November 3rd, 1943 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: London says that Finland is an Axis power and the principle of unconditional surrender applies also to Finland. (Gene Hanson)
Escort carrier HMS Premier commissioned.
BELGIUM: During the night of 3/4 November, USAAF Eighth Air Force's VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 120: two B-17 Flying Fortresses drop 1.5+ million leaflets.
NETHERLANDS: Sixty five USAAF Ninth Air Force B-26 Marauders bomb Schiphol Airfield 7 miles (11 kilometers) west of Amsterdam.
During the night of 3/4 November, 22 RAF Bomber Command aircraft lay mines in the Frisian Islands. H2S blind-bombing equipment is used for the first time to assist the minelaying force and is an indication that a start had been made in equipping Main Force squadrons with H2S.
FRANCE: Seventy one USAAF Ninth Air Force B-26 Marauders bomb the airfield at Saint-Andre-de-L'Eure while 71 others attack Triqueville Airfield.
GERMANY: The Largest Allied
daylight air raid to date (on Wilhelmshaven). (Glenn Steinberg)
539 B-17 bombers of the USAAF, using the H2X blind-bombing device, are used.
They devastate the Wilhelmshaven naval base.
The USAAF Eighth Air Force's VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 119:566 B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators are dispatched to the Wilhemshaven port area hit the target at 1307-1335 hours; 539 bomb the target. They claim 21-3-24 Luftwaffe aircraft with the loss of seven B-17s. The mission includes 11 Pathfinders, nine using new H2X blind-bombing device (first time on a US mission) and two using H2S. This is the first Eighth Air Force blind-bombing mission in which the aiming point is completely destroyed and is also the Eighth's first 500-plane mission. Three hundred thirty three P-47 Thunderbolts and 45 P-38 Lightnings escort the bombers with the P-38s escorting the heavy bombers almost the entire trip and see their first real European Theater of Operations combat, claiming 3-5-5 Luftwaffe aircraft.
During the night of 3/4 November, RAF Bomber Command sends 589 aircraft, 344 Lancasters, 233 Halifaxes and 12 Mosquitos, to bomb Düsseldorf; 527 aircraft bomb the city with the loss of 15 aircraft. The main weight of the raid fell in the centre and south of the city with extensive damage both to housing and to industrial premises. Meanwhile, thirty eight Lancaster Mk. IIs make the first large-scale test of the G-H blind-bombing device and attempted to bomb the Mannesmann tubular-steel works on the northern outskirts of Düsseldorf while the main raid was taking place. Five had to return early and two more were lost; the equipment in 16 other aircraft failed to function leaving only 15 aircraft to bomb the factory on G-H. The device later became a most useful blind-bombing device when it was produced in sufficient numbers for a major part of Bomber Command to be fitted with it. In other raids, 58 Lancasters and Mosquitos carry out a diversionary raid on Cologne without l oss; ten Oboe Mosquitos bomb a Krupps foundry at Rheinhausen and two Mosquitos bomb Dortmund. Four other aircraft hit targets of opportunity.
Bernhard Lichtenberg, the Catholic priest imprisoned for saying public prayers for Jews, dies en-route to Dachau.
GERMANY: Flt-Lt William Reid (1921-2001), RAFVR, piloted a Lancaster bomber on a raid on Düsseldorf. The plane was attacked by a German fighter over the Netherlands and badly damaged. Reid was wounded in the head, shoulders and hands.
A second attack killed two of the crew, wounded Reid again, and knocked out the oxygen supply. He flew on to his target for 50 minutes, losing blood. His windshield was also shattered, and the bitter cold added to his troubles. He managed to fly home in a dizzy condition from bleeding. Two crew members assisted him on the flight home and the plane returned safely. (Victoria Cross)
This raid is also notable as the first by to use the radar device known as 'Gee H'.
POLAND: Five SS factories in the Lublin area are closed and the Jewish workers shot: over 17,000 are machine-gunned into prepared graves. This is "Bloody Wednesday" and marks the end of Operation Harvest Festival in which 50,000 Jews have died.
At the Majdanek concentration camp, located 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the center of Lubin, 18,000 men, women and children are shot in a single day in what the SS called the "Harvest Festival." The slaughter starts at 0700 hours when a never-ending line of naked Jews are force-marched into a huge trench dug within the Krempecki Forest near the precincts of the camp. They are ordered to lie down flat, layer upon layer, to be machine-gunned to death. At 1800 hours, petrol (gasoline) is poured over the bodies and set alight. Within the next few weeks a further 34,000 perished.
U.S.S.R.: The Soviet Army begins their offensive north of Kiev.
ITALY : In the British Eighth Army area, V Corps attacking near San Salvo, meets heavy resistance from the 16th Panzer Division. They finally breach the defensive positions.
US forces take Sessa Aurunca from the 16th Panzer Division, which is transferred to the eastern front.
In the U.S. Fifth Army's VI Corps area, the 4th Ranger Battalion crosses the Volturno River in the 45th Infantry Division zone at 1800 hours local to block Highway 6 northwest of Mignano, but is stopped short of objective. The 45th Infantry Division continues crossing the Volturno River. The rest of the 180th Infantry Regiment, upon crossing southeast of Presenzano at 2000 hours, drives northwest toward Rocca Pipirozzi. After strong artillery preparation, the 34th Infantry Division begins to cross the Volturno River during the night of 3/4 November.
The eight USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-25 Mitchell groups transferred to the Fifteenth Air Force on 1 November are transferred back to the Twelfth Air Force.
Northwest African Tactical Bomber Force aircraft hit a dump at Cupello, the railway station at Cesano, a road junction at Alfedena, the town areas of Ceprano and Palmoli, and numerous vehicles. USAAF XII Air Support Command and RAF Desert Air Force fighters and fighter-bombers attack gun positions at Cupello, landing grounds near Pescara and Ancona, the airfield at Cisterna di Latina, the Ceccano railroad yards, the town of Pozzilli, roads in the Venafro-Cassino area, and several bridges and junctions. Many of the days missions are flown in direct support of the British Eighth Army's advance.
GREECE: USAAF Fifteenth Air Force P-38 Lightnings escort USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-25 Mitchells on a raid against Araxos Airfield, 1 mile (1,6 kilometers) south of Araxos. The target is well covered and several parked airplanes are destroyed.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA:U-340 (Type VIIC) is sunk at 0430hrs near Tangier, at position 35.33N, 06.37W, by depth charges from the British sloop HMS Fleetwood, the destroyers Active and Witherington and by depth charges from a British Wellington aircraft (Sqdn. 179/R). 1 dead, 48 survivors. (Alex Gordon)
CHINA: Twenty one USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators, supported by 30 fighters, bomb the Kowloon Docks in Hong Kong; four Japanese fighters are claimed shot down. Nine B-25 Mitchells and 12 P-40s pound various targets in the Shihshow-Hwajung-Owchihkow area.
BURMA: Eight USAAF Fourteenth Air Force P-40s bomb runways and installations at Lashio.
EAST INDIES: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Boela on the northeast coast of Ceram Island, Netherlands East Indies.
NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells attack barges between Alexishafen and Bogadjim.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: The 2nd Marine Parachute Btn is withdrawn from Choiseul Island as Operation Blissful ends. The 3d Marine Division continues to improve beachhead positions on Bougainville. At 1800 hour local, the 3d Marine Regiment takes responsibility for the left flank and the 9th Marine Regiment for the right flank. A 3d Raider Battalion patrol moves to Torokina Island and makes a search for the Japanese, but finds none.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators fly light strikes against shipping (sinking one vessel) between Talasea and Cape Gloucester on New Britain Island.
PACIFIC OCEAN: In the Bismarck Sea, 19 USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators attack a convoy about 150 miles (240 kilometers) southeast of Mussau Island in the Bismarck Archipelago; the B-24 Liberators claim hits on three vessels.
GUADALCANAL: The 14th Antiaircraft Artillery Group arrive on the island. (Jean Beach)
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS: The USN battleship USS Oklahoma (BB-37), sunk at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, is refloated. The ship enters dry dock on 28 December and is decommissioned on 1 September 1944. Oklahoma is stripped of guns and superstructure, and sold 5 December 1946 for scrap. While being towed from Pearl Harbor to San Francisco, California, USA, on 17 May 1947, Oklahoma parts her tow line and sinks 540 nautical miles (1 000 kilometers) out bound from Pearl Harbor.
The Northern Attack Force (Task Force 52) completes rehearsal for Operation GALVANIC (plans for operations to capture, occupy, defend and develop bases in the Gilbert Islands and Nauru).
CANADA: Frigate HMCS Fort Erie (ex-La Tuque) laid down Levis, Province of Quebec.
In December 1917, two ships collided in Halifax, Nova Scotia, harbor. One was carrying munitions and she caught fire and exploded killing over 1,900 people immediately; within a year the figure had climbed well over 2,000. Around 9,000 more were injured, many permanently; 325 acres (132 hectares), almost all of north-end Halifax, were destroyed. The same almost happened today when a fire was accidently started aboard the U.S. freighter SS Volunteer about 0515 hours local; the ship was carrying more than 500 tons (454 metric tonnes) of light ammunition, some 2,000 drums of highly combustible magnesium, and 1,800 tons (1 633 metric tonnes) of heavy howitzer ammunition, plus depth charges and cases of dynamite, was at anchor in Bedford Basin. The ship's officers were drunk and the crew abandoned ship at 0650 hours. A Royal Canadian Navy commander and a lieutenant, an enlisted man and a fireman boarded the ship and recognizing that the fire was spreading to the holds with the munitions, worked below decks to slow down the fire and the buildup of dangerous fumes. Meanwhile, navy tugs are called and the ship is towed to a point off McNab's Island where she is scuttled on a sand bar, thus preventing another disaster. Navy firefighters contained the fire until the ship could be sunk some 12 hours after the fire first broke out. (Dave Shirlaw & Jack McKillop)
U.S.A.: The second Consolidated XB-32 has had stability problems and in an attempt to resolve this problem a Consolidated-designed 19.5 foot (5.9 m) vertical tail is added and flown today on the third XB-32, s/n 41-18336.
The first "official" flight by the prototype Grumman (Model G-51) XF7F-1 Tigercat, BuNo 03549, is made at Bethpage, Long Island, New York.
Frigate USS Moberly laid down.
Battleship Oklahoma, sunk at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, is refloated. The refloating of Oklahoma, of 27,500 tons, was a major effort. A sister in the Nevada-class, she was laid down in 1912 and commissioned in 1916, served in WWI, was modernized during the interwar period, and finally sent to Pearl Harbor as part of the Pacific Fleet. Struck by three Japanese aerial torpedoes on 7 December 1941, she listed severely then nearly capsized, coming to rest with only her starboard hull and some of her keel above water level. Most crewmen escaped to continue fighting from aboard the USS Maryland, moored close by. Some men, however, were trapped inside the hull, leading to a determined and unique effort to escape. Realizing what had happened, in total darkness and downside up, the men very slowly and desperately worked their way along into the very bottom until they got through the double bottom and could touch the inside of the actual outer plating, where they began hammering as best they could. Meantime, a civilian yard worker, Julio De Castro, heard and traced the noise, hurriedly organized a rescue party on the hull itself, alerted the trapped men that help was at hand, and after considerable and very urgent effort, the outer hull was cut open and 32 men got out. Deemed impracticable to restore to duty, her main batteries and anything else recoverable was removed. She lay as a hull until September 1944, when she was formally decommissioned. Sold for scrap postwar, on 17 May 1947 she sank while on tow.
The USN escort aircraft carrier Estero (CVE-42) is transferred to the British Royal Navy under Lend-Lease and is commissioned as HMS Premier (D 23). This is the 28th U.S. escort aircraft carrier transferred to the Royal Navy. She will be returned to U.S. custody on 12 April 1946.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-593 sank SS Mont Viso in Convoy KMS-30.