Air Operations, Europe

• 12 Bostons are sent out in low-level pairs, but only two bomb the Sluiskil power station. Later in the day 12 Bostons are sent to bomb an open air 'Quisling meeting' at Lunteren, Holland, but turn back due to lack of cloud cover. 2 Mosquitos are sent to bomb Frankfurt and Mannheim, one to each, which they do. There are no losse.
• 313 aircraft are sent to bomb Duisburg. The total includes 177 Wellingtons, 48 Stirlings, 41 Halifaxes, 33 Lancasters and 14 Hampdens. Thick cloud covers the target area. Reports from the ground indicate damage but not as great as the two previous raids. 6 people are killed. 7 Wellingtons, 2 Halifaxes, 2 Lancasters and 1 Stirling are lost on the raid.
• In minor operations, 21 Blenheims make Intruder flights, 8 aircraft lay mines off St Nazaire and Verdon, and 7 Halifaxes make leaflet flights. 3 Intruders and 1 mine-laying Lancaster are lost.

Air Operations, Libya

During the night, USAMEAF B-17s and B-24s attadck Tobruk harbor. 1 Axis ship is damaged.

Air Operations, New Guinea

5th Air Force B-25s and P-39s landing barges and Japanese troops at Gona and Japanese Army infantry columns along the Kokoda Trail toward Port Moresby.

Air Operations, Solomons

11th Heavy Bomb Group B-17s, based in the New Hebrides Islands, begin their first daily recon and photo-recon mission over Gavutu, Guadalcanal and Tulagi Islands.

Allied Planning

British and American Chiefs of Staff decide to carry out Operation TORCH, formerly called SUPER-GYMNAST, the seaborne invasion of Vichy French North Africa led by Gen Eisenhower. This decision will open a 'Second Front' in Africa. (see November 8, 1942.)

Battle of the Atlantic

U-201 sinks the British anti-submarine trawler Laertes (545t) off Freetown, Sierra Leone with the loss of 19 of her crew.

Eastern Front

Army Group A consolidates its positions at Rostov and Novocherkassk. Further south there is a growing threat to Stalingrad, but the Russians still hold several bridgeheads west of the Don. Von Kleist's Panzers begin crossing the Don.

The Germans pound the 64th Army, its junction with the 62nd Army crumbling, Chuikov attempts to restore the situation by moving armor and artillery up to the confluence of the Don and Chir Rivers. Further German attacks panic the 64th, its rear area personnel running for the bridges only to be cut down by the Luftwaffe.

Army Group A begins its offensive from the Don as the 1st Panzer and 17th Armies push into the Caucasus and the 4th Panzer Army advances toward Stalingrad. Heavy fight erupts as the 1st Panzer forces back the 37th and 12th Armies, leaving the 51st vulnerable and at risk of being enveloped on its left flank by the 4th Panzer Army. In Rostov the 56th and 9th Armies abandon their positions north of the Don, falling back across the river.

When the German attack began, the 51st, 37th, 12th and 18th Armies mustered 112,000 men, 121 tanks and 2,160 artillery pieces supported by the 130 aircraft of the 4th Air Fleet.

New Guinea

The Japanese advance further inland.