8 November 1943

UNITED KINGDOM: The decision had been taken today to form the No. 100 Group of the RAF. Its role, under Bomber Command, will be to wage the radio counter-measures war against the German air defences and so reduce bomber casualties. Under Air Vice-Marshal E. B. Addison's command, it will be located at airfields in northern Norfolk, its squadrons being mainly equipped with Halifaxes and Mosquitoes.

FRANCE: The USAAF Eighth Air Force's VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 125: Two B-17 Flying Fortresses drop 312,000 leaflets over Paris at 0038-0042 hours.

GERMANY: Munich: Hitler visited Munich for his annual Beerkellar speech and promised the German people that he would retaliate for the "terror bombing" of the Reich by Britain. "Even if for the present we cannot reach America," he said, "thank God that at least one country is near enough for us to tackle, and on that country we are going to concentrate. The hundreds of thousands of our bombed-out people will become the advance guard of revenge." He appealed to the German people not to lose their nerve and crack. He denounced "scoundrels" who wished for peace.

During the night of 8/9 November, Oboe equipped RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos bomb two targets: three each hit Cologne and the Vereinigte Stahl steel factory at Duisburg.

U-1230 launched.

U-721 commissioned.

ITALY: The battles in the US 5th Army sector continue with no success on either side. The British 8th Army reaches the Sangro River high up in the hills.

British General Harold Alexander, Commander in Chief 15th Army Group, orders the U.S. Fifth Army to plan for an amphibious operation on the west coast.

In the U.S. Fifth Army's British X Corps area, the 56th Division withstands strong counterattacks at Calabritto and seizes a hill to the northeast. In the U.S. VI Corps area, the 7th Infantry Regiment of the 3d Infantry Division is still unable to scale Mt. la Difensa, but the 3d Battalion of 15th Infantry Regiment takes Hill 253 and the 3d Battalion of 30th Infantry Regiment reaches the top of Mt. Rotondo. The 45th Infantry Division continues to fight for the mountains north of Venafro and Pozzilli. The 3d Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment, opens an assault on the hills between Pozzilli and Filignano. The 34th Infantry Division’s Task Force A takes Montaquila.

In the British Eighth Army's V Corps area, the 78th Division gains the heights overlooking the Sangro River from its mouth to Paglieta.

Weather cancels all XII Air Support Command missions except fighter patrols. Northwest African Tactical Bomber Force aircraft and RAF Desert Air Force fighters fly only six missions, hitting gun positions along the battleline, vehicles west of the Sangro River, and trains at Civitanova and Pescara.

Eighty USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb the Turin ball bearing factory, marshalling yard, and nearby motor and aircraft engine works with the loss of one aircraft. P-38 Lightnings provide escort as far north as Imperia.

During the night of 8/9 November, 12 RAF aircraft of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group bomb the railroad bridge at Ombrone.

CHINA: Two USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb Kiungshan Airfield, scoring direct hits on two hangars and six P-40s attack Hsiangyangchiao bridge, causing little damage.

BURMA: Five USAAF Tenth Air Force B-24 Liberators lay mines in the Rangoon River during the night of 8/9 November.

NEW GUINEA: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators hit Utarom (Kaimana) Aerodrome.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators on armed reconnaissance bomb Garowe Island in the Vitu Islands.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Major Gen Alexander Vandegrift, Commanding General I Marine Amphibious Corps pending arrival of Major General Roy S. Geiger, reaches Bougainville and takes command of operations there and on the Treasury Islands.

Advance elements of the 37th Infantry Division, Regimental Combat Team 148, also arrive to take over the left flank of the beachhead and are attached to 3d Marine Division. The Battle of Koromokina Lagoon ends as the 1st Battalion of the 21st Marine Regiment, after extremely effective preparatory fire, attacks and eliminates subdued remnants of the Japanese counterlanding force.

On Bougainville Island, 22 USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Bonis Airfield on the northern tip of the island. Six B-25 Mitchells hit targets of opportunity at the month of the Laruma River and northwest of Torokina while six others bomb Kieta on the west coast.

Japanese Navy aircraft, 26 "Val" dive bombers (Aichi D3A, Navy Type Carrier Bombers) and 71 "Zeke" fighters (Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters) attack U.S. ships off Cape Torokina, Bougainville, at 1200 hours damaging light cruiser USS Birmingham (CL-62) and two attack transports USS Fuller (APA-7) and USS President Jackson. USAAF Thirteenth Air Force P-38 Lightnings and P-40s shoot down eight "Vals" and seven "Zekes" between 1200 and 1230 hours.

U.S.A.: Destroyer escorts USS Abercrombie, Coates, Frybarger, Oberrender, Sargent Bay, Vandivier, Wagner laid down.

Destroyer escorts USS Howard F Clark and Silverstein launched.

Escort carrier USS Kitkun Bay launched.

Destroyer escorts USS Reynolds and Manlove commissioned.

The USN escort aircraft carrier Niantic (CVE-46) is transferred to the British Royal Navy under Lend-Lease and commissioned HMS Ranee (D 03). This is the 29th CVE transferred to the British under Lend-Lease. She is returned to the USN on 21 November 1946.