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• » 20 Aug 1943

• 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]

• 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 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 [Norfolk Navy Yard | Alabama | Portsmouth, Virginia | CPC]

20 Aug 1943 Interactive Map