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• US troops entered Messina, Sicily, Italy. Meanwhile, the Axis forces successfully evacuated 100,000 troops from Sicily to the mainland. ww2dbase [Invasion of Sicily and Italy's Surrender | TH]
• Intrepid was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Intrepid | CPC]

• USS S-28 arrived at Massacre Bay, Attu, US Territory of Alaska. ww2dbase [S-28 | Attu | CPC]

• The French I Corps was reconstituted at Ain-Taya, Algeria, under the command of Lieutenant-General Henry Jules Jean Martin, with American supplied uniforms and weapons as part of the rearmament of the French Army of Africa. ww2dbase [Ain-Taya | AC]

• 15 Japanese bombers escorted by 33 fighters attacked Tsili-Tsili airfield, Australian Papua. 3 US fighter squadrons rose for defense. The Japanese lost 3 aircraft, while the Americans lost 1 aircraft (Lieutenant Leonard Leighton). ww2dbase [Tsili-Tsili | CPC]

• 2,200 Russian troops of the German 1st Russian National SS Detachment fighting in Byelorussia switched sides and eventually formed the 1st Anti-Fascist Partisan Brigade under Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Gil, who was also known as I. G. Rodionov. ww2dbase [CPC]

• The 317 inhabitants of the village of Kommeno in western Greece were rounded up by occupation troops and executed for the suspicion of partisan support. ww2dbase [Kommeno, Epirus | CPC]
• Oberstleutnant Josef Salminger of GebirgsJäger Regiment 98 of German 1st Mountain Division ordered the massacre of 317 people of the village of Kommeno in Greece. ww2dbase [Kommeno, Epirus | CPC]

• US Navy awarded a contract to build a new military hospital at Aiea, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Aiea, Oahu | CPC]

• Yamato, loaded with troops and supplies, departed Kure, Japan with Fuso, Nagato, and Destroyer Division 16's Amatsukaze and Hatsukaze. Stopped at Yashima anchorage that night. ww2dbase [Yamato | Kure, Hiroshima | CPC]

• Starting this date and continuing for the next seven days, revolt and destruction took place in the Bialystok Ghetto in Poland. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Bialystok | CPC]

• The Soviets launched an attack toward Stalino (now Donetsk), Ukraine. ww2dbase [Fourth Battle of Kharkov | Stalino | TH]

• The US 4th Marine Division was activated at Camp Pendleton near San Diego, California, United States under the command of Major General Harry Schmidt. It was the only US Marine Division during WW2 to be mounted and staged into combat directly from the continental United States. ww2dbase [San Diego, California | CPC]

16 Aug 1943 Interactive Map