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• US warships bombarded of Iwo Jima in the Bonin Islands. ww2dbase [TH]
• SB2C Helldiver aircraft saw combat for the first time in the Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [SB2C Helldiver | CPC]
• USS Cero damaged a small Japanese boat southeast of Japan with her deck gun. ww2dbase [Cero | CPC]
• U-23 completed her twelfth war patrol. ww2dbase [U-23 | CPC]
• Battleships USS Washington, USS Indiana, USS South Dakota, and USS Massachusetts escorted by destroyers USS Nicholas, USS Fletcher, USS LaVallette, USS Jenkins, USS Taylor, and USS Radford departed Nandi Bay, Fiji bound for the Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Nicholas | Indiana | Massachusetts | South Dakota | Washington | DS]

• In the morning, 276 US Navy carrier aircraft (78 from USS Saratoga, 29 from USS Princeton, 69 from USS Bunker Hill, 75 from USS Essex, and 25 from USS Independence), 23 land-based US Navy F4U-1 fighters, 1 squadron of land-based US Navy F6F fighters, and 23 US Army Air Forces B-24 bombers attacked Rabaul, New Britain. While the USAAF bombers did minimal damage on Lakunai airfield, the US Navy aircraft were able to sink destroyer Suzunami (148 killed including commanding officer Captain Masao Kamiyama), damage destroyer Naganami, and damage two other destroyers. 11 Japanese aircraft were lost in this engagement. The Americans lost 4 TBF and 5 F6F aircraft in combat; 1 TBF, 2 SB2C, and 4 F6F written off due to extensive damage; and 30 aircraft lightly damaged. In response to the attack, the Japanese launched 23 D3A, 14 B5N, 4 D4Y, and 33 A6M aircraft (32 Japanese Army fighters were also launched but they lost their way) to attack the American carrier fleet; they shot down 6 US aircraft at the cost of 33 aircraft lost (including famed pilot Lieutenant Masao Sato). ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 3 | Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• While covering LSTs at the landing beaches at Torokina, Bougainville, destroyer USS Saufley was directed to a reported Navy F6F-3 Hellcat fighter (BuNo 26158) making a water landing off Empress Augusta Bay. Saufley recovered Ensign Frank J. Stalfa of Fighting Squadron VF-33 flying from Segi Point, New Georgia. ww2dbase [Saufley | Bougainville, Solomon Islands | DS]

• Shokaku departed Truk, Caroline Islands for Yokosuka, Japan. ww2dbase [Shokaku | Truk | CPC]

• Theresienstadt Concentration Camp commandant Anton Burger ordered the 40,000 prisoners of the camp to stand at attention outdoors in freezing weather; about 300 prisoners died from hypothermia. ww2dbase [Theresienstadt Concentration Camp | Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Terezín, Cechy | CPC]

• Patrol Boat No. 102 was attacked by an unidentified submarine at 0145 hours but was not damaged. She arrived at Balikpapan, Dutch East Indies at 1845 hours. ww2dbase [Stewart | Balikpapan, Borneo | CPC]

• USS Alabama departed Fiji in support of the Gilbert Islands operation. ww2dbase [Alabama | CPC]

• Martial law was proclaimed in Lebanon following the arrest of the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and two other Ministers. ww2dbase [AC]

• USS Bluefish sank a Japanese patrol boat with her deck gun in the Sulu Sea. ww2dbase [Bluefish | Sulu Sea | CPC]

• Liebehenschel became the new commandant of Auschwitz Concentration Camp as his predecessor, Höss, was promoted to become the chief inspector of concentration camps. A report dated on this date noted that the total number of prisoners in Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camps and all subcamps was 54,673 men and 33,179 women, for the total of 87,852 prisoners. ww2dbase [Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Oswiecim | CPC]

• Kamoi arrived at Penang, British Malaya. ww2dbase [Kamoi | Penang | CPC]

11 Nov 1943 Interactive Map