Air Operations, Aleutians

8 Japanese Navy bombers attack Massacre Bay and the airfield there. 11 343rd Fighter Group P-40s are sent to intercept the strike, but they do not locate the Japanese planes.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

An RAAF Beaufort squadron is able to mount a torpedo attack against shipping in Rabaul’s Simpson Harbor, but 70 V Bomber Command B-24s and more than 100 V Fighter Command fighters sent against other Rabaul-area targets are thwarted by bad weather. Nevertheless, 54 of 108 B-25s press on to attack 3 airfields and shipping through rain clouds. 20 B-24s and 24 B-25s are able to attack targets of opportunity at Cape Gloucester, Cape Hoskins, Gasmata, and Lindenhafen. 3 B-25s and 4 P-38s are lost in operational accidents.

Air Operations, CBI

• Japanese fighters based in Burma attempt to intercept Allied planes on the Hump ferry route at Sumprabum. After evading 10th Air Force fighter patrols, they down 1 C-46, 1 C-87, and 1 CNAC transport, and damage 1 B-24 and 2 C-47s. In response, 10th Air Force fighters are directed to mount an immediate counter-offensive aimed at sweeping the Japanese from airfields from which the Hump ferry routes can be reached. At the outset, P-40 fighter-bombers from bases in India and China attack Myitkyina Airdrome.

• 3 11th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s attack shipping at Amoy.

Air Operations, Europe

• 4 Mosquitos are sent to Cologne and 4 to Duisburg. There are no losses.

Air Operations, Gilberts

VII Bomber Command B-24s obtain extensive preinvasion photographic coverage of Makin Atoll. Also taking part in photographing Makin is VD-3, in PB4Ys, which this day flies its maiden operational mission from the airfield on Canton Island.

Battle of the Atlantic

The German submarine U-402 is sunk by aircraft (VC-9) from the US escort carrier Card (CVD-11) in the North Atlantic area.

Diplomatic Relations

Italy declares war on Germany(12th?). Premier Badoglio tells Eisenhower, 'By this act all ties with the dreadful past are broken and my Government will be proud to be able to march with you on to the inevitable victory.' She is not regarded as a full Ally and is classed as 'Co-Belligerent'.

Eastern Front

Most of Zaporozhe has fallen. The German perimeter has been penetrated, 12th Army closing upon the hydroelectric dam. Soviet arty begins to pound the Germans around the dam, inflicting severe damage.

Hollidt's 6th Army is also involved in bitter stree fighting in Melitopol as the 28th Army fights its way into the town.

Germany, Resistance

Claus von Stauffenberg takes over the planning for the 1944 anti-Hitler coup.

Italy

American II and III Corps forces break across the Volturno River. Bridgeheads are established at several points on the north side despite sharp resistance. The Germans begin pulling back to the Winter Line, along the Garigliano and Sangro Rivers about 75 miles south of Rome.

Mediterranean

The US destroyer Bristol (DD-453) is sunk by a submarine torpedo from the German submarine U-371 while escorting a convoy to Oran, Algeria.

Scenes from October 13, 1943

Brigadier General Maxwell D. Taylor and Marshal Pietro Bagdolio on Oct. 13, 1943, as Italy declares war on Germany.

Gen Maxwell Taylor and Marshal Bagdolio

OCTOBER 13: The Führer Adolf Hitler visiting his headquarters and congratulating Heinrich Himmler (Right), Head of the SS and the Gestapo, for his 43rd birthday, on October 13, 1943. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

Hitler on Himmler's Birthday

Violet Carlson, Small Arms Manufacturing 13 October 1943 (Photographer: John H. Boyd, City of Toronto Archives)

Small Arms Manufacturing

M-5A1 Stuart Light Tank from the 601st Tank Destroyer Bn., crossing the Volturno River, 13 October 1943.

M-5A1 Stuart Light Tank

A line of tanks rolls down Nicollet Avenue in downtown Minneapolis as part of a parade. Captured on October 13, 1943 by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer.

Tanks in Downtown Minneapolis