Air Operations, Bismarcks

V Bomber Command B-17 attack airfields in the Rabaul area.

Air Operations, Europe

• 1 Mosquito is sent to Frankfurt; bombs a town believed to be Siegen; returns safely.

• 257 aircraft attack Aachen: 101 Wellingtons, 74 Lancasters, 59 Halifaxes and 23 Stirlings.
• Weather is bad over Germany and not much Pathfinder marking at Aachen; most of the bombs fall in other areas; reports from the ground say center of the attack was southern suburb of Burtscheid; 5 people are killed, 39 injured. Many of the bombs actually fall in the Dutch town of Lutterade, 17 miles from Aachen, which is where most of the Pathfinder markings ended up; 800 houses are seriously damaged; 83 people are killed, 22 injured and about 3,000 homeless.
• 5 Halifaxes, 2 Stirlings, 2 Wellingtons and 1 Lancaster are lost; 6 planes crash upon return to England, probably due to the weather.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-17s attack the airfield at Buna, B-25s attack a Japanese convoy off Buna and 3rd Light Bomb Group A-20s attack antiaircraft batteries at Sanananda.

Air Operations, Solomons

13 11th Heavy Bomb Group B-17s are sent to bomb the airfield at Buka, but because of bad weather only 1 locates the target. Bad weather also hampers an effort by Cactus Air Force SBDs and TBFs to hit the seaplane base at Rekata Bay. 1 B-17 is lost to Japanese Navy fighters.

During the afternoon Cactus Air Force SBDs locate 7 Japanese destroyers 170 miles west of Guadalcanal. Two attack groups are sent from Henderson Field. 9 SBDs attack the destroyers at 1545 severely damaging 1 destroyer with a near miss and damaging another with 3 near misses. The second group of SBDs score no hits and neither do a mixed group of SBDs and TBFs attempting to attack by flarelight as the destroyers unload at Cape Esperance. 2 TBFs go down in the dark losing 5 of the 6 crewmen.

Aleutians

US planes in the Aleutians bomb the Japanese installations on Kiska Island.

Britain, Home Front

An RAF aircraft crashes in the village of Somersham, Huntingdonshire. 6 cottages are wrecked and 10 people killed.

Eastern Front

Early in the day, the Soviets launch an artillery barrage with more than 300 guns sited on the east bank. Heavy losses are inflicted upon the tightly packed German units close to the factories. Shortly afterwards, the VIII Air Corps pounds the Soviet defenses in the factory district, 2,000 sorties being launched against the Soviets. Heavy fighting erupts as the Germans recapture the Silikat factory and isolate the 42nd and 92nd Rifle Brigades and the 6th Guards Tank Brigade.

The Germans bring the entrance to Chuikov's command bunker under accurate and sustained mortar and machine-gun fire.

Pacific

Aircraft from the carrier Hornet (CV-8) attack Japanese shipping gathering off Shortland Island, south of Bougainville in the Solomons, but only achieve slight success. 6 vessels are damaged and about 10 Japanese aircraft are destroyed.

B-17F "Aztec's Curse" following a bombing mission over Gizo. Smoke rises from Gizo on Ghizo Island bordering Gizo Harbor. (Photo: USAAF)

Bombing Mission Over Gizo, Solomon Islands