Brave Italians

WED 13 OCT 1943
Italy declares war on Germany.

Pacific
Japanese planes attack four Lambu Lambu-based U.S. motor torpedo boats southwest of Choiseul; PT-boaters shoot down attacking Japanese floatplane, an event that proves "the greatest lift" to the sailors who tangle almost nightly (and heretofore largely unsuccessfully) with nocturnal enemy aircraft in that theater.

Submarine Rasher (SS-269) attacks Japanese convoy proceeding from Ambon to Kendari, sinking cargo ship Kenkoku Maru, 03°47'S, 127°41'E.

Submarine Seadragon (SS-194) attacks Kwajalein-bound Japanese ammunition ship Soya, escorted by auxiliary submarine chaser No.6 Shonan Maru, 08°50'N, 167°50'E; Seadragon damages neither enemy ship while No.6 Shonan Maru's attacks on the submarine prove equally unsuccessful.

Tug Pawnee (AT-74) tows gutted U.S. freighter John H. Couch, torpedoed by Japanese planes on 11 October 1943 off Koli Point, Guadalcanal, to a point two miles east of Koli Point, where the merchantman capsizes.

USAAF B-25 aircraft bomb Japanese shipping in Amoy, China, harbor, sinking auxiliary submarine chaser Kongo Maru.

Japanese auxiliary minesweeper Wa 101 is damaged by mine near Madoera Island, N.E.I., 07°11'S, 112°45'E.

Atlantic
TBF (VC 9) from escort carrier Card (CVE-11) sinks German submarine U-402, North Atlantic, 48°56'N, 29°41'E.

Mediterranean
Destroyer Bristol (DD-453) is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-371, 70 miles west-northwest of Bone, Algeria, 37°25'N, 06°20'E.