October 2, 1943
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology

SATURDAY, 2 OCTOBER 1943

CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): Five P-40s dive-bomb and strafe Yangtze River shipping in the Chiuchiang area. Strafing damages several small craft. HQ 51st Fighter Group transfers from Dinjan to Kunming and is reassigned from the Tenth to Fourteenth Air Force.

SOUTH PACIFIC THEATER OF OPERATIONS (Thirteenth Air Force): Six B-25s join USN dive bombers striking Hamberi Cove barge hideout near Vila.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC THEATER OF OPERATIONS (Fifth Air Force): B-25s strafe villages in the Talasea area and barges off Gasmata; B-26's bomb Hoskins Airfield; and a B-24 bombs Cape Gloucester Airfield. Thirteen B-24s from the 380th Bomb Group bomb Ambon, Japanese claim one bomber, but none are lost. Lost on a weather reconnaissance mission is B-24D Liberator 42-41066 pilot 1st Lt. Paul S. Lamos, Jr. (MIA). The 6th Troop Carrier Squadron transfers from Port Moresby to Garbutt Field with C-47s.

Australian Army: Australian forces take the town and harbor of Finschhafen and prepare to take nearby commanding positions still held by the Japanese.

"Z Force" (Z Special Unit) commandos paddle 80 km / 49.7 miles in their folboats to rendezvous with MV Krait (formally Kofuku Maru). Departing the area, they were approached by a Japanese patrol boat in the Lombok Strait but were not challenged.

In New Guinea, 9th Div seize Finschhafen and Dregerhaffen Harbor and makes contact with 22d Brig, which has moved forward from Lae. Japanese retain Sattelberg and Wareo and must be cleared.

U.S. Army: 27th Division previously authorized to plan for invasion of Nauru is notified that its mission will be to capture Makin (Butaritari).

IJA: During the night of October 2-3, roughly 9,400 Japanese withdrawal from Kolombangara. Efforts by U.S. Navy to interfere are largely ineffective.

USN: USS Kingfish (SS-234) lays mines off southern Celebes.

Tank landing ships LST-203 is damaged by grounding near Nanumea.

Japanese minesweeper W-28 is damaged by mine laid by USS Silversidess (SS-236) on June 4, 1943 off Kavieng, 02°36'S, 150°34'E.