Air Operations, CBI

10th Air Force transport aircraft begin airlifting personnel from 2 Chinese Army divisions from China to India where they will undergo training and re-equipping by US forces.

Air Operations, Europe

• 6 Mosquitos are sent to attack individual German targest.
• 2 planes bomb Bremen and 1 bombs Minden.
• 1 Mosquito is lost.

Air Operations, Libya

USAMEAF B-17s and B-24s sent to Tobruk fail to locate the target due to bad weather and poor visibility, but 3 B-17s attack the coastal highway near Bardia while returning to their bases.

Air Operations, Mediterranean

There are fighter-bomber raids on Malta. Italian 4-engined night raiders are intercepted by RAF fighters over Gibraltar and forced to jettison their bombs over Spanish territory, causing damage and casualties.

Air Operations, North Africa

Allied aircraft begin a 4-day operation to establish air superiority over El Alamein, a requirement for the planned ground offensive.

Air Operations, Solomons

30 A6M Zeros sweep Guadalcanal ahead of an attack force composed of 16 G4M 'Betty' bombers and 6 Zeros. VMF-121 and VMF-212 F4Fs down 3 'Bettys' and 9 Zeros over Guadalcanal at about 1145 hours.

Chile

The cabinet of Chile resigns after widespread agitation against what most Chileans consider to be a pro-Axis government policy.

Battle of the Atlantic

Liberator 'H' of No 224 Squadron sighted U-216 and attacked with depth charges.

U-216

Eastern Front

German forces are repulsed in a massive attack on Stalingrad.

The fighting in Stalingrad has settled down into stable positions, the 62nd Army having broken up the German attack despite consierable losses. The fresh divisions of the VIII Corps have been bloodied in the bitter street fighting as Paulus pressed home his attack without skill, using sheer firepower and weight of numbers to blast a way through to the Volga.

A German tank rolls up to its defeated enemy tank which burns near the edge of a patch of woods somewhere in Russia, 20 October 1942.

German Tank Approaches Defeated Enemy Tank

The condition of the Luftwaffe in the south begins to cause concern. The 4th Air Fleet has been operating along an extensive sector from the Don and the Caucasus. Combined, the IV and VIII Air Corps number only 970 aircraft at the end of October, of which barely 590 are operational.

The newly created IV Mechanized Corps under Gen Volskii, with the XXXVI, LIX and LX Tank Corps, begins to deploy in the Beketovka salient.

Guadalcanal

Halsey meets with his commanders. Present are Gen Vandegrift, Gen Alexander Patch and Gen 'Miff' Harmon from the army, and Adm Kelly Turner from Espiritu Santo. The question put to these commanders, evacuate or hold? All say 'hold', if help comes. Turner says help will come. At Gen Vandegrift's request Vice-Adm Halsey sends another infantry regiment, the 147th, to the island.

30 fighters from Buin attack Henderson Field. The fighter strip is still usable so the F4Fs get in the air and fight the Zeros. The noon raid comes with 16 Bettys and another 18 Zeros, US fighters attack them also. The US pilots have gained much experience in the last 2 and 1/2 months while the Japanese have lost many experienced pilots. The new crop of Zeros are being manned by young men without experience. The Japanese lose 3 bombers and 4 fighters. The Americans lose 3 planes and temporarily 2 pilots.

Adm Fitch is sending supplies up as fast as he can by any means available. Using the minelayers Southard (DMS-10) and Hovey (DMS-11) 175 drums of fuel are loaded into each and sent to the island. The barge towed by the Vireo (AT-144) on the day the Meredith (DD-434) is sunk is found floating in the channel and brought to shore. It held 2,000 drums of aviation gas, about a 10-day supply for the Cactus Air Force.

The Japanese attack is postponed to the 22nd, since the main enveloping force has not yet reached the line of departure, but a patrol of the supporting coastal force is tanke uder fire at the mouth of the Matanikau River and retires after 1 of its 2 tanks is hit.

North Africa

The RAF steps up its attacks against the positions, lines of communications and, most of all, the airfields of the Axis forces, in order to guarantee air supremacy during the coming offensive, which Montgomery plans to launch on the 24th.

Pacific

• The US submarine Drum (SS-228), attacking a Japanese convoy off the west coast of Formosa, damages the army passenger-cargo ship Africa Maru (9475t) and the cargo ship Yamafuji Maru (5359t). Both ships sink the next day.
• The US submarine Tautog (SS-199) sinks the merchant trawler Nanshin Maru.

United States, Home Front

Congress passes the largest tax bill in the country's history. The measures are designed to raise $6,881,000,000.