Air Operations, Aleutians

A total of 7 28th Composite Bomb Group B-24s, 8 B-25s, 12 343rd Fighter Group P-40s, and 2 F-5s attack Kiska and Little Kiska throughout the day.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

More than 20 V Bomber Command B-17s and B-24s attack the airfields in the Rabaul area.

Air Operations, CBI

• 9 23rd Fighter Group P-40s strafe barges and a gunboat at Chienli.
• 10 23rd Fighter Group P-40s intercept an estimated 25 Japanese bombers over Hengyang. 1 bomber is downed and several are damaged.

Air Operations, Europe

700 Russian bombers raid the airfields west of Kursk. 19 planes are lost.

• 5 Whitleys and 1 Wellington from OTUs make leaflet flights over France.
• 1 Whitley is lost.

More than 1,000 combat sorties are mounted throughout the day by NAAF bombers and fighters. IX Bomber Command B-25s and fighter-bombers mount additional attacks.

Air Operations, Mediterranean

In the course of at least two large running figher battles, 31st Fighter Group Spitfires and 79th and 325th Fighter Group P-40s down a total of 34 Axis fighters from over Pantelleria to within 5 miles of Sicily.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 1 V Bomber Command B-24 attacks shipping at Kokas and the town area at Sorong.
• A 35th Fighter Group P-38 downs a Japanese twin-engine bomber over Bena Bena at 1015 hours.

Air Operations, Solomons

• XIII Bomber Command B-17s and B-24s attack the Kahili airfield on Bougainville twice during the day.
• G4M 'Bettys' attack a large Allied convoy off Malaita. An 18th Fighter Group P-38 downs 1 'Betty' and VMF-124 F4Us down 2 'Bettys', all over Malaita Island at 1148 hours.
• During the night 18 G4M 'Bettys' attack the Allied convoy on its way to Guadalcanal, but no hits are scored, thanks to skillful ship handling.

Battle of the Atlantic

The US tanker Esso Gettysburg, en route from Port Arthur, Texas to Philadelphia, is torpedoed and sunk by U-66. The attack created intense fires preventing the launching of lifeboats. Only 8 of the 45-man crew and 7 of the 27-man Armed Guard survive.

Eastern Front

Hitler is pressing for the launching of Operation CITADEL, the penetration of the Kursk salient and annihilation of the Russian forces in it. The attack is to be delivered by the 9th Army from the north and the 4th Panzer Army from the south. Both armies will be equipped with the greatest possible number of tanks, if necessary taking them from other sectors of the front.

Dornier Do 17Z-2 at Noljakka on 10th June 1943

Germany, Planning

In an appreciation of the military situation, the German High Command expects the Allies to land in Sardinia and Corsica. It discounts the possibility of a Sicilian operation and a prolonged campaign up the Italian peninsula.

Pacific

• The US submarine chaser PC-487 sinks the Japanese submarine I-9 in the Aleutian Islands area.
• The US submarine S-30 (SS-135) sinks the Japanese merchant cargo ship Jinbu Maru (5228t) in the northern Pacific.

Stragegic Bombing

The Joint Chiefs of Staff issue the Pointblank Directive to the commanders of British and American heavy bomber forces in Europe. It sets out formal instructions for the priorities and aims of the bomber offensive which will last until D-Day. The instruction mostly reflect American thinking on presicion attacks on specific target systems with particular reference to the German aircraft industry.

There is also some mention of attacks to damage civilian morale. The leaders of the US Air Forces and Air Marshal Harris are all able to read into the directive permission to continue their favored types of operations. There will be little coordination between the British and American forces. The American daylight precision attacks will not come near achieving their objectives until the advent of the Mustang escort fighter and British night area bombing will also have disappointing results. German industrial production will prove to be astonishingly resilient and the morale of the workers will not suffer notably despite the damage to their homes. It is being discovered in Germany that factories that seem badly hit will often be untouched in their vital machinery and that once the rubble is cleared production can be resumed almost immediately.

United States, Home Front

President Roosevelt signs the tax withholding bill into law. It increases the number of US taxpayers by 60 million and will bring a revenue increase of $43 billion by the end of the war.