Air Operations, Bismarcks

V Bomber Command B-25s strafe a motor launch near Gasmata.

Air Operations, CBI

• 21 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack port facilities, a warehouse, and a power plant at Haiphong, but they are attacked by as many as 65 fighters. 75th and 25th Fighter squadron P-40s and a 449th Fighter Squadron P-38 downs 4 A6M Zeros over Haiphong at 1520 hours. 1 75th Fighter Squadron P-40 is shot down with the loss of its pilot.

Air Operations, Europe

Allied bombers drop 187 tons of bombs on Vienna.

• 243 Lancasters and 8 Mosquitos are sent to Hagen.
• The raid is a complete success on a cloud-covered target. The Oboe skymarking is perfect a severe damage is caused.
• 2 Lancasters are lost.
• As the Hagen attack is ending, 12 Oboe Mosquitos are sent to bomb a steelworks at Witten, northwest of Hagen, as a training exercise. 8 Mosquitos bomb at Witten and 2, whose Oboe equipment failed, drop their bombs on the burning fires in Hagen. There are no losses.

Air Operations, New Guinea

3rd Light Bomb Group A-20s and RAAF bombers attack Japanese Army positions in the Finschhafen area.

Air Operations, Solomons

• 24 XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack a supply dump and bivouac near the Vila airfield on Kolombangara.
• AirSols B-25s, SBDs, and P-38s attack the barge depot at Kakasa.
• VMF-213 F4Us down 2 A6M Zeros over Vella Lavella at 1430 hours.
• 2 18th Fighter Group P-40s down a Zero over Barakoma at 1440 hours.

Eastern Front

During the first week of October the armies of the Central Front, Steppe Front and Southwest Front exert intensive pressure on the Army Groups Center and South along the great bend of the Dniepr, and succeed in crossing the river and establishing small bridgeheads near Kiev, Kremenchug and Dnepropetrovsk.

Manstein moves his headquarters from Kirovograd to the former Führer headquarters at Vinnitsa.

Italy

During the morning the King's Dragoon Guards, of the British X Corps, 5th Army, enter Naples without opposition. The port was heavily damaged but repairs begin at once to put it back into operation. 8th Army begins to advance its main forces once again. For the moment only 2 divs, 78th along the coast and 1st Canadian of XIII Corps inland across the mountains, are sent forward toward the line Vinchiaturo-Termoli. V Corps is kept back in reserve for the moment.

Owing to the success achieved by the delaying actions so far, Hitler orders Kesselring to hold a line south of Rome during the coming months rather than retire farther north.

The Allies Are Welcomed as They Enter Naples

Sherman tank of the Scots Greys carrying troops of the 1/6th Queen's Regiment during mopping up operations in Torre Annunciata, 1 October 1943.

Sherman Tank Carrying Troops

New Guinea

The Australians resume their attacks on Finschhafen, inflicting heavy losses on the Japanese.

Pacific

The Japanese submarine I-20 is sunk by the US destroyer Eaton (DD-510) in the Solomon Islands area.

Solomons

Adm Halsey tells Gen MacArthur that he has decided to carry out a landing in Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville. MacArthur assures him that he will get the maximum air support from the Southwest Pacific Area forces.

United States, Politics

Harriman is appointed US Ambassador in Moscow.

Scenes from October 1, 1943

And so, it was this rag-tag population of war weary civilians which succeeded in defeating the best armored tank division in the war in just four days; thus presenting a free city to the Allies who came to 'liberate' it on October 1, 1943.

Allies 'Liberate' the City

Daimler scout car of 1st King’s Dragoon Guards at the town hall in Naples, 1 October 1943.

Daimler Scout Car

Cheering crowds great Allied troops as they enter Naples, 1 October 1943.

Cheering Crowds in Naples

The twisted metal of a wrecked gantry crane destroyed by Germans, lying in Naples harbor.

Wreckage in Naples Harbor