Air Operations, Aleutians

3 28th Composite Bomb Group B-24s attack the Japanese base on Kiska.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

V Bomber Command B-17s attack ships at Rabaul.

Air Operations, Europe

FW-190 fighter-bombers raid 3 southeast England coastal towns.

• 51 aircraft are involved in mine-laying operations at Texel, the Frisians, Heligoland and the Baltic
• 1 Lancaster is lost.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-17s attack a beached cargo ship at Gona. A-20s and V Fighter Command P-40s attack Mubo while more P-40s attack the airfield at Kokoda, a bridge and trailside targets in the Owen Stanley Mountains.

Air Operations, North Africa

Benghazi is attacked by British bombers.

Air Operations, Solomons

4 11th Heavy Bomb B-17s attack cargo vessels near the Shortland Islands with the loss of 1 of the B-17s to an A6M Zero over Buin.

Eastern Front

Fighting inside Stalingrad eases as Paulus regroups his bloodied divisions for the next phase of the offensive. With the 62nd Army defenses crumbling in the southern suburbs, the new assault will concentrate upon the factory district and Orlovka salient jutting out on the left wing of 6th Army's positions on the Volga.

Paulus moves the 16th Panzer Division opposite the right wing of the 62nd Army, while the fresh 389th Infantry Division moves out of reserve to deploy at Gorodische. The 295th Infantry Division, still around the Mamayef Kurgan, is reinforced with armor and the 71st and 76th Infantry Division grouped in the central railway station and central landing stages areas. The 71st is to attack the Red October factory, while the 100th Jaeger Division reinforces the attack on the Mamayev Kurgan. The 14th and 24th Panzer, 29th Motorized and 94th Infantry Divisions remain in the south. The 6th Army also assumes control of the XLVIII Panzer Corps divisions in the southern suburbs as the corps headquarters is withdrawn to redeploy in the rear of the 3rd Rumanian Army. This army takes over a large section of the Don line on the left wing of the 6th Army.

Hitler disimisses Halder as Chief of the General Staff. Zeitzler is appointed to the post.

Paulus' second attack upon Stalingrad, this time through the streets of the city, had again been uninspired and fatally flawed. Rather than using his established positions on the Volga to strike along the line of the river into the rear of the Soviet defenses, he had attacked directly from the west, channelling the 62nd Army into hedgehogs of defense. Chuikov, an expert in the art of street fighting, conducted small-scale actions throughout the city, breaking up the force of the German offensive into countless firefights. Thus was set the pattern at Stalingrad, of bludgeoning German attacks breaking against a wall of small, expertly lead combat teams in the ruins of the city. The Verdun of the east had begun.

Ante Pavelic, center, with General Friedrich von Paulus, left, the commander of the German Sixth Army, at Golubinskaya, outside of Stalingrad, in the Soviet Union, September 24, 1942, before the initial Axis ground assault on the city of Stalingrad.

Pavelic and von Paulus outside of Stalingrad

The 369th Croatian Reinforced Infantry Regiment, part of the German 100th Division in Golubinskaya, west of Stalingrad, on September 24, 1942

Men of the 369th Croatian Reinforced Infantry Regiment

Germany, Command

Gen Franz Halder is dismissed by Hitler after many arguments during the summer mainly about the conduct of the war in Russia. Hitler says, 'I dismissed Gen Halder because he could not understand the spirit of my plans.' The new Chief of Staff of OKH with responsibility for the Russian front is Gen Kurt von Zeitzler.

Guadalcanal

The 1st Battalion of the 7th Marines engage in a fire fight with the Japanese on the northwest slope of Mount Austen and in the area of Matanikau-Kokumbona. During their habitual night supply operations, 2 Japanese destroyers and 1 cruiser are damaged.