Air Operations, CBIBURMA
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Air Operations, EuropeRAF BOMBER COMMANDEvening Ops:
ITALY:
ITALY:
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Air Operations, Solomons
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Allied PlanningGen Eisenhower, still in command of the Mediterranean theater, decides on a two-pronged attack on Rome. While Montgomery and Clark's armies attack the Winter Line, Clark's VI Corps will conduct an amphibious assault at Anzio, south of Rome and some 45 miles behind the Gustav Line. The Combined Chiefs of Staff approves Eisenhower's request to keep 68 LSTs (landing ship, tank) in the Mediterranean to support this assault but directs him to releast them by the end of January 1944 so that they will be available for OVERLORD. 15th Army Group Commander Gen Sir Harold Alexander orders Lt-Gen Mark Clark's 5th Army to prepare plans for an amphibious attack using one division on the west coast of Italy to outflank the Gustav Line. Simultaneous attacks by the 8th and 5th Armies will leave the Germans unable to respond to and amphibious landing south of Rome. The initial target take of December 20 for the landing of one division has to be postponed due to a lack of progreee against the Germans and a lack of landing craft. [![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Battle of the AtlanticDuring the night there is an abortive combined operation by U-boats and Condor aircraft west of Portugal. An RAF Fortress from the Azores sinks U-707. [![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() CBICHINAGen Stilwell directs Col Thomas S. Arms, of the Y-Force Infantry Training Center, to activate the ZEBRA Force Infantry Training Center at Kweilin. [![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Eastern FrontCENTRAL SECTORThe 3rd and 4th Shock Armies launch new attacks against the 3rd Panzer Army, gaining more ground around Nevel as the junction of the IX and LIII Corps is put under intense pressure. SOUTHERN SECTORThe 4th Panzer Army is reinforced with the XXIV Panzer Corps and XLVIII Panzer Corps. Limited counterattacks are launched near Fastov. Vatutin is about to be caught in the same trap Manstein had sprung on him in the spring of 1943 around Kharkov when he neglected to note the buildup of German armor on his exposed flank. [![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Germany, Home FrontIn a speech in Munich Hitler promises retaliation for Allied 'terror' bombing. [![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ItalyThe battle on the 5th Army sector continues with no decisive success as both sides organize attacks and counterattacks. The 56th Division, British X Corps, US 5th Army, drives off a series of fierce counterattacks by German armored units under Gen Hans Hube near Calabritto and seizes a hill to the northeast. In the US VI Corps area, the 7th Infantry of the 3rd Division is still unable to scale Monte la Difensa, but the 3rd Battalion of the 15th Infantry takes Hill 253 and the 3rd Battalion of the 30th Infantry reaches the top of Monte Rotondo. Further north the 45th Division continues its efforts to take the hills north of Venafro and Pozzilli. The 3rd Battalion, 179th Infantry, opens an assault on the hills between Pozzilli and Filignano. The 34th Division's Task Force A takes Montaquila. To the east, where Montgomery's 8th Army is operating, the 78th Div reaches the upper reaches of the Sangro River. Gen Traugott Herr, commander of the German LXXVI Pzr Corps, has withdrawn his regiments behind the north bank of the river. The weather is still very bad, and the state of the ground imposes a new lull in the operations. Gen Harold Alexander, Commander-in-Chief of the XV Army Group, operating in Italy, prepares plans for an amphibious landing on the Tyrrhenian coast behind the 'Gustav' line. [![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() LebanonThe Chamber of Deputies votes to amend the Constitution in defiance of the French Delegate Gen Jean Helleu. [![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Pacific
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Scenes from November 8, 1943
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[November 7th - November 9th] |