Air Operations, Bismarcks

• 82 V Bomber Command B-25s sent to attack Rabaul abort in the face of bad weather.
• During the night, 3 RAAF Catalinas commence a regular schedule of night harrassment missions against Kavieng.

Air Operations, CBI

• As Japanese fighters based in Burma take a rising toll in Allied transports flying the Hump ferry route, Maj-Gen Claire L. Chennault orders the transports to fly a more northerly route, out of range of the fighters. Then 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s are sent along the southern route. When the Japanese pilots mistake the heavily armed B-24s for look-alike C-87s, many of the fighters are downed.

• A total of 8 11th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s based at Nanning mount 3 separate missions against the harbor at Kungshan and a concentration of Japanese shipping in the nearby Hainan Strait. 1 B-25 is downed by a Japanese fighter during the third attack, and another B-25 crash lands due to damage inflicted by a Japanese fighter over the target.

• 13 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s and 15 P-40s attack rail facilities at Haiphong.

Air Operations, East Indies

• 380th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s mount a light attack against Pombelaa, where fighters down 2 of the B-24s.
• V Bomber Command B-25s attack Tanimbar Island in the Molucca Islands.

Air Operations, Europe

• XII Bomber Command B-25s and P-38s attack the Megalo Mikra and Salonika/Sedhes Airdromes.

• NATAF B-25s attack Terracina and an ammo dump.
• NATAF aircraft attack parked Axis aircraft near Ancona, and road, rail, and tactical targets from central Italy south to the battle area.

Air Operations, Solomons

• 30 AirSols SBDs, 18 TBFs, and 42 fighters attack buildings, the runway, and antiaircraft batteries at the Kara airfield on Bougainville. 7 Navy PB4Ys attack the runway at the Kahile airfield on Bougainville. 15 XIII Fighter Command P-38 strafers kill an estimated 200 laborers filling craters on the runway at the Kahili airfield. 22 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s, 49 AirSols SBDs, 36 TBFs, and 69 AirSols fighters attack the runway and antiaircraft batteries at the Kahili airfield. 8 XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack aircraft parked at the airfield at Buka destroying 6 of them. Following is another attack on Buka by B-25s and 15 P-38s the control tower and parked aircraft are targeted with 5 more planes destroyed on the ground. 1 Allied plane is lost.
• 5 Navy PVs attack Mono Island in the Treasury group.

Battle of the Atlantic

U-420 is sunk by Liberator 'A' of No 10 Squadron RCAF.

U-420

Eastern Front

Kleist orders the 17th Army to evacuate the Crimea to prevent its isolation in the peninsula. However, Hitler immediately countermands the order, instructing the 17th to stand fast.

India, Home Front

Wavell visits famine-stricken areas in Bengal. Relief camps are to be established.

New Guinea

The Japanese outposts around Finschafen begin to withdraw toward Sattelberg.

Pacific

The Treasury Islands assault group, part of Rear-Adm Wilkinson's Task Force 31, sails for its objective.

Scenes from October 26, 1943

SS Deportations from Kaunas, Lithuania

Sherman Tank Crossing a Stream

Metal Works in Dniepropetrovsk is Destroyed

Railway Bridge across the Dnieper Destroyed

Soviet Partisans Seeking Opportunities

USS New Jersey (BB-62)

US Army In Naples

Russian Partisans Prepare Execution