ALGERIA: The presidents of the General Councils of Oran, Algiers and Constantine denounce French Admiral Jean-Francois Darlan, High Commissioner for French North Africa, for acting under the authority of Marshal Henri-Philippe Petain, Head of the Vichy French State. The Presidents express their opinion that in doing so the Admiral has shown that he has fulfilled none of the conditions which would allow him to assume the powers of an independent and legal government.

USAAF Twelfth Air Force fighters patrol the Oran-Nouvion-Tafaraoui area, and fly sea patrol off Oran and destroy several aircraft and attack ground targets in the vicinity of Gabes, Tunisia.

TUNISIA: The British First Army is ordered to advance on Tunis, with Tebourba and Mateur as first objectives. The main body of Combat Command B, U.S. 1st Armored Division, begins a move from Tafaraoui, Algeria, to Tunisia; forward elements (1st Battalion of 1st Armored Regiment) arrive at BC)dja and are attached to Blade Force.

USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses, with P-38 Lightning escort, are dispatched against the harbor at Bizerte but must abort because of bad weather.

The front is quiet generally as General Bernard Montgomery, General Officer Commanding Eighth Army, plans an assault on the El Agheila bottleneck. The British army forces must be regrouped and supplies and reinforcements amassed.

USAAF Ninth Air Force P-40s patrol over the Bengasi and Derna areas.

BURMA: Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell, Commander in Chief US China-Burma-India Theater of Operations, Chief of Staff to Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek, and Commander in Chief Northern Area Combat Command (NCAC) is informed by the U.S. War Department that little more aid, aside from existing commitments, can be provided for the northern Burma offensive.

NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, the Japanese continue to repel efforts of the Australian 25th Brigade, 7th Division, to take Gona. The 3d Battalion of the 126th Infantry Regiment, U.S. 32d Infantry Division, pushes on toward Sanananda: Two Australian companies join Company L in a battle for the food dump on the right; on the left, Companies I and K reach a clearing west of Killerton trail, some 1,200 yards (1 097 meters) north of the original starting point, but are driven back into a swamp by Japanese infiltrators. The Urbana Force launches a co-ordinated assault on the Triangle at 1428 hours after ineffective air and a brief mortar preparation. While Company F of the 126th Infantry Regiment makes a frontal assault in which Company H of the 128th Infantry Regiment joins, Company E of the 126th Infantry Regiment takes over the left flank positions along the Entrance Creek and Companies E and G of the 128th Infantry Regiment attack on the right flank. The attack, although carefully planned, is a failure. The Warren Force front along coast is quiet.

In Papua New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs, B-25 Mitchells, B-26 Marauders, B-17 Flying Fortresses, P-40s, and P-39and P-400s Airacobras, hit Sanananda Point, the Buna area, the Sanananda-Soputa trail south of Sanananda, and the area between Cape Killerton and Sanananda Point as Allied forces launch a ground assault on The Triangle; the attack is repelled by fierce resistance. USAAF B-17s and B-25s and RAAF Beaufighters sink Japanese destroyer HIJMS Hayashio in Huon Gulf between Lae and Finschafen and damage torpedo boats Otori and Hiyodori east of Lae.

Search aircraft over the Buin, Bougainville Island area report a large number of destroyers and cargo vessels in the harbor. By this date elements of the Americal Division have pushed along the N coast of Guadalcanal Island to a position S of Point Cruz where they wait until a general offensive can be prepared following the arrival of reinforcements. Throughout these operations P-39Airacobras have continually hit ground positions and troops all along the coast, flying as many as 11 strikes on some days.