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1931   (SUNDAY) 

UNITED STATES: Secretary of State Henry Stimson protests to the Japanese government. He is disturbed that their commitments of the League resolution of 30 September, i.e., the Japanese intention of withdrawal of its troops as rapidly as possible and disclaimer of territorial designs in Manchuria, are not being carried out.

1933   (WEDNESDAY) 

UNITED STATES: Secretary of War George H. Dern approves the report of an Army board chaired by Major General Hugh A. Drum, Deputy Chief of Staff US Army, which recommends establishment of a General Headquarters Air Force (GHQAF). The Drum Board recommends that the General Headquarters Air Force be equipped with more than 1,000 aircraft that can be used in combat. Air Corps aircraft not assigned to General Headquarters Air Force would be used for garrison duty, Army observation, and training.

1934   (THURSDAY) 

CANADA: A pro-fascist demonstration takes place at the Monument National, a four story building on St-Laurent Boulevard in Montreal, Quebec. The Monument National houses three halls.

1935   (FRIDAY) 

SWITZERLAND: The representatives of 51 countries vote in the League of Nations Assembly to impose trade sanctions on Italy under Article XVI of the League of Nations Covenant. The sanctions will go into effect in November 1935, unless Italian forces evacuate Ethiopian territory. This action is ineffective due to a very lenient position of France and the U.K. and open support by Germany.

1937   (MONDAY) 

HUNGARY: The Agrarian Party joins with the Legitimists to form a new political bloc for the restoration of the Hapsburg monarchy as the best means to block fascist elements in Hungary. Even the Social Democrats consider a Hapsburg restoration as a viable option to stop the National Socialists.

October 11th, 1939 (WEDNESDAY)

Scotland: A Pacifist candidate draws 1,060 votes at the Clackmannan and East Stirling by-election.

Westminster: The war secretary, Leslie Hore-Belisha, says 158,000 BEF troops are now in France.

The RAF announces the Empire Air Training Scheme, which provides for training of aircrew throughout Commonwealth countries. By the end of the war some 88,000 aircrew will be trained in the U.K. and the Empire.

U.S. freighter SS Sundance is detained at London by British authorities; freighter SS Black Tern is detained at Weymouth; and freighter Black Gull, which has been detained by the British since 6 October, is released.

Corvette HMS Clematis laid down.

FRANCE:

Edouard Daladier today formally rejected Hitler's peace proposals. Thus a man who won the Croix de Guerre and the Legion d'Honneur in the Great War becomes his country's leader in what is now being called the Second World War.
Short and broad, Daladier exudes determination and courage. He has been called a Jacobin, with a passion for national defence. He was born in Carpentras in 1884 and entered national politics after the war when he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies as a Radical Socialist. He later became a minister in six different governments before becoming Prime Minister for the first time on the same day that Hitler became Chancellor in 1933.

GERMANY:

Berlin: A false radio report of the British government's fall and declaration of an armistice leads to open rejoicing.

FINLAND:

The rest of the field army is called for 'extraordinary manoeuvres'. The Defence Forces are now being fully mobilized. The Finnish negotiator Juho Paasikivi, together with the military expert Colonel Aladar Paasonen, arrive at Moscow.

CANADA: Examination vessel HMCS Andree Dupre commissioned in Halifax. 285GRT/96nrt 5.0x23.7x12.8ft T3cy 12¾"21½"35"x24" 62nhp 500ihp 11k by Beauchemin and Cie, Sorel Province of Quebec, completed by The Transportation and Shipping Co Ltd, Sorel, Province of Quebec, renamed Naploeon L.; registered 1921 #138460 Napoleon L.; 1926 sold to The Sincennes McNaughton Line Ltd, Montreal, Province of Quebec, renamed Andree Dupre; 1928 transferred to Sin-Mac Lines Ltd, Montreal, Province of Quebec; 1934 transferred to Sincennes McNaughton Tugs Ltd, Montreal, Province of Quebec; 1935 sold to Manseau Shipyards Ltd, Sorel, Province of Quebec; 1937 sold to Marine Industries Ltd, Montreal, Province of Quebec; 1940-45 WW.II RCN as HMCS Andree Dupre Examination Vessel; 1945 sold to France renamed Remorqueur 16, of Port Autonome de Bordeaux; renamed 1956 Remorqueur 18.

Gate vessel HMCS Viernoe. Former fishing Vessel Viernoe #137002, of The National Sea C/S "VGNW". Built Selby, UK. Launched 1914, 273 tons, 130.3x22x12.5ft, 9kts, crew 4/28, 1-12pdr. Ex-WW I HMS Viernoe. Post WW.II, sold mercantile service, broken up 1954.

Patrol vessel HMCS MacDonald commissioned. Assigned duty with RCAF. Built by Morton Engineering and Drydock Ltd. Quebec City, Province of Quebec. 210/36, 113x21x10.3ft, 10kts, twin screw, diesel, crew 4/23, 1-12pdr, 1-.303mg. Ex-RCMP, C/S "CGPF" Post WW.II, 1946 to Dept of Fisheries, renamed Howay, sold 1956, last noted 2001 owned by John Pelletreau of the ARSBC, used as a houseboat in Vancouver, British Columbia.

U.S.A.:

Washington: President Roosevelt today ordered American scientists to investigate the feasibility of building an "atomic bomb". A group of refugee European scientists is concerned that its German colleagues might use atomic energy to provide Hitler with a weapon with unimagined destructive power. It was Albert Einstein who persuaded a banker friend of Roosevelt, Alexander Sachs, to warn the US president of the possibility of an atomic bomb. "What you're after", the president said, "is to see the Nazis don't blow us up." Then he called an aide and said: "This requires action."

     President Roosevelt writes to President Mikhail I. Kalinin of the Soviet Union his hope that "the Soviet Union will make no demands on Finland which are inconsistent with the maintenance and development of amicable and peaceful relations between the two countries, and the independence of each."

Passenger liner SS Iroquois arrives safely in New York City from Cobh, Eire, with 566 passengers, having been accompanied for three days by Coast Guard cutter USCGC Campbell and destroyers USS Davis (DD-395) and USS Benham (DD-397) after the Germans had indicated it might be sunk (see 4 October). SS Iroquois is acquired by the USN on 22 July 1940, is converted to a hospital ship and commissioned as USS Solace (AH-5) on 9 August 1941. The ship is in Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attack on 7 December 1941.

The American Federation of Labor (AFL) declares its opposition to U.S. involvement in World War II. This stance is in line with the thinking of the majority of Americans and to show its impartiality, the union chooses to begin a boycott of German, Japanese and Russian goods.

Jazz great Coleman Hawkins records the jazz classic "Body and Soul", for Bluebird Records.

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October 11th, 1940 (FRIDAY)

Battle of Britain:

The weather is mainly fair apart from showers in the coastal areas. Fog develops during the night. Raids during daylight are again mainly confined to the South and South-East coasts, where bombs are dropped on several towns causing damage to utility services and to house and shop property. Many unsuccessful attempts are made to penetrate to the London areas, but the Luftwaffe, largely composed of fighter aircraft, only succeed in dropping a few bombs on the Southern outskirts of London. The usual night attack on London is heaviest between 1940 hours and 2300 hours;  altogether soon after midnight. Some further damage is done to railways and public utilities, and a few fires occur, but factories escape damage and casualties, except for an incident at Leyton, are small. At Leyton, high explosive bombs fall at 1953 hours; a bus is hit and wrecked, property is damaged, and a 24-inch (61 centimeter) water main is fractured. Casualties amount to approximately 30 killed and 20 injured. Other districts visited during the night include Southampton, Portsmouth, towns in Dorset, Berkshire, Surrey, Kent and Norfolk, and parts of Scotland, but damage is all of a minor category. A new type of incendiary bomb is reported from Barnes. It is slightly larger than the usual 1 kilogram (2.2 pound) type, and an explosion takes place after the usual burning period. RAF Fighter Command claims 8-4-1 German aircraft; the RAF loses nine aircraft with three pilots lost.

In New York City, Glenn Miller and his Orchestra record "Make Believe Ballroom Time" for Bluebird Records at the Victor Studios in New York City. This song becomes the theme song for the radio program "Make Believe Ballroom" on radio station WNEW ("Eleven three oh in New York"), in New York City. The show is hosted by Martin Block, America's first disc jockey.Block creates the aura of doing a "live" radio program, complete with performers (on records) like Harry James or Frank Sinatra, from the 'Crystal Studios' at WNEW. His daily program was known to everyone who grew up in the New York City metropolitan area in the 1940s and 1950s (I'll attest to that). Miller had been so taken with the show's concept that he actually paid for the "Make Believe Ballroom Time" recording session himself and hired the Modernaires to join in.

The motion picture "Down Argentine Way" is released today. Directed by Irving Cummings, this musical comedy stars Don Ameche, Betty Grable, Carmen Miranda, Charlotte Greenwood, J. Carrol Naish and the Nicholas Brothers. The plot has American woman Grable (in the movie that boosted her to stardom) on vacation in Argentina and falling for Argentinean horse breeder Ameche. This was Carmen Miranda's first American movie. The film is nominated for a best music and two technical Academy Awards.  

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-48 sank SS Port Gisborne and Brandanger in Convoy HX-77.

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October 11th, 1941 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyer HMS Albrighton launched.

GERMANY: Berlin: Don't listen to foreign broadcasts the German people are warned today by Goebbels. He is reported by Berlin Radio to have said: "It is not a question of being afraid to here what they say. It is simply a preventative measure. Germs are treacherous enemies, even of a healthy people." One result, he adds, is too much grumbling.

U-470, U-668 laid down.

U-439 launched.

U-209 commissioned.

U.S.S.R.: Kaluga falls to the Germans in their advance on Moscow. Bryansk is evacuated by the Russians as the German pincers contract.

     Rumors of an impending capture of Moscow by the German Army cause thousands of civilians to flee the city.

Archangel: PQ-1, the first convoy bringing much-needed supplies to help the Russian war effort here, arrived today. It sailed from Hvalfjord in Iceland on 28 September escorted by the cruiser HMS Suffolk, two destroyers and an anti-submarine group. Depending on the ice conditions, convoys using this route may have to travel up to 2,000 miles, frequently on stormy seas and in freezing temperatures.

Convoys on this route have to take an oil tanker along with them to fuel the escorts. This means working to a complicated schedule so that the tankers can return safely with the westbound convoys which will be designated QP. Efforts were made to establish a refuelling base for the route on the Norwegian island of Spitzbergen.

Rear-Admiral Philip Vian took two cruisers and two destroyers there on 27 July, but he found it too exposed to German  air attack to be safe as a port of call.

The second PQ convoy is due to leave next week. By the time it arrives here the winter freeze will have begun. The Russians are hoping to keep the port open throughout the winter, but the Allies are nervous of risking valuable ships sailing hazardously through the narrow channels in the ice. They may have to divert to Murmansk.

Soviet submarine SC-322 reported missing. All hands lost.

CANADA: Corvettes HMS Nanaimo and Lethbridge departed as close escort for the Sydney, Nova Scotia to Liverpool 31-ship convoy SC-49 as far as Iceland. Both ships were Flower-class corvettes. SC-49 arrived safely in Liverpool, on 27 Oct 41.

U.S.A.: President Franklin D. Roosevelt privately proposed to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill that the countries pool their resources and research facilities to develop an atomic bomb.

Les Brown and his Orchestra's record of "Joltin' Joe DiMaggio" with vocal by Betty Bonney makes it to the Billboard Pop Singles chart. This is the first of his records to make the charts and it stays there for 3 weeks and rises to Number 16.

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October 11th, 1942 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Submarine ORP Dzik (ex-HMS P-52) launched.

NETHERLANDS: During the day, one RAF Bomber Command Mosquito bombs a chemical plant at Sluiskil.

     During the night of 11/12 October, nine RAF Bomber Command aircraft lay mines in the Frisian Islands.

FRANCE: During the night of 11/12 October, five each RAF Bomber Command aircraft lay mines off Lorient and St. Nazaire.

DENMARK: During the night of 11/12 October, nine RAF Bomber Command aircraft lay mines in the Little Belt, the strait between Fyn Island and the mainland of Denmark connecting the Kattegat with the Baltic Sea.

GERMANY: During the day, RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos bomb two targets: three bomb Hannover with the loss of two aircraft and one bombs Emden.

     During the night of 11/12 October, RAF Bomber Command aircraft lay mines off four areas: 14 aircraft lay mines in the Heligoland Bight, six in the Kattegat, five in the Kiel Area and three off Swinemunde.

U.S.S.R.: A lull in the fighting around Stalingrad is the first in almost two months, as both sides seek reinforcements.

Pacific Fleet: Submarine "L-16" is sunk by Japanese "I-25", close to Cape Shumshu, approximately 500 miles west of Seattle, Washington, USA. All 50 aboard are killed. L-16 left Petropavlovsk with L-15 to join the Northern Fleet on 26 September 1942. The two submarines intended to sail through Dutch Harbor and San Francisco to the Panama Canal. The crew of L-15 witnessed the sinking. (Sergey Anisimov and Dave Shirlaw)(69)
Polar Fleet and White Sea Flotilla: Shipping loss. SKR "Musson" (ex-RT-54 "Sudak") - mined in Matochkin Shar strait. (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

ITALY: Heinrich Himmler, Reichsfuhrer-SS, head of the Gestapo, flies to Rome to visit Italian dictator BenitoMussolini. The German government is very worried about the health of Mussolini. Himmler's visit is to assess Mussolini's health and the state of Fascism in Italy. Himmler later reports back to German Chancellor Adolf Hitler that if Mussolini remains alive, then so will the Fascist state.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24s attack a convoy hitting one vessel and claiming one fighter shot down.

NEW GUINEA: On the Kododa Track in Papua New Guinea, Australian troops of the 2/33rd Battalion are ordered to take Templeton’s Crossing but they are unable to dislodge the Japanese.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: A Japanese transport force (Rear Admiral Joshima Koji), formed around seaplane carriers HIJMS Chitose and HIJMS Nisshin and six destroyers, reaches Tassafaronga, Guadalcanal, to disembark elements of the Japanese Army's 2d Infantry Division. Three heavy cruisers and two destroyers (Rear Admiral Goto Aritomo, his flag in heavy cruiser HIJMS Aoba) are to provide cover by shelling Henderson Field.

USAAF B-17s sight the cruisers and destroyers bearing down on Guadalcanal Island in the afternoon. USN Task Force 64 (Rear Admiral Norman Scott) consisting of the heavy cruisers USS Salt Lake City (CA-25) and USS San Francisco (CA-38), light cruisers USS Helena (CL-50) and USS Boise (CL-47) and five destroyers has been formed to thwart the "Tokyo Express," a steady flow of Japanese vessels maintaining reinforcement and re-supply to Guadalcanal.

 At about 1615 hour local, the ships commenced a run northward from Rennel Island, to intercept an enemy force of two cruisers and six destroyers reported heading for Guadalcanal from the Buin-Faisi area.

The force continued north, to approach Savo Island from the southwest.

By 2330 hours, when the ships were approximately 6 miles (9.66 km) northwest of Savo, they turned to make a further search of the area.

A few minutes after setting the new course, radar indicates unidentified ships to the west, several thousand yards distant.

At about 2345, the Battle of Cape Esperance began.

Search planes were ordered launched from the cruisers, but in the process of launching, USS Salt Lake City's plane caught fire as flares ignited in the cockpit. The plane crashed close to the ship and the pilot managed to get free. He later found safety on a nearby island. The brilliant fire was seen in the darkness by the Japanese flag officers, who assumed that it was a signal flare from the landing force which they were sent to protect. The Japanese flagship answered with blinker light, and receiving no reply, continued to signal.

The American force formed a battle line at right angles to the Japanese T-formation (crossed the T), and thus were able to enfilade the enemy ships. The American cruisers opened fire and continued scoring hits for a full 7 minutes before the confused Japanese realized what was taking place. They had believed that, by error, their own forces were taking them under fire. 

When the Japanese warships replied, their fire was too little and too late. The action was over in half an hour.

The Americans sink heavy cruiser HIJMS Furutaka and destroyer HIJMS Fubuki and cripple heavy cruisers HIJMS Aoba and HIJMS Kinugasa; one destroyer of the five-ship force escapes damage.

After the battle, more than 100 of Fubuki's survivors refuse to be rescued from shark-infested waters and are forcibly pulled onto two American ships. Among the Japanese dead is squadron commander Rear Admiral Aritomo Goto.

USS Salt Lake City sustained three major hits during the action; USS Boise was severely crippled, but managed to rejoin the group under her own power; and the destroyer USS Duncan (DD-485) was left gutted off Savo Island. The ships formed up and steamed to Espiritu Santo. (John Nicholas and Jack McKillop)

During the day, the Japanese Navy initiates a two-part air attack against Guadalcanal which is interecepted by 39 USMC F4F Wildcats and 12 USAAF P-39 and P-400 Airacobras. The first attack is by 17 "Zeke" fighters (Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters) which are not intercepted. The second part of the attack, which is forced to a low altitude by clouds, consists of 18 "Betty" bombers (Mitsubishi G4M, Navy Type 1 Attack Bombers) and 30 "Zeke" fighters. The Japanese second force is intercepted and the Marine Wildcat pilots shoot down nine "Bettys" and two "Zekes" and the USAAF Airacobra pilots shoot down two "Bettys." U.S. loses are one Wildcat and one Airacobra.

PACIFIC OCEAN: Japanese submarine HIJMS I-25, homeward bound from her deployment off the U.S. West Coast, torpedoes and sinks Russian submarine L 16 500 miles west of Seattle en route from Dutch Harbor, Alaska, to San Francisco, California. All 50 aboard were killed. L-16 left Petropavlovsk with L-15 to join the Northern Fleet on 26 September 1942. The two submarines intended to sail through Dutch Harbor, San Francisco to the Panama Canal. The crew of L-15 witnessed the sinking.  (Jack McKillop and Dave Shirlaw)

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC OCEAN: USN submarine USS Searaven (SS-196) torpedoes a German blockade runner in the Sunda Strait, Netherlands East Indies.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: Japanese-held Kiska Island is hit by 3 bombing and strafing missions flown by 10 B-24 Liberators and 3 B-17 Flying Fortresses of the Eleventh Air Force; the B-17s make no contact; the B-24s blast harbor targets and Main Camp.

AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS Kapunda commissioned.

CANADA: Battle of the St. Lawrence - The Newfoundland-registered pulpwood bulk carrier Waterton (2,140 GRT) is torpedoed and sunk by U-106, KptLt Hermann Rasch, Knight's Cross, CO, in the Cabot Strait, in position 47.07N, 059.54W.

Waterton had been part of the Cornerbrook, Newfoundland, to Sydney, Nova Scotia, convoy BS-31.

There was no loss of life in this incident.

Henry Asbjorn Larsen 1899-1964 sails the RCMP patrol vessel St Roch into Halifax after making the first west-to-east crossing of the NW Passage; one of his eight-man crew had died of a heart attack in the Arctic as the wooden sailing schooner with an auxiliary engine spent the winter in the ice less than 80 km from the North Magnetic Pole. The St. Roch was built in North Vancouver in 1928. A wooden schooner with sail and auxiliary engine, she left Vancouver in the summer of 1940, took the southerly route through the Arctic islands, and spent two winters trapped in the ice; she was the second ship to sail the Passage, after Amundsen's Gjoa in 1908. She returned to Vancouver July-Oct. 1944 by the northerly Lancaster Sound route, and today you can see her berthed in Vancouver's Maritime Museum.

U.S.A.: Destroyer USS Foote launched.

ATLANTIC OCEAN:

U-589 sank SS Musson.

U-615 sank SS El Lago in Convoy ONS-136.

U-87 sank SS Agapenor.

SS Caribou, passenger steamship enroute from North Sydney, Nova Scotia to Port aux Basques, Newfoundland was torpedoed by U-69, KptLt Jost Metzler, Knights Cross, CO, in the Cabot Strait. Minesweeper HMCS Grandmere attacked with depth charges but with no result. Of the 237 persons aboard Caribou, only 104 survived and were rescued by Grandmere.

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October 11th, 1943 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Corvette HMCS Mimico (ex-HMS Bullrush) launched Sunderland. Built by John Crown and Sons Ltd. Revised Flower Class (Increased Endurance) 970 tons, 208.3x33x11ft 16kts, crew 6/79,1-4in, 1-2pdr, 2-20mm, hedgehog. Renamed Sep 43. Post WW.II, sold 1950, renamed Olympic Victor, whale catcher, sold 1956, renamed Otori Maru No 12; 1962 renamed Kyo Maru No 25. Last noted 1977-78.

GERMANY: U-821 is commissioned.

POLAND: The last train of deportees to be gassed at Sobibor arrives at the camp.

U.S.S.R.: Novobelitsa on the outskirts of Gomel is liberated by the Soviets.

ITALY: The British V and XIII Corps are now in the line of the 8th Army. They pause while Montgomery finishes his reorganization plans.

In the British Eighth Army area, a gap is developing between the 78th Division on the Adriatic coast and the Canadian 1st Division, and General Bernard Montgomery, General Officer Commanding Eighth Army, regroups the units: Corps, with 78th Division and Indian 8th Division under command, is given responsibility for the right flank; XIII Corps is to advance on a two division front, employing the Canadian 1st and British 5th Divisions; the New Zealand 2nd Division, which is to concentrate in the Taranto area by mid-November, is to be held in army reserve.

     USAAF XII Air Support Command and Northwest Tactical Bomber Force operations are cancelled or aborted due to weather, but RAF Desert Air Force fighters hit trains, trucks, and gun positions near Montesilvano and Vasto.

     During the night of 11/12 October, 52 RAF Bomber of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group hit the Coast Road at Terricina.

GREECE: On the Greek island of Corfu in the Ionian Sea, USAAF XII Bomber Command B-25 Mitchells bomb Garitsa Airfield while P-38 Lightnings hit a vessel in Corfu harbor.

YUGOSLAVIA: Partisans battle to within 23 miles (37.0 km) of Belgrade and raid Zagreb, Croatia's capital.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: XII Bomber Command B-25 Mitchells bomb Garitsa Airfield, Greece and P-38s hit a vessel in the Corfu harbor on Corfu Island. In Italy, XII Air Support Command and Northwest Tactical Bomber Force operations are cancelled or aborted due to weather, but RAF Desert Air Force fighters hit trains, trucks, and gun positions near Montesilvano and Vasto.

Minesweeper HMS Hythe (J 194) is torpedoed and sunk by U-371 off Bougie at 37 04N 05 00E. (Alex Gordon)(108)

Submarine HMS Usurper is believed to have been mined in the Gulf of Genoa. All hands lost.

CHINA: USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb the town area of Tengchung.

BURMA: USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb the town areas of Sadon and Myitkyina.

JAPAN: The submarine USS Wahoo (SS-238) is sunk in La Perouse Strait off the coast of Hokkaido with its ace skipper, Commander Dudley "Mush the Magnificent" Morton. During five patrols, Morton and Wahoo sank 19 ships. 

Japanese records reported that, on 11 October, the date USS Wahoo was due to exit through La Perouse Strait, an antisubmarine aircraft found a surfaced submarine and attacked, dropping three depth charges sinking the sub. USS Wahoo was announced overdue on 2 December 1943 and stricken from the Navy list on 6 December 1943. [On 11 October 1943, the commander of a Japanese shore battery over looking Soya Strait reported sighting and firing on a surfaced submarine. A number of hits were claimed before the submarine dived and an aircraft from Ominato was sent to the spot. At 0920 hours, the plane detected an oil patch and the shadow of a conning tower and bombs were dropped on this shape. The aircraft radioed for assistance and circled until other planes arrived. A submarine was positively identified and more bombs were dropped until surface ships, including HIJMS Submarine Chasers 15 and 43 arrived. These, and other ships, dropped depth charges. HIJMS Submarine Chaser 15 reported part of a ship's propeller thrown to the surface by an underwater explosion. More aircraft and HIJMS Auxiliary Minesweeper 18 arrived, but nothing more of the submarine was seen.]

EAST INDIES: During the night of 11/12 October, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb Cape Chater and Lautem Airfields on Dutch Timor Island in the Netherlands East Indies.

NEW GUINEA: Over Northeast New Guinea, Colonel Neal Kearby, Commanding Officer 348th Fighter Group, Fifth Air Force, shoots down six Japanese fighters, four "Zekes" (Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters) and two "Tonys" (Kawasaki Army Type 3 Fighter Hien) near Wewak, Northeast New Guina. He is awarded the Medal of Honor for this action.

     In Dutch New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators attack Manokwari, Bira, and Fakfak and score hits on a small vessel at Fakfak.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Twenty two Thirteenth Air Force B-24s join 30 SBD Dauntlesses and 22 TBF Avengers in bombing Kahili Airfield on Bougainville Island and the nearby area. Hits are scored on the airstrip, fuel dumps, supply areas, gun positions, bridges between Rangu and Jakohina, barges at the mouth of the Uguima River, and several other targets. USAAF P-40 and USMC F4U Corsair pilots claim 11 Japanese aircraft shot down during the day.

Japanese aircraft attack U.S. shipping off Koli Point, Guadalcanal, torpedoing two merchant freighters.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC: Colonel Neal Kearby, a Fifth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolt fighter pilot, shoots down six Japanese fighters, 4 "Zekes" (Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters) and 2 "Tonys" (Kawasaki Army Type 3 Fighter Hien) near Wewak, New Guinea and is awarded the Medal of Honor for this action. The citation for the medal reads, "For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy, Colonel Kearby volunteered to lead a flight of 4 fighters to reconnoiter the strongly defended enemy base at Wewak. Having observed enemy installations and reinforcements at 4 airfields, and secured important tactical information, he saw an enemy fighter below him, made a diving attack and shot it down in flames. The small formation then sighted approximately 12 enemy bombers accompanied by 36 fighters. Although his mission had been completed, his fuel was running low, and the numerical odds were 12 to 1, he gave the signal to attack. Diving into the midst of the enemy airplanes he shot down 3 in quick succession. Observing 1 of his comrades with 2 enemy fighters in pursuit, he destroyed both enemy aircraft. The enemy broke off in large numbers to make a multiple attack on his airplane but despite his peril he made one more pass before seeking cloud protection. Coming into the clear, he called his flight together and led them to a friendly base. Colonel Kearby brought down 6 enemy aircraft in this action, undertaken with superb daring after his mission was completed." Kearby shoots down his 22nd Japanese aircraft on 5 March 1944 but dies of injuries sustained while bailing out of his crippled fighter.

Other Fifth Air Force activity in New Guinea has B-24s attacking the towns of Manokwari, Bira, and Fak Fak and score hits on a small vessel at Fak Fak. During the night of 11/12 October, B-25s bomb Cape Chater Airfield and Lautem on Timor Island.

CANADA: Frigate HMCS Buckingham (ex-Royalmount) is laid down in Lauzon, Province of Quebec.

U.S.A.: Baseball!

Destroyer USS Collett is laid down.

Destroyer escorts USS McAnn and USS Tisdale are commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-616 sinks HM LCT 553.

U-532 sinks SS Jalabala.