Air Operations, Aleutians

14 28th Composite Bomb Group B-24s, 12 B-25s, 23 343rd Fighter Group P-38s, and 32 P-40s mount 9 separate attacks against Kiska.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s, 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s, and V Bomber Command B-25s mount numerous individual attacks against the Gasmata and Cape Gloucester airfields on New Britain.

Air Operations, CBI

• 9 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack the main rail station in Rangoon.
• 51st Fighter Group P-40s attack several bridges throughout Burma.

Air Operations, Europe

• 6 Mosquitos are sent to bomb the raiway shops at Namur but cannot locate the target due to poor visibility.
• There are no losses.

Air Operations, New Guinea

43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s, 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s, and V Bomber Command B-25s mount numerous individual attacks against the Hollandia airfield and the Malahang airfield at Lae.

Air Operations, Solomons

In the first victory of its kind in the Pacific, a P-70 night fighter piloted by Capt Earl C. Bennett, of the 6th Night Fighter Squadron, downs a G4M 'Betty' bomber near Tulagi at 0425 hours.

Axis Diplomacy

Hitler meets with Quisling.

Eastern Front

Heavy fighting is taking place in the Kuban region. Elsewhere activity is light.

The Bf 109 of Rudolf Müller

Rudolf “Rudi” Müller was born on 21 November 1920 at Frankfurt-am-Main. He joined the army and served with the Signal Corps. He transferred to the Luftwaffe in 1940 and underwent pilot training. In August 1941, Müller was transferred from Ergänzungsgruppe/JG 77, based in Rumania, to 1./JG 77 based in northern Norway. On 12 September, he claimed his first victory when he shot down a Russian I-16 fighter. In March 1942, 1./JG 77 was redesignated 6./JG 5. On 23 April, he shot down five Russian Hurricane fighters to record his 11th through 15th victories. Müller was to be particularly successful against Hurricane fighters supplied to the Russians under lend-lease by Britain. He recorded 15 victories in April, of which 12 were Hurricanes. In May, Müller claimed 13 victories, including 12 Hurricanes, to raise his victory total to 38. Some sources indicate that it was Müller who shot down and killed the Russian ace Podpolkovnik Boris Safanov (15 +14 shared victories) over the Allied supply convoy PQ-16 on 30 May. He recorded his 40th victory on 17 June when he shot down one of two Hurricane fighters he claimed that day. Feldwebel Müller was awarded the Ritterkreuz on 19 June, by which time his victory total had reached 46. He was then granted a short leave. On his return he claimed 16 victories in August, including his 50th on 4 August, yet another Hurricane, and his 60th on 25 August. Müller’s most successful month was September, when he recorded 18 victories, including seven enemy aircraft shot down on 27 September (75-81). He scored 6./JG 5’s 500th victory on 13 March for his 92nd, and last, victory - a Soviet P-39 Airacobra. On 19 April 1943, Müller was obliged to make a forced-landing in his Bf 109 G-2/R6 (W.Nr. 14810) “Yellow 3” on the frozen Lake Bolschoje after aerial combat with 30-40 enemy aircraft over Murmansk. It is thought Müller was shot down by Russian ace Mladshii Leitenant Nikolai Bokii (14 +1 shared victories) of 2nd GuIAP, VVS. Müller was captured some hours later by a Russian ski patrol. He is said to have been seen in a prison at Murmansk in 1947 but was never repatriated to Russia. Another source indicates that Müller was shot trying to escape from a Russian prison camp in October or November 1943. “Rudi” Müller was credited with 92 victories. All his victories were recorded over the Eastern Front and included at least 35 lend-lease Russian Hawker Hurricane fighters.

North Africa

Another German effort to fly in supplies suffers disastrous losses./

The 8th Army attacks the Enfidaville Line in moonlight, protected by a creeping barrage.

The plan for the main assault on Tunis and Bizerte is outlined. It is scheduled to begin on the 22nd. The US II Corps assumes command of a new zone on the northern flank of the Allied line at 1800, with the front extending from the coast east fo Cap Serrat to Hill 667, 5 miles west of Heïdous. The Corps Franc D'Afrique is attached to the 9th Div and given the zone on the extreme north.

In the British 1st Army area, the V Corps' northern boundary is shifted southward as the US II Corps takes over the coastal region. The French XIX Corps, holding the line Karachoum-Djebel Edjehaf-west of Djebel Mansour, is maintaining patrol contact with the British 8th Army on the right.

The British 8th Army opens an assault on the enemy's Enfidaville position after an intensive preparatory bombardment. The X Corps jumps off at 2130, with the 50th Div on the right, the New Zealand 2nd Div in the center, and the Indian 4th Div reinforced by L Force on the left. The 7th Armored Div guards the west flank. The enemy is initially force to give ground.

Poland, Resistance

The remaining population of the Warsaw ghetto rises against the Germans. In October 1940 there were probably almost 500,000 Jews who had been herded into the ghetto. By July 1942, when the extermination policy began in earnest, there were 380,000 left, and by October 1942, 70,000 left. Most of the rest have been taken to be murdered in Treblinka. The SS move to destroy the remaining 63,000(?), but the 'Jewish War Organization' (ZOB), Irgun and a few Polish supporters totalling about 1,500 fight for 27 days from dugouts, cellars and sewers. One of the Jewish commanders writes of the uprising: 'Jewish self-defense has become a fact. Jewish resistance and revenge have become realities.'

The poorly armed Jews fight 2,000 tank-supported SS troops who are stunned by the ferocity of the Jewish fighters. Over 7,000 Jews are killed, 7,000 captured Jews are shot, 22,000 are sent to concentraton camps and 20,000 to labor camps. SS casualties in the fighting: 16 killed; 85 wounded.

The Warsaw uprising begins. Organized by the ZOB (Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa - Jewish Fighting Organization), which is led by 23-year-old Mordecai Anielewicz, it is sparked by German troops and police entering the ghetto to deport its surviving inhabitants. Around 750 fighters with few weapons and no military training fight the heavily armed Germans. The ghetto fighters were able to hold out for nearly a month, but by May 16, 1943, the Germans had crushed the revolt. Of the more than 56,000 Jews captured, about 7,000 were shot, and the remainder were deported to concentration camps.