Air Operations, CBI

A 10th Air Force P-40 shoots down a Ki-27 'Nate' fighter near changsha, China during the afternoon. Also during the afternoon, AVG P-40s down 3 Ki-27s near Kweilin, China.

Air Operations, Europe

• 12 Bostons are sent to bomb Dunkirk and 6 to the Morlaix airfield. Accurate bombing results are believed to have been achieved. There are no losses.
• In minor operations, 14 Wellingtons and Stirlings are sent to St Nazaire. Only 3 crews find and bomb the target. 52 planes lay mines off Lorient, Verdon and St Nazaire and in the Frisians. 2 Wellingtons are lost. 1 Lancaster makes a leaflet flight.

Air Operations, Libya

During the night 10 HALPRO B-24s attack the harbor area at Benghazi.

Air Operations, North Africa

Heavy bombers of the US 10th Air Force are ordered from India to Egypt to support the British 8th Army.

Allied Planning

Lt-Gen Carl Spaatz is informed that ROUNDUP, the plan for a cross-Channel invasion of Europe, has been postponed in favor or TORCH, the combined invasion of North Africa. He is ordered to prepare to divert 8th Air Force assest to support the new plan.

Eastern Front

In the siege at Sevastopol, the Russians withdraw form the northern shore of North Bay.

The Germans compress the 2nd Shock Army into a smaller area, bringing it under heavy artiller fire.

North Africa

The Axis forces are prepared for another drive forward. Their advance units run into the 7th Armored Div of the British XIII Corps near Sollum, already in Egyptian territory. In view of the critical situation in this theater of operations 24 American B-17 bombers are diverted from China to Khartoum. 8th Army meanwhile is continuing its withdrawal to Mersa Matruh but in considerable confusion.

Hitler writes to Mussolini about the projected invasion of Malta, 'Fate, Duce, has offered us an opportunity that will never be repeated in the same theater of war. . . The British 8th Army has been virtually destroyed, the port installations of Tobruk are almost intact. If we do not now follow up the remnants of the 8th Army without an instant's delay, the same thing will happen that happened to the British when they stopped, almost at the gates of the port of Tripoli, to send reinforcements to Greece. This time, in the right conditions, Egypt can be seized from the British. . . My advice is this: order the operations to be followed up until the British forces are completely wiped out. . . The goddess of fortune in battle passes by her captains but once; he who does not seize her now may never overtake her.'

Hitler's letter appeals to Mussolini's vanity and the Italian leader decides to postpone Operation C3, and orders that all the men and equipment of the landing force should be put at Rommel's disposal. In the evening the Italian supreme command signals the Italian commander in Africa, Gen Ettore Bastico: 'The Duce is in full agreement with the proposal to exploit success to the full.' Malta is safe.

Secret War

The RAF captures a Focke-Wulf 190, the latest German piston-engined fighter, which the pilot lands by mistake at Pembrey, Wales.