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• Soviet Volkhov Front launched an offensive near Leningrad in northern Russia. ww2dbase [Siege of Leningrad | TH, CPC]
• The US Army assumed command of the Amphibious Corps of the Atlantic Fleet, which was previously under the command of the US Marine Corps. The previous commanding officer, USMC Major General Holland Smith, was named the chief of the Amphibious Training Staff of the Fleet Marine Force and was relocated to Quantico, Virginia, United States. ww2dbase [Holland Smith | CPC]
• 809 Japanese Special Naval Landing Force troops departed Rabaul, New Britain at 0700 hours aboard transports Nankai Maru and Kinai Maru, sailing for Milne Bay, Australian Papua. At about the same time, 450 Japanese Army troops departed Buna, Australian Papua aboard 7 barges, sailing for Goodenough Bay to support the Milne Bay invasion. The latter convoy was attacked by 12 Australian Kittyhawk fighters while stopped at Goodenough Island and all barges were destroyed. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 2 | CPC]
• USS Guardfish sank Japanese passenger-cargo ship Seikai Maru off Sendai, Japan. ww2dbase [Guardfish | CPC]
• German submarine U-162 sank Dutch ship Moena 100 miles east of Barbados at 1113 hours; 4 were killed, 83 survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• German submarine U-601 sank Soviet ship Kujbyshev in the Kara Sea 55 miles west of Dikson Island in northern Russia at 1409 hours; at 1442 hours, U-601 struck again, sinking tug Medvezhonok; all aboard both ships were killed. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Soviet torpedo boat Burya and minesweeper T-204 struck mines and sank in the Gulf of Finland while attempting to sweep a German minefield. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Lucien Lippert was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class medal. ww2dbase [Lucien Lippert | CPC]

• USS Louisville and USS St. Louis arrived at Kodiak, Alaska. ww2dbase [St. Louis | Louisville | Kodiak | DS]

• Tenryu departed Rabaul, New Britain. ww2dbase [Tenryu | Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• A Japanese force centered around carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku sailed down into the Solomon Islands with light carrier Ryujo and cruiser tone operating independently south of the main fleet. At 0415, 19 torpedo bombers and 7 seaplanes were launched to search for American ships. At 1250, the search plane from cruiser Chikuma reported sighting USS Saratoga and USS Enterprise; the search plane was quickly shot down, but the Japanese nevertheless gained an idea of the American position. Shokaku launched 18 dive bombers and Zuikaku launched 9 dive bombers starting at 1300 hours. At 1315, two bombers from Enterprise surprised Shokaku, but the torpedo they launched would fail to hit the Japanese carrier. At 1400 hours, a second strike was launched by Shokaku (9 dive bombers and 3 fighters) and Zuikaku (18 dive bombers and 6 fighters). At around the same time, Battle of the Eastern Solomons crew its first casualty when Ryujo was discovered and fatally damaged by several 1,000-pound bombs. At 1440, the first attack wave from the Japanese carriers attacked Enterprise, scoring three bomb hits (70 were killed, 70 were injured), but the Japanese would lose 18 dive bombers and 6 fighters in the engagement. The second wave failed to locate the American carriers and returned before dark. Japanese warships attempted to engage the US fleet after dark, but the force failed to locate the American fleet, and discontinued the search at 2330 hours. ww2dbase [Chuichi Nagumo | Saratoga | Kirishima | Enterprise | Shokaku | Chuichi Hara | Nobutake Kondo | Zuikaku | Ryujo | Chikuma | Kumano | North Carolina | Solomon Islands Campaign | Tone | TH, CPC]
• US Marine Corps Major John L. Smith's VMF-223 Squadron based on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands accompanied by five USAAF P-39 fighters intercepted twenty-seven Japanese aircraft, shooting down ten bombers and fighters. Captain Marion E. Carl, who was to become the first USMC ace of the war, scored three of the kills. His Commanding Officer Major Smith would become the third Wildcat pilot to be awarded the Medal of Honour. Three Wildcat fighters were lost in the engagement. On the same day, 11 US Navy dive bombers arrived at Henderson Field as reinforcements. ww2dbase [Henderson Field | Guadalcanal Campaign | Lunga Point, Guadalcanal | AC]
• Mutsu escorted carriers during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. ww2dbase [Mutsu | CPC]

• Repair ship Akashi began repairing destroyer Hagikaze at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Akashi | Truk | CPC]
• Katori arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Katori | Truk | CPC]

• 226 British bombers (104 Wellington, 61 Lancaster, 53 Stirling, and 8 Halifax) attacked Frankfurt, Germany; most bombs missed their targets and fell on the villages of Schwalbach and Eschborn; 16 bombers were lost on this mission. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Frankfurt, Hessen-Nassau | CPC]

• Hans-Joachim Marseille met South African prisoner of war Corporal Mathew Letulu, whom the Germans called Mathias. Letulu would soon grow close to Marseille as his servant and friend. ww2dbase [Hans-Joachim Marseille | CPC]

• Submarine USS Saury torpedoed and damaged the Japanese transport ship Otowasan Maru (9,024 tons) off the mouth of Manila Bay, Luzon, Philippines. ww2dbase [Saury | DS]

• Karl-Otto Koch stepped down as the commandant of Majdanek Concentration Camp in Poland. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Majdanek Concentration Camp | Karl-Otto Koch | Lublin | CPC]

• Marshal Georgy Zhukov was sent to Stalingrad, Russia to take over the defense. ww2dbase [Battle of Stalingrad | Stalingrad | TH]
• USS Tuscaloosa, USS Rodman, USS Emmons, and HMS Onslaught departed Murmansk, Russia. HMS Marne, HMS Martin, HMS Middleton, and HMS Blankney departed Arkhangelsk, Russia. Both groups of Allied warships were sailing for Iceland; some of them carried Soviet diplomats and survivors of various sunken or damaged merchant ships. At 2002 hours, German minelayer Ulm, which had departed Narvik, Norway at 0400 hours earlier on the same day, was attacked by HMS Onslaught, HMS Marne, and HMS Martin; Marne was hit twice in the engagement (4 were killed), but the British ships were able to sink Ulm at 2235 hours; 132 were killed, 54 survived (30 to 40 of whom were captured by the British). ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]

• The keel of submarine Cero was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut, United States. ww2dbase [Cero | Electric Boat Company | Groton, Connecticut | CPC]
• The keel of destroyer Luce was laid down at Bethlehem Mariners Harbor, Staten Island, New York, United States. ww2dbase [Luce | Staten Island, New York | CPC]

24 Aug 1942 Interactive Map