Air Operations, Bismarcks

P-38 pilots of the 49th Fighter Group’s 9th Fighter Squadron down 5 Ki-45 'Nick' fighters over Cape Gloucester at 1100 hours.

Air Operations, CBI

• 10 11th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s and 5 23rd Fighter Group P-40s attack port facilities in the Hong Kong area.

Air Operations, Europe

American air attacks throughout Calabria continue in preparation for the Allied invasion. Every airport in southern Italy except that at Foggia is now neutralized.

• 319 1st and 4th Heavy Bomb Wing B-17s dispatched against Luftwaffe airfields in France are recalled as they approach the French coast because of heavy cloud cover. Only 34 4th Wing B-17s attack targets of opportunity - Mardyck and Denain/Prouvy Airdrome - with a total of 101 tons of bombs about 1905 hours.
• 3 of 182 escort P-47s are lost while conducting ad hoc fighter sweeps.
• Of 216 3rd Medium Bomb Wing B-26s displatched, 104 are able to find holes in the cloud cover and drop about 150 tons of bombs on several Luftwaffe airfields and fuel dumps.

• 75 XII Bomber Command B-26s, escorted by 82nd Fighter Group P-38s, attack a marshalling yard at Cancello Arnone, near Naples, about 1330 hourst through relentless Axis fighter attack that followed the bomber in and as they left. 23 Axis fighters are downed by 82nd Fighter Group P-38 pilots against no USAAF losses.
• In an effort to at least temporarily disrupt military traffic from Germany, a small number of XII Bomber Command B-17s attack rail lines at Brenner Pass, the shortest route from Germany to Italy.

• Other XII Bomber Command B-17s and B-25s attack marshalling yards at Bologna, Bolzano, and Trento.
• In the south, closer to the invasion area, tactical aircraft, including RAF units flying under the 12th Air Force, attack gun emplacements, road and rail targets, an ammunition dump, and barge traffic.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• Escorted by approximately 40 V Fighter Command P-38s, V Bomber Command B-25 strafers carrying 1,000-pound bombs mount low-level attacks against shipping at Wewak, where they encounter the first barrage balloons known to be employed by the Japanese in the Pacific war zone. Two freighters are sunk with bombs.
• 8th, 35th, and 475th Fighter group P-38 pilots down 1 Ki-45 'Nick' fighter, 2 Ki-46 'Dinah' reconnaissance aircrafts, and 6 A6M Zeros over Wewak and Madang between 1000 and 1045 hours.

Air Operations, Solomons

• 24 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s and more than 60 AirSols light bombers attack Vila.
• 18 XIII Bomber Command B-24s, more than 20 XIII Fighter Command fighters, and more than 60 AirSols light bombers and fighter-bombers attack the Kahili airfield on Bougainville, shore installations, and a bridge.
• Marine Corps F4Us down 5 A6M Zeros over Kahili and Ballale during the afternoon and a VMF-124 F4U shoots down 1 'Betty' bomber off Rennell Island during the afternoon.

Diplomatic Relations

Gen Giuseppe Castellano returns from Rome to Termini Imerese and goes on from there to Casibile.

Albert Speer To Direct War Production

Eastern Front

The Soviets announce a number of important gains in the Donets sector. Lisichansk, Kommunarsk and other important centers are taken. Stalino is now being threatened by the Russians. They also reach the Bryansk-Konotop railway, and the important Ukrainian town of Sumy which lies between Konotop and Kharkov. There are also significant advances on the Bryansk Front with Glushkovo and Sumy being captured.

Sumy falls to the 38th Army of Vatutin's Voronezh Front.

Russian Partisan At Work

Lisichansk falls to 3rd Guards Army of the Southwest Front and Kommunarsk to the 51st Army of the South Front.

Mediterranean

The British battleships Valiant and Warspite, after being refitted following damage sustained in 1941, shell the Italian mainland defenses around Reggio di Calabria.

Pacific

• The US submarine Seawolf (SS-197) sinks the Japanese army cargo ship Fusei Maru (2256t).
• The US submarine Snapper (SS-185) sinks the Japanese escort vessel Mutsure (884t), 85 miles north-northwest of Truk, Carolines.