Air Operations, Bismarcks

• 25 V Bomber Command B-24s and 64 V Fighter Command P-38s attack the Rapopo airfield at Rabaul.
• 8th and 475th Fighter Group P-38s down 6 Japanese fighters over the Rabaul area between 1220 and 1230 hours. 5 P-38s are lost.

Air Operations, CBI

• 2 11th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s attack the harbor at Amoy while 6 14th Air Force P-40s attack a bridge at Hsiangyangchiao.

Air Operations, Europe

• 6 Mosquitos are sent to Essen, 35 aircraft lay mines off the French coast from Brest to southern Biscay and there are 7 OTU sorties.
• 1 mine-laying Stirling is lost.

• Restricted and dispersed by bad weather, 112 B-17s of the 122 that are actually dispatched attack a variety of targets in Germany: 37 3rd Bomb Division B-17s attack an aircraft-industry plant at Duren with 84 tons of bombs at 1114 hours; 53 1st Bomb Division B-17s attack and aircraft-industry plant at Wesel with 125 tons of bombs at 1125 hours; and 20 3rd Bomb Division B-17s attack at Randerath with 48 tons of bombs between 1114 and 1125 hours.
• 283 VIII Fighter Command P-47s escort and support the heavy bombers, but only down 1 Luftwaffe fighter.
• 1 P-47 is lost from 56th Fighter Group, 5 P-47 lost from 355th Fighter Group

• More than 200 IX Bomber Command B-26s dispatched against the Meulan/Les Mureaux and Montdidier Airdromes abort due to bad weather.
• 49 P-47s and 54 P-38s of VIII Fighter Command escorting the bombers sweep the English Channel coast from Ostend, Belgium to Calais.
• 2 P-38s are lost.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 9 V Bomber Command B-25s attack Wewak, but more than 40 others abort when their escorts are intercepted over Nadzab by a large number of Japanese fighters.
• Japanese bombers mount uncontested attacks against Bena Bena and the airfield at Nadzab. 16 USAAF aircraft are destroyed on the ground.
• 49th Fighter Group P-38s down 3 A6M Zeros near Alexishafen at 0720 hours. 8th Fighter Group P-47s and 35th Fighter Group P-39s down 5 Ki-21 'Sally' bombers and 2 Ki-43 'Oscar' fighters near Nadzab between 0810 and 0815 hours. 348th Fighter Group P-47s down 4 Zeros between Saidor and Lae at 0855 hours. 49th Fighter Group P-38s down 3 Zeros over Bogadjim at 1400 hours.

Air Operations, Solomons

• 21 AirSols B-24s attack the airfield at Buka.
• 8 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack barges and shore targets at Atsinima Bay.

Bougainville

The US beachhead undergoes its first major counterattack. Japanese destroyers from Rabaul land 475 troops between the Laruma and Koromokina Rivers early in the morning. The troops attack at once in the vicinity of the Koromokina lagoon and are held off by the 3rd Marines, although a small outpost is cut off and must be rescued by sea.

CBI

SEAC adopts TARZAN, the India-based portion of the general offensive in Burma, now called CHAMPION. TARZAN calls for a limited offensive on the Arakan coast for Akyab; a drive from Imphal to the Chindwin River; the establishment of a division on the railroad to Myitkyina; and an amphibious operation against the Andamans.

In the British 14th Army's IV Corps area, the Japanese are becoming aggressive in the Chin Hills and occfupy Falam.

Diplomatic Relations

The Russian ambassador in Mexico City states that Moscow regards Polish territory occupied in 1939 as belonging to the Soviet Union.

Eastern Front

The Soviet attacks west of Kiev reach Fastov, a railway junction 40 miles southwest of Kiev, where there is a thin German defense line.

The 2nd Shock kArmy begins to redeploy from its positions along the Volkhov River to the Oranienbaum pocket west of Leningrad. This move is in preparation for the planned attack around Leningrad in January 1944 which aims to deive the German 18th Army away from the city for the last time.

Free France

Free France denied Lebanon's independence which had been granted by the Vichy government.

Italy

Units of the US 5th Army continue their attacks on the 'Bernhard'('Reinhard') or Winter Line, with little or no success. In the VI Corps sector, the 34th Division organizes Task Force A under Brig-Gen Benjamin F. Caffey, consisting ot he 135th Infantry and supporting units, for a drive on Montaquila.

The 8th Army reaches the Sangro River.

Solomons

The carriers Saratoga (CV-3) and Princeton (CVL-23) are attacked by 100 Japanese aircraft when 240 miles southeast of Rabaul but are not hit. Tokyo radio, however, claims that 2 carriers, 3 cruisers and a destroyer have been sunk. Early in the day a Japanese battalion is landed just north of the American beachhead on Bougainville, near the Koromokina marsh, and immediately begins a fierce action. The Japanese also land 700 men and 25 tons of supplies on Buka Island, north of Bougainville. Very hard fighting goes on all day at the northern end of the beachhead. 377 Japanese are killed against only 17 US Marines.

Scenes from November 7, 1943

Americans at Bivouac

In the Jungle of Butaritari Island