Air Operations, CBI

• During the night, 5 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s sow mines in the Rangoon River.

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

Air Operations, Europe

• 7 Oboe Mosquitos bomb Cologne and Duisburg without a loss.

• NATAF aircraft mount six small missions against gun emplacements and motor vehicles along the battle line and a few trains near the battle area.
• During an afternoon mission, a 57th Fighter Group P-40 downs 1 Ju-88 off Pescara.

• 81 B-17s attack the Fiat ball-bearing plant, marshalling yards, and an aircraft-engine factory at Turin.

Air Operations, Solomons

• 22 AirSols B-24s attack the Bonis airfield on Bougainville. 6 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Kieta. 6 B-25s attack targets of opportunity on Bougainville.
• 26 Japanese D3A 'Val' dive bombers and 71 A6M Zeros attack US Navy transports and warships in Empress Augusta Bay at noon, but they are intercepted by 28 AirSols fighters before they can do much damage. 1 transport is lightly damaged by two direct hits. 8 AirSols fighters are lost.
• A VF-17 F4U downs a transport over the Buka airfield at 0710 hours. VF-17 F4Us down 3 A6M Zeros west of Bougainville at 1100 hours. VMF-212 F4Us down 3 D3A 'Val' dive bombers and VF-33 F6Fs down 4 more 'Vals' and 4 Ki-61 'Tony' fighters over Empress Augusta Bay at noon. XIII Fighter Command P-38s and P-40s down 8 'Vals' and 7 Zeros over Cape Torokina between noon and 1230 hours.
• Between 1911 hours, November 8, and 0100 hours, November 9, 21 Rabaul-based B5N 'Kate' bombers, D3A 'Val' dive bombers, and G4M 'Betty' Bombers make unopposed attacks against a US Navu surface force off Bougainville. 10 bombers are downed by antiaircraft fire, but one light cruiser is damaged by 2 bombs and a torpedo.

Allied Planning

Gen 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 Atlantic

During 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.

Eastern Front

The 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.

The 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 Front

In a speech in Munich Hitler promises retaliation for Allied 'terror' bombing.

Italy

The battle on the 5th Army sector continues with no decisive success as both sides organize attacks and counterattacks. The 56th Div, British X Corps, US 5th Army, drives off a series of fierce counterattacks by German armored units under Gen Hans Hube near Calabritto. Units of the US VI Corps reach the summit of Monte Rotundo, and further north the 45th Div continues its efforts to take the hills north of Venafro and Pozzilli.

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.

Lebanon

The Chamber of Deputies votes to amend the Constitution in defiance of the French Delegate Gen Jean Helleu.

Pacific

• The US submarine Bluefish (SS-222) sinks the Japanese army tanker Kyokuei Maru (10,570t) in the South China Sea.
• The US submarine Rasher (SS-269) sinks the Japanese merchant tanker Tango Maru (2046t) in Makassar Strait and escapes attacks by the auxiliary submarine chaser CHA-41.

Scenes from November 8, 1943

37th Infantry Division Landing on Bougainville

Military Vehicles near the Trigno River

US Marines Battle Japanese Infantry