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• » 20 Sep 1943

• HMS Polyanthus (Lieutenant J. G. Aitken) was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-952, whilst on escort duties southwest of Iceland. ww2dbase [AC]
• The Japanese Navy formed the 13th Air Fleet on paper with Vice Admiral Shiro Takasu in command and Rear Admiral Takeo Tada as the chief of staff. ww2dbase [CPC]
• De Havilland Vampire jet fighter took its first flight. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Rudolf Höss' fifth child Annegret was born. ww2dbase [Rudolf Höss | CPC]
• USS Bailey arrived at San Francisco, California. ww2dbase [Bailey | DS]
• Patrol Boat No. 102 was commissioned into Japanese Navy service with Lieutenant Tamotsu Mizutani as the commanding officer and Lieutenant (jg) Tsurayuki Okubo as the executive officer. Repair works would continue at Surabaya, Dutch East Indies for a few more days, however. ww2dbase [Stewart | CPC]

• USS Cisco departed Darwin, Australia for her first and only war patrol. ww2dbase [Cisco | Darwin, Northern Territory | CPC]

• Two Ki-49 aircraft of Japanese 7th Flying Regiment attacked Port Moresby, Australian Papua. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 3 | Port Moresby | CPC]

• Repair ship Akashi began repairing tanker Notoro at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Akashi | Truk | CPC]

• The Japanese Autumn Mop-up Operation began in Hebei, Shandong, and Henan Provinces in China; 30,000 men were deployed to wipe out Chinese Communist guerrilla forces. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Air operations at Naval Air Station Kahului on Maui, US Territory of Hawaii officially commenced with the arrival of Composite Squadron VC-23 and their SBD Dauntless scout bombers. ww2dbase [Kahului Naval Air Station | Kahului, Maui | DS]

• British Eighth Army captured Bari, Italy. Meanwhile, Venice was bombed by Allied planes. ww2dbase [Operation Avalanche | TH]

• Shokaku arrived at Eniwetok, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Shokaku | Eniwetok | CPC]
• Naka arrived at Mili Atoll, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Naka | Mili | CPC]

• USS Haddock fired 6 torpedoes on oiler Notoro in the Pacific Ocean, damaging her with 3 hits; Notoro, originally saililng for Japan, turned toward Truk, Caroline Islands for repairs. ww2dbase [Haddock | CPC]
• USS Haddock fired a total of 12 torpedoes across the span of the day in the Pacific Ocean, damaging transport Shinyubari Maru with 3 hits and damaging another with 4 hits. Haddock was counterattacked several times on this date. ww2dbase [Haddock | CPC]
• USS S-41 fired two salvoes of four torpedoes at a Japanese transport in the Pacific Ocean off the Kurile Islands; all torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [S-41 | CPC]

• German Armeegruppe Süd began withdrawing to a new line running from Melitopol to Zaporozhe in Ukraine. ww2dbase [TH]

20 Sep 1943 Interactive Map