13 November 1943

UNITED KINGDOM: Corvette HMCS Hespeler (ex-HMS Guildford Castle) launched Leith, Scotland.

Minesweeping trawler HMS Vatersay launched.

Frigates HMS Cranstoun and Brathwaite commissioned.

Minesweepers HMS Combatant and Chance commissioned.

Frigate HMS Thornborough launched.

Submarine HMS Vampire commissioned.

VICHY FRANCE: The Nazis stop Marshal Petain broadcasting to the nation. Unable to act as premier he goes on strike.

FRANCE: During the night of 13/14 November, RAF bombers of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group bomb two targets in southern France: six aircraft bomb the Var River railroad bridge and four hit a railroad viaduct at Antheor.

GERMANY: The USAAF Eighth Air Force's VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 130: 117 B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators hit the port area at Bremen at 1120-1145 hours; over 100 aircraft abort the mission due to weather; three B-17s and 13 B-24s are lost. Other targets hit are: eight aircraft bomb targets of opportunity on Heligoland Island in the North Sea; six hit the industrial area at Flensberg; one attacks the industrial area at Kiel; and 11 bomb miscellaneous targets of opportunity.

During the night of 13/14 November, RAF Bomber Command sends 17 Mosquitos to bomb four targets: seven hit the Vereinigte Stahl armaments factory at Bochum; five attack Berlin; and one each bomb Bremen and Emden.

U.S.S.R.: Having captured Zhitomir, the Soviets begin moving north toward Korosten.

ITALY: While the British 8th Army continues its advance, capturing Atessa; General Clark advises Alexander that the US 5th Army's attacks should be halted.

In the U.S. Fifth Army's VI Corps area, the 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division, scales Hill 640 but is forced off. Hills 640 and 769 must be cleared before the advance on Acquafondata can be continued.

Northwest African Tactical Bomber Force light bombers hit Palena and Atina and later bomb Civitavecchia harbor and a road west of Terracina. USAAF Twelfth Air Force's XII Air Support Command fighter-bombers, along with RAF Desert Air Force airplanes, bomb Giulianova harbor and shipping, roads leading to the battle zone, and landing grounds of Aquino, Frosinone, and Marcigliana; fighters hit train and trucks in the Pescara-Rieti area.

GREECE: Aegean: British escort destroyer HMS Dulverton (L 63) is in the Aegean north of Rhodes looking for landing forces when she is hit by an Hs.293 glider bomb launched from a German Do.217 aircraft off Kos. The glider bomb struck HMS Dulverton abreast the bridge, inflicting serious damage and starting extensive fires. The destroyer sustained heavy casualties, but her consorts take off six officers and 114 ratings before she is scuttled two hours later by escort destroyer HMS Belvoir (L 32). Three officers, including Captain of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla, and 75 ratings are lost with HMS Dulvarton. Same location as Rockwood entry above. (Alex Gordon & Jack McKillop)(108)

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: The British escort destroyer HMS Dulverton (L 63) is sunk by a Henschel Hs 293A glider bomb from a German Do.217 aircraft off Kos Island in the Dodecanese Islands. The glider bomb struck HMS Dulverton abreast the bridge, inflicting serious damage and starting extensive fires. The destroyer sustained heavy casualties, but her consorts took off six officers and 114 ratings (enlisted men) before she is scuttled two hours later by the escort destroyer HMS Belvoir (L 32). Three officers, including Captain (D) of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla, and 75 ratings are lost with HMS Dulverton.

INDIA: Colonel Francis G. Brink is given responsibility for training of the GALAHAD forces, (American long range penetration group), a task previously held by Lieutenant Colonel Charles N. Hunter. On 1 January 1944, the GALAHAD Force is activated as the 5307th Composite Regiment (Provisional).

MANCHURIA: Mukden: A Red Cross official is allowed by the Japanese to make the first visit to the PoW camp. He meets only with Major Robert Peaty (British army) and the senior American officer, Major Stanley H. Hankins. Major Peaty notes that the question and answer session is "very limited". (151)(Linda Goetz Holmes)

BURMA: A single USAAF Tenth Air Force B-24 Liberator mines the Rangoon River during the night of 13/14 November.

BONIN AND VOLCANO ISLANDS: Six USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators from Guam, escorting US Navy photo aircraft over Iwo Jima and the Bonin Islands, attack shipping at Futamiko in the Bonin Islands while one B-24 from Saipan, carrying out an unsuccessful shipping search, bombs Iwo Jima Island.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: USN submarine USS Narwhal (SS-167) lands men and supplies at Paluan Bay on Mindoro Island.

EAST INDIES: In the Netherlands East Indies, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells and RAAF Beaufighters claim the sinking of a small freighter off Tanimbar Island in the Moluccas Islands.

NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, nearly 57 USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators and 62 B-25 Mitchells bomb airfields at Alexishafen and Madang in the heaviest Allied air raid on New Guinea while P-40s strafe the area. Other B-24 Liberators hit Kokenau and Timoeka, Dutch New Guinea.

CAROLINE ISLANDS: In the Palau Islands, seven USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators from Angaur Island hit oil storage on Malakal Island and attack a bridge between Malakal and Koror Islands.

ELLICE ISLAND: Japanese bombers bomb Funafuti Airfield in Funafuti Atoll destroying two aircraft on the ground.

GILBERT ISLANDS: Eighteen USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators, staging through Funafuti and Nanomea airdromes in the Ellice Islands, attack Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll, with fifty five 500-pound (227 kilogram) general purpose bombs and 126 twenty-pound (9, 1 kilogram) fragmentation bombs. One B-24 is lost to antiaircraft fire. Fires are started and they could be seen up to 60 nautical miles (111 kilometers) away. This is the first attack in preparation for the upcoming invasion.

USN land-based aircraft of Task Force 57 begin daily bombings of Japanese positions in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands. TF 57 consists of six USN land-based units: two bombing squadrons with PB4Y-1 Liberators, two patrol squadrons with PBY Catalinas, one bombing squadron with PV-1 Venturas and one photographic squadron with PB4Y-1 Liberators.

MARSHALL ISLANDS: USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Mili Aerodrome in Mili Atoll while USN PB4Y-1 Liberators fly photographic reconnaissance missions over Wotje and Maloelap Atolls.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: At 0430 hours local, Marine Night Fighter Squadron Five Hundred Thirty One [VMF(N)-531] scores its first victory when the crew of PV-1 Ventura number 54 shoots down a "Betty" bomber (Mitsubishi G4M, Navy Type 1 Attack Bomber) about 50 nautical miles (93 kilometers) southwest of Torokina Point on Bougainville Island. The standard procedure for intercepts is that the pilot has to fly within 150 to 700 feet (46 to 210 meters) to visually identify the unknown aircraft ("bogey") before opening fire; this prevents the accidental shooting down of a friendly aircraft with a malfunctioning Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) system. This Marine Squadron was commissioned 16 November1942 and is the first Marine night fighter squadron in action.

Seventeen USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators hit antiaircraft positions, dispersal areas, and runway at Bonis Airfield on the northern tip of Bougainville Island. Six B-25 Mitchells carry out a low-level raid on the airfield on Buka Island north of Bougainville. Night fighters harass the Shortland Island and Kahili Airfield in southern Bougainville and Bonis Airfields in northern Bougainville, claiming four grounded airplanes destroyed at the latter.

During the night of 13/14 November, USAAF Thirteenth Air Force P-70 crews begin heckling missions against Bonis Airfield in northern Bougainville and Kahili Airfield in southern Bougainville. Targets in the Shortland Islands are also attacked.

Marine Major General Roy Geiger becomes responsible to Admiral William F. Halsey, Commander South Pacific and Commander Third Fleet, as Vice Admiral Theodore Wilkinson, Commander of the 3rd Amphibious Force, relinquishes command. The 21st Marine Regiment begins an attack for the junction of the Numa Numa Trail with the East-West Trail to ensure the safety of airfield site.

The 129th Infantry Regiment, 37th Infantry Division arrives on Bougainville. During a heavy air attack the light cruiser USS Denver (CL-58) is hit by an aerial torpedo which knocks out all power and communications and kills 20 of her crew. The ship has to be towed away for repairs.

US B-17s strike Tarawa in the first attack in preparation for the upcoming invasion.

The Japanese submarine HIJMS I-34 is on a "Yanagi"ť mission to German-occupied France, the third Japanese Navy submarine to undertake such a mission. The Japanese code name for I-34 is "Momi" (Fir); the Germans code name her the "U-Tanne". Radio traffic between Tokyo and Berlin concerning the I-34's mission is transmitted in diplomatic code, but is intercepted and deciphered by Allied code-breakers. I-34 is carrying a cargo of raw rubber bales, tungsten, tin, quinine, medicinal opium and samples of Japanese weapons. Also aboard are Rear Admiral HIDEO Kojima and two Mitsubishi engineers. Alerted by an "Ultra" special intelligence signal, the British submarine HMS/M TAURUS (P 339) sights I-34 running on the surface at 14 knots. At 0730, six torpedoes are fired at the Japanese sub and one hits the starboard side just below her conning tower. She sinks at 100 feet (30,5 meters) about 16 nautical miles (30 kilometers) west-southwest of Penang, Malaya, in position 05.17N, 100.05E. Twenty crewmen in an after section survive the attack and manage to escape through a deck hatch. Of these, 13 are picked up by a native junk and arrive at Penang that evening, but 84 crewmembers are lost. The I-34 is the first Japanese submarine sunk by a British submarine.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Torokina :The remainder of the US 37th Division and 21st Marines lands on Bougainville.
There is continued Allied concern at the failure of Marine engineers to establish a fighter airstrip at Torokina. The knee-deep swamp conditions are to blame for the lack of progress and the snail's pace Allied advance.

At 0430 hours local, VMF(N)-531 scored its first victory when a the crew of PV-1 number 54 shot down a , Navy Type 1 Attack Bomber (Allied Code Name "Betty") about 50 miles (80.5 km) southwest of Torokina Point on Bougainville Island.

The standard procedure for intercepts was that the pilot had to fly within 150 to 700 feet (46 to 210 meters) to visually identify the unknown aircraft ("bogey") before opening fire; this prevented the accidental shooting down of a friendly aircraft with a malfunctioning IFF system.

This Marine Squadron was commissioned November 16, 1942 and this is the first Marine night fighter squadron in action.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Gasmata on New Britain Island. Later, nine B-25 Mitchells and 18 Australian Kittyhawks hit Gasmata. This begins the preinvasion bombardment of targets in west New Britain.

CANADA: Frigate HMCS Matane arrived Halifax from builder Montreal, Province of Quebec.

U.S.A.: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill into law extending the term of President Manuel Quezon of the Philippines ". . . until the expulsion of the Japanese from the Philippines."

Headquarters, USAAF issues an order redesignating Reconnaissance Squadrons as Tactical Reconnaissance Squadrons.

Submarines USS Turbot and Ulna laid down.

Destroyer escort USS Forster launched.

Frigate USS Carson City launched.

Destroyer escort USS Pride commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The milkcow U-488 took on two ill crewmembers from U-193 and U-530.