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• 10 Lancaster bombers of No. 1 Group RAF conducted minelaying operations off Helgoland, Germany; one bomber was lost. ww2dbase [CPC]
• George Giffard was mentioned in a despatch for his service in Burma and India. ww2dbase [George Giffard | CPC]
• Joseph Stilwell officially stepped down as the Commanding General, China-Burma-India Theater. ww2dbase [Joseph Stilwell | CPC]
• Escort carrier USS Card and her task group departed Casablanca and resumed their mid-Atlantic patrol. ww2dbase [Card | DS]

• Four TDR drones were flown against lighthouse on Cape Saint George, New Ireland. One of the four hit squarely and demolishes the structure. ww2dbase [TDR | Cape Saint George, New Ireland | DS]

• B-24 and B-25 bombers of the US 14th Air Force attacked Japanese shipping off Leizhou Peninsula, Guangdong, China. ww2dbase [Leizhou, Guangdong | CPC]

• Marcel Albert, flying a Yak-3 fighter, shot down a Bf 109 aircraft southeast of Stallupönen, Ostpreußen, Germany (now Nesterov, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia). ww2dbase [Marcel Albert | Stallupönen, Ostpreußen | CPC]
• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against the ordnance storage facility at Bielefeld, Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | RAF Thurleigh | Bielefeld | DS]

• USS Corregidor was assigned to Escort Division 64, a hunter-killer group, while at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Corregidor | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• Shinano completed bow repairs at Yokosuka, Japan. ww2dbase [Shinano | Yokosuka Naval Arsenal | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]

• USS Ticonderoga departed Eniwetok, Marshall islands for Ulithi, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Ticonderoga | Eniwetok | DS]

• USS Rock sank Japanese tanker Takasago Maru No. 7 with three torpedoes in the South China Sea. ww2dbase [Rock | South China Sea | CPC]
• USS Kingfish sank Japanese landing ship No. 138 in the Pacific Ocean about 20 miles north of Iwo Jima, Japan with 2 of 3 torpedoes fired. She also fired three torpedoes at another vessel, but all torpedoes from that volley missed their target. ww2dbase [Kingfish | CPC]

• USS Marcus Island launched 12 aircraft to attack and shared the credit for the sinkings of Kinu and Uranami in the Vasayan Sea in the Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Marcus Island | CPC]
• Nachi refueled from oiler Nichiei Maru at Coron, Palawan, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Nachi | Coron, Palawan | CPC]
• Landing ship No. 102 was sunk by US aircraft west of Negros, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]

• Kirill Meretskov was made a Marshal of the Soviet Union. ww2dbase [Kirill Meretskov | CPC]

• Patrol Boat No. 102 departed Saei, Takao (Chinese: Zuoying, Kaohsiung), Taiwan at 1245 hours to escort convoy MOMA-05. ww2dbase [Stewart | Takao | CPC]

• A German V-2 rocket hit Palmers Green Station in North London, England, United Kingdom at 1845 hours; detonating next to a stationary train, it seriously injured 15 people, while 38 suffered minor injuries. Elsewhere, another rocket hit Ilford, London, killing 8, seriously injuring 15, and lightly injuring 20. ww2dbase [Vergeltungswaffe 2 | V-Weapons Campaign | London, England | CPC]
• Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, passed away at Westgate-on-Sea, Kent, England, United Kingdom. He was the last Archbishop of Canterbury to die in office and had only recently returned from visiting the Normandy battlefield - the first Archbishop of Canterbury to go into battle since medieval times. ww2dbase [Westgate-on-Sea, England | AC]
• On attachment to 68 Squadron RAF for night fighter training, First Lieutenant Sam Peebles USN and his navigator Ensign Dock Grinndal USN chased three V-1 flying bombs that went into thick cloud but, sighting a fourth, they dived to follow and got to 200 yards range at only 400 feet above the sea. "We had reached 350 mph and gave it a short burst, the engine stopped, and it exploded and shook the Mosquito a little", he put in his report. A V-1 flying bomb that had evaded the defences came down on the railway line at Palmer's Green Station in Enfield in London, England, United Kingdom, causing the line to be closed for a day and slightly injuring some railway workers. ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | Vergeltungswaffe 1 | London, England | HM]

• USS Brill was commissioned into service with Commander H. B. Dodge in command. ww2dbase [Brill | CPC]
• USS New Mexico departed Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, United States. ww2dbase [New Mexico | Puget Sound Navy Yard | Bremerton, Washington | CPC]
• After several days of amphibious exercises, destroyers USS Conway, USS Saufley, and USS Philip departed San Diego, California bound for Pearl Harbor, Hawai'i. ww2dbase [Saufley | Philip | San Diego, California | DS]
• 32-year-old WASP pilot Gertrude Tompkins Silver took off from Mines Field in Inglewood, California in a newly-manufactured North American Aviation P-51D Mustang on a ferry flight to Palm Springs. She was supposed to have taken off to the west, turn 180-degrees over Santa Monica Bay, and then overfly the airfield on an easterly course toward Palm Springs but neither she nor the airplane were never seen again after taking off. Gertrude Tompkins remains the only WASP pilot still unaccounted for. ww2dbase [P-51 Mustang | Mines Field | WASP: Women in the WW2 US Army Air Force | Inglewood, California | DS]

26 Oct 1944 Interactive Map