November 1 Saturday
ASIA: The Japanese Cabinet conference reaffirms that diplomacy has failed and Japan must go to war. The Japanese Combined Fleet Order No. 1 - the plan for the attack on Pearl Harbor, Malaya and the Dutch East Indies is issued. It also called for additional radio communications to be generated to make US cryptanalytic efforts more difficult. The Japanese Navy changes all their call signs for its ships and shore installations.
Zhao Chengshou, a Nationalist Party of China general from Wutai County, Shanxi, began to distance himself from the Japanese and the Chinese collaborators.
IJN aircraft carrier "
Akagi" departed Ariake Bay, but returned the same day.
Japanese Navy Captain Gihachi Takayanagi (former commanding officer of battleship "
Ise") relieved Rear Admiral Shutoku Miyazato as the Chief Equipping Officer of Battleship No. 1, as Miyazato was being transferred to become the Chief of Personnel for Kure Naval District.
The "North China Political Affairs Committee" enforced the 3rd Public Security Enforcement Movement.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: American PBY Catalina aircraft provided air cover for Atlantic convoy ON 30.
Three US destroyers, screening Atlantic convoy HX 157, carried out depth charge attacks on sound contacts off St. John's, Newfoundland.
German submarine U-68 sank British ship "
Bradford City" 300 miles off German South-West Africa at 0654 hours; all 45 aboard survived in 2 lifeboats. U-68 accidentally collided with the sinking ship but did not suffer serious damage.
EASTERN FRONT: Moscow was becoming a fortress. By November three new defensive lines were taking shape: along the Outer Railway Ring, and along the lines of the ancient concentric fortifications of Moscow, the Garden Ring and the Boulevard Ring in the very centre of the city. The buildings at each street corner were turned into fortified machine-gun nests. Machine guns and anti-tank detachments were positioned behind bricked-up windows and on balconies. Although the city transport was working again, many of the vehicles had been commandeered for military purposes. The buses on line No. 21 were taking reinforcements out along the Volokolamsk Highway as far as Krasnogorsk, only ten miles from the front itself. Other buses were being used as ambulances. Trams travelled, nose to tail, carrying volunteers, with guns, boxes of ammunition and field kitchens on their platforms. The back of each tram carried a white stripe, so that the driver of the following tram could see it in the dark; but the blackout was broken anyway by the flashes from the overhead lines. Zhukov confers with Stalin about situation in front of Moscow and likely German intentions. Stalin appoints Marshal Shaposhnikov Chief of Staff of the Soviet forces. By the end of November, 65,000 men defend Moscow with the bulk of that force consisting of people's militia and destroyer detachments.
Troops of the German 11.Armee captured Simferopol, Russia. Von Manstein's 11.Armee lacks enough tanks and air support to take Sevastopol by storm, so they fan out to surround and besiege the city. To the southwest in Sevastopol, Soviet 30th coastal battery (called Fort Maxim Gorky I by the Germans) bombarded the German 132.Infanterie-Division (Generalleutnant Rudolf Sintzenich) as they assemble at 1230 hours between Alma railway station and Bazarchik village. Planned German attack on Soviet 8th Naval Brigade is broken up by 68 rounds from the 305mm guns. The 1.Panzerarmee opens a major offensive against Rostov. The plan calls for the attack to take the Germans into the Caucasus Mountains.
The Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front has accumulated 686,000 casualties and is now fielding 2.7 million men on the front. Though German intelligence had the Red Army at a strength of 160 divisions and 40 brigades below 50%, in reality they were fielding 269 divisions and 65 brigades, plus the Stavka reserves totaling 2.2 million men.
Lt. Friedrich-Karl Müller is appointed
Staffelkapitän of 1./JG 53.
"Modern war is a war of motors. The war will be won by the one who produces the most motors. The combined motor production of the USA, Britain and USSR is at least three times that of Germany" - Joseph Stalin
GERMANY: A formal statement from Adolf Hitler claimed that the United States "has attacked Germany" and that Roosevelt had been placed before the "tribunal" for world judgment. Germany disputed the American account of the sinking of the "
Reuben James" and claimed that a German submarine only attacked after American destroyers attacked German submarines first.
General der Gebirgstruppe Rudolf Konrad was named the commanding officer of the German 7th Mountain Division. Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein was made the commanding officer of the 9th Staffel in the German Nachtjagdgeschwader 2.
Reinhard Heydrich sends out invitations for a meeting to be held to organize "a comprehensive solution for the Jewish question". This conference was originally scheduled to be held on December 9th, 1941 at 16 Am Kleinen Wannsee but was changed on December 4th to an SD guest house at 56-58 Am Grossen Wannsee.
RAF Bomber Command sends 134 aircraft to attack Kiel overnight.
MEDITERRANEAN: Italy begins the conversion of the passenger liner SS "
Roma" into the first Italian aircraft carrier, later named "
Aquila" ("Eagle"). The conversion will halt in an incomplete state when Italy surrenders to the Allies in September 1943 and will never be finished.
By November 1941, the garrison at Malta now boasted 30,000 men with first class equipment, 80 Hurricanes and 105 assorted bombers (Wellingtons, Blenheims, Marylands, Swordfish and Albacores). Ack Ack defences consisted of 1400 guns. The Island also had a sufficient food supplies for the next five months. Malta had endured 350 bombing raids. Over 2500 houses had been destroyed or seriously damaged. 340 people had been killed and another 680 injured – only the Island's rock shelters had prevented greater casualties. Throughout the summer of 1941, the Italian air force had employed every type of bomb in their attempt to conquer Malta. At 0132 hours four Axis bombers approached the island. Three crossed the coast and dropped bombs on Lazaretto Creek, Manoel and Valletta. One Cant 1007 was engaged by a Hurricane just before being illuminated by searchlights, burst into flames and was destroyed. A direct hit was made on the Manoel Island AA position killing five members of 7th Heavy AA Regiment, Royal Artillery. During the raids a large number of anti-personnel bombs were dropped. Civilian casualties 2 wounded, 4 killed.
MIDDLE EAST: British 9th Army formed under General Wilson in Palestine, Transjordan, Syria, and Lebanon.
NORTH AMERICA: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8929 which placed the U.S. Coast Guard under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Navy for the duration of the national emergency.
US Marine Corps established the 2nd Joint Training Force at Camp Elliot, California, United States under Major General Clayton B. Vogel. It was composed of the US Marine Corps 2nd Marine Division and the US Army 3rd Infantry Division.
War Department reluctantly opens a secret language school at Crissey Field under the 4th Army at the Presidio of San Francisco, with four Nisei instructors and 60 students, 58 of which are Nisei. This was the first class of the Military Intelligence Language School. Military Intelligence Service (MIS). On May 1, 1942, the 4th Army Language School held a small graduation ceremony for about 40 Nisei and two Caucasian reserve officers. Ten students were held back to serve as instructors. The rest were on their way within days to serve in overseas assignments. Before the end of the war, the school, which was renamed the Military Intelligence Service Language School, would train over 4,800 Japanese linguists.
Arthur Compton sends draft copies of the National Academy of Sciences report to Vannevar Bush and Frank Jewett which clearly defines the possibility of creating a bomb out of U-235. Dunning and Booth have made considerable progress in developing a gaseous diffusion process by using brass barriers with the zinc etched out making the material porous. With this process they were able to enrich a considerable amount of uranium. Compton issues the final NAS report, highlighting the importance of conducting further research on the feasibility of a U-235 bomb. The report is delivered to FDR by Vannevar Bush on November 27.
Robert Shivers of the FBI discovers that there is a line from the cooks quarters in the Japanese Council General's office that is not being tapped. The Navy had been tapping all other lines for the last two years. Shivers taps this one missed phone line. The Army determines that the leak in the White House has been plugged and agrees to begin giving the White House Magic information again, but by this time Roosevelt is agitated with the Army to the point that he insists that the Navy be the only service that provides him with intelligence debriefings.
The US extends a lend-lease loan of US$1 billion to the Soviet Union.
NORTHERN EUROPE: The Finnish conquest of East Karelia was completed when the last Finnish offensive commences in the Kestenga sector. The Finns encircle two Soviet regiments and destroy them. Finnish forces had taken Kiestinki (Kestenga) in August 1941, but late in the month the Finnish Infantry Regiment 53 had been encircled by the Soviet forces. The regiment finally managed to break out in early September, taking heavy losses. Finns fought together with the Germans of SS Division 'Nord', which performance had been less than stellar. The division was subordinated to Maj. Gen. Hjalmar Siilasvuo's Finnish III Army Corps (which in turn was subordinated to Gen. Falkenhorst's German Gebirgsarmee Norwegen) — apparently the only time during the whole war when an SS division fought under non-German command. In September Hitler ordered Falkenhorst to stop attempts to advance and assume defensive stance all along his army's front. However, Falkenhorst and Siilasvuo both wanted to have another go. Finnish-German forces broke into the Soviet defenses, but 88th Rifle Division (Maj. Gen. Vladimir Solovev) fought back with skill, and Soviets sent reinforcements. After initial difficulties the attack began to make good progress and the defending Red Army forces were encircled.
After sundown, the Red Army evacuated the first group, 4,230 men, of the 28,000 men from the Hanko Peninsula, Finland to Leningrad, Russia via naval vessels. Overnight, Soviet destroyers "
Slavny" and "
Stoiki" sail from island of Suursaari in the Gulf of Finland (escorted by minelayer "
Marti", 4 T-class minesweepers and 5 MO-class submarine hunters) and embark 4230 troops at Hango. On the return journey, "
Marti" and T-210 are damaged by mines while submarine "
Kalev" (captured from the Estonian Navy on August 19, 1940) does not return from covering the evacuation, presumably lost on a mine.
Six victory Experte, Albert Wessel of JG 77 is killed in an accident.
PACIFIC OCEAN: Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team of the US Navy in Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii reported that all Japanese Navy call signs had changed.
US Navy formed the Pacific Escort Force at Pearl Harbor to protect transports and certain merchant vessels carrying troops and valuable military cargoes between Hawaii and the Far East.
HMAS "
Australia", (cruiser), arrived at Desolation Island to search for a German raider. The cruiser laid a minefield before departing. Post-war records showed the island had been used by the raider "
Orion" for a refit, some time before "
Australia's" visit.
Japanese marine staff officers Suzuki and Maejima arrived in Pearl Harbor.
UNITED KINGDOM: A newly issued Typhoon fighter of British No. 56 Squadron plunged into the ground near East Harling, Norfolk, England, , killing Pilot Officer J. F. Deck. Subsequent investigations revealed that he had suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning leading to the entire Typhoon fleet being grounded for modifications to cockpit sealing and the fitting of improved extended exhausts, although the problem was never satisfactorily resolved.
CMDR A. S. Rosenthal, RAN, was awarded the DSO for outstanding gallantry while commanding HMAS "
Nestor", (destroyer), during Operation Substance, the passing of a convoy from the west to Malta, on 15 December. CMDR A. S. Rosenthal, RAN, was also awarded a Bar to the DSO for the sinking of a German submarine in the Atlantic.
WESTERN FRONT: RAF Fighter Command flew a Ramrod operation. RAF Bomber Command sends 16 aircraft to attack airfields in Brittany. RAF Bomber Command sends 30 aircraft to attack Brest and Le Havre overnight. RAF Bomber Command sends 13 aircraft on anti-shipping and minelaying operations overnight.
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