Air Operations, Aleutians

Despite bad weather that grounds other missions, 2 28th Composite Bomb Group B-24s and 6 343rd Fighter Group fighters attack Kiska.

Air Operations, Europe

The Russian air force makes a mass attack on the German base at Orel.

• 24 Wellingtons and 15 Stirlings lay mines off the Biscay ports and there are 16 OTU leaflet flights.
• 1 OTU Wellington is lost in the sea.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-24s attack a supply dump at Dobo.

Air Operations, Solomons

• During the evening, 307th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack 2 ships off southern Bougainville.
• During the night, XIII Bomber Command B-17s attack the Kahili airfield on Bougainville and targets along the Moliko River. B-24s attack targets in southern Bougainville.

Air Operations, Tunisia

1 FW-190 is downed by a 52nd Fighter Group Spitfire near Cap Bon.

Battle of the Atlantic

The waters off Halifax, Nova Scotia are mined by a German submarine. The field is discovered immediately, but only after the 2,000t Panamanian cargo ship Halma is sunk.

China

The Japanese end their 'rice offensive' in the west of Hupeh province, in the Yichang area, and begin to withdraw. They have seized quantities of rice and captured many boats on the upper Yangtze.

Eastern Front

Bombing raids inflict considerable damage upon the German air bases at Orel.

France, Politics

In Algiers the Free French announce the formation of the Comité Français de Libération Nationale (CFLN), a provisional government of the French Empire under Gens de Gaulle and Giraud. Other members include Generals Catroux and Georges and MM Jean Monnet, René Massigli, Andre Philip and Gabriel Puaux.

Newport News, Va.: US Army Signal Corps, Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation, June 3, 1943. Pier X, H.R.P.E. Troop Train and Troops embarking, chiefly 45th Division, for service overseas.

Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation

France, Resistance

The Michelin tire works at Clermont-Ferrand are badly damaged in a sabotage operation conducted by local resistance workers and SOE agents. 300 tons of tires are destroyed.

Indian Ocean

The US freighter Montanan is torpedoed and sunk by the Japanese submarine I-27 of the Arabian coast losing 6 of the 42-man crew and 2 of the 23-man Armed Guard. Survivors are picked up by the Indian Navy trawler Rins Baroda while three boatloads reach shore on Masirah Island, off Oman.

Solomons

Adm Halsey's HQ issues general instructions for the invasion of New Georgia, in the central Solomons. The main objective is to be Munda airfield, a jumping-off place for a series of 'hops' towards the northern Solomons. The landing force will be commanded by Rear-Adm Kelly Turner, the occupation forces by Gen John H. Hester at the head of the armys's 43rd Div reinforced by 2 battalions of Raiders from the US Marines.

Photo from June 3, 1943. Zoot Suit Riot victims with zoot suit wearers looking on as the police investigate the scene in Los Angeles.

Zoot Suit Riot Victims

United States, Planning

Adm Halsey (COMCOPAC) develops plans for TOENAILS, the attack on New Georgia Island, with the intent to seize Munda airfield. Halsey designates Maj-Gen John H. Hester, commander of the 43rd Infantry Division, as commander of ther ground forces for TOENAILS. Lt-Gen Millard F. Harmon, the commander of the US Army force in the Southern Pacific (SOPAC), is concerned about the command arrangement for Hester and orders XIV Corps on Guadalcanal, under the command of Maj-Gen Oscar W. Griswold, to be prepared to take command of the New Georgia occupation force, so that neither Hester or the 43rd Infantry Division staff is overburdened with commanding at two separate echelons. Marine forces designate for TOENAILS are the 1st and 4th Marine Raider Battalions.