Air Operations, Bismarcks

• V Bomber Command B-24s attack the Lakunai airfield at Rabaul and an airfield under construction on Duke of York Island.
• B-25s and V Fighter Command P-38s attack shipping.
• During the night, RAAF Beauforts attack targets around Rabaul.

Air Operations, Central Pacific

During the night, 3 Japanese Navy bombers evade VMF-441 F4Fs (operating without radar guidance) and bomb the airfield on Nanomea. 1 US serviceman is killed, a B-24 is destroyed, and several other aircraft are damaged.

Air Operations, CBI

• 14th Air Force fighters attack river traffic.

Air Operations, East Indies

380th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Soerabaja, Java.

Air Operations, Europe

• 313 Lancasters of Nos. 5 and 8 Groups are sent to attack the railway yards at Modane on the main line between France and Italy. The Pathfinder marking, made in difficult conditions, is slightly beyond the target, but 200 aircraft bring back photos that show their bombs fell withing 1 mile of the target area. The railway system is seriously damaged by the raid.
• There are no losses.

• 2 Mosquitos are sent to Dortmund, 7 Stirlings lay mines in the Gironde River and off La Pallice and there are 20 OTU sorties.
• There are no losses.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-25s attack the airfield at Alexishafen.

Air Operations, Solomons

• More than 20 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack the airfield at Ballale and the Kara airfield on Bougainville, and shipping targets of opportunity.
• Responding to the first air-support request of the Bougainville operation (lodged the afternoon before), 18 VMTB-143 and VMTB-233 TBFs arrive on station at 0915 hours over the Piva River area of the Bougainville beachhead. At 1015, each of 12 TBFs drops 12 100-pound bombs on ground targets marked by colored smoke. Many of the bombs strike targets within 120 yards of Marine Corps ground troops and kill an estimated 40 Japanese Army soldiers. The attack—the first of its kind in the Pacific—is deemed a success and a template for future operations.

Battle of the Atlantic

The German submarine U-966 is sunk by US Naval land-based aircraft (VB-103 and VB-110) and Czechoslovakian aircraft off the northwest coast of Spain.

Eastern Front

The Battle of Cherkassy begins. Russian paratroops drop near Cherkassy, south of the Dnieper River and link up with partisans. Meanwhile the 2nd Ukrainian Army closes in and ferries tanks on rafts and pontoons across the Dnieper. German land and air forces subsequently launch violent counterattacks. The battle ends December 14.

The Belorussian Front opens a new attack to the south of Loyev, pushing northwestward into the flank of Army Group Center.

Italy

Units of the US 45th Div reach the hills between Pozzilli and Filignano without opposition. The units of the 45th Div on Monte Corno are relieved by the 1st Battalion Rangers.

Meanwhile there have been important changes in the deployment of the German troops. Gen Joachim Lemelsen, who has recently replaced Gen von Vietinghoff in command of the 10th Army, expecting an imminent Allied breakthrough in the 'Bernhard'('Reinhard') line on the road to Cassino, decides to move the 26th Pzr Div and the 29th Panzergrenadiere to that sector to reinforce the units of Gen Hube's XIV Pzr Corps. The battered 16th Pzr Div has been sent back to refit, so the German LXXVI Corps now has the 65th Inf Div, on the lower Sangro, and the 1st Parachute Div, in the central sector, in the front line.

The Allied Control Commission for Italy is formed to integrate the Italian economy into the Allied war effort.

Pacific

The main body of the Gilbert Islands invasion force, Operation GALVANIC, sails from Pearl Harbor.

Solomons

Fighting continues on Bougainville.

Soviet Union, Home Front

2 new military decorations are created: 'Victory Order', a large ruby star inset with 91 diamonds, for senior officers; and the 'Order of Glory', for lower ranks.

Yugoslavia

It is reported from Cairo that British representatives of the Middle East Command are serving with the forces, both of Gen Mihailovic ('Chetniks') and Gen Tito ('Partisans'). Since the surrender of Italy on Sept 8 the Yugoslav forces have scored many successes against the Germans, but there are wide internal differences between Tito, who looks more to Moscow, and Mihailovic, who has closer links with Britain.

Scenes from November 10, 1943

Medical personnel assisting wounded American soldier in Italy on 10 November 1943.

Tending to the Wounded

U-boat crew aboard sinking German submarine in the Atlantic Ocean in 1943.

Sinking German Submarine