May 8, 1943:
- The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff approved the recommendations contained in the Strategic Plan for the Defeat of Japan, with the objective of the unconditional surrender of the Japanese Empire.
- Three Japanese destroyers were sunk on the same day. The Kagerō was bombed and sunk southwest of Rendova by American aircraft; the Kuroshio struck a mine and sank near Kolombangara in the Solomon Islands; and the Oyashio was disabled by a mine and then sunk by aircraft near Kolombangara.