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Njaco
The Pop-Tart Whisperer
November 19 Wednesday
ASIA: The excavated fossils of the Peking Man were packed up at the Cenozoic Research Laboratory of the Beiping Union Medical College. The US Marines stationed in China, who already received orders to be withdrawn, were supposed to bring the bones back to the United States for safekeeping. During the hurried transit between Beiping and the port of Qinghuangdao, the boxes vanished, and have not been found to this day.
The Japanese Foreign Ministry sends the following message to their embassy in Washington, D.C.: "When our diplomatic relations are becoming dangerous, we will add the following at the beginning and end of our general intelligence broadcasts:
(1) If it is Japan-U. S. relations, "HIGASHI;"
(2) Japan-Russia relations, "KITA;"
(3) Japan-British relations, (including Thai, Malaya and N. E. I.); "NISHI."
The above will be repeated five times and included at beginning and end. Relay to Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, San Francisco."
IJN aircraft carrier "Kaga" departed Saeki Bay off Oita, Japan for Etorofu Island, Kurile Islands. IJN aircraft carrier "Shokaku" departed the Inland Sea with IJN aircraft carrier "Zuikaku" for Hittokappu Bay in the Kurile Islands to join the ships massing for the Hawaii Operation. One submarine of the Support Group, Advance Group, Pearl Harbor Strike Force, HIJMS I-26, departs Yokosuka.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: German 2nd Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla attacked Allied convoy FS.650 (59 ships), 10 miles east of Lowestoft, England, sinking tanker "War Mehtar" and transports "Aruba" and "Waldinge". German torpedo boat S.41 collided with a convoy escort and sank. British destroyer HMS "Garth" was damaged by friendly fire during the engagement.
Cruiser HMS "Dunedin" is torpedoed and sunk by U-124 in the Atlantic 900 miles off of Freetown. There are 420 casualties, but 72 survivors are found by the US "Nishama" on 6 Carley floats.
EASTERN FRONT: German reinforcements drove the Russians back another 16 km. 70 miles west of Moscow, German 4.Panzerarmee attempted to penetrate the gap between the Soviet 30th and 16th Armies which were pushed back on the previous day, but stubborn Soviet resistance slowed the German advance in the area of Istra. 16th Army was at risk from encirclement. Zhukov denied Rokossovski's request to withdraw to the Istra River thus allowing the Germans to take the river at a rush. Soviet General Dmitry Lelyushenko is ordered by Zhukov to take command of 30th Army and hold Klin at all costs – they will delay German advance for 5 days. Istra is defended by 78th Rifle Division from Siberia (fresh troops with a full complement of artillery) and will be held until November 27. The Germans captured Solnechnogorsk, and got to the Leningrad Highway. 16th Army was again nearly encircled. Rokossovski was nearly captured at his headquarters at Kriukovo. The T-34 troop guarding the headquarters went to refuel thus leaving the staff exposed as Germans entered the village. Rokossovski and his staff quickly evacuated. The Germans kept pushing against the 78th Siberian Rifle Division and 18th (Leningrad) Volunteer Division, attacked the Sheremeievo airport, captured the Yakhroma bridge over the Moscow-Volga canal, and reached Krasnaya Polyana. The Russians were offering increasingly stubborn resistance and using fortifications more effectively. They were starting to make use of profuse numbers of mines in their defense, including laying them on potential German lanes of approach. One incident involved tanks of 5.Panzer-Division attacking a Russian stronghold at Denikovo. The Russians had fortified the station building, damaged the road leading to the village and destroyed a bridge, and mined the likely route the panzers would have to take once they left the road. The attacking panzers were ordered to bypass the station, thus cutting off the defenders, and capture the railway line as fast as possible. It didn't quite play out like that. When the panzers moved ahead of their infantry to positions near the village the Russian artillery began ranging shots. At 1500 hours the Germans were ordered to attack. The German tanks turned off the road when they found the destroyed bridge and ran straight into the Russian minefield. The Soviet artillery also found its range and began shelling the attackers. The Germans then tried to get round the village by driving their tanks and half tracks along a gully. At the end of the day the Russians were still defending the station. Stalin relented again and committed 20th Army, General Vlasov with fresh Siberian divisions, on the right of 16th Army. And by this time Russian aircraft were challenging the German air superiority. The Siberians pushed the Germans back across the canal.
In northern Russia, Soviet 4th and 52nd Armies almost surround Tikhvin, attacking simultaneously from North and South, but German General von Arnim moves up 61.Infanterie-Divisionen (Lieutenant General Siegfried Hanicke) and the Germans hang on to the town, 120 kilometers east of Leningrad. Frustrated by his army's slow advance, General Hoepner (3.Panzerarmee) commits the last of his reserves in the Kalinin area. Soviet 37th Army attacks northern flank of 1.Panzerarmee and defeats XIV.Armeekorps (mot.) (General of the Infantry G. von Wietersheim). Meanwhile, near Leningrad, General Feofan Nikolaevich Lagunov drove an American-built M1 Scout Car across the frozen Lake Ladoga and declared it safe to use as a truck route.
Panfilov of 316th Division was killed by a random mortar round. In recognition of Panfilov's courage the division was subsequently awarded the Order of the Red Banner and the title of a Guards Division.
On this date The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 6 prisoners of war and 8 Polish Jews were killed in Vilnius, Lithuania.
GERMANY: In a meeting Adolf Hitler held with his top military leaders on this date, Hitler no longer talked about ending the war in 1941; instead, plans for Soviet targets east of Moscow, Russia were made for spring and summer of 1942. Hitler orders the Caucasus will be primary objective of 1942 campaign in the Soviet Union.
MEDITERRANEAN: Axis Convoy departs Naples for Tripoli with two vessels escorted by Italian destroyers "Maestrale" and "Gioberti". A second Axis Convoy departs Taranto for Tripoli with two vessels escorted by Italian destroyers "Zeno" and "Malocello". Six Blenheims from RAF No. 18 Squadron based at Luqa, Malta carried out a bold attack on one of the Italian convoys attempting to run supplies to Tripoli. This time Malta's losses were heavy: Flight Sergeant Chester Newsome and Sergeant Harold Macaulay of the Royal Canadian Air Force and Sergeant Roland Walker, Royal Air Force Voluntary Reserve, all flying with RAF No. 18 Squadron were shot down. Sergeant Harold Hanson from the Isle of Man was reported missing, along with Sergeant John Woolman and Sergeant William Buck. All three were members of the Royal Air Force Voluntary Reserve flying with RAF No. 18 Squadron.
The air raids on Malta intensified. At 0545 hours eight enemy aircraft were plotted from Sicily, with only three crossing coast. Bombs were dropped on land near Anchor Bay and the TKM searchlights. No casualties. At 1902 hours five enemy aircraft crossed coast, two of which were barraged twice by Ack Ack. Small High Explosives and incendiaries were dropped on the Madalena and Naxxar area. At 2132 hours a single enemy aircraft approached from south west of Island. Barraged by Ack Ack three times, it dropped bombs in the sea and near Attard.
Naples and Brindisi raided by the British Royal Air Force.
NORTH AFRICA: Operation Crusader: British General Cunningham is confused by the lack of German response to his incursion into Libya, so 7th Armored Division tanks begin to spread out to secondary objectives. Caught by surprise, the Germans misread the British intent and think that the enemy is attempting to encircle Bardia and send the bulk of the Africa Korps deeper into the trap. British 7th Armored Brigade heads north to attack the Italian airfield at Gambut where Rommel has his HQ. Units of the British 7th Armoured Brigade easily reach Sidi Rezegh, while other units are held up by stiff German defenses. They capture the Sidi Rezegh airfield in the process. This forces Rommel to abandon his own attack on Tobruk to head-off the British threat. The 4th Armoured Brigade engages part of the German 21.Panzer Division and loses heavily. The 22nd Armoured Brigade engages the Italian Ariete Division at Bir el Gubi and also suffers heavy losses. 'Ariete' blunts the British offensive with the 102mm naval guns from a RM warship now mounted on FIAT trucks. 40 British Crusader tanks were destroyed or disabled. While the Afrika Korps and Italian armour clash with British armour in the attack on Tobruk, the skies are empty of warplanes as heavy rains turn the airfields into mud quagmires. But RAF aircraft attack airfields as well as attacking Axis AFVs and trucks. RN destroyers "Kipling" and "Jackal" bombard targets around Halfaya Pass. HMA Ships "Hobart", (cruiser), "Napier" and "Nizam", (destroyers), supported the Battle Fleet in the bombardment of key German and Italian defences in the Halfaya Pass.
NORTH AMERICA: The Japanese embassy in Washington DC, United States was instructed that, should war be decided with the United States, Japanese public radio broadcast would include the code phrase "higashi no kaze ame" ("east wind rain"), with the Soviet Union "ita no kaze kumori" ("north wind cloudy"), and with the United Kingdom "nishi no kaze hare" ("west wind clear"). This would be the well known 'Winds Code'. This clear preparation for a likely war was intercepted by the Americans.
PACIFIC OCEAN: Modified Leander class light cruiser HMAS "Sydney" (D 48) was intercepted by German auxiliary cruiser, HK "Kormoran" 140 miles west of Shark Bay, Australia, with "Kormoran" firing the first shot at 1730 hours. Both ships were heavily damaged after the 20-minute battle. The "Kormoran" was flying the Dutch flag and going under the name Streat Malakka. It was not until the ships were within a mile of each other that the "Kormoran" hoisted the Swastika ensign and opened fire. The "Sydney" was hit, her bridge and gunnery director tower badly damaged with the result that (possibly from flooding magazines in response to the turret penetration) "Sydney's" firepower was reduced to half. "Kormoran" also hit "Sydney" with a torpedo. Both ships are crippled and on fire. HMAS "Sydney" steams slowly south-southeast, still ablaze, and is never seen again; all 645 crewmen are lost. German survivors later say that they saw a glow on the southern horizon followed by a bright flash around 2400 hours; this could possibly be caused by the cruiser's magazines exploding. HK "Kormoran" drifts for approximately five hours before being scuttled by her crew with explosive charges; 85 crewmen are lost but 315 make it to Australia where they are held as POWs. Wrecks of both ships were discovered in March 2008, 11 miles apart. The engagement remains controversial to this day.
A ground echelon from US Marine Aircraft Group 21 was dispatched to Midway Island to prepare the island to receive aircraft.
Hart informed senior officers of Asiatic Fleet that the war would be fought from Manila.
UNITED KINGDOM: British newspaper The Times estimated that 82,000 Polish people had been killed since Poland became occupied.
WESTERN FRONT: In Paris, Dr. Michel congratulates the 100,000th French worker to volunteer for a job in Germany. The man, a truck driver, has been presented with a travel kit and a watch.
.
ASIA: The excavated fossils of the Peking Man were packed up at the Cenozoic Research Laboratory of the Beiping Union Medical College. The US Marines stationed in China, who already received orders to be withdrawn, were supposed to bring the bones back to the United States for safekeeping. During the hurried transit between Beiping and the port of Qinghuangdao, the boxes vanished, and have not been found to this day.
The Japanese Foreign Ministry sends the following message to their embassy in Washington, D.C.: "When our diplomatic relations are becoming dangerous, we will add the following at the beginning and end of our general intelligence broadcasts:
(1) If it is Japan-U. S. relations, "HIGASHI;"
(2) Japan-Russia relations, "KITA;"
(3) Japan-British relations, (including Thai, Malaya and N. E. I.); "NISHI."
The above will be repeated five times and included at beginning and end. Relay to Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, San Francisco."
IJN aircraft carrier "Kaga" departed Saeki Bay off Oita, Japan for Etorofu Island, Kurile Islands. IJN aircraft carrier "Shokaku" departed the Inland Sea with IJN aircraft carrier "Zuikaku" for Hittokappu Bay in the Kurile Islands to join the ships massing for the Hawaii Operation. One submarine of the Support Group, Advance Group, Pearl Harbor Strike Force, HIJMS I-26, departs Yokosuka.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: German 2nd Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla attacked Allied convoy FS.650 (59 ships), 10 miles east of Lowestoft, England, sinking tanker "War Mehtar" and transports "Aruba" and "Waldinge". German torpedo boat S.41 collided with a convoy escort and sank. British destroyer HMS "Garth" was damaged by friendly fire during the engagement.
Cruiser HMS "Dunedin" is torpedoed and sunk by U-124 in the Atlantic 900 miles off of Freetown. There are 420 casualties, but 72 survivors are found by the US "Nishama" on 6 Carley floats.
EASTERN FRONT: German reinforcements drove the Russians back another 16 km. 70 miles west of Moscow, German 4.Panzerarmee attempted to penetrate the gap between the Soviet 30th and 16th Armies which were pushed back on the previous day, but stubborn Soviet resistance slowed the German advance in the area of Istra. 16th Army was at risk from encirclement. Zhukov denied Rokossovski's request to withdraw to the Istra River thus allowing the Germans to take the river at a rush. Soviet General Dmitry Lelyushenko is ordered by Zhukov to take command of 30th Army and hold Klin at all costs – they will delay German advance for 5 days. Istra is defended by 78th Rifle Division from Siberia (fresh troops with a full complement of artillery) and will be held until November 27. The Germans captured Solnechnogorsk, and got to the Leningrad Highway. 16th Army was again nearly encircled. Rokossovski was nearly captured at his headquarters at Kriukovo. The T-34 troop guarding the headquarters went to refuel thus leaving the staff exposed as Germans entered the village. Rokossovski and his staff quickly evacuated. The Germans kept pushing against the 78th Siberian Rifle Division and 18th (Leningrad) Volunteer Division, attacked the Sheremeievo airport, captured the Yakhroma bridge over the Moscow-Volga canal, and reached Krasnaya Polyana. The Russians were offering increasingly stubborn resistance and using fortifications more effectively. They were starting to make use of profuse numbers of mines in their defense, including laying them on potential German lanes of approach. One incident involved tanks of 5.Panzer-Division attacking a Russian stronghold at Denikovo. The Russians had fortified the station building, damaged the road leading to the village and destroyed a bridge, and mined the likely route the panzers would have to take once they left the road. The attacking panzers were ordered to bypass the station, thus cutting off the defenders, and capture the railway line as fast as possible. It didn't quite play out like that. When the panzers moved ahead of their infantry to positions near the village the Russian artillery began ranging shots. At 1500 hours the Germans were ordered to attack. The German tanks turned off the road when they found the destroyed bridge and ran straight into the Russian minefield. The Soviet artillery also found its range and began shelling the attackers. The Germans then tried to get round the village by driving their tanks and half tracks along a gully. At the end of the day the Russians were still defending the station. Stalin relented again and committed 20th Army, General Vlasov with fresh Siberian divisions, on the right of 16th Army. And by this time Russian aircraft were challenging the German air superiority. The Siberians pushed the Germans back across the canal.
In northern Russia, Soviet 4th and 52nd Armies almost surround Tikhvin, attacking simultaneously from North and South, but German General von Arnim moves up 61.Infanterie-Divisionen (Lieutenant General Siegfried Hanicke) and the Germans hang on to the town, 120 kilometers east of Leningrad. Frustrated by his army's slow advance, General Hoepner (3.Panzerarmee) commits the last of his reserves in the Kalinin area. Soviet 37th Army attacks northern flank of 1.Panzerarmee and defeats XIV.Armeekorps (mot.) (General of the Infantry G. von Wietersheim). Meanwhile, near Leningrad, General Feofan Nikolaevich Lagunov drove an American-built M1 Scout Car across the frozen Lake Ladoga and declared it safe to use as a truck route.
Panfilov of 316th Division was killed by a random mortar round. In recognition of Panfilov's courage the division was subsequently awarded the Order of the Red Banner and the title of a Guards Division.
On this date The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 6 prisoners of war and 8 Polish Jews were killed in Vilnius, Lithuania.
GERMANY: In a meeting Adolf Hitler held with his top military leaders on this date, Hitler no longer talked about ending the war in 1941; instead, plans for Soviet targets east of Moscow, Russia were made for spring and summer of 1942. Hitler orders the Caucasus will be primary objective of 1942 campaign in the Soviet Union.
MEDITERRANEAN: Axis Convoy departs Naples for Tripoli with two vessels escorted by Italian destroyers "Maestrale" and "Gioberti". A second Axis Convoy departs Taranto for Tripoli with two vessels escorted by Italian destroyers "Zeno" and "Malocello". Six Blenheims from RAF No. 18 Squadron based at Luqa, Malta carried out a bold attack on one of the Italian convoys attempting to run supplies to Tripoli. This time Malta's losses were heavy: Flight Sergeant Chester Newsome and Sergeant Harold Macaulay of the Royal Canadian Air Force and Sergeant Roland Walker, Royal Air Force Voluntary Reserve, all flying with RAF No. 18 Squadron were shot down. Sergeant Harold Hanson from the Isle of Man was reported missing, along with Sergeant John Woolman and Sergeant William Buck. All three were members of the Royal Air Force Voluntary Reserve flying with RAF No. 18 Squadron.
The air raids on Malta intensified. At 0545 hours eight enemy aircraft were plotted from Sicily, with only three crossing coast. Bombs were dropped on land near Anchor Bay and the TKM searchlights. No casualties. At 1902 hours five enemy aircraft crossed coast, two of which were barraged twice by Ack Ack. Small High Explosives and incendiaries were dropped on the Madalena and Naxxar area. At 2132 hours a single enemy aircraft approached from south west of Island. Barraged by Ack Ack three times, it dropped bombs in the sea and near Attard.
Naples and Brindisi raided by the British Royal Air Force.
NORTH AFRICA: Operation Crusader: British General Cunningham is confused by the lack of German response to his incursion into Libya, so 7th Armored Division tanks begin to spread out to secondary objectives. Caught by surprise, the Germans misread the British intent and think that the enemy is attempting to encircle Bardia and send the bulk of the Africa Korps deeper into the trap. British 7th Armored Brigade heads north to attack the Italian airfield at Gambut where Rommel has his HQ. Units of the British 7th Armoured Brigade easily reach Sidi Rezegh, while other units are held up by stiff German defenses. They capture the Sidi Rezegh airfield in the process. This forces Rommel to abandon his own attack on Tobruk to head-off the British threat. The 4th Armoured Brigade engages part of the German 21.Panzer Division and loses heavily. The 22nd Armoured Brigade engages the Italian Ariete Division at Bir el Gubi and also suffers heavy losses. 'Ariete' blunts the British offensive with the 102mm naval guns from a RM warship now mounted on FIAT trucks. 40 British Crusader tanks were destroyed or disabled. While the Afrika Korps and Italian armour clash with British armour in the attack on Tobruk, the skies are empty of warplanes as heavy rains turn the airfields into mud quagmires. But RAF aircraft attack airfields as well as attacking Axis AFVs and trucks. RN destroyers "Kipling" and "Jackal" bombard targets around Halfaya Pass. HMA Ships "Hobart", (cruiser), "Napier" and "Nizam", (destroyers), supported the Battle Fleet in the bombardment of key German and Italian defences in the Halfaya Pass.
NORTH AMERICA: The Japanese embassy in Washington DC, United States was instructed that, should war be decided with the United States, Japanese public radio broadcast would include the code phrase "higashi no kaze ame" ("east wind rain"), with the Soviet Union "ita no kaze kumori" ("north wind cloudy"), and with the United Kingdom "nishi no kaze hare" ("west wind clear"). This would be the well known 'Winds Code'. This clear preparation for a likely war was intercepted by the Americans.
PACIFIC OCEAN: Modified Leander class light cruiser HMAS "Sydney" (D 48) was intercepted by German auxiliary cruiser, HK "Kormoran" 140 miles west of Shark Bay, Australia, with "Kormoran" firing the first shot at 1730 hours. Both ships were heavily damaged after the 20-minute battle. The "Kormoran" was flying the Dutch flag and going under the name Streat Malakka. It was not until the ships were within a mile of each other that the "Kormoran" hoisted the Swastika ensign and opened fire. The "Sydney" was hit, her bridge and gunnery director tower badly damaged with the result that (possibly from flooding magazines in response to the turret penetration) "Sydney's" firepower was reduced to half. "Kormoran" also hit "Sydney" with a torpedo. Both ships are crippled and on fire. HMAS "Sydney" steams slowly south-southeast, still ablaze, and is never seen again; all 645 crewmen are lost. German survivors later say that they saw a glow on the southern horizon followed by a bright flash around 2400 hours; this could possibly be caused by the cruiser's magazines exploding. HK "Kormoran" drifts for approximately five hours before being scuttled by her crew with explosive charges; 85 crewmen are lost but 315 make it to Australia where they are held as POWs. Wrecks of both ships were discovered in March 2008, 11 miles apart. The engagement remains controversial to this day.
A ground echelon from US Marine Aircraft Group 21 was dispatched to Midway Island to prepare the island to receive aircraft.
Hart informed senior officers of Asiatic Fleet that the war would be fought from Manila.
UNITED KINGDOM: British newspaper The Times estimated that 82,000 Polish people had been killed since Poland became occupied.
WESTERN FRONT: In Paris, Dr. Michel congratulates the 100,000th French worker to volunteer for a job in Germany. The man, a truck driver, has been presented with a travel kit and a watch.
.
