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.

Air Operations, CBI

• 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

• 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.

• B-17s ot the 15th Air Force's 5th Heavy Bomb Wing attack the highway between Leghorn and Rome and three separate rail lines.
• 15th Air Force P-38 fighter-bombers attack a tunnel near Terni and strafe ground targets around Montalto di Castro.
• NATAF aircraft attack the Furbara and Tarquinia Airdromes, small ships off Pescara and Solta, and trains and motor vehicles between Avezzano and Sora.
• 27th Fighter-Bomber Group A-36s down 1 Me-210 and 2 Bf-109s near the Guidonia Airdrome about 1100 hours.

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.

CBI

The 112th Regiment of the Chinese 38th Division, digs in in its current positions in northern Burma, since all efforts to advance have been futile and costly. The 2nd Battalion is still short of Sharaw Ga. By this time, the 1st Battalion, directed against Yupbang Ga, is isolated by an enemy roadblock and must be supplied by air. The 3rd Battalion is pinned down at Ngajatzup, 30 miles southwest of Ningbyen.

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.

During 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

In the US 5th Army's area, the British X Corps now holds Monte Massico and Monte Santa Croce and sends the 56th Division against Monte Camino. In the VI Corps area, the 2nd Battalion of the 180th Infantry, 45th Division, clears Rocca Pipirozzi and digs in on a ridge to the northwest and makes contact with the 4th Ranger Battalion at Cannavinelle. The 3rd Battalion of the 179th Infantry, upon crossing the Volturno south of Venafro, attacks and captures Venafro. The 1st Battalion follows the 3rd across the river. The 34th Division's 133rd Infantry seizes Santa Maria Oliveto, the 168th takes Roccaravindola.

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 Panzer 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.
• The US submarine Seawolf (SS-197) sinks the Japanese merchant cargo ship Kaifuku Maru (3177t) 50 miles south-southwest of Hong Kong.
• The US sumbarine Silversides (SS-236) lays a minefield off New Ireland. The Japanese surveying ship Tsukushi and the transport Ryuosan Maru (2455t) are sunk in this minefield; the light cruiser Isuzu and the destroyer Isokaze are damaged.

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

Air Transports and Gliders at Comiso

SS Panzer Division Reichsführer in Rome