Air Operations, Bismarcks

90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack small craft off Cape Gloucester and 43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack Ubili.

Air Operations, CBI

• 3 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack rail facilities at Ywataung.

Air Operations, Europe

• Despite adverse weather conditions and heavy attacks by Luftwaffe fighters, 28 of 71 VIII Bomber Command B-17s sent drop 90 tons of bombs on a marshalling yard at Hamm. After becoming separated from the main force, 16 91st Heavy Bomb Group B-17s drop the USAAF's first bombs on targets of opportunity in the Ruhr region of Germany.
• 5 of the attacking B-17s are lost, 24 damaged; 1 crewman is killed, 7 wounded, 42 missing
• Several B-24s taking part in a diversionary sweep of the English Channel are damaged by empty cartridges from bullets fired by aircraft ahead in the formation. Renewed efforts to develop better, safer, and more-defensible formations are sought for the defensive qualities of bomber formations.

Air Operations, Mediterranean

NASAF B-25s sent on anti-shipping sweeps between Sicily and Tunisia fail to locate any targets, but NASAF B-17s that find and attack an Axis convoy at sea northwest of Bizerte claim 4 ships sunk.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• The Battle of the Bismarck Sea is concluded when Allied aircraft sink the last of 8 Japanese Navy transports and destroyers that have been under attack for 4 days between Rabaul and Huon Gulf. Numerous Japanese aircraft assigned to protect the convoy are also counted as destroyed, as is the main body of a Japanese Army infantry division.
• 43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack small craft off Lae, and barges off Finschhafen.
• 43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s, 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s, and V Bomber Command B-25s mount individual attacks against the Malahang airfield at Lae and the harbor.
• 3rd Light Bomb Group A-20s also attack the Malahang airfield at Lae and other nearby targets.
• 35th and 49th Fighter Group P-38s down 6 Japanese fighters in a large engagement over Huon Gulf and Lae between noon and 1250 hours.

Air Operations, Solomons

XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Kahili and Ballale airfields on Bougainville.

Air Operations, Tunisia

IX Fighter Command fighters provide cover for British 8th Army forces concentrating to meet a renewed German Army attack in southern Tunisia. A 57th Fighter Group P-40 pilot downs a Bf-109 in an engagement over the Mareth Line about 1500 hours.

Battle of the Atlantic

• In the Atlantic a Wellington bomber attacking U-333 is shot down by AA fire directed at the aircraft's Leigh Light.
• U-87 is depth-charged by the Canadian corvettes Shediac and St Croix which are escorting convoy KMS-10.

U-87

Burma

The campaign toward Akyab grinds to a halt in the face of very heavy Japanese resistance.

Eastern Front

The Soviets take Oenino and Chertolino to the west of Rzhev and in the Kursk area they take Sevsk and Sudzha. The next phase of von Manstein's offensive begins and now the objective is Kharkov and the Soviet troops nearby. Part of the SS Pzr Corps attacks westward from Poltava and units of 4th Pzr Army attack northward from a line on the Berestovaya River west of Izyum.

The Northwest Front begins a new offensive south of Lake Ilmen in an effort to break the 16th Army defenses before Staraya Russa.

Olenino and Chertolino fall to the Kalinin Front as the XXIII Corps withdraws to the southwest.

After heavy fighting parts of the 3rd Tank Army are destroyed while others fight their way northwest as they try to escape. As these battles continues 2nd SS Panzer Corps begins to reassemble in preparation for its thrust toward Kharkov. The 4th Panzer Army moves north from Izyum. The XLVIII Panzr Corps, fighting near Taranovka, aims to attack in conjunction with the SS Panzer Corps. With their forces reeling, the Stavka orders its armies in the south onto the defensive.

Mediterranean

Hudson 'V' of No 500 Squadron RAF is on anti-submarine patrol when at 1002 the wake of a U-boat (U-83) is spotted in bad visibility. The submarine made no attempt to dive but began evasive maneuvering. The aircraft makes two attacks dropping anti-submarine bombs on the first and depth charges on the second. The U-boat settled in the water, then sank leaving a number of her crew in the water swimming in the middle of a growing oil slick. The aircraft dropped a couple of dinghies, but both sank on hitting the water.

U-83

North Africa

Montgomery is able to bring a second infantry division and an armored brigade up to Medenine where the British position is now fairly secure. A formal defense line has been established, backed by a strong antitank gun screen and including some of the new and very effective 17-pounder weapons. Intelligence has warned of the coming Axis attack, and this is confirmed when 10th and 21st Pzr are sighted moving up.

In the British 1st Army's V Corps area, the 139th Brigade, 46th Div, remains under heavy pressure along the Mateur-Tabarka road and during the night fallst back to Tamera, about 8 miles west of Sedjenane.

The British 8th Army, having completed its concentration of troops and weapons in the forward area, is now prepared to meed and enemy attack, which appears to be imminent because of troop movements in the mountains west of Médenine, and is greatly superior to the enemy in tanks and anti-tank weapons.

North Sea

There is an unsuccessful night sortie by German MTBs off Greater Yarmouth: on the way out S-70 hits a mine and sinks; S-75 is sunk by Spitfires and Typhoons.

Pacific

The Japanese merchant cargo ship Hokuto Maru (2270t) is sunk by a mine south of Muroran, Hokkaido, Japan.