September 2, 1942
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology

WEDNESDAY, 2 SEPTEMBER 1942

ALASKA (11th Air Force): Six bombers escorted by twelve P-38s fly cover and photo reconnaissance over Nazan Bay off Atka and Kuluk Bay on Adak and Amchitka and Semisopochnoi.

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA (CBI) (10th Air Force): In China, P-40s hit barges and junks carrying rice in the Poyang Lake region, strafe HQ and runways at Nanchang Airfield, attack railroad stations and warehouses at Hua Yuan, and sink a launch, damage 4 junks, and wreck a train on the Wuchang Peninsula.

SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Joint Chiefs of Staff): The mission of P-400 Airacobras from 67th Fighter Squadron on Guadalcanal is shifted from air defense to close air support for U.S. Marine Corps ground forces and attacks on shipping, tasks for which they are deemed better suited.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, 5th Air Force): P-400s bomb and strafe forces in the Kokoda and Alola areas as the Japanese continue to push toward Port Moresby.

IJN: D3A1 Vals from the 2nd Kōkūtai (2nd Air Group) attack shipping off Milne Bay. Three became lost and force landed on the beach near Deba bordering Table Bay including D3A1 Val 3110, D3A1 Val 3114 and D3A1 Val 3287. Afterwards, all three crews were tracked down, refused to surrender then killed by police.

U.S. Navy: USS William Ward Burrows (AP-6) is damaged by grounding on Southern Cross Reef, off Tulagi.

Submarine Flying Fish (SS-229) is damaged by depth charges off Truk, 07°46'N, 151°57'E, and ends her patrol.

Submarine Guardfish (SS-217) sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship Teikyu Maru (ex-Danish Gustav Diederickson) 13 miles southeast of Chikyu Mizaki, Hokkaido, Japan, 42°08'N, 141°15'E.

USMC: On Samoa, 7th Marines and part of 5th Defense Bn embark for New Hebrides.

Australian Army: Australians continue to clear N coast of Milne Bay but are unable to stem Japanese drive toward Port Moresby.

IJN: About 1,000 Japanese reinforcements from Rabaul land at Basabua on the north coast of New Guinea.