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• A combined German sea and airborne attack began on the British-held Greek island of Leros. ww2dbase [Dodecanese Campaign | TH]
• Soviet troops captured Zhytomyr, Ukraine. ww2dbase [TH]
• Karl Dönitz complained in his diary that Allied air superiority and radar was severely restricting his ability to conduct campaigns. ww2dbase [Karl Dönitz | CPC]

• Admiral Mineichi Koga ordered the remaining Carrier Division 1 aircraft at Rabaul, New Britain to be withdrawn to Truk, Caroline Islands. After the departure of Carrier Division 1, Vice Admiral Jinichi Kusaka noted that 11th Air Fleet had the strength of only 202 aircraft, only 110 of which were combat-ready. ww2dbase [Mineichi Koga | Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• At 0400 hours, 9 G4M and 5 B5N aircraft attacked a convoy of LST and converted destroyer-transport vessels in the Solomon Islands, sinking destroyer-transport USS McKean but also losing 4 B5N aircraft in combat. 1 G4M and 1 B5N aircraft suffered heavy damage but were able to return to Rabaul, New Britain. In the late morning, 10 D3A and 55 A6M aircraft, also from Rabaul, attacked an American convoy in the Solomon Islands. 10 Japanese aircraft were shot down; minimal damage was inflicted to the American vessels. ww2dbase [Solomon Islands Campaign | CPC]

• Patrick Hurley met with Chiang Kaishek. ww2dbase [Chiang Kaishek | CPC]

• USS Harder sank damaged a Japanese armed trawler (hitting her with 1 of 3 torpedoes) and then sank it with gunfire in the Pacific Ocean. ww2dbase [Harder | CPC]

• USS Honolulu shifted from Mare Island Naval Shipyard to San Francisco, California. ww2dbase [Honolulu | San Francisco, California | DS]

12 Nov 1943 Interactive Map