Aircraft of the USAAF Ninth Air Force's IX Troop Carrier Command carry paratroops of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division in a rehearsal of cross-channel operations. This is the first of an extended series of training exercises to be conducted prior to the Normandy invasion.

FRANCE: Five USAAF"> USAAF Eighth Air Force VIII Bomber Command B-17 Flying Fortresses fly Mission 133 dropping 980,000 leaflets over Paris, Orleans, Chartres, Rennes and Le Mans between 2015 and 2041 hours.

During the night of 18/19 November, RAF Bomber Command Wellingtons lay mines off three Bay of Biscay ports: five aircraft lay mines off Brest and four each off Lorient and St. Nazaire. Seven other aircraft drop leaflets over northern France.

NETHERLANDS: During the night of 18/19 November, three RAF Bomber Command Wellingtons lay mines off Texel Island.

The "Battle of Berlin" begins. Over the next four months, 16 major attacks are launched against the German capital, involving a total of 9,111 sorties. During this period, 492 aircraft fail to return, and 954 are damaged. Tonight, 440 Lancasters and four Mosquitos are dispatched to attack the German capital; 402 aircraft bomb the city. Few German fighters intercept the force but nine Lancasters are lost, 2.0 per cent of the force. Berlin is completely cloud-covered and both marking and bombing are carried out blindly; Bomber Command could make no assessment of the results. A major diversionary raid by 395 aircraft, 248 Halifaxes, 114 Stirlings and 33 Lancasters, is made to Mannheim and Ludwigshafen; 325 aircraft hit the targets. German fighters successfully engage the bomber force and 23 aircraft, 12 Halifaxes, nine Stirlings and two Lancasters, are lost, 5.8 per cent of the force. Cloud is present over the target area and much of the bombing is scattered. 21 people are killed, 154 injured and 7,500 bombed out. Many bombs fall outside the city and the local report lists much damage and loss at farms. This is the last major raid on the much-bombed city of Mannheim for 15 months. Other raids to five cities are made by Mosquitos eight each bomb the Krupps armaments plant at Essen and the city of Frankfurt-am-Main; six hit Aachen; two attack Groningen and one bombs Hannover.

NORWAY: The USAAF"> USAAF Eighth Air Force's VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 132: 78 B-24 Liberators hit Kjeller Airfield 10 miles (16 kilometers) east of Oslo; nine B-24s are lost. Four other aircraft bomb Rygge Airfield 2 miles (3,2 kilometers) east of Rygge.

ITALY: USAAF Twelfth Air Force medium and light bombers of the XII Air Support Command and the RAF attack a billeting area at Rivisondoli and road, railway and town area west of San Vito Chietino and at Lanciano. Defended points and gun positions along the battleline are also attacked.

YUGOSLAVIA: USAAF"> USAAF Twelfth Air Force fighter-bombers hit a ship in the Krka River, trains at the Knin marshalling yard and between Knin and Kosovo, the landing ground at Sinj, harbor and vessels at Sibenik.

USAAF Fifteenth Air Force P-38 Lightnings escort transports dropping supplies to partisans.

GREECE: Fifty USAAF"> USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses, with P-38 Lightning escort, bomb Eleusis Airfield near Athens; two aircraft are lost. P-38 Lightnings also escort USAAF Twelfth Air Force medium and light bombers of the XII Air Support Command and RAF aircraft in an attack on Larissa Airfield, 2 miles (3,2 kilometers) east of the city of Larissa.

CHINA: Twelve USAAF"> USAAF Fourteenth Air Force P-40s strafe troops and horses and sink a troop barge at Shihmen; four others, in support of Chinese forces, strafe the Tahsai ferry.

NEW GUINEA: In the Finschhafen area, the Australians send in three more tanks to replace those blocked on the main road; they encounter numerous antitank ditches.

In the air over Northeast New Guinea, over 30 USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells and B-26 Marauders hit enemy positions in the Sattelberg area; B-24 Liberators carry out a light raid on Fak Fak; and P-40s bomb Iworep.

GILBERT ISLANDS: Two USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators from the Ellice Islands bomb Tarawa Atoll.

The USN submarine USS Nautilus (SS-168) enters Tarawa lagoon in the first submarine photograph reconnaissance mission. She also obtains last minute information on weather and surf conditions, landing hazards and the results of recent bombardments. At 2159 hour, mistaking her as an enemy, the USN destroyer USS Ringgold (DD-500) fired at Nautilus, sending a 5-inch (12.7 centimetre) shell through the conning tower damaging the main induction drain. Diving as soon as the topography permitted, the boat was rigged for depth charges and the damage control party went to work. Within two hours repairs were sufficient to allow Nautilus to continue with her primary mission.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Four squadrons of USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Buka Airfield on Buka Island north of Bougainville and Kara Airfield in southwest Bougainville Island.

MARSHALL ISLANDS: Nineteen USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators from the Ellice Islands bomb Mili Atoll.

NAURU ISLAND: Carrier-based USN carrier force (Task Group 50.4) attack the island in support of the unfolding operations to capture the Gilbert Islands. Nauru Island is a 21 square kilometer (8 square mile) island in the South Pacific Ocean, located about halfway between the Gilbert and Solomon Islands. The island is rich in phosphate deposits and was occupied by the Japanese on 25 August 1942. TG 50.4 is built around the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3) with Carrier Air Group Twelve (CVG-12), small aircraft carrier USS Princeton (CVL-23) with Light Carrier Air Group Twenty Three (CVLG-23) and ten destroyers. (Jack McKillop & Massimiliano Stola)