoy SL-118 450 miles west of Portugal at 1622 hours, fatally damaging British ship City of Manila; 1 was killed, 95 survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• German submarine U-162 attacked an Allied convoy 40 miles west of Grenada, sinking US ship West Celina at 0437 hours (1 was killed, 43 survived); at 1007 hours, U-564 joined in on the attack, sinking British ship Empire Cloud (3 were killed, 51 survived) and British tanker British Consul (2 were killed, 40 survived). German submarine U-217 sank British sailing vessel Sea Gull D. 75 miles southeast of Bonaire island in the southern Caribbean Sea at 2112 hours; 3 were killed, 71 survived. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | CPC]
• HMS Banff (Y 43) disembarked 11 survivors of steam tanker Mirlo, lost to German submarine U-130 on 11 Aug 1942, in Freetown, Sierra Leone. ww2dbase [HM]
• Internees of the Portland Assembly Center in Oregon, United States were informed that they were to be relocated to Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming, United States; Minidoka War Relocation Center in Idaho, United States; and Tule Lake War Relocation Center in California, United States. ww2dbase [Portland Assembly Center | CPC]

• USS Louisville and USS St. Louis departed Kodiak, Alaska on an Alaskan patrol. ww2dbase [St. Louis | Louisville | Kodiak | DS]

• The survivors of USS S-39, which ran aground on 13 Aug 1942, arrived at Townsville, Australia via HMAS Katoomba. ww2dbase [S-39 | Townsville, Queensland | CPC]

• Japanese destroyers Kagero, Kagikaze, Maikaze, Urakaze, Isokaze, and Hamakaze landed 916 men at Taivu Point, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands at 0100 hours. Men of Company L, US 5th Marine Regiment attacked a Japanese construction battalion west of the Matanikau River at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands at midday. On the same day, Company I of the same regiment conducted an amphibious raid further west at Kokumbona. Out at sea, Japanese destroyer Hagikaze was damaged by a bomb during an attack by US B-17 bombers; 33 were killed, 13 were wounded. ww2dbase [Guadalcanal Campaign | Guadalcanal | CPC]
• At Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, the forward echelon of Marine Aircraft Group 23 (19 F4F fighters and 12 SBD-3 dive bombers) arrived. ww2dbase [Henderson Field | Guadalcanal Campaign | Lunga Point, Guadalcanal | CPC]

• 5,000 Canadian troops, 1,000 British Commandos, 50 US Rangers, and 58 British Churchill tanks landed at Dieppe, France at 0500 hours in Operation Jubilee via 9 landing ships, covered by 8 destroyers, many smaller warships, and many aircraft. British and Americans were successful in destroying a German battery near Varengeville, but British and Canadian troops on a nearby beach were pinned down, suffering 1,179 killed before the mission's end. As German aircraft counterattacked, British destroyer HMS Berkeley and several smaller ships were sunk. The operation was called off by 1100 hours in dismal failure. 2,190 Allied troops were captured along with all of the tanks and heavy equipment. The British RAF lost 106 aircraft. The Germans suffered only 311 killed and 48 aircraft shot down in the defense. ww2dbase [Attack on Dieppe | Dieppe, Haute-Normandie | TH, CPC]
• James Johnson flew a mission over Dieppe, France, covering the amphibious operation. ww2dbase [James Johnson | Dieppe, Haute-Normandie | CPC]
• At Dieppe, France, Corporal Franklin Koons, 1st Ranger Battalion, becomes the first US infantryman to kill a German soldier in combat during WW2; at nearby Berneval, Lieutenant Edwin.D. Loustalot, 1st Ranger Battalion became the first Ranger and US infantry officer to be killed in action in Europe during WW2 as he fell while leading a charge against an enemy gun post. ww2dbase [Dieppe, Haute-Normandie | AC]
• Despite being wounded three times, Captain Pat Porteous, liaison officer with British No. 4 Commando, led a text book bayonet charge through a hail of machine-gun fire to eliminate (with deadly hand-to-hand combat) the Varengeville-sur-Mer battery in France which threatened the safety of the ships laying off the coast 0f Dieppe. For this gallant action, Captain Porteous would be awarded the Victoria Cross. ww2dbase [Dieppe, Haute-Normandie | AC]
• Pilot Officer Hollis H. Hills, an American volunteer in the Royal Canadian Air Force, was credited with the first air-to-air victory with the North American Mustang (P-51) fighter when he shot down a Fw 190 fighter over Dieppe, France. Californian Hills would later serve in the US Navy flying F6F Hellcat fighters. ww2dbase [Dieppe, Haute-Normandie | AC]

• Walter Grabmann stepped down as the commanding officer of the Zerstörerschule 2 training unit based in Memmingen, Germany and was named the chief of all fighter units based in the Netherlands. ww2dbase [Walter Grabmann | CPC]

• Soviets launched the Sinyavino Offensive in the Leningrad region in northern Russia, with troops of the Leningrad Front capturing several bridgeheads across the Neva River. The Volkhov Front, however, failed to launch its offensive in concert. ww2dbase [Siege of Leningrad | CPC]
• German submarine U-209 attempted to approach Belushya Guba in the Novaya Zemlya islands in northern Russia, but was spotted by Soviet motor boat Poliarny, minesweeper T-39, and minesweeper T-58, which drove off U-209. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Belushya Guba, Arkhangelsk | CPC]

• Submarine Harder was launched at Groton, Connecticut, United States, sponsored by Miss Helen M. Shaforth. ww2dbase [Harder | Electric Boat Company | Groton, Connecticut | CPC]

19 Aug 1942 Interactive Map