UNITED KINGDOM: US Lieutenant General Lewis H. Brereton takes command of the US Ninth Air Force.
Minesweepers HMS Persian and Pincher commissioned.
Submarine HMS Stygian launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: Grand Admiral Donitz complains that in the Atlantic "the enemy holds every trump card ... (he) knows all our secrets"
U.S.S.R.: The Russians capture Korostyshev and enter Zhitomir, west of Kiev. This is an important rail center on the last rail line available to the Germans east of the Pripet marshes.
GREECE: The Germans land units of the 22nd Infantry Division on British and Italian-held Leros Island in the Dodecanese.
ITALY: The Allied advance is at the Germans Reinhard Line. The British 56th Division is forced to withdraw from some positions on Monte Camino.
LEBANON placed under martial law by the Free French. (Glenn Stenberg)
SOLOMON ISLANDS: The Japanese withdraw the remains of their carrier groups that have been flying off land bases at Rabaul. Of 173 aircraft that arrived on October 20, 121 have been lost, most with their pilots.
PACIFIC OCEAN: Japanese submarine I-34 is sunk by HMS Taurus off Penang. (Mike Yared)(144 and 145)
CANADA:
Frigate HMCS Lasalle launched Lauzon, Province of Quebec.
Frigates HMCS Joliette launched Quebec City, Province of Quebec.
U.S.A.: President Franklin D. Roosevelt embarks on USS Iowa to go to the Allied conferences at Teheran and Cairo.
Destroyer escort USS Alger commissioned.
Large cruiser USS Guam launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-508 and US Navy Liberator aircraft (Squadron VB-103/C) engaged in a deadly duel. Both the aircraft and the boat perished. The aircraft was forced to ditch a few miles away from where the u-boat sank due to three damaged engines caused by the attack of a Ju-88 squadron.
57 men died from the u-boat. (Dave Shirlaw and Jim Richardson)