Air Operations, Bismarcks

In an effort to keep Japanese bombers grounded while reinforcements are landed on Guadalcanal, 15 V Bomber Command B-17s the Lakunai and Vunakanau airfields at Rabaul.

Air Operations, Europe

• 288 aircraft are sent to bomb Kiel: 100 Wellingtons, 82 Lancasters, 78 Halifaxes and 28 Stirlings.
• Half the bombing force is drawn to a decoy fire site in the open countryside, but the rest attack Kiel and the area near the city; 41 people are killed and 100 injured. Some of the bombers drop their loads on Hamburg, either as an alternate target or in error; 2 large fires are started; 8 people are killed and 43 injured.
• 5 Wellingtons, 1 Lancaster, 1 Halifax and 1 Stirling are lost.

Air Operations, New Guinea

1 V Bomber Command B-17 attacks Buna.

Air Operations, Solomons

• At 1202, while reinforcements are being put ashore on Guadalcanal, a force of 27 Rabaul-based G4M Betty bombers and 18 A6M Zero escorts attack Henderson Field. The runway is cratered and 5,000 gallons of aviation fuel are destroyed. 42 Navy and Marine Corps F4Fs and 13 P-39s and P-400s are launched, but only 1 Betty and 1 Zero are shot down with the loss of 1 F4F.
• A second attack by 18 Bettys and 18 Zeros at 1350 hours is virtually uncontested, because Cactus Air Force fighters are being refueled. The runway at Henderson Field is damaged yet again. 12 Marine Corps F4Fs are launched and 1 Zero is shot down.
• 6 11th Heavy Bomb Group B-17s temporarily based at Henderson Field attack Japanese Navy installations on Buka Island and at Tonolei harbor.

Eastern Front

In the southern part of Stalingrad XLVIII Pzr Corps of 4th Pzr Army has reached the Volga, but to the north many of the large factory buildings are still stubbornly held. There are Soviet counterattacks in the factory areas.

Fighting flares in Stalingrad as the Germans being the power station, still producing electricity for the factories to the north, under heavy artillery and air attack.

The Red Army continues its preparations for the counteroffensive from the Don and Sarpa lakes. The Southwest Front, still not publicly in existence, receives the I and XXVI Tanks Corps and the 8th Cavalry Corps plus as tank brigade, 3 rifle divisions and 16 artillery regiments. The Stalingrad Front has received the XIII Tank, IV Mechanized and IV Cavalry Corps, 2 rifle divisions, 6 rifle and 3 tank brigades, 6 anti-aircraft and 2 anti-tank artillery regiments, while the Don Front has taken in 3 new rifle divisions.

Movement of reinforcements is carried out at night and elaborate measures are taken to hide the build up from the Germans. During the day, the new forces are skilfully hidden and radio traffic forbidden so as not to alert the enemy. Even so, hiding a force of half a million men is a difficult task.

German Raiders

During the night and under heavy escort, the German disguised raider Komet attempts to break out into the Atlantic from Le Havre. In a confused action in which Komet fires on her own escorts, the 3rd Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla, she is sunk with all hands by the British MTB-326. German sources, however, say she exploded after gunfire started a fire on board.

Guadalcanal

As the bombers based on Henderson Field have become so effective, the Japanese bring up a naval task force commanded by Vice-Adm Takeo Kuritato bombard the airfield during the night. The task force includes the battleships Kongo and Haruna, the cruiser Isuku and 9 destroyers. About 0100 the battleships launch 918 16-inch shells for about 90 minutes. No part of the airfield is untouched. Shells start fires in fuel dumps, and blast one plane after another in the revetments, which are not well hidden. About 50 aircraft are destroyed, more than half the complement. Aviation fuel drops down to critical levels. On shore searchlights try to locate the ships, but they are about a mile offshore and the lights and gunfire from Guadalcanal are totally ineffective. PT boats sent out to fight, get to the edges of the destroyer screen, fire machine guns and torpedoes, but score no hits, while Japanese destroyers are firing back. At 0230, with its allocated ammunition exhausted, Kurita's force retires to the north.

Taking advantage of the disruption caused to the American air cover, a group of destroyers and transports led by Adm Tanaka lands 4,500 men and large quantities of supplies at Tassafaronga.

The first ground force units of the US Army, the 164th Infantry of the Americal Division, arrives on the McCawley (APA-4) and the Zeilin (AP-9), which also bring 210 men of the 1st Marine Air Wing and 85 Marine casuals plus weapons and suppliers. Unloading despite air attacks, the vessels embark the 1st Raider Battalion and sail for New Caledonia. The troop strenth of the 1st Marine Division is now at 23,088, excluding forces on Tulagi. The CG of the 1st Marine Division divides the Lunga perimeter into 5 regimental sectors, massing the greatest strength on the west.

Adm Kusaka sends 27 Betty bombers and 18 Zeros on a wide route to avoid the effective coastwatcher net. Gen Geiger has only few minutes to put up 42 F4Fs. They are still climbing when bombs begin falling. The bombing is very accurate. 13 craters are made in the runway and much of the Marston mat (metal matting making runway usable on wet days) is destroyed. 5,000-gallon fuel dump is also destroyed. Only 1 bomber and 1 Zero are shot down while losing 1 F4F. Repairs are being made when a second raid of day comes in, 18 twin-engined bombers and 18 Zeros. 12 F4Fs get airborne, 1 Zero is shot down and 3 others are damaged. Bombers do more damage than the first raid also destroying several aircraft.

Just after dark, Japanese 150-mm howitzer mortars begin shelling the Henderson area. The destroyers Sterret (DD-407), Gwin (DD-433) and Nicholas (DD-449) are sent to the area west of Matanikau to what is believed the mortars' firing zone to bombard. Soon the howitzers are silent.