Air Operations, Bismarcks

1 5th Air Force B-17 attacks Kavieng, New Britain.

Air Operations, Europe

• 1 Mosquito bombs Hamburg which reports 2 people killed, 32 injured and 31 bombed out

• 118 aircraft including 31 Pathfinders to Flensburg
• Should have been easy target for Pathfinders, but winds encountered not as forecasted and bomber force drifts north; 16 Pathfinder crews claim to have marked the target area correctly and 78 of the main force say they bombed the target area; No hits reported in Flensburg but the Danish towns of Sonderborg and Albenra and a large area of Denmark up to 25 miles north of Flensburg report hits; 26 houses destroyed, 660 damaged; 4 people injured
• 2 Wellingtons, 1 Halifax and 1 Stirling lost

• 9 Wellingtons lay mines in the Frisians
• No losses

Air Operations, Solomons

8 Rabaul-based G4M 'Betty' bombers bomb Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. 5 of the bombers are damaged by Marine Corps antiaircraft fire.

Caribbean

• Convoy TAW-13, traveling south of Cuba, comes under attack by U-553 which torpedoes and sinks the Swedish merchantman Blankholm (2845t) and the British freighter Empire Bede (6959t). The US freighter John Hancock is also torpedoed and sunk by U-553. All the crew of 38 and the 11-man Armed Guard survive the attack and are rescued by the British corvette HMS Pimpernel.
• The unarmed US freighter West Celina, in Convoy TAW(S), is torpedoed by U-162 off Grenada.

Eastern Front

Because partisan activity has been so intense, Hitler issues a directive ordering harsh measures and giving more power to SS Special Units.

The 1st Guards Army crosses the Don with 5 divisions and establishes a bridgehead at Kremenskaya, brushing aside the Italian 8th Army with ease.

In the Caucasus the Germans open the battle for the mountain passes, Konrad's XLIX Mountain Corps striking the 46th Army. Maslennikov's Northern Group comes under heavy attack along the Kuma River, the Germans forcing the Soviets away from the river line as they push toward Mozdok. The retreat to Terek begins.

Germany, Policy

Hitler receives reports about the hindrance of partisan activities on the Eastern Front. The consequent directive gives almost unlimited power to SS Special Units on the ground and marks a new wave of horrendous brutality conducted quite separately from action on the battlefield.

Guadalcanal

Unescorted destroyers come during the night past Savo Island and Lunga Roads and through Lengo Channel to land at Taivu Point, about 20 miles east of the American position. Col Kiyonao Ichiki, commander of the unit, still believes there are only about 2,000 Americans on the island. There are in fact more than 11,000 and Henderson Field is now ready to receive aircraft. With the 5th Sasebo Special Naval Landing Force troops (Japanese marines) who had landed at Tassafaronga and the existing garrison bivouacked in the Matanikay River basin, Ichiki is planning a pincers movement. He will move westward toward Lunga Point, and squeeze the Americans between them.

New Guinea

Three Japanese transports with naval escort land a strong contingent of troops at Basabua without being observed.