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• Japanese troops occupied the undefended Chinese city of Changde. ww2dbase [Battle of Changde | CPC]
• USS Scorpion completed a reconnaissance mission of Farallon de Pajoras island, Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Scorpion | CPC]
• One of the ten sections of USS ABSD-1 sank at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides during assembly, killing 13. ww2dbase [ABSD-1 | CPC]
• USS Seahorse sank Japanese cargo ships Chihaya Maru and Ume Maru south of Japan; nine torpedoes were expended during this attack, seven of which hit. ww2dbase [Seahorse | CPC]
• Battleships USS Washington, USS Massachusetts, and USS South Dakota escorted by destroyers USS Nicholas, USS Fletcher, USS LaVallette, USS Jenkins, and USS Taylor rendezvoused and joined with carriers USS Essex, USS Bunker Hill, and USS Independence with battleships USS Alabama, USS Indiana, USS Tennessee, USS Maryland, and USS Colorado and cruisers USS Portland, USS Mobile, USS Santa Fe, and USS Birmingham with destroyers USS Taylor and USS Radford. Together, this task group steamed toward Nandi Bay, Fiji. ww2dbase [Portland | Massachusetts | Bunker Hill | South Dakota | Washington | Maryland | Essex | Colorado | Nicholas | DS]

• USS Card escort USS Borie suffered 27 dead in the ramming of U-256 the day before and was damaged so badly that she could not be towed. Borie was scuttled by gunfire and torpedoes from USS Barry as well as three aerial bombs from a TBF Avenger from Card. ww2dbase [TBF Avenger | Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic | Card | DS]

• The US 15th Air Force made its operational debut when 139 B-17 and B-24 bombers operating from Tunisian bases (and escorted on part of the route by P-38 Lightning aircraft) attacked the Messerschmitt subsidiary at Wiener-Neustadt in occupied Austria. The attack caused heavy damage to the plant and deprived the Luftwaffe of an estimated 250 Bf 109G-6 deliveries over the next two months. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Wiener-Neustadt, Niederdonau | AC]

• Four Japanese cruisers and six destroyers sortied out of Rabaul, New Britain to attack the US Marine invasion of Bougainville in the Solomon Islands. 75 B-25 bombers escorted by 80 P-38 fighters attacked this fleet just out of Rabaul, damaging cruiser Hajuro, damaging cruiser Myoko, sinking one submarine chaser, destroying 18 aircraft, damaging destroyer Shirasuyu, and damaging a number of smaller vessels; the Americans lost 8 B-25 and 9 P-38 aircraft in combat, plus more to be written off due to battle damage. The Japanese fleet, sailing at a reduced speed, engaged American warships at 0230 hours in Empress Augusta Bay. The Americans struck first, scattering the Japanese formation, but the Japanese were able to regroup and forced the American ships to withdraw. Though the action was inconclusive, the Japanese failed to disrupt American operations on Bougainville. 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]

• Allied troops reached the German defensive Barbara Line in Italy. ww2dbase [Advance to the Gustav Line | CPC]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Sasebo, Japan. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Sasebo, Nagasaki | CPC]

• Lim Bo Seng arrived in Malaya aboard Dutch submarine O 24. ww2dbase [Lim Bo Seng | CPC]

• USS Haddock fired 4 torpedoes on a destroyer in the Pacific Ocean and claimed to have sunk it, although no Japanese destroyer was lost in that area on that date. ww2dbase [Haddock | CPC]

• 1,870 Jews from labor camp in Szopienice, Katowice, Poland arrived at Auschwitz. 463 men and 28 women were registered into the camp; the rest were sent to the gas chambers. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Oswiecim | CPC]

2 Nov 1943 Interactive Map