November 1942
The following events occurred in November 1942:
- U.S. forces began the Matanikau Offensive on Guadalcanal.
- German Army Group A captured Alagir.[1]
- Escape from Fort Stanton: Four German sailors escaped from an internent camp at Fort Stanton, New Mexico.
- The Embassy of the Soviet Union posted a bulletin announcing that the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet had formed a committee for the investigation of war crimes committed by the Germans and their associates to the people and property of the USSR.[2]
- Strikes broke out in Haute-Savoie in protest of the Vichy government's forced recruitment of labour for Germany.[3]
- Legislative elections were held in Portugal. Since the country was a one-party state, the National Union claimed 100% of the vote.
- Born: Larry Flynt, adult magazine publisher, in Lakeville, Kentucky; Ralph Klein, politician, in Calgary, Alberta (d. 2013); Marcia Wallace, actress, in Creston, Iowa (d. 2013)
- Died: Hugo Distler, 34, German organist and composer
- Australian troops captured the village of Kokoda and the accompanying airfield.[4]
- Stars and Stripes became a daily publication, the first in U.S. Army history.[5]
- The BBC began French-language broadcasts to Canada.[6]
- German submarine U-306 was commissioned.
- Born: Shere Hite, American-born German sex educator and feminist, in St. Joseph, Missouri; Stephanie Powers, actress, in Hollywood, California; Ron Reed, baseball player, in La Porte, Indiana
- The Matanikau Offensive ended in American victory.
- German submarine U-132 was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by the explosion of the British cargo ship Hatimura, which had just been torpedoed by U-442.
- German submarines U-169 and U-416 were commissioned.
- British and American forces began Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa.
- François Darlan was in Algiers visiting his ill son when the Allied invasion began. He convinced the local Vichy authorities not to oppose the landings.[12]
- Operation Brushwood was executed as part of Torch. Forces captured Fedhala and then marched to nearby Casablanca.
- The Battle of Port Lyautey began for the city of Port Lyautey in French Morocco.
- The Naval Battle of Casablanca began. On the first day the Vichy French Navy lost the destroyers Albatros, Brestois, Boulonnais, Fougueux, Frondeur, Milan, Tornade and Tramontane as well as the cruiser Primauguet to beachings or sinkings.
- Vichy France broke off diplomatic relations with the United States.[13]
- Hitler made his annual speech in Munich on the 19th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch. Hitler claimed that Stalingrad was in German hands with only "a few small pockets" of resistance left.[14]
- Born: Angel Cordero, Jr., horse racing jockey, in Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico; Fernando Sorrentino, writer, in Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Admiral Darlan agreed to a ceasefire in French North Africa.[15]
- Oran, Algeria surrendered to the Allies.[16]
- The Battle of Port Lyautey ended when U.S. troops captured the city's fortress and local airfield.
- The incomplete French battleship Jean Bart was sunk in harbour at Casablanca by U.S. aircraft.
- After Darlan agreed to the ceasefire in North Africa, German forces launched Case Anton, the occupation of Vichy France.
- Darlan declared that the German occupation of Vichy released him from affiliation with the Vichy government. He pledged total co-operation with the Allies with the only condition that he be appointed high commissioner for French North Africa. General Eisenhower agreed.[15]
- Winston Churchill took to the podium at the Lord Mayor's Luncheon in London with news of the Allied victory at El Alamein.[17] "Now this is not the end," Churchill said. "It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."[18]
- Haiti broke off diplomatic relations with Vichy France.[13]
- British destroyer HMS Martin was sunk off Algiers by German submarine U-431.
- Japanese submarine I-15 was sunk off San Cristóbal in the Solomons by the American destroyer minesweeper USS Southard.
- The Philip Barry play Without Love premiered at the St. James Theatre on Broadway. It would be adapted into a film in 1945.
- The comedy film Road to Morocco starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour was released.
- Born: Robert F. Engle, economist, in Syracuse, New York; Hans-Rudolf Merz, politician, in Herisau, Switzerland
- The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal began.
- The Koli Point action ended in American victory.
- U.S. Congress approved the drafting of men 18 and 19 years old.[11]
- Eddie Rickenbacker and five others were rescued in the Pacific Ocean after being lost adrift at sea for three weeks. The men had stayed alive on a diet of a few oranges retrieved from their plane when it went down, some fish they'd managed to catch and a seagull that Rickenbacker had grabbed with his bare hands.[19]
- Guatemala broke off diplomatic relations with Vichy France.[13]
- German submarine U-272 sank off Hela after colliding with U-634.
- German submarine U-660 was depth charged and damaged north of Oran by British warships and had to be scuttled.
- German submarines U-360 and U-648 was commissioned.
- Died: Laura Hope Crews, 62, American actress
- Montgomery captured Tobruk, squeezing Rommel between two large advancing Allied forces.[20]
- The American light cruiser Juneau was sunk at the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. 687 men were killed in action, including the five Sullivan brothers. The Americans also lost the cruiser Atlanta and the destroyers Barton, Cushing, Laffey, Monssen and Preston, while the Japanese lost the cruiser Kinugasa and destroyers Akatsuki and Yūdachi.
- German submarine U-411 was depth charged and sunk west of Gibraltar by a Lockheed Hudson of No. 500 Squadron RAF.
- Brazil, El Salvador, Honduras and Panama broke off diplomatic relations with Vichy France.[13]
- Died: Daniel J. Callaghan, 52, United States Navy officer (killed in action during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal); Norman Scott, 53, United States Navy Rear Admiral (killed in action during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal)
- Japanese battleship Hiei was sunk by enemy vessels during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal.
- Italian cargo liner Scillin was sunk by the British submarine Sahib while transporting over 800 Allied prisoners of war from North Africa to Italy, killing almost all of them. Britain kept the cause of the sinking a secret until 1996.
- German submarines U-595 and U-605 were depth charged and sunk in the Mediterranean by British aircraft.
- German submarines U-231 and U-733 were commissioned.
- The British Eighth Army occupied Derna, Libya.[22]
- New Zealand broke off diplomatic relations with Vichy France.[13]
- German submarine U-331 surrendered after being crippled by depth charges from a Lockheed Hudson of No. 500 Squadron RAF north of Algiers. A Fairey Albacore torpedoed and sank the submarine, unaware that the crew had surrendered.
- Born: Bob Gaudio, singer, musician and record producer, in the Bronx, New York; Kang Kek Iew, Khmer Rouge leader and convicted war criminal, in Kampong Cham, French Indochina; István Rosztóczy, microbiologist, in Budapest, Hungary (d. 1993); Martin Scorsese, filmmaker, in Queens, New York
- The Soviets launched Operation Uranus, a counterattack aimed at surrounding Axis forces at Stalingrad.
- The Battle for Velikiye Luki began on the Eastern Front.
- Operation Freshman: A British airborne force landed using gliders in Norway with the intent of sabotaging a chemical plant in Telemark that the Germans could use for their atomic weapons programme. Neither of the two aircraft-glider forces were able to land near their objective and the operation ended in failure with 41 killed.
- Died: Bruno Schulz, 50, Polish writer, artist, literary critic and art teacher (shot by a Nazi)
- Operation Uranus ended in decisive Soviet victory with the German 6th Army completely encircled at Stalingrad.
- The Governor General of French West Africa agreed to accept the authority of François Darlan. This brought the strategically valuable port city of Dakar under Allied control.[28]
- German U-boat U-172 torpedoed and sank the British armed merchant ship Benlomond off the coast of Brazil. Chinese second steward Poon Lim survived and would spend 133 days adrift on a raft in the South Atlantic.
- Died: Tomitarō Horii, 52, Japanese general (drowned while attempting to canoe down the Kumusi River during the Battle of Buna–Gona); Hernando Siles Reyes, 60, 37th President of Bolivia
- Soviet forces launched Operation Mars, an offensive around the Rzhev salient near Moscow.
- The Germans began airlifting supplies to the 6th Army trapped in Stalingrad. Only 47 Ju 52 transport planes were on hand for the first day, a small fraction of what was needed. Hermann Göring ordered as many Ju 52s as possible to be requisitioned from around occupied Europe to join in the operation.[29]
- The British Special Operations Executive (SOE) in co-operation with Greek Resistance fighters executed Operation Harling, destroying the heavily-guarded Gorgopotamos viaduct.
- British submarine Utmost was sunk off Sicily by Italian motor torpedo boat Groppo.
- German submarines U-275 and U-533 were commissioned.
- Born: Rosa von Praunheim, Latvian-born German film director, author, painter and gay rights activist, in Riga
- Colombia broke off diplomatic relations with Vichy France.[13]
- Battle of Brisbane: Two nights of rioting between U.S. military personnel and Australian servicemen and civilians broke out in Brisbane, Australia.
- German submarine U-650 was commissioned.
- The romantic drama film Casablanca starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid premiered at the Hollywood Theatre in New York City.
- Born: Khalil Kalfat, scholar, short story writer and activist, in Aswan, Nubia, Egypt; Blackjack Mulligan, born Robert Jack Windham, professional wrestler, in Sweetwater, Texas
- Scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon: The French fleet in Toulon was scuttled to keep it out of the hands of German forces. 3 battleships, 7 cruisers, 15 destroyers, 12 submarines and 13 torpedo boats were among the ships scuttled.
- Venezuela broke off diplomatic relations with Vichy France.[13]
- Born: Manolo Blahnik, fashion designer, in Santa Cruz de La Palma, Canary Islands; Jimi Hendrix, rock guitarist, singer and songwriter, in Seattle, Washington (d. 1970)
- The Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire killed 492 people in Boston.
- The British troopship Nova Scotia was torpedoed and sunk in the Indian Ocean by German submarine U-177 with the loss of 858 out of 1,052 people aboard.
- Battle of Réunion: Free French Naval Forces destroyer Léopard landed 74 troops on the island of Réunion near Madagascar. The island's pro-Vichy administration was overthrown and replaced with a Free French one.
- The British destroyer Ithuriel was bombed and damaged beyond repair at Bône, Algeria by the Luftwaffe.
- The Army–Navy Game was played in Annapolis, Maryland, with Navy defeating Army 14-0. Only 13,000 spectators saw the game because of a wartime travel restriction that only allowed residents within 10 miles of Annapolis to attend.[30]
- German submarines U-199, U-232 and U-341 were commissioned.
- Born: Paul Warfield, football player, in Warren, Ohio
- Died: Toni Jo Henry, 26, American criminal and only woman ever executed in Louisiana by electric chair
References
- ↑ Williams, Mary H. (1960). Special Studies, Chronology, 1941-1945. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 62.
- ↑ "Text of Soviet Invasion Decree". ibiblio. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
- 1 2 3 Mercer, Derrik, ed. (1989). Chronicle of the 20th Century. London: Chronicle Communications Ltd. p. 575. ISBN 9-780582-039193.
- ↑ Salecker, Gene E. (2001). Fortress Against the Sun: the B-17. Da Capo Press. p. 290. ISBN 9780306817151.
- ↑ Day By Day: The Forties. New York: Facts On File, Inc. 1977. p. 247. ISBN 0-87196-375-2.
- ↑ "Chronomedia: 1942". Terra Media. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
- ↑ Davidson, Edward; Manning, Dale (1999). Chronology of World War Two. London: Cassell & Co. p. 129. ISBN 0-304-35309-4.
- ↑ Hellbeck, Jochen (2015). Stalingrad: The City that Defeated the Third Reich. PublicAffairs. p. 90. ISBN 9781610394970.
- ↑ "Joseph Stalin, Premier of the U.S.S.R. Order of the Day". ibiblio. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
- ↑ "War Diary for Saturday, 7 November 1942". Stone & Stone Second World War Books. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Polmar, Norman; Allen, Thomas B. (2012). World War II: the Encyclopedia of the War Years, 1941-1945. Dover Publications. pp. 27–28. ISBN 9780486479620.
- ↑ Stewart, William (2009). Admirals of the World: A Biographical Dictionary, 1500 to the Present. Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland & Company Inc., Publishers. p. 91. ISBN 9780786482887.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Doody, Richard. "A Timeline of Diplomatic Ruptures, Unannounced Invasions, Declarations of War, Armistices and Surrenders". The World at War. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
- ↑ "German Propaganda Archive". Calvin College. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
- 1 2 Axelrod, Alan (2008). The Real History of World War II: A New Look at the Past. New York and London: Sterling Publishing. p. 195. ISBN 9781402740909.
- ↑ Tucker, Spencer (2013). Almanac of American Military History. ABC-CLIO, LLC. p. 1652. ISBN 9781598845303.
- ↑ Yenne, Bill (2014). The Imperial Japanese Army: The Invincible Years 1941–42. Osprey Publishing. p. 304. ISBN 9781782009320.
- ↑ "The Brigtht Gleam of Victory". The Churchill Centre. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
- ↑ "Eddie Rickenbacker and Six Other People Survive a B-17 Crash and Three Weeks Lost in the Pacific Ocean". HistoryNet. June 12, 2006. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
- ↑ Kennedy, David, ed. (2007). The Library of Congress World War II Companion. Simon & Schuster. p. 536. ISBN 9781416553069.
- ↑ Martin, Robert Stanley (June 7, 2015). "Comics By the Date: August 1942 to December 1942". The Hooded Utilitarian. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
- 1 2 3 Chronology and Index of the Second World War, 1938-1945. Research Publications. 1990. p. 154. ISBN 9780887365683.
- ↑ "Events occurring on Wednesday, November 18, 1942". WW2 Timelines. 2011. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
- ↑ "Order Youths 18 Since July to Register". Brooklyn Eagle (Brooklyn). November 18, 1942. p. 1.
- ↑ "War Diary for Saturday, 21 November 1942". Stone & Stone Second World War Books. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
- ↑ Hamilton, Hope (2011). Sacrifice on the Steppe: The Italian Alpine Corps in the Stalingrad Campaign, 1942-1943. Havertown, PA: Casemate. p. 72. ISBN 9781612000022.
- ↑ Mitcham, Samuel W. (2009). The Men of Barbarossa. Philadelphia: Casemate Publishers. p. 242. ISBN 9781935149668.
- ↑ Kimball, Warren F. (1984). Churchill & Roosevelt, The Complete Correspondence Volume II: Alliance forged, November 1942-February 1944. Princeton University Press. p. 56.
- ↑ Tarrant, V.E. (1992). Stalingrad. Leo Cooper. pp. 145–146. ISBN 9780850523423.
- ↑ Tallent, Aaron (December 10, 2015). "The Army-Navy Game During World War II". Athlon Sports & Life. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
- ↑ Argyle, Christopher (1980). Chronology of World War II. Exeter Books. p. 115. ISBN 9780896730717.
- ↑ "Prime Minister Winston Churchill Broadcast". ibiblio. Retrieved February 1, 2016.