Air Operations, Bonin Islands

19 30th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Chichi Jima.

Air Operations, Carolines

2 11th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack the Yap Atoll.

Air Operations, CBI

• More than 80 10th Air Force fighter-bombers attack numerous targets and targets of opportunity across eastern Burma.

• Closely supported by 14th Air Force aircraft, the Chinese Army’s Y Force renews its offensive on the Salween River front to capture Lungling. Fighter-bombers also support Chinese Army ground forces at Mangshih, attack Kweiyi and Paoching, a bridge at Sinshih, rail lines between Siaokan and Sinyang, and airfields at Chingmen, Ichang, and Tangyang.

Air Operations, East Indies

FEAF B-25s and fighter-bombers attack antiaircraft emplacements and targets of opportunity on Halmahera.

Air Operations, Europe

• 358 aircraft of Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 8 Groups attack 11 different German ground positions on Walcheren. In the aircraft total are 194 Lancasters, 128 Halifaxes and 36 Mosquitos. Visibility is good and it is believed that all the targets were hit.
• 1 Lancaster is lost.
• 37 Lancasters including 18 from No. 9 Squadron, 18 from No. 617 and a film unit aircraft from No. 463 Squadron, are sent from Lossiemouth in Scotland to attack the battleship Tirpitz, which is now moored near the Norwegian port of Tromsö. The removal of the Lancasters' mid-upper turrets and other equipment and the installation of extra fuel tanks, giving each aircraft a total fuel capacity of 2,406 gallons, allow the Lancasters to carry out this 2,250 mile operation. A weather reconnaissance Mosquito had reported the target area free of cloud and the Lancasters form up at a lake near the bay in which the Tirpitz was moored and commence their attack. Unfortunately the wind had changed and a bank of cloud comes in to cover the battleship 30 seconds before the first Lancaster is ready to bomb. 32 aircraft release Tallboy bombs on the estimated position of the battleship but no direct hits are scored. 1 of No. 617 Squadron's Lancasters, which is damaged by flak, crash-lands in Sweden and its crew are later returned to Britain.

• 1 Hudson is on a Resistance operation and there are 4 Ranger patrols and 3 RCM sorties.
• There are no losses.

• 59 Mosquitos are sent to Cologne and 6 to Mannheim, and there are 55 Mosquitos on Serrate and Intruder patrols.
• There are no losses.
• Lancasters attempt to bomb the Tirpitz at Tromsö with 12,000-lb bombs.

• Approximately 170 9th Bomb Division B-26s and A-20s attack rail bridges at five locations in the Netherlands and western Germany.
• 9th Air Force fighters and fighter-bombers attack numerous bridges and rail targets in the areas directly behind the various battlefronts.

• 9th Air Force fighter pilots down 21 Luftwaffe fighters between 1145 and 1545 hours.

• 12th Air Force medium bombers are grounded by bad weather, and XXII TAC P-47s are able to mount only 15 sorties against rail lines in the Po River valley.

• 30 P-38s on escort duty with 15th Air Force heavy bombers attack locomotives and other rail targets between Wels and Kienburg. Claims amount to 17 locomotives destroyed.

• Of 725 15th Air Force heavy bombers dispatched against several targets in southern Germany, only 35 B-24s attack a marshalling yard at Munich. The rest abort due to bad weather.

Air Operations, Japan

4 28th Composite Bomb Group B-25s attack a freighter and buildings at Tomari Cape.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-25s and A-20s, and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack targets in the Urarom, Kaimana, and Soeli areas.
• Fighter-bombers attack Ransiki.

Air Operations, Philippines

• At dawn, a lone Ki-43 'Oscar' fighter strafes the Tacloban airfield on Leyte, where 1 P-38 is destroyed on the ground and 3 others are damaged.
• US carrier aircraft from Task Group 38.2 attack targets in the Visayan Islands and Task Group 38.4 aircraft attack targets around Manila.
• A VF-80 fighter downs a Ki-43 'Oscar' fighter over Ormoc Bay at 0715 hours. 49th Fighter Group P-38s down 2 Ki-43 'Oscars' over the central Philippines between 0740 and 0800 hours.
• Between 0710 and 1615 hours, US carrier-based fighters down 79 Japanese aircraft over the Clark Field area on Luzon, northern Leyte, or at sea, including directly over Task Force 38 on several occasions.
• The USS Intrepid is damaged by a kamikaze.

Battle of the Atlantic

U-1226 sailed for patrol on September 30. When she failed to answer signasl, she is declared missing on October 29. It is possible she was the victim of a mine or and an accident. Her last known position was about 320 miles south of Iceland.

U-1226

Burma

In the Indo-Burmese sector in the north of Burma the British 36th Div, after several days' rest at Mawpin, resumes its advance southward along the Myitkyina-Mandalay railway.

On the Salween front the Chinese troops, supported by aircraft of the US 14th Air Force, resume their offensive against Lung-ling, the Chinese 200th Div, providing the advanced elements.

Eastern Front

The Soviet Budapest Offensive begins. The 46th Army attacks the Hungarian 3rd Army at Kecskemet, and the 7th Guards Army breaks through the German 6th Army. Meanwhile, the German 8th Army breaks out of the Nyireghaza salient.

The 46th Army attacks the 3rd Hungarian Army before Kecskemet. The 7th Guards Army also attacks across the Tizsa and smashes through the 6th Army. Initial progress is encouraging.

The German 8th Army, aided by the III Panzer Corps, fights its way free of the Nyireghaza salient. Heavy fighting with Group Pliev results in 25,000 Soviet casualties and 600 tanks lost.

Pacific

• A squadron of American aircraft carriers commanded by Rear-Adm Gerald F. Bogan attacks targets in the area of Manila on Luzon Island. In the waters off Leyte the aircraft carrier Intrepid (CV-11) is seriously damaged by a kamikaze attack.
• The Japanese army tanker Kokko Maru (2863t) is sunk by an RAAF mine off Balikpapan, Broneo.
• The US freighter John A. Johnson (7176t) is torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-12 about 1000 miles northeast of Oahu and is abandoned when she break in two. I-12 surfaces, shells the wreck setting both halves on fire, before bearing down on the lifeboats. She fires at them with machine guns and pistols resulting in the deaths of 4 of the 41 crewmen, the Army security officer and 4 of the 29-man Armed Guard. The survivors will be rescued the following day by the yacht Argus (PY-14).

Philippines

The American advance in the Valley of Leyte continues. On the coast north of Dulag, Catmon Hill, actually a series of hills, completely abandoned by the Japanese, is occupied by units of the 96th Div. In the center of the island the Americans continue to attack Dagami. A battalion of the 32nd Inf advances south from Burauen without meeting any opposition, and reaches the coastal town of Abuyog, south of Dulag.

Western Front

The Canadian II Corps advances rapidly in Beveland and the 52nd Div reaches Goes. On the army's right flank the I Corps reaches the road between Bergen-op-Zoom and Tilburg and prepares to advance north. The Polish 1st Arm Div takes Breda. In the sector between Eindhoven and Venlo the Germans resume their counter-offensive; units of the American 7th Arm Div are forced to evacuate Liessel, east of Asten, on the Meijel-Deurne road. In the US 3rd Army sector, units of the 90th Div capture a large part of Maizières-lès-Metz.

Images from October 29, 1944

Riding Tanks into Battle

Soldier With Doughnut

Sherman Tank in Brouvelieures

Sherman Firefly Tank near the Beveland Canal

Main Street of Castel del Rio

Medieval Italian Castle

Survivors of the SS John A. Johnson