Operation Tidal Wave

Japan granted "independence" to Burma, which had been a British colony at the time of its invasion and occupation by the Japanese Army. Ba Maw was installed as the head of state, (designated the Adipadi), although the commander of the Japanese Army forces in Burma, Lieutenant-General Kawabe Masakazu, would continue to oversee Burma's politics, economy, and foreign relations.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Operation Tidal Wave. Heavy day-time American air raid, 180+ aircraft attack on Ploiesti, Romania. Target was Romanian refineries in Ploiesti. Attackers flew from Lybia & flew across the Mediterranean Sea. Given the large and unbalanced loss of aircraft and the limited damage to the targets, Operation Tidal Wave is considered a strategic failure by the Allies.

Rioting broke out in Harlem, the mostly African-American section of New York City, after a white NYPD officer, James Collins, shot a black soldier, Private Robert Bandy, in the shoulder during a scuffle. When an ambulance took Bandy to a hospital, a false rumour spread that the soldier had been killed, and a mob began smashing the windows of pawn shops, liquor stores and other white-owned Harlem businesses. The riot was finally suppressed by black and white NYPD officers, state national guardsmen, and military policemen, along with an appeal from Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia for peace and delivery of food supplies to Harlem residents. When the riot ended, six African-Americans had died, more than 500 were arrested, and 40 officers had been injured.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Heavy night-time British air raid, 740+ aircraft attack on Hamburg, Germany. Failed to attack as a large thunderstorm turned back many of the aircraft

Jewish inmates at the Treblinka extermination camp in Poland seized weapons from the camp's armoury and made plans to take over the concentration camp from their captors. The theft was discovered before the inmates had enough to completely overpower the guards, but hundreds charged through the main gate, and 300 managed to escape. A few guards were killed, and the rebels set several buildings ablaze, though most of the escapees were hunted down and killed, with no more than 40 surviving.

The Eastern Front: Operation Rumyantsev began as the Soviet Army started an offensive against the German XI Corps to recapture Kharkiv.

American General George S. Patton was visiting the 15th Evacuation Hospital in Nicosia, Cyprus when he encountered Private Charles H. Kuhl, who was in the hospital for malaria and dysentery as well as for shell shock. Patton asked Private Kuhl what he was in for, and Kuhl replied, "I guess I just can't take it." Patton lost his temper and struck Kuhl with his gloves. On August 10, Patton would strike another soldier, and the incident became public knowledge.

German V-2 rocket plant at Peenemünde, the decision was made to employ concentration camp inmates as slave labour to build the missiles. For every non-Jewish German employee, there would be at least ten camp inmates supplied by the SS.

The Pacific Campaign: The Battle of Munda Point ends in victory for American forces

The Eastern Front: Soviet forces recaptured the city of Orel from German forces after a 23-day battle.

The Pacific Campaign: The Battle of Vella Gulf was fought over the night of August 6–7. The result was an American victory

The Pacific Campaign: The Battle of Munda Point ends in victory for American forces

The Eastern Front: The Second Battle of Smolensk begins

Allied Bomber Offensive: Heavy night-time British air raid, 190+ aircraft attack on Genoa, Milan & Turin, Italy. Poor bombing results

The Italian Campaign: American forces landed at St. Agata, Sicily.

The American government bans the taking of photos at all beach resorts on the Atlantic Ocean, and even painting or sketching beach scenes, as part of the defence of the eastern United States. Civilian violators could be barred from going to the coast, or even subjected to trial in a military court, "for violating or conspiring to violate regulations".

Allied Bomber Offensive: Heavy night-time British air raid, 280+ aircraft attack on Mannheim, Germany. Pathfinder aircraft fitted with Oboe radar tracking. Light damage on the target

Allied Bomber Offensive: Heavy night-time British air raid, 650+ aircraft attack on Nuremberg, Germany. Pathfinder aircraft fitted with Oboe radar tracking. Light damage on the target

For the second time in a week, American General George S. Patton, Jr. struck a U.S. Army soldier after losing his temper. This time, his encounter was with Private Paul G. Bennet at the 93rd Evacuation Hospital in San Stefano, Sicily. Patton asked Bennet what he was ill with, and Bennet, suffering from shell shock, replied, "It's my nerves... I can't stand the shelling anymore." According to a medical officer who witnessed the attack, General Patton replied, "Your nerves, hell. You're just a God-damned coward, you yellow son of a bitch!" and then slapped him. The second incident was witnessed by a nurse, who told her boyfriend, a U.S. Army Captain in the public affairs detachment for the U.S. Seventh Army, and would make news worldwide when it became public three months later. Although demands would be made by members of Congress for General Patton to be relieved of duty, Patton would instead be reprimanded and would be made to apologize to both soldiers.

The Eastern Front: German leader Adolf Hitler ordered the creation of the "Eastern Wall", a line of defence on the eastern side of the Reichskommissariat Ostland, the German-occupied territory in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

The Italian Campaign: German forces evacuate from Sicily.

The Polish resistance movement Armia Krajowa (the "Home Army") carried out Operation Góral. In a midday raid, the resistance men ambushed a truck and recovered around 106 million złotys being transported in Warsaw by the occupying Nazi German authorities. The amount taken was the equivalent in 1943 of US$33,000,000

Allied Bomber Offensive: Heavy night-time British air raid, 500+ aircraft attack on Milan, Italy. Good results target hit include Alfa-Romeo works, the main railway station, and also the La Scala opera house.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Heavy night-time British air raid, 150+ aircraft attack on Turin, Italy. Described as a successful raid from the air, but not on the ground

World Bantamweight Boxing Title Manuel Ortiz (USA) beat Leonardo Lopez (USA) Pts 10, Legion Stadium, Hollywood.

King Boris III of Bulgaria meets German Chancellor Adolf Hitler in Berlin

The Pacific Campaign: The Battle of Roosevelt Ridge ended in Allied victory.

The Eastern Front: The Battle of Belgorod ended in Soviet victory.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Heavy night-time British air raid, 140+ aircraft attack on Milan, Italy. Poor results of the raid.

The Pacific Campaign: American & Canadian forces, prepared for heavy resistance, invaded Kiska and were surprised to find the island deserted. Japan had taken control of the island, part of Alaska, shortly after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Although there was no resistance, four American soldiers were killed by mines left behind by the Japanese, and 24 were killed by friendly fire, "shot by mistake by their comrades in the heavy Kiska fog".

The Pacific Campaign: The Land Battle of Vella Lavella began.

A Polish unit of the Uderzeniowe Bataliony Kadrowe conducted the Raid on Mittenheide.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Heavy night-time British air raid, 190+ aircraft attack on Milan, Italy. Poor results of the raid.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Heavy night-time British air raid, 150+ aircraft attack on Turin, Italy. Poor results of the raid.

The Białystok Ghetto Uprising began soon after 10:00 in the morning, the German SS surrounded the Jewish ghetto in the city of Bialystok in German-occupied Poland, to begin the deportation of the thousands of residents to concentration camps. As the roundup began, the Jewish underground force took up arms and began fighting back. The battle went on for five days before the Germans were able to suppress the insurrection. Most of the leaders of the revolt committed suicide rather than being captured.

The Pacific Campaign: The Battle of Horaniu was fought over the night of August 17–18.

The Quebec Conference opened in Quebec City, Canada with Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and William Lyon Mackenzie King in attendance.

The Italian Campaign: American & British forces meet in Messina, completing the Allied invasion of Sicily.

Allied Bomber Offensive: The American Army Air Force carried out the Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission, its first strategic air raid on German war production, attacking the ball-bearing factory at Schweinfurt, and the Messerschmitt aeroplane manufacturing at Regensburg. General Ira C. Eaker, who commanded the Eighth U.S. Army Bomber force, made what Nazi official Albert Speer would later call "a crucial mistake", dividing the 376 American B-17 bombers into two groups, rather than concentrating on destroying the Schweinfurt factory, where production was cut by one-third, but continued. Sixty of the bombers were shot down, and 550 flyers were killed or captured.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Operation Hydra. Heavy night-time British air raid, 590+ aircraft attack on Peenemunde, Germany. 8 bombers were sent toward Berlin to divert German air defences. German General Jeschonnek shot himself the next day after learning about the damage. The attack on Peenemünde and other sites might have delayed the V2 offensive by two months. Although research and development continued almost immediately and test launches only resumed on October 6, plans for some German V-2 facilities were changed after Hydra; the unfinished production plant for V-2s was moved to the Mittelwerk. The transfer of production of 12,000 A4 missiles to Thuringia was a Herculean task & a drain on the German war effort.

American President Roosevelt issued an Executive Order directing the cancellation of draft deferments for any striking defence plant employees who failed to comply with War Labor Board orders to return to work.

The last of 46,000 Greek people, mostly Jewish, who had been deported from Salonika, arrived at the Auschwitz extermination camp. Deportation started on March 20, with 18 transports emptying the Italian-controlled city over five months.

The Quadrant Conference between the Chiefs of Staff of the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, continued in Quebec City with the signing of the Quebec Agreement by American President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Churchill, and Canadian Prime Minister King. The terms of the pact, officially titled Articles of Agreement Governing Collaboration between the Authorities of the USA and the UK in the Matter of Tube Alloys, would remain secret until 1954. "Tube alloys" was a codename for atomic weapons. The nations agreed to combine their atomic physicists and researchers to develop the atomic bomb, and not use the weapon against any other nation without joint consent.

Secret negotiations began in Lisbon between General Giuseppe Castellano and the Allies to discuss an Italian surrender.

Japan and Thailand signed a peace treaty, in which four provinces of Japanese-occupied British Malaya (Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan and Terengganu) were to be made part of Thailand. Thai administration would begin on October 18.

Australian general election keep the incumbent government and Prime Minister John Curtin retained his office, as his Australian Labor Party won 49 of the 74 seats in the House of Representatives and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate

The Eastern Front: Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin announces that the recapture of Kharkiv from German occupiers had ended the Battle of Kursk with a serious strategic defeat for the German forces. Kharkiv, the fourth largest city in the Soviet Union, was the last major enemy base on the southern frontier. The Soviet Navy newspaper Red Fleet revealed the discovery of several previously unknown types of German explosive devices that had been left behind by forces fleeing from the Soviets. Some, found in Mtsensk, were time bombs that were set to go off as late as 45 days after being set, while others were photo-sensitive, using an "electric eye" to trigger a blast as soon as the mine was brought out of a shadow. Others, discovered in Bryansk were camouflaged to look like swamp plants, or concealed inside chimneys.

Heinrich Himmler, the commander of the Gestapo, was named Reichsminister of the Interior in Germany after Adolf Hitler removed Wilhelm Frick from the post. Frick was reassigned to become the Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, replacing Konstantin von Neurath as Germany's overseer of the "protectorate".

The Eastern Front: The Battle of the Dnieper began on the Eastern Front when Soviet forces began a new offensive to recover the eastern bank of the Dnieper.

An unprecedented $800,000,000 worth of United States War Bonds were sold as advertising and tickets for an exhibition baseball game that brought out seven of the then twelve living members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, with (Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, Tris Speaker, Honus Wagner, Eddie Collins, George Sisler, and Connie Mack as the manager) and four more who would be voted in later (Frankie Frisch, Harry Hooper, Roger Bresnahan and umpire Bill Klem). As the "New York All-Stars", also referred to as the "Yanks-Giants-Dodgers" the players beat New Cumberland, a U.S. Army Service team, 5–2. The event, sponsored by the New York Herald-American newspaper, also had entertainment from James Cagney, Ethel Merman, Cab Calloway, Milton Berle, Joe E. Lewis, Carole Landis and Ralph Bellamy.

Albert Lebrun, who had been President of France at the time of that nation's surrender to Nazi Germany, was arrested by the German Gestapo, while André François-Poncet, the former French ambassador to Germany, was arrested in a separate action.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Heavy night-time British air raid, 670+ aircraft attack on Nuremberg, Germany. Pathfinder aircraft fitted with H2S radar tracking. Light damage on the target

King Boris III of Bulgaria died at the age of 49, two weeks after his August 14 meeting in Berlin with German Chancellor Adolf Hitler, and only four days after suddenly becoming ill. His 6-year-old son ascended to the throne as Simeon II, with the power to be executed by a regency made up of a council of ministers.

Operation Safari: German forces declares martial law on Occupied Denmark. Danish crews, mostly at Copenhagen, scuttle their warships

Allied Bomber Offensive: Heavy night-time British air raid, 670+ aircraft attack on Monchengladbach/Rheydt, Germany. Extensive damage to targets

Allied Bomber Offensive: Heavy night-time British air raid, 620+ aircraft attack on Berlin, Germany. Light damage on to target. Berlin Gauleiter Josef Goebbels orders the evacuation of women & children from the city