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October 22, 1943

New Britain: Allied aircraft attack Rabaul, destroying 123 Japanese planes.

Italy: British troops cross the river Trigno.

Arctic: The Soviet icebreakersStalin and SKR-18/Fedor Litke set out from Tiksi to return to the White Sea. They are met in the Vilkitski Strait by the minelayer Murman and the icebreaker steamer SKR-19/Semen Dezhnev and brought via Dikson to the Kara Strait. There they are met by a strong escort force comprising the destroyers Baku, Grozny, Gromki, Kuibyshev, Razumny and Razyarenny as well as the newly arrived Lend-Lease minesweepers T-112, T-113, T-114 and T-115. On the way from the Kara Strait via Kolguev-North into the Gorlo Strait, the escorts make many depth charge attacks suspected U-boats and report 2 U-boats sunk and 3 more seriously damaged. In fact, no U-boats is in the vicinity of convoy AB.55. U636, the last boat, lays mines off the Yugor Straits and then quickly returns. The other U-boats at sea, U387, U354, U360, U307 and U277 are stationed in the passage between Spitzbergen and Bear Island as the 'Eisenbart' group. The convoy is continually located by the German B-Service and is sighted but not attacked by a Ju 88 carrying out armed reconnaissance north of Kolguev.

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October 24, 1943

Italy: The US 5th Army captures Sant'Angelo.

Aegean: The destroyer HMS Eclipse is sunk by a mine.

North Atlantic: West of Spain, U566 is sunk by Wellington 'A' of No 179 Sqn RAF with Leigh Light.

South Pacific: The Japanese destroyer Mochizuki is sunk in a USMC air attack 90 nautical miles SSW of Rabaul.

English Channel: 32 German motor torpedo boats of the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th MTB Flotillas attack the British convoy FN.1160 off Cromer from Ijmuiden. The convoy is escorted by the destroyers Pytchley, Worcester, Eglinton,Campbell and Mackay, the MGBs MGB603, MGB315 and MGB327 and the MLs ML250 and ML517. The German motor torpedo boats are reported by returning British bombers and the convoy is warned. The motor torpedo boats which approach in several groups are driven off by Pytchley, Worchester and Mackay. Only S74 is able to sink the trawler William Stephen which remains behind. Mackay rams and sinks S63.MGB607 and MGB603 encounter boats of the withdrawing 4th MTB Flotilla and sink S88. In engagements with MTB439 and MTB442, which also come up, the first is damaged.

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October 27, 1943

Japan: Emperor Hirohito announces that the war has reached a critical stage.

Solomon Islands: Operation Blissful-US marines land on Choiseul as a diversionary tactic.

Italy: The 8th Army captures Montefalcone.

Sweden: Germany blocks the Skagerrak.

Pacific: New Zealand troops land on the Treasury Islands as part of the buildup to the invasion of Bougainville.

Arctic: The 'Katharina' mining operation off the Soviet Arctic coast with the destroyers Z30, Z31 and Z33 is canceled following reports about an Allied naval force in the Barents Sea.

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October 28, 1943

Germany: Goebbels admits that Russia is an "enormous danger", and that the Red Army has broken through the main German defenses.

New Zealand: Butter rationing is introduced.

Solomons Islands: In Operation Blissful the 2nd Marine Parachute Battalion is landed by sea at Voza on Choiseul. This is intended to be a diversion from the attack on Bougainville. After a series of sharp actions they are withdrawn from the operation.

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October 29, 1943

London: Soldiers step in as Thames dockers go on strike.

Italy: Cantelupo falls to the 8th Army.

French Indochina: US submarines began mining the waters off French Indochina. Grenadier placed 32 mines outside Haiphong. (Within a few days Hainan Strait and the approaches to Saigon were sown with mines.)

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November 1, 1943

Eastern Front: All German land communications to the Crimea were cut off by the Russians who landed at the eastern end of the Kerch Peninsula.

North Atlantic: During its transfer to the Mediterranean, U340 is damaged west of Gibraltar by Wellington 'R' of No 179 Sqn RAF and sustains further damage from depth charge attacks by the destroyers Active and Witherington and the sloop Fleetwood. The CO, Lt Klaus, has to scuttle U340 near a Spanish fishing vessel which rescues the crew, but Fleetwood takes the latter off into captivity.

South Pacific: US Marines invaded Bougainville, landing at Cape Torokina on the west coast. The 3rd Marine Division encountered heavy resistance on the ground and was subjected to constant aerial attack.

Pacific: In Japanese waters, the US submarines Trigger sinks 3 ships, Snapper sinks 1 ship and Dace has prematures or duds. In Chinese/Formosan waters, Sargo sinks 2 ships and Gudgeon sinks 1 ship. In the Central Pacific, the submarines are distributed for Operation 'Galvanic'. Off Truk there are Thresher, which sinks 1 ship, Apogon, which sinks 1 ship and Corvina, which is sunk by the Japanese submarine I-179; and east of Truk are Sculpin, which is sunk by a Japanese destroyer, and Searaven, which sinks 1 ship. There are reconnaissance positions off Kwajalein with Seal, off Jaluit with Spearfish, off Wotje with Plunger, off Nauru with Paddle and off the Gilberts with Nautilus. In additions, offensive patrols are undertaken, in which Tautog sinks the submarine-chaser Ch-30, Scamp sinks 1 ship and torpedoes the cruiser Agano, Drum sinks 2 ships, Scorpion torpedoes 1 ship, Blackfish sinks 1 ship, Albacore sinks 1 ship, Ray sinks 1 ship, Raton sinks 4 ships and Gato sinks 2 ships.

Black Sea: Light forces of the Azov Flotilla land elements of the 56th Soviet Army near Enikale and forces of the Novorossisk base land the 386th Naval Inf Bn near Eltigen. They are followed in the next few days by elements of the 18th Army. The bridgehead of Eltigen is blockaded by German motor minesweepers, naval ferry barges and motor torpedo boats under the Cdr of the 3rd MMS Flotilla. 31 naval ferry barges, 6 motor minesweepers and 5 motor torpedo boats take part in 355 operations. F419, F380, F594, F306, F341, F571, F574, F573, F360, F305 and F369 are lost on mines and in air attacks. 1 motor torpedo boat, 4 motor minesweepers and 16 naval ferry barges are damaged. On the Soviet side, in the landings and attempts to bring supplies, 12 patrol cutters, including SKA-0192, SKA-0135, SKA-0178, SKA-0158, SKA-0105, and SKA-0114, the motor minesweepers KT-173, KT-411, KT-509, the armored cutter BKA-132 and approximately 150 assault boats and 40 other small craft are lost.

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November 10, 1943

Eastern Front: 2 new military decorations are created: the Order of Victory-a large ruby star encrusted with 91 diamonds-for senior officers, and the Order of the Glory for other ranks.

Italy: The Allied Control Commission is formed, to yoke the Italian economy into the overall Allied war effort.

Bay of Biscay: The returning U966 is heavily damaged in attacks by Wellington 'B' of No 612 Sqn RAF and Liberators 'E' of VPB-103 USN, 'E' of VPB-110 USN and 'D' of No 311 Sqn and has to be beached and blown up near De Santafata Bay on the Spanish north coast. The outbound U508 is sunk by Liberator 'C' of VPB-103 USN which is shot down.

Central Pacific: Preparations for Operation 'Galvanic'. The 'Northern Attack Force' sets out from Pearl Harbor and the 'Southern Attack Force' from the new Hebrides. They replenish halfway between Baker and Canton and near Funafuti and they join up halfway between Baker and Nanomea to proceed together. From TF.50, TG.50.1 and 50.2 set out from Pearl Harbor and TG.50.3 and 50.4 from Espiritu Santo.

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November 11, 1943

Eastern Front: German forces went on the offensive southwest of Kiev.

Mediterranean: 16 Do 217s of II/KG 100, 23 He 111s of I/KG 26 and 17 Ju 88s of III/KG 26 are used against the Allied convoy KMS.31. 48 aircraft attack northeast of Oran and sink the transports Birchbank, Indian Prince and Carlier. The French tanker Nivose sinks after a collision. 7 aircraft are lost.

German aircraft attack an Allied convoy off Oran, sinking 4 merchant ships.

North Atlantic: The boats of the 'Eisenbart' group, which are loosely stationed in groups of 3 east of Newfoundland wait in vain for convoy HX.264 and for SC.146. Only U592 sights on the return a detached convoy group, but her attack fails. The boats are ordered to withdraw eastwards.

New Britain: In a US carrier strike on Rabaul, the Japanese lose about 35 aircraft, and a light cruiser and 2 destroyers are disabled.

Theresienstadt: 47,000 Jews are forced to stand outside in the cold and rain from 4 am to 12 noon.

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November 12, 1943

Dodecanese: German troops land on the British-and-Italian-held island of Leros.

Germany: Grand Admiral Donitz complains that in the Atlantic "the enemy holds every trump card...(he) knows all our secrets.

General Situation: Churchill leaves Plymouth on board the battlecruiser Renown in order to attend the Cairo conference with
Roosevelt and Chiang Kai-shek.

Black Sea: Of the German U20, U18, U19 and U9 deployed off the Caucasian coast, only U18 sinks 1 ship. The Soviet submarine M-111 sinks the steamer Theoderich near Burnas, M-117 sinks F592 from a naval ferry barge convoy and D-4 sinks the steamer Santa Fe which is escorted by the Rumanian minelayer Admiral Murgescu, the destroyer Marasesti and the German motor minesweepers R165, R197 and R209, west of the Crimea, sinks the tanker Wolga-Don, which is escorted by the Rumanian gunboats Stihi and Dumitrescu and the German UJ2301, UJ2309 and R205. After sinking F566 from a naval ferry barge, D-4 is sunk by the German submarine-chasers UJ103 and UJ102 with depth charges. Off the Rumanian coast, S-31 sinks F580. 1 or 2 unsuccessful attacks on convoys are made by Shch-201, Shch-216, S-33 and M-117. In the process some of them are attacked with depth charges by the submarine-chasers of the 1st and 23rd SC Flotillas and damaged.

Atlantic: Admiral Donitz recorded in his diary the plight of the German U-boat fleet, which was losing the battle of the North Atlantic: "The enemy holds every trump card, covering all areas with long-range air patrols and using location methods against which we still have no warning...The enemy knows all our secrets and we know none of his." What Donitz did not know was that Ultra-the decoding of intercepted German radio messages-gave the Allies precise knowledge of German submarine locations and plans.

Aegean: Leros was invaded by the Germans. The Allied garrison surrendered the next day.

Lebanon: Lebanon was placed under martial law while the Gaullist government in Algiers said the actions taken in Beirut did not have its approval. The US government deplored Lebanese developments.

Rabaul: Japanese aircraft were withdrawn from Rabaul, ending the threat from that once powerful base.

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November 13, 1943

Mediterranean: Units of the German 71st Inf Div, embarked on the transport Ramb III, 3 Siebel ferries and many small craft, land on the Adriatic islands of Krk, Cherso and Lussino. Escort is provided by the old cruiser Niobe, the torpedo boat TA21, the coastal defense boat Najade and seaplanes. Several coastal sailing ships are captured.

Aegean: A German glider bomb sinks the British destroyer Dulverton off Kos.

Vichy: The Nazis stop Marshal Petain broadcasting to the nation. Unable to act as premier he goes on strike.

Eastern Front: Soviet troops complete the capture of Zhitomir.