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• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Rabaul. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | CPC]
• Alois Brunner declared Vienna, Austria Judenfrei, "Free of Jews". ww2dbase [Alois Brunner | CPC]
• The Soviet Union eliminated the Political Commissar position from the army, leaving only one military commander in each of its units. ww2dbase [TH]
• US Marine Fighter Squadron 121 and the rear echelon of the 2nd Marine Regiment of the US 2nd Marine Division arrived at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Guadalcanal Campaign | CPC]
• Galeazzo Ciano noted in his diary that Italian intelligence had learned that the Allies were planning on invading North Africa, and it concerned him as a successful Allied campaign there would put Italy in danger. ww2dbase [Operation Torch | CPC]
• USS Nicholas departed Nouméa, New Caledonia escorting a convoy of United States Army troops bound for Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Nicholas | DS]

• The British submarine HMS Unique parted company with her escort off the Scilly Isles southwest of the Cornish peninsula of England, United Kingdom. From that moment nothing more was heard from her. ww2dbase [HM]
• Leonardo da Vinci sighted an aircraft in the Atlantic Ocean at 1702 hours and submerged for cover. ww2dbase [Leonardo da Vinci | CPC]

• B-17 Flying Fortress bombers attacked Rabaul, New Britain at 0400 hours, causing little damage. ww2dbase [Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• USAAF 57th Fighter Group achieved its first aerial victory when six P-40F fighters of 64th Fighter Squadron, escorting 18 Boston bombers en route to El Daba, Egypt, was attacked by German Bf 109 fighters, and one of the German fighters was shot down by 1st Lieutenant William J. Mount. ww2dbase [CPC]

• USS Whale departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, starting her first war patrol. ww2dbase [Whale | Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | CPC]

• US 164th Infantry Regiment set sail from Nouméa, New Caledonia for Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Nouméa | CPC]

• USAAF 4th Antisubmarine Squadron departed Edinburgh Field in Trinidad. ww2dbase [Carlsen Field | Chaguanas | CPC]
• 180 miles west of Dasol Bay, Luzon, Philippines, submarine USS Spearfish detected a Japanese convoy of three merchant ships and one escort. Spearfish fired three torpedoes at the 7,000-ton cargo ship Tottori Maru, but lookouts aboard the freighter saw the torpedo tracks and the ship turned causing the torpedoes to pass behind her. This miss turned out to be a good thing because the Tottori Maru had aboard 31 American officer prisoners-of-war and 1,930 enlisted prisoners from POW camps at Cabanatuan on Luzon and Malabalay on Mindanao. Some of these prisoners were survivors of the “Bataan Death March” and some were captured on Corregidor. ww2dbase [Spearfish | South China Sea | DS]

• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group launched their first bombing mission from RAF Thurleigh. The group sent 24 B-17 Fortresses to join other B-17s and B-24s to form the first US 100-plane raid of the war. The target was Lille, France. The 306th lost no planes. ww2dbase [RAF Thurleigh | Thurleigh, England | DS]

9 Oct 1942 Interactive Map