Air Operations, Aleutians

3 28th Composite Bomb Group B-26s attack Kiska. 1 cargo ship receives a direct hit, but 1 B-26 is lost.

Air Operations, Europe

• 23 Bostons with fighter escort are sent to bomb a large German merchant ship at Le Havre.
• The intended target had moved, but the force bombs a 5,000 ton ship in the area badly damaging it.
• There are no losses.
• 4 Mosquitos bomb a factory at Hengelo and 1 bombs the docks at Den Helder with no losses.

• 289 aircraft are sent to bomb Cologne: 109 Wellingtons, 74 Halifaxes, 62 Lancasters and 44 Stirlings.
• The raid is not successful; winds forecast are different from what is encountered and Pathfinders have difficulty in establishing position and marking the target area well enough to lure the main force away from a large decoy fire site which receives most of the bombs; reports from the ground indicate only 1 4,000lb bomb (out of 71 carried), only 3 high-explosive bombs (out of 231) and only 210 incendiaries (out of 68,590) actually hit in the city; 226 houses are damaged and 4 people injured.
• 6 Wellingtons, 5 Halifaxes, 5 Lancasters and 2 Stirlings are lost.

Air Operations, Far East

American planes bomb Lashio, Burma.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command A-20s and V Fighter Command P-40s attack Popondetta and provide support for Australian forces engaged in battle at Templeton's Crossing. Meanwhile, B-25s attack Salamaua and various targets in the Owen Stanley Mountains.

Air Operations, Solomons

• Beginning at 0600 hours with a strafing attack by 6 F4Fs, and despite the merciless pounding, reconstructed Cactus Air Force SBDs and P-39s using fuel drained from wrecked airplanes deliver piecemeal but effective attacks against the ships and freshly landed supplies and troops of yet another reinforcement convoy. 11 11th Heavy Bomb Group B-17s based at Espiritu Santo score 3 direct hits on the transports. 1 transport is sunk and 2 others set afire and beached. Several Japanese Navy aircraft are shot down during the day.
• 27 G4M 'Bettys' escorted by 9 A6M Zeros attack Henderson Field at 1245 against virtually no opposition. 1 VF-5 F4F, in the unit's last operation, downs 1 of the Zeros.

Atlantic

The Norwegian submarine Uredd sinks the German transport Libau (3,663t) in the Norwegian Sea.

An SBD-3 Dauntless dive bomber of Scouting Squadron (VS) 41 traps on board the carrier Ranger (CV-4) operating in the Atlantic, 15 October 1942.

Dive Bomber Takes Off From Ranger

Battle of the Atlantic

While shadowing convoy SC-104 U-661 is picked up by radar contact from British destroyer HMS Viscount. The destroyer attempted to ram the U-boat but the submarine took evasive action. A short time later the U-boat appeared to cross the path of the destroyer and was rammed. A depth charge attack along with surface gunfire also attributed to the demise of the U-boat.

U-661

Eastern Front

In Stalingrad the German attacks in the area of the Tractor Factory continue to make ground, reaching the Volga a little to the north of the main complex.

German firepower halts all daytime traffic across the Volga as the Germans isolate enemy forces in the tractor factory. In an effort to relieve the 62nd Army, the Stavka launches attacks in the north with the 24th and 66th Armies, and in the south with the 51st and 57th Armies.[MORE]

Guadalcanal

5 Japanese transports unload the final element of the assault force, between 3,000 and 4,000 men, and most of the cargo at Tassafaronga in broad daylight, in the certainty that no American aircraft can take off from Henderson Field. Some dive-bombers do, however, take off from a roughly repaired runway and sink or strand 3 enemy transports.

The Cactus Air Force flies 7 ground attack missions, losing 1 SBD. The Hornet's (CV-8) planes spend most of the day over the island attacking troop concentrations and supply drums. A dozen fighters of Marine Fighter squadron 212 fly into Guadalcanal to reinforce Henderson Field. Squadron Commander Joe Bauer sees Japanese dive bombers attacking destroyers and goes after them, shooting down 4 in a few minutes before landing at Henderson.[MORE]