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• The US 15th Air Force was formed commanded by Major General James H. Doolittle with its headquarters in Tunis, Tunisia. ww2dbase [James Doolittle | AC]
• The town of Ota in Gunma Prefecture, Japan absorbed the nearby town of Shimanogo. ww2dbase [CPC]
• USS Scorpion began a reconnaissance mission of Farallon de Pajoras island, Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Scorpion | CPC]
• Lieutenant General Brehon Somervell received a report from front line engineers in Burma which requested more men and machinery but warned of unforeseen obstacles could significantly delay the project. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Chinese troops mounted a small offensive in northern Burma, but this attack would achieve little. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Light carrier Ryuho departed Sama (now Sanya), Hainan, China. ww2dbase [Ryuho | CPC]
• U-821 was assigned to the 24th Submarine Flotilla. ww2dbase [U-821 | CPC]
• USS Bailey departed Wellington, New Zealand bound for Efate, New Hebrides. ww2dbase [Bailey | DS]

• After aircraft from USS Card broke up a rendezvous of German submarines in the mid-Atlantic the day before and sank two, Card detached one of her escorts, USS Borie, to hunt for the remaining submarine(s) by night. Borie reported attacking and sinking one submarine shortly after midnight but U-256 is only damaged. Then just before dawn, Borie shelled, depth charged, and rammed submarine U-405. U-405 sank with all 49 hands. ww2dbase [Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic | Card | DS]

• Per Admiral Mineichi Koga's orders, Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa transferred 150 aircraft of Carrier Division 1 temporarily to the airfields at Rabaul, New Britain. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 3 | Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]
• A Japanese patrol found a group of Australian and native coast watchers on New Britain. Sergeant Lambert Carlson was killed, Captain John Murphy was captured, and the others escaped. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 3 | New Britain | CPC]

• Men of the US 3rd Marine Division landed at Torokina Point on the northern coast of Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville, Solomon Islands; the beach was defended only by a small 300-strong garrison, but the effective Japanese defense surprised the attackers. In response of the invasion, Japanese aircraft from Rabaul, New Britain, attacked the US fleet, damaging destroyer USS Wadsworth (killing 2), but at the heavy cost of 16 A6M fighters lost. The Japanese dispatched a counter-invasion force consisted of Cruiser Division 4 (Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita) and transports carrying thousands of troops; the fleet was en route to Rabaul when it was detected by a B-24 Liberator bomber (Lieutenant Robert Sylvernale) while heading toward the western approach of Saint George's Channel between New Britain and New Ireland. ww2dbase [Solomon Islands Campaign | Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville | TH, CPC]
• USS Saratoga launched two sorties against Japanese positions on Bougainville, Solomon Islands in support of the landings. ww2dbase [Saratoga | CPC]
• USS Princeton launched two sorties against Japanese positions on Bougainville, Solomon Islands in support of the landings. ww2dbase [Princeton | CPC]

• Lieutenant-General Philip Christison's XV (Indian) Corps comprising 5th and 7th Indian Divisions and the 81st (West African) Division, which had arrived in India in Aug 1943, assumed responsibility for the operational control of Arakan, Burma. ww2dbase [Arakan | AC]

• Naka departed Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Naka | Truk | CPC]

• Patrol Boat No. 102 arrived at Balikpapan, Dutch East Indies at 1855 hours. ww2dbase [Stewart | Balikpapan, Borneo | CPC]

• After two weeks of training exercises in Hawaiian waters, submarine USS Thresher departed Pearl Harbor on her tenth war patrol. ww2dbase [Thresher | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | DS]

• The pro-Allied government in southern Italy established Brigata Marina naval infantry unit, drawing men from both the army and the navy. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Nachi arrived at Ominato Guard District, Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. ww2dbase [Nachi | Mutsu, Aomori | CPC]
• The keel of landing ship No. 149 was laid down by Hitachi Zosen. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]
• Kamikaze completed convoy escort duty as the convoy arrived at Kataoka Bay, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. ww2dbase [Kamikaze | Kataoka, Hokkaido | CPC]

• USS Haddock fired 6 torpedoes on a convoy in the Pacific Ocean; she claimed having sunk cable layer Tateishi and trawler Kitagami Maru with a total of 4 hits, but both ships actually survived the attack. ww2dbase [Haddock | CPC]

• Martin Gottfried Weiss was named the commandant of Majdanek Concentration Camp in occupied Poland, succeeding Max Koegel. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Majdanek Concentration Camp | Martin Gottfried Weiss | Lublin | CPC]

• German troops in the Crimea were cut off by land as Soviet troops made a landing across the Strait of Kerch in Russia. ww2dbase [Krym | TH]
• Allied convoy RA-54A departed the Kola Inlet near Murmansk, Russia. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Murmansk | CPC]
• At a dinner at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Joseph Stalin told Cordell Hull that the Soviet Union would be willing to engage Japan in a war after Germany was defeated. ww2dbase [Joseph Stalin | Kremlin and Red Square | Moscow | CPC]

• USS Luce departed Bremerton, Washington, United States. ww2dbase [Luce | Bremerton, Washington | CPC]

1 Nov 1943 Interactive Map