Air Operations, Bismarcks

1 V Bomber Command B-24 attacks the Cape Gloucester airfield on New Britain.

Air Operations, CBI

• 3 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s on their way to India to pick up supplies attack a Japanese Army headquarters, barracks, and warehouses at Tengchung.

• 9 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s, escorted by 20 P-40s, attack the Gia Lam airfield at Hanoi.

Air Operations, Europe

357 bombers of the American 8th Air Force carry out a massive raid on Bremen and Vegesack, but incur heavy losses.

• 504 aircraft are sent to Hannover. Included in the total are 282 Lancasters, 188 Halifaxes, 26 Wellingtons and 8 Mosquitos.
• The German controller guesses correctly that Hannover is the target and many night-fighters arrive before the attack is over. Conditions over Hannover are clear and the Pathfinders are finally able to mark the center of the city accurately. A concentrated bombing effort follows with a 'creepback' of only 2 miles, all within the built-up area. This is the last Bomber Command raid in which Wellingtons take part. The Wellingtons for this raid are provided by 300 (Polish) and 432 (Canadian) squadrons. They suffer no losses.
• 14 Lancasters and 13 Halifaxes are lost.
• 119 aircraft, including 95 Stirlings, 17 Halifaxes and 7 Lancasters of Nos. 3 and 8 Groups are sent to Bremen. This is a diversionary raid on a larger scale than ever before. The bombing is scattered but this is a subsidiary aim of the operations.
• 3 Stirlings are lost.

• 10 Mosquitos are sent to Castrop-Rauxel, 7 to Berlin, 1 to Düren, 17 Stirlings lay mines in the Gironde River and off La Pallice, and there are 2 OTU Sorties.
• There are no losses.

• 158 1st Bomb Division B-17s and 156 3rd Bomb Division B-17s attack the city of Bremen, the Bremen shipyards, Bremen aircraft-industry targets, and various targets of opportunity at Vegesack, Meppen, Oldenberg, and Emden with 459 tons of bombs between 1505 and 1527 hours. The Allied radio countermeasure known as Carpet (employed to jam ground-based gun-laying radars) is used for the first time, but losses due to attacks by Luftwaffe fighters are considered heavy.
• 27 B-17s are lost, 207 damaged; 3 crewmen killed, 271 missing
• Providing escort for the B-17s are 274 P-47s from six VIII Fighter Command Groups, which account for 12 Luftwaffe fighters over the Netherlands and Germany between 1445 and 1545 hours.
• 43 unescorted 2nd Heavy Bomb Division B-24s attack the Vegesack U-boat base with more than 85 tons of bombs at 1620 hours.

• XII Bomber Command B-24s based in Libya attack the Athens/Dleusis, Athens/Tatoi, Heraklion (Crete), Kastelli/Padiada (Crete), and Rhodes/Maritsa Airdromes.
• 48 321st Medium Bomb Group B-25s based in Italy attack the Athens/Eleusis Airdrome in the morning. The group claims many Luftwaffe bombers destroyed on the ground and numerous buildings set on fire.
• 2 B-25s are lost, 26 damaged

NATAF aircraft attack a bridge at Minturno and a German army troop concentration and road junction at Termoli.

Air Operations, Solomons

• 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s and XIII Fighter Command P-40s attack barges off western Choiseul. In all since October 6, AirSols aircraft have destroyed 25 Japanese Navy barges committed to evacuating Japanese Army ground troops from Kolombangara.
• An 18th Fighter Group P-38 a G4M 'Betty' bomber near Guadalcanal at 1010 hours.

Battle of the Atlantic

• U-378 sinks the Polish destroyer Orkan, escorting Convoy SC-143, west of Ireland with the loss of 184 of her crew. 44 survivors are picked up by the British destroyer Musketeer.
• U-643 is in contact with convoy SC-143 when spotted on the surface by Liberator 'R' of No 86 Squadron and attacked with machine-gun fire. Another aircraft, 'Z' of the same squadron, attacks with four depth charges. Another attack by an aircraft, Liberator 'T' of No 120 Squadron, was also a depth-charge attack. Survivors are picked up by the British destroyer Orwell.

U-643 Class Type VIIC CO Kapitänleutnant Hans Spiedel Location Atlantic, S of Iceland Cause Air attack Casualties 30 Survivors 21

U-610 Class Type VIIC CO Kapitänleutnant Baron Walter von Freyberg-Eisenberg-Allmendingen Location Atlantic, SW of Rockall Cause Air attack Casualties 51 Survivors None

• U-610 is also shadowing SC-143 when spotted by Sunderland 'J' of No 423 Squadron RCAF. The aircraft strafed the U-boat on first pass, then dropped four depth charges of which two exploded alongside the conning tower lifting the boat out of the water. Only wreckage and about 15 men in the water could be seen after the explosions subsided.

Black Sea

240 German barges, Siebel Ferries and other craft used in the Kuban evacuation are safely withdrawn from the Kerch Straits to Sebastopol.

Eastern Front

The Bryansk Front is disbanded as its units are handed over to the Central and West Fronts.

Greece, Home Front

Pro- and anti-Communist guerillas begin a series of violent clashes in Greece, the beginning of a civil war in that country that will last for 6 years.

Italy

8th Army takes Larino and Gugilonesi inland from the coast on either side of Biferno. 5th Army takes Caserta and has now come up to the Volturno line planning to attack on October 12.

Japan, Politics

Tojo assumes personal responsibility for war production taking control of the ministries of commerce and industry.

Pacific

• The US submarine Guardfish (SS-217) sinks the Japanese army cargo ship Kashu Maru (5460t) north of Manus Island.
• The US submarine Gurnard (SS-254) sinks the Japanes army cargo ship Taian Maru (5655t) and transport Dainichi Maru (5813t) off the northern to of Luzon.

Scenes from October 8, 1943

Bomb Run over Bremen

Cannon Damage after the Raid on Bremen

Crash landing of Maj John B. Kidd

'JUST-A-SNAPPIN' Crash Landing