"Enemy return fire is intense and accurate ..."

MON 9 OCT 1944
Pacific
In an operation timed to precede a fast carrier task force operations against Okinawa, three heavy cruisers and six destroyers of TG 30.2 (Rear Admiral Allan E. Smith) conduct a diversionary bombardment of Japanese installations on Marcus Island. Enemy return fire is intense and accurate at the outset, with Japanese gunners repeatedly straddling U.S. ships. In related operations, Saipan-based Navy PB4Ys, on interdiction patrols in the path of TF 58 as it approaches the Ryukyus, damage Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser Sankyo Maru off Okinawa.

Special Air Task Force (STAG 1) operations continue in Southwest Pacific as four TDRs are launched against Matupi Bridge, Simpson Harbor, Rabaul. Antiaircraft fire, however, downs three of the TDRs; one is lost enroute to the target.

One company of the U.S. Army 321st Infantry is landed on Garekayo Island, north of Ngesebus, and quickly overruns the island.

In wide-ranging U.S. submarine operations against Japanese shipping in the South China Sea, Becuna (SS-319) damages tanker San Luis Maru, 12°45'N, 118°00'E; and teams with Hawkbill (SS-366) to sink merchant tanker Tokuwa Maru, 12°43'N, 118°05'E; Croaker (SS-246) sinks merchant cargo ship Shinki Maru west of Kyushu, 32°08'N, 129°51'E; Sawfish (SS-276) sinks merchant tanker Tachibana Maru at 19°33'N, 116°38'E.

Mediterranean
Destroyer Eberle (DD-430) bombards ammunition dump and buildings, later Eberle and destroyer Jouett (DD-396), and planes from light cruiser Brooklyn (CL-40), destroy several floating mines in the vicinity.

Tank landing craft LCT-459 sinks after running aground off western coast of France.