Air Operations, Bismarcks

• 43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack airfields in the Rabaul area.
• B-17s mount individual attacks against small boats and barges off northern New Britain

Air Operations, CBI

• 16 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s and 10 11th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s, escorted by 24 23rd Fighter Group P-40s, attack the Tienho and White Cloud airfields at Canton and an industrial area of Canton. An estimated 20 Japanese aircraft are destroyed on the ground, but 1 B-25 is lost, apparently from the premature detonation of its payload of fragmentation bombs.
• 23rd Fighter Group P-40 pilots escorting the bombers to Canton strafe ground targets and down 13 Japanese fighters over the target area about 1330 hours.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-25s claim the destruction of two cargo ships off Madang.
• A 35th Fighter Group P-38 downs an A6M Zero near Saidor at 1455 hours.

Air Operations, Pacific

US Dauntless and Liberator aircraft bomb Japanese shipping and installations throughout the Solomon Islands. 3 Japanese destroyers are damaged, 1 severely. The next stage of Operation CARTWHEEL, the invasion of New Georgia, is planned for the following month, and the US commanders are eager to soften up the Japanese naval resources throughout the Solomon Islands.

Air Operations, Solomons

• AirSols light bombers and fighters attack Japanese destroyers in Blackett Strait.
• P-38s and P-40s attack antiaircraft batteries at the Vila airfield on Kolombangara.

8 MAY 1943 - Japanese soldiers bayonet Chinese prisoners in Nanking.

Japanese Soldiers Bayonet Chinese Prisoners

Hungary

The Hungarian parliament is dissolved.

Occupied Poland

Mordechai Anielewicz, 25-year-old commander of Jewish fighters in Warsaw, and 60 others are blown up and killed by the SS in their Mila St Headquarters.

North Africa

The Axis forces are trying to retire to the Cape Bon Peninsula for a final stand. An Axis convoy of 3 steamships succeeds in reaching the waters off Tunisia, but are then attacked by British units and sunk before they can unload. During the night, however, the British 6th Arm Div drives from Hammam Lif toward Hammamet, right in among the retreating troops and completing their disorganization. The commander of the Axis army group in North Africa signal that none of his units can move for lack of fuel.

The Allies capture Tebourba and Djedeida. The French occupy Zaghouan in southern Tunisia.

In the US II Corps area, the Corps Franc d'Afrique makes the official entry into Bizerte. The 47th Regimental Combat Team, 9th Div, also enters, but withdraws while the French mop up. The 1st Armored Div pushes to the east in the region south of Lac de Bizerte, clearing Djebel Sisi Mansour. Left flank elements, upon reaching the Tunis-Bizerte road, drive northward to Menzel Djemil. A column on the right flank moves toward Protville to establish contact with the British moving northeastward from Tunis and reaches Hill 111, about midway between Mateur and Protville.

British Troops Advance Warily Through Bizerta, 8 May 1943

In the British 1st Army's IX Corps area, while the 7th Armored Div pushes northward toward the US II Corps zone from Tunis, the 6th Armored Div, followed by the 4th Div, drives southeastward toward Hammamet in an effort to prevent the enemy from making a final stand on Cap Bon Peninsula and is halted abruptly at the narrow Hamman Lif difile by enemy rear guards bent on keeping this line of retreat open. The 1st Armored Div, released to the IX Corps from army reserve, is pushing northeastward from the Goubellat area. The V Corps' 1st Div and the Indian 4th Div press eastward in conjunction with the French XIX Corps. The French XIX Corps is meeting firm resistance in the hilly Zaghouan area.

British Armor Move Through Tunis During the City's Liberation, 8 May 1943

Pacific

3 Japanese destroyers, Kuroshio, Oyashio and Kagero, are sunk by mines and aircraft in the central Solomons.