Aegean

2 British cruisers Penelope and Sirius and 2 destroyers intercept a German troop convoy bound for Kos and sink 7 transports and 1 escort.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

1 V Bomber Command B-24 attacks Umboi Island.

Air Operations, CBI

• 4 11th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s attack a freighter at sea south of Amoy.

• 9 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s and 22 14th Air Force fighters attack a cement factory at Haiphong. A 16th Fighter Squadron P-40 downs a Ki-43 'Oscar' fighter over Haiphong at 1340 hours.

Air Operations, Europe

• 343 Lancasters are sent to Stuttgart.
• The first aircraft equipped with ABC, night-fighter communications jamming equipment known by the crews as 'Airborne Cigar', operates on this raid. The German night-fighter controller is confused by the diversionary raid on Munich and only a few fighters reach Stuttgart at the end of the attack. The target is covered in cloud and the H₂ Pathfinder marking develops in two areas.
• 4 Lancasters are lost.
• 16 Lancasters of No. 8 Group carry out a diversionary raid on Friedrichshafen and claim hits on the Zeppeling factory there. There are no losses.

• 10 Mosquitos are sent to Munich, 7 to Emden, 5 to Aachen, 79 aircraft lay mines from Brest to Heligoland and there are 14 OTU sorties.
• 1 mine-laying Stirling is lost.

4 B-17s from the independent 422nd Heavy Bomb Squadron undertak the first 8th Air Force night leaflet drop of the war when they disperse more than 240,000 leaflets over Paris between 2257 and 2307 hours.

Most 12th Air Force flight operations are canceled because of bad weather, but NATAF aircraft, including A-20s and B-25s, are able to attack towns and rail and road targets around Capua, Guglionesi, and Termoli.

Air Operations, Mediterranean

A 1st Fighter Group P-38 based at Gambut Airdrome, Libya, downs a Ju-88 near Leros, in the Dodecanese Islands, at 1600 hours.

Air Operations, Solomons

• A VMF-214 F4U downs an A6M Zero near Baga Island at 0730 hours.
• A 347th Fighter Group P-38 downs an A6M Zero near Vella Lavella at 0730 hours.
• Various AirSols aircraft attack Japanese Navy barges tasked with evacuating Japanese ground troops from Kolombangara.

Battle of the Atlantic

The US freighter Yorkmar, in Convoy SC-143, is torpedoed and sunk by U-645 about 300 miles northwest of Ireland. 11 of the 39-man crew and 2 of the 28-man Armed Guard are lost in the sinking. The Canadian corvette Kamloops and the British frigate Duckworth rescue the survivors.

Eastern Front

In a new offensive in the north(central?) the Soviets take Nevel, a railway center north of Vitebsk. At the western end of the Kuban Peninsula Taman is captured. Along the Dniepr to the south of Kiev there is something of a lull as the Soviets bring up supplies and build bridges.

The IX Corps, hastily transferred from the 4th Army to the 3rd Panzer Army, launches a fierce counterattack, bringing both the 3rd and 4th Shock Armies to a standstill. Repeated Soviet counterattacks fail to push the salient any farther as the Germans stabilize their positions.

There is heavy fighting at Taman as the last remnants of the German 17th Army evacuates the Kuban peninsula.

Italy

The American 5th Army enters Capua on the Volturno River and gets ready to attack the Volturno line. The date for the operation is set for the night of October 9, but will get postponed until the night of October 12. Meanwhile the troops strengthen their positions on the south bank of the river. The Germans withdraw from contact with the 78th Div around Termoli and pull back from the Trigno. Montgomery does not feel able to follow them closely at this stage.

Pacific

The US submarine S-44 is sunk by Japanese surface craft in the Kurile Islands area.

Secret War

Niels Bohr flies to Scotland.

Scenes from October 7, 1943

Damage in Böblinge

German Gunners with Anti-Tank Cannon

German Artillery Unit

Another German Anti-Tank Cannon