Air Operations, Bismarcks
- V Bomber Command B-24s on armed-reconnaissance strikes sink a ship north of New Britain, but planned attacks against Japanese warships in Rabaul harbor are canceled due to bad weather over the target area.
- AirSols PB4Ys on patrol over the Bismarck Sea locate and attack a Japanese convoy carrying reinforcements from Rabaul to Bougainville and a Japanese Navy surface battle force. 2 transports are damaged. These finds precipitate a sally by a US Navy surface battle force and an anti-shipping attack on Rabaul by US carrier aircraft that will take place the next day.
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]Air Operations, CBI
BURMA- Chinese Army infantry forces pinned down at Ngajatzup in northern Burma must be resupplied by 10 Air Force cargo aircraft.
- The CACW (Chinese-American Composite Wing) makes its combat debut when 1st CACW Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack military targets at Amoy and Swatow.
| ]Air Operations, Europe
RAF BOMBER COMMANDEvening Ops:
- 24 Mosquitos attack a chemical works at Leverkusen causing fires and a large explosion. 4 Mosquitos are sent to Aachen and 36 aircraft lay mines at various places from Lorient to the Kattegat. 4 mine-laying Stirlings are lost.
| ]Air Operations, New Guinea
V Fighter Command P-40 fighter-bombers attack Japanese Army ground troops in the battle area.
[ | ]Air Operations, Solomons
23 XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the airfield at Buka.
[ | ]Burma
The regiment of the Chinese 38th Div that was attacking the Japanese lines on the Tarung River is making no progress and retires northward, but one battalion is surrounded by the Japanese.
[ | ]Eastern Front
Vatutin's forces begin to break out of their bridgeheads over the Dniepr near Kiev. They find the weak spots in the inevitably thin German defense and begin spreading out from their bridgehead and threaten to surround Kiev. In the south the Soviets are also attacking near Kherson, at the mouth of the Dniepr, and force the Germans to give ground.
SOUTHERN SECTORDuring a day of heavy fighting and wet weather, the 4th Panzer is unable to hold back the torrent of Soviet attacks and begins to crumble. Rybalko's 3rd Guards Tank Army strikes the breach in the German line made by the 38th Army. Panic spreads, hearlding the collapse of resistance around the bridgehead, the VII and XIII Corps disintegrating under the weight of the Soviet offensive. Soviet forces rapidly envelop the German positions, compelling the 4th Panzer Army to begin a hurried evacuation from the city. To the south the 2nd Guards Army attacks the XLIV Corps at Kherson but is unable to break through the German line.
[ | ]Italy
The British X Corps now holds Monte Massico and Monte Santa Croce and sends the 78th(56th?) Div against Monte Camino. On the American VI Corps' sector Venafro and Rocavirondola are taken by the 45th Div and 34th Div respectively as the advance nears the 'Reinhard' line. In the 8th Army area the Germans are withdrawing to the Sangro. The 2 Allied armies now have full lateral communications through Isernia. On the right of Montgomery's line the V Corps takes San Salvo after the German LXXVI Pzr Corps has retired throughout this sector.
[ | ]New Britain
A fresh Japanese squadron led by Adm Takeo Kurita with 10 cruisers and as many destroyers arrives in Rabaul. They are sighted en route and Task Force 38 is ordered to attack with its aircraft.
[ | ]Pacific
The Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser No. 30 is sunk by the US submarine Tautog (SS-199) off the Palau Islands.
[ | ]Solomons
The Americans withdraw their paratroopers from Choiseul. The arrival at Rabaul of a strong Japanese naval squadron, comprising 7 heavy cruisers and 173 aircraft, brings a threat to Cape Torokina bridgehead on Bougainville. Task Force 38 is ordered to attack Rabaul with carrier-borne and land-based aircraft.
[ | ]Scenes from November 4, 1943
American Nurses Landing in Naples |
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Air Transports and Gliders at Comiso |
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SS Panzer Division Reichsführer in Rome |
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