Air Operations, Bismarcks

V Fighter Command P-40s attack Gasmata and 2 Japanese cruisers off Kavieng.

Air Operations, CBI

• 6 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack a barracks at Nawlang.

• 6 14th Air Force P-40s attack a barracks at Kunlong.

Air Operations, Europe

An American P-40 squadron destroys a Stuka formation about to attack Yugoslav Partisans.

• 11 Mosquitos are sent to Emden, the Bruderich steelworks at Düsseldorf and Dortmund. All targets are bombed without a loss.

Air Operations, New Guinea

More than 50 V Bomber Command B-24s and 19 B-25s attack Sattelberg from high and low altitudes, respectively. Other B-25s sweep roads around Bogadjim.

Air Operations, Solomons

• 12 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s, escorted by 36 fighters, attack the Kara airfield on Bougainville. 3 Navy PVs also attack the Kara airfield.
• VF-33 and VF-38 F6Fs down 2 A6M Zeros between Bougainville and Choiseul at 1000 hours.

Britain, Home Front

The First Sea Lord Adm Sir Dudley Pound dies at age 66.

India

Lord Wavell is installed as viceroy of India.

Mediterranean, Command

Adm Sir John Cunningham succeeds Adm Sir Andrew Cunningham in command of the RN forces in the Mediterranean.

Occupied Malaya

Subhas Chandra Bose forms the pro-Axis provisional government of Azad Hied ('Free India') at Singapore. His proclamation says its aim is to 'bring about the expulsion of the British and their Allies from India.'

Occupied Philippines

(14th?)Japan grants 'independence' to the Philippines, but has little real value as the islands remain under Japanese jurisdiction.

Scenes from October 21, 1943

5-inch guns fire during a night attack, Solomons, 21 October 1943. (Photographed by PhoM1/c Glenn E. Reed, USNR. US Navy Photo)

5-inch Guns Fire during a Night Attack

Embarkation of 3rd Marine Division from Guadalcanal, 21 October 1943

The First Sea Lord, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound on the bridge of SS Queen Mary en route to the US with Winston Churchill on board. This is one of the last pictures taken of Sir Dudley before his death early on 21 October 1943 aged 66.

First Sea Lord, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound