November 4th, 1943 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: ETO: The 354th FG, destined to be the first US fighter group in the ETO or MTO to be equipped with the P-51, arrives in England by ship without aircraft. (Skip Guidry)
Frigate HMS Antigua commissioned.
ENGLISH CHANNEL: German E-boats and mines are still capable of taking a toll of coastal shipping. On the night of the 4/5 November, Channel convoy CW-221 loses three ships off Beachy Head, Sussex, England, to E-boat attack.
NORTH SEA: Ten RAF Bomber Command Sirlings lay mines in the Kattegat, the body of water between Sweden and Denmark, with the loss of four aircraft.
FRANCE: RAF Bomber Command aircraft lay mines off French ports: six lay mines off Lorient and five each lay mines off Brest and St. Nazaire.
GERMANY: U-1200, U-1201 launched.
During the night of 4/5 November, RAF Bomber Command dispatches Mosquitos to attack several targets: 15 bomb the I. G. Farben chemical plant at Leverkusen, four bomb Aachen and three hit Cologne.
ITALY: In the U.S. Fifth Army's area, British X Corps, with Mt. Massico and Mt. St. Croce hill masses under its control, prepares for assault on Mt. Camino by the 56th Division. In the U.S. VI Corps area, the 2d Battalion of 180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division, clears Rocca Pipirozzi and digs in on a ridge to the northwest; and makes contact with the 4th Ranger Battalion at Cannavinelle. The 3d Battalion of the 179th Infantry Regiment, upon crossing the Volturno River south of Venafro, attacks and captures Venafro. The 34th Infantry Division's 133d Infantry Regiment seizes St. Maria Oliveto while the 168th takes Roccaravindola.
In the British Eighth Army area, XIII Corps troops enter Isernia without opposition. V Corps takes the St. Salvo ridge, the Germans having made a general withdrawal in the area.
Full lateral communications are now in place between both Allied Armies through Isernia, Italy.
Fifteen USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb railroads between Montalto di Castro and Orbetello, between Orbetello and Talamone, and between San Vincenzo and Cecina; bomb-carrying P-38 Lightnings, escorted by others, hit a tunnel north of Terni and strafe Montalto di Castro. XII Air Support Command and RAF fighters and fighter-bombers hit trucks and trains in the Sora-Avezzano area, the airfields of Furbara and Tarquinia, and small vessels off Pescara.
During the night of 4/5 November, 42 RAF bombers of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group attack the marshalling yard at Orte.
U.S.S.R.: The Germans are forced to yield additional ground along the Dnieper River as Soviet troops press forward to its mouth opposite Kherson. Red Army units open a major offensive in the Kiev area, pushing south from the Dnieper River bridgehead and threatening the city with encirclement.
Mining tender Lieska is damaged during bomb attack in Kotka.
CHINA: The Chinese-American Composite Wing enters combat on this date. It's
B-25 Mitchells hit Amoy and Swatow successfully bombing and strafing ground troops, supply facilities, and shipping; the B-25 crews sink a Japanese cargo ship in Swatow harbor; the ship was carrying 100,000,000 Yuan in Central Reserve Bank notes. The Chinese-American Composite Wing consisted of a medium bomber group and two fighter groups consisting of four squadron each that were attached to the USAAF Fourteenth Air Force.
BURMA: The 112th Regiment, Chinese 38th Division, digs in at their current positions in northern Burma, since all efforts to advance have been futile and costly. The 2d Battalion is still short of Sharaw Ga. By this time, the 1st Battalion, directed against Yupbang Ga, is isolated by a Japanese roadblock and must be supplied by air; the 3d Battalion is pinned down at Ngajatzup, 30 miles (48 kilometers) southwest of Ningbyen.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: Vice Admiral KURITA Takeo, Commander-in-Chief Second Fleet, leads ten cruisers and ten destroyers into Rabaul, New Britain Island. These vessels seriously threaten the beachheads on Bougainville Island, Solomon Islands. Since they are sighted en route by a USN PB4Y-1 Liberator, USN Task Force 38, with land-based air cover, is ordered to mount an air strike.
The 2d Marine Parachute Battalion withdraws from Choiseul Island in Landing Craft Infantry vessels (LCIs).
Twenty three USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators strike the airfield on Buka Island located north of Bougainville.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: On New Britain Island, USAAF Fifth Air Force P-40s bomb Jacquinot Bay Aerodrome and B-24 Liberators on armed reconnaissance claim one vessel sunk north of New Britain Island.
PACIFIC OCEAN: USN submarine Silversides (SS-236) lays a minefield off New Ireland Island, Bismarck Archipelago; subsequently, a Japanese surveying ship and a transport are sunk and light cruiser HIJMS Isuzu and destroyer HIJMS Isokaze, are damaged.
USN submarines sink two Japanese ships:
- USS Tautog (SS-199) torpedoes and sinks a Japanese submarine chaser after 1100 hours in the Philippine Sea about 23 nautical miles (43 kilometers) northwest of Koror, Koror Island, Palau Islands, Caroline Islands, in position 7.34N, 134.09E.
- USS Seawolf (SS-197) sinks a 3,177 ton freighter after 2200 hours in the South China Sea about 71 nautical miles (131 kilometers) southwest of the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong in position 21.22N, 113.20E. (Skip Guidry)
U.S.A.: The War Department Operations Division recommends that current commitments to China be fulfilled; that a limited bomber offensive from China be mounted; and that only 30 Chinese divisions be trained and equipped, plus equipment for three additional divisions in order to start training of the ZEBRA Force (U.S. sponsored Chinese divisions in east China).
The motion picture "The North Star" premieres at the Palace and Victoria Theaters in New York City. Directed by Lewis Milestone, this war drama about partisans fighting in the Soviet Union stars Anne Baxter, Dana Andrews, Walter Huston, Erich von Stroheim, Farley Granger and Walter Brennan. Later re-edited and renamed "Armored Attack."
A plutonium-manufacturing plant, codenamed "X-10", opens at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Destroyer escort USS Samuel S Miles commissioned.
Minesweeper USS Lance commissioned.
Destroyer HMCS Buxton (ex-HMS Buxton) commissioned as training ship. Built by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp. Ltd., Squantum, Maine as USS Edwards. 1,190 tons, 314.25x30.75x9.25ft, 28kts, crew 10/143, 4-4in, 12-21in TT (4xIII) Laid down - 20 Apr 1918, Launched - 10 Oct 1918, Completed - 24 Apr 1919, commissioned HMS Buxton 8 Oct 40.
Destroyer USS Lofberg laid down.
Destroyer escorts USS Conklin and Corbesier laid down.
Destroyer escort USS Osmus launched.