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SprueStack Zero Hour: WW2 day by day

17 August 1942

What happened on this day in the Second World War, from 1939 to 1945, with a source for every entry.

About this page

Each day we list events from the Second World War that happened on that date, from 1939 to 1945. Every entry names its source and links to it, so you can read further. Entries are sourced and machine-screened before they go up, a subset is human-reviewed, and we add more over time.

5 sourced entries for this date.

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Entries

  1. Gilbert Is.

    Lt Col Evans F. Carlson’s 2d Mar Raider Bn, consisting of 221 marines, moves by 2 submarines to Makin and begins 2-day raid on Butaritari I., during which scattered enemy forces are engaged and radio station is destroyed.

    Source US Army CMH chronology (opens external site)

  4. Pacific Theater

    THOR mission records show at least 1 Allied sorties (1 recorded unit missions) in the Pacific Theater on 1942-08-17, flown by USAAF 5th Air Force. Targets included BISMARK ARCHIPELAGO.

    Source US Air Force THOR (opens external site)

    THOR is a secondary compilation with known gaps, not a complete record.

  5. Dieppe Raid

    On 17 August 1942, the clue "French port (6)" appeared in the Daily Telegraph crossword (compiled by Leonard Dawe), followed by the solution, "Dieppe"; the raid on Dieppe took place the next day, on 19 August.

    Source Wikipedia (opens external site)

Sources listed with each entry. Spotted an error? Tell us.

17 August in other years 19401941194319441945

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