Air Operations, Bismarcks

V Bomber Command B-17s attack Rabaul harbor and B-25s hit the airfield at Gasmata.

Air Operations, CBI

51st Fighter Group P-40s down a Japanese bomber and a fighter over the airfield at Mohanbari, India during an afternoon engagement.

Air Operations, Europe

Greek aircraft raid Italian positions.

• 9 Wellingtons lay mines off St Nazaire and Denmark.
• 1 aircraft is lost.

Air Operations, North Africa

Allied bombers break attempted Panzer counterattacks at Alamein.

Battle of El Alamein

RAF formations allow no rest to the Axis armored units, which are trying to re-group for a new counterattack. By evening Rommel can count on 148 German tanks and 187 Italian, a miserable number compared with the 800 tanks still available to the British. Rommel exploits all his tactical and strategic skill, but he knows quite well that the battle is lost. In the north the attacks of the Australian division make some progress during the night in the northern sector and nears the coast road after driving a wedge into the enemy line. It draws more German forces, principally from 90th Light along with some units of the 21st Pzr, to oppose them. The latter's place in the line is taken over by the Italian Trieste Div, kept in reserve until now. The Axis forces try to re-group for a new attack on the British positions, but they are hampered by the incessant pounding of the RAF.

Eastern Front

German troops take 2 streets in north Stalingrad at immense cost.

The XIV Panzer and LI Corps strike the Soviet forces in the Red October and Barrikady factories. Despite heavy fighting, the Germans fail to make any progress.

Katyusha rocket launchers firing near Stalingrad, Russia, 28 October 1942.

Russian Rocket Launchers

Operation MARS is postponed to the end of November, after Operation URANUS has begun around Stalingrad.

Guadalcanal

The 'Tokyo Express', the American name for the Japanese resupply effort, begins landing troops on Guadalcanal from Kokumbona to Cape Esperance.

Malta

Over the next couple of days the British run a small relief operation to Malta. The British carrier Furious flies off another cargo of Spitfires to Malta from Gibraltar. Malta is getting very short indeed of food and armaments, and the only supplies which are being brought in are the small quantities carried by a few submarines and one fast minelayer. The Germans and Italians are well aware that stocks are low on Malta and this knowledge contributes to their belief a few days later that the buildup of shipping in Gibraltar presages a supply operation to the island.

Operation TORCH

Murphy tells Gen Mast that the invasion will take place early in Nov. Mast protests that he will be unable to organize the Allied sympathizers by then or arrange for Giraud to be accepted, but he promises to do his best. It is, of course, a considerable risk to give this information to Mast but it will be worthwhile.