November 5th, 1943 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: An Eighth Air Force training officer arrives to assist HQ IX Fighter Command of the USAAF Ninth Air Force in setting up a comprehensive training system for fighter pilots. The training is based on the Eighth Air Force system; the Eighth Air Force and Royal Air Force (RAF) cooperate with the Ninth in instituting this program.
Frigate HMS Hotham laid down.
Frigate HMS Perim launched.
Destroyer HMS Virago commissioned.
FRANCE: The Peugeot factory at Sochaux is sabotaged by the resistance. Judged by the British Ministry of Economic Warfare as the third most important target in France, this factory makes tank turrets.
Industrial sabotage is being used with greater success than Allied bombing at the Peugeot plant which is producing war equipment on the Germans' orders. Following the RAF raid on 14 July, which proved to be as unsuccessful as it was bloody, Harry Ree, a member of Britain's clandestine Special Operations Executive, persuaded Armand Peugeot to sabotage the facilities of the plant with the help of his own engineers. The manufacturing of turrets for tanks has been interrupted indefinitely.
Over 150 USAAF Ninth Air Force B-26 Marauders bomb construction works at Mimoyecques, France; poor visibility causes one group to bomb the area SW of the primary targets; bad weather causes numerous aborts.
During the night of 5/6 November, the USAAF Eighth Air Force's. VIII Bomber Command Mission flies 122: five B-17 Flying Fortresses drop over one million leaflets over Paris, Amiens, Rouen and Caen at 1917-2005 hours.
During the night of 5/6 November, 27 RAF Bomber Command Wellingtons dropped leaflets over France.
GERMANY: ETO: 48 year old S/Sgt. David J. Cole was grounded following his participation as a tail gunner in the 5 Nov. mission to Gelsenkirchen. The former taxi driver and World War I veteran was a member of the 385th BG (H). (Skip Guidry)
8th AF fighter losses:
353th FG: Lt. Robert L. Newman, 350 FS, KIA P-47D LH* 42-7907 Hit by e/a and crashed into North Sea.
Capt. Orville A. Kinkade, 351 FS, POW P-47C YJ*K 41-6583 "Alyce" Hit by e/a and bailed out near Volkerak.
Lt. Benedict E. Kraft, 351 FS, POW P-47D YJ*Q 42-8428 Hit by e/a and bailed out near Mulhiem.
355th FG: Lt. Clark Collins, 357 FS, KIA P-47D OS*T 42-8406 "Eager Eve" Hit by Me-109s west of Schouwen. (Skip Guidry)
The USAAF Eighth Air Force's VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 121. Four targets in are hit with the loss of eight B-17s and three B-24 Liberators: In Gelsenkirchen, 232 aircraft bomb the Main marshalling yard, 49 hit the Buer synthetic oil refinery and 47 attack Nordstern synthetic oil refinery; 106 hit the marshalling yard at Munster and two aircraft bomb targets of opportunity.
During the night of 5/6 November, RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos bomb six targets: ten hit the Vereinigte Stahl armaments factory at Bochum; five hit Hannover; four attack the Rheinmetall armaments factory at Dusseldorf; three bomb Hamburg; and one each hit the Hoesch Stahl steel plant at Dortmund and the city of Heligoland.
U.S.S.R.: The Soviet advance cuts the Kiev-Zhitomir railroad and overrun the area between the lower Dniepr River and the Crimea. This gives credence to the threat to encircle Kiev.
ITALY:
The U.S. Fifth Army begins a ten day period of grueling action against lofty hills and mountains that form the German's Winter Line. Designed as a delaying position, this line is disposed in front of the main defense belt known as the Gustav Line. Fifth Army's efforts to breach the line during the next ten days are fruitless. In addition to a tenacious enemy, Fifth Army is adversely affected by terrain, rainy weather, and lack of reserves. In the British X Corps area, the 56th Division, in conjunction with left flank elements of the U.S. VI Corps, begins a battle for the Mt. Camino-Mt. la Difensa-Mt. Maggiore hill mass, concentrating on Mt. Camino. In the U.S. VI Corps area, the 3d Infantry Division begins outflanking attacks against positions commanding the Mignano Gap: as 7th Infantry Regiment columns press toward the German Mt. Ia Difensa positions, which hold out for the next ten days, elements of the 15th Infantry Regiment are sent northward over Mt. Cesima to ward Cannavinelle Hill; the 30th Infantry Regiment, upon passing through the 45th Infantry Division's zone, during the night of 5/6 November, presses west toward Mt. Rotondo.
In the British Eighth Army area, V Corps pursues the Germans northward, the 78th Division, on the coast, pushing through Vasto. The Indian 8th Division takes Tufihlo.
A single bomb is dropped on the Vatican by an unknown plane. In 1930, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini installed a railroad station in the Vatican that was intended for the private use of the pope. Today, a single bomb is dropped and explodes near the station. Many believe that this was a message from German Chancellor Adolf Hitler to Pope Pius XII to provide a reminder of how the mission of the popes so often comes into conflict with the earthly ambitions of nations and politics. (Glenn Stenberg)
The Northwest African Tactical Bomber Force bombs roads east of Atina and north of Rome, and hits vehicles moving south from Pescara. USAAF XII Air Support Command and RAF Desert Air Force fighters and fighter-bombers attack motor transport north of Vasto, bridges and roads west of Isernia, Cassino, and Atena Lucana and the town of Castrocielo.
Three USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators on a low-level raid bomb the Marittima railroad and highway bridges at Folcanara.
With the sun just rising over Torre Aningiatria, a port southeast of Naples, German bombers descend on Allied shipping. The port is of strategic importance because the Allies can unload the massive quantities of supplies they need to drive the Germans out of Italy.
Canadian seaman, Somer James' ship offers choice prey. Loaded with ammunition, the Empire Lightning is moored to a dock piled with high-octane fuel when the bombs begin to find their targets. One strikes the fuel, setting it ablaze and threatening both the Lightning and other freighters moored fore and aft. The ship could be saved only be a careful combination of dropping some of its lines and doubling others, so it can be manoeuvred away from the fire.
The captain called for volunteers. Amidst the pandemonium, only Mr. James, who was not yet 22, stepped up. He donned a heavy jacket and lifebelt and went on deck alone. With the captain shouting instructions down at him from the bridge, with fire raging alongside and with high explosives beneath his feet, he ran the length of the ship from one mooring point to another and did his best to handle the massive hemp lines alone. The entire operation lasted about three hours, but, in the end, he managed to get the ship out of harm's way, its sides scorched by fire.
Yet, he didn't stop at that. Once the Lightening was secured, he helped move a number of barges loaded with dangerous cargo that had also caught fire.
The action later won him both the British Empire Medal and the Lloyd's Medal for Bravery, an unusual double honour. While 29 other Canadian merchant sailors won the BEM for bravery during the Second World War, and some won the Lloyd's medal, none received both awards for the same event. (Will O'Neill and Dave Shirlaw)
ALBANIA: USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-25 Mitchells, escorted by USAAF Fifteenth Air Force P-38 Lightnings, hit the Berat-Kucove Airfield.
CHINA: Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell, commander of the U.S. China-Burma-India Theater of Operations, Chief of Staff to Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek, Commander of the Northern Area Combat Command (NCAC) in Burma and Deputy Commander in Chief of the South-East Asia Command (SEAC), submits a report to Chiang Kai-shek on SEAC planning and progress of preparations for an attack from Yunnan by the Chinese Yannan Force (Y-Force).
NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-26 Marauders and P-39 Airacobras hit Bogadjim Road while B-25 Mitchells attack positions northwest of Dumpu, and P-39s bomb and strafe the Madang area. P-47 Thunderbolts over Wewak encounter a force of fighters and claim about 20 shot down.
PACIFIC OCEAN: Admiral Sherman leads US naval TF 38 in an attack on Admiral Kirita's Japanese force at Rabaul. The US strikes with 107 aircraft damaging 6 cruisers and 2 destoryers for a loss of 10 planes. A second assault by B-24s also adds damage.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: Torokina: Amid fierce but sporadic fighting, US marines have established a beach-head which is 6,000 yards long and three miles deep at Cape Torokina five days after seven battalions made an amphibious assault on the uninhabited western coast of Bougainville, the largest island in the Solomons. Engineers have now begun work on an airstrip intended for bombing Rabaul, in New Britain, Japan's HQ for the South-west Pacific. The US landings - Operation Cherryblossom - were co-ordinated with diversionary Allied attacks elsewhere in the Solomons. These took the Japanese commander, General Harukichi Hayakutake, by surprise. Most of his 40,000-strong Seventeenth Army is on Bouganville's south coast.
In the zone of the 9th Marine Regiment on Bougainville Island, the Marine 3d Raider Battalion repels an attack by the Japanese 23rd Regiment against a block on a local trail, called Mission Trail. Later the Rangers and the 3d Battalion of the 9th Marine Regiment drive up Mission Trail toward its junction with the Numa Numa Trail. The Numa Numa and East-West Trails are the two main trails on Cape Torokina. There is not much of a Japanese movement on land to counter these landings because of the difficult terrain and because the Japanese feel these landings are a feint.
The first strategic Japanese response came 24 hours after the invasion as Admiral Omori's Eighth Fleet attempted to harass the US armada in Empress Augusta Bay. Omori quickly lost the light cruiser SENDAI and the destroyer HATSUKAZE, with three other warships damaged - a miscalculation that cost the admiral his command.
The 14 Antiaircraft Artillery Group move to Florida Island. (Jean Beach)
Six USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells hit a bivouac area at Kieta on the west coast of Bougainville Island and sink at least six barges between Kieta and Banin Harbor.
NEW BRITAIN: The Japanese 23rd Regiment on Bougainville counterattacks the Marines. There is not much of a Japanese movement on land to counter these landings because of the difficult terrain and because the Japanese feel these landings are a feint.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO:
For the first time since June last year US carriers have gone into action against a powerful Japanese base. Read-Admiral Frederick C. Sherman's task force TF38, with the carriers USS Saratoga and USS PRINCETON, was ordered to make a surprise attack on Rabaul today by Admiral Halsey. News had come through that a Japanese fleet of seven heavy cruisers, one light cruiser and four destroyers was on its way to Rabaul, preparatory to a major assault on US forces at Empress Augusta Bay. Halsey had to act quickly if he was to make any impression - and luck was with him today.
The carriers, shrouded in heavy cloud, were misidentified as cruisers by Japanese scout planes, and over Rabaul harbour itself the skies were clear for the US attack. Airborne Japanese fighters waited in vain for the tight formation to break up under anti-aircraft fire, and missed their chance to knock out leading bombers. The cruisers ATAGO, MAYA and MOGAMI and three destroyers were damaged. All but ten US planes returned and the carriers withdrew unscathed.
USN F6F Hellcats from Barakoma Field on Vella Lavella Island, Solomon Islands, cover Task Force 38 which launches 22 SBD Dauntlesses, 23 TBF Avengers and 52 F6Fs from the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3) and small aircraft carrier USS Princeton (CVL-23) to attack the ten Japanese cruisers and ten destroyers in the harbor at Rabaul, New Britain Island. The carrier-based aircraft severely damage four heavy cruisers, HIJMS Atago, Takao, Maya, Chikuma, and Mogami, two light cruisers, HIJMS Noshiro and Agano, and two destroyers, HIJMS Fujinami and Amagiri, at a loss of one SBD, four TBFs and five F6Fs. The Japanese lose one "Sally" bomber (Mitsubishi Ki-21, Army Type 97 Heavy Bomber) and 27 "Zeke" (Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters) and "Tony" (Kawasaki Ki-61, Army Type 3 Fighter Hien) fighters. As Japanese aircraft fly off to search for the aircraft carriers, over 90 USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators and fighters attack the wharf areas at Rabaul. Because of this attack, the Japanese Navy orders all surface warships at Rabaul to sail to Truk Atoll, Caroline Islands.
Captain Richard I. Bong shoots down two "Zeke" fighters (Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters) over Rabaul, New Britain Island. These two bring his total victories to 21.
CANADA: Frigate HMCS Cap de la Madeleine laid down Quebec City, Province of Quebec.
U.S.A.: On 21 September, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the Fulbright Resolution. Representative J.W. Fulbright (Democrat-Arkansas) called for the creation of an international organization with the power to establish and maintain a just and lasting peace. The resolution also included U.S. participation in this organization through the constitutional process. Senator Tom Connally (Democrat-Texas) introduced a similar resolution in the Senate, which passes today, with the stipulation that any treaty drafted to achieve these goals would require a two-thirds vote in the Senate.
Destroyer escorts USS Ahrens, Alexander J Luke and Robert I Paine laid down.
Destroyer USS Norman Scott commissioned.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: German submarine U-848 is sunk about 253 nautical miles (469 kilometers) west-southwest of Ascension Island in the South Atlantic in position 10.09S, 18.00W, by depth charges from two USAAF B-25 Mitchells of the 1st Composite Squadron and three USN PB4Y-1 Liberators of a detachment of USN Patrol Squadron One Hundred Seven (VB-107), both units based on Ascension Island; all 63 crewmen are lost.