On November 1, 1942, in the Battle of El Alamein, both sides suffer damage. Rommel alerts Berlin that a British breakthrough is inevitable and retreat is necessary.
In Egypt, British and New Zealand forces break through Axis defenses at El Alamein on November 2.
The Second Battle of El Alamein concludes on November 3. Rejecting out of hand Rommel’s proposal to withdraw, Hitler orders Rommel to “stand and die.”
In North Africa, Rommel, with only 12 tanks left, on November 4 disobeys der Führer and re-issues his orders for a retreat. The British take 10,724 Axis prisoners.
At Toulon, France, on November 7, Gen. Henri Giraud — who had been captured by the Germans in May 1940, escaped in April 1942, and returned to Vichy France — is spirited out of the country by a British submarine. Lt. Gen. Eisenhower has persuaded Giraud to command French troops during the “Operation Torch” landings.
On November 8, “Operation Torch” begins with 106,000 Anglo-American troops landing near Casablanca, Morocco, and near Algiers and Oran, Algeria. German forces are slow to react, because the German High Command believes the landings are a feint, and that the real invasion will occur on the island of Sardinia, off the west coast of Italy.
Oran, Algeria, and Casablanca, Morocco, fall to U.S. troops on November 10. Upon receiving word of the British victories over Rommel’s forces, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill tells guests at a London event: “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end, but it is perhaps the end of the beginning.” Adm. Jean François Darlan, Vichy French foreign minister, who is in Algiers, Algeria, is offered a “deal” by Gen. Eisenhower: The Allies will recognize Darlan as commander of all French forces in the area in return for a general cease-fire. The “deal” outrages Gen. Henri Giraud, who had been promised command.
On November 11, spurred by Darlan’s capitulation in North Africa, the Germans move troops into Vichy France “to protect France” from the Allies, Hitler declares.
The Naval Battle of Ironbottom Sound off Guadalcanal takes place on November 13. Seven Japanese destroyers and a battleship are sunk. The Japanese in turn sink three American destroyers and two cruisers, but fail to land reinforcements on Guadalcanal.
The battleship USS WASHINGTON on November 15 sinks the Japanese battleship KIRISHIMA off Guadalcanal, beating off a Japanese resupply convoy heading towards the island. In North Africa, a German buildup takes place in Tunisia, with 10,000 troops and over 100 planes getting into position.
In Papua-New Guinea, U.S. and Australian troops link up on November 16 for an assault on the last Japanese stronghold in northern Papua, the Buna-Gona bridgehead. In the U.S., Brig. Gen. Leslie Groves and physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer select remote Los Alamos, New Mexico, as the site for “the Project.” Oppenheimer begins recruiting top scientists and persuading them to move to New Mexico. Allied forces enter Tunisia.
In Tunisia, on November 17, U.S. and Axis troops clash for the first time.
On November 19, the Red Army opens a winter offensive around Stalingrad with the aim of encircling and destroying the German forces fighting in the city. The initial attacks are directed against the exposed rear flanks of the German Sixth Army and 4th Panzer Army, held by the Romanian 3rd and 4th Armies. These latter forces are overrun and scattered, losing 65,000 prisoners in 24 hours.
On November 21, the situation of the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad is deteriorating rapidly, but Hitler still forbids any withdrawal.
The Red Army surrounds the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad on November 22. On November 26 — Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. — the movie “Casablanca,” starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, premieres. In North Africa, Medjez el Bab, Tunisia, a key staging point for an assault on Tunis (less than 30 miles away), falls to the Allies after six days of intensive fighting.
As German troops enter the port of Toulon, France, on November 27, French naval officers scuttle 79 warships docked there to prevent them from falling into Nazi hands. In Russia, the Germans form Army Group Don, under the command of Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, to try to relieve the Sixth Army at Stalingrad.
On November 28. Rommel proposes to Hitler that the campaign in North Africa be terminated because of supply difficulties. Hitler will hear nothing of the idea.
Australian troops take Gona, in Papua-New Guinea, on November 30. In North Africa, Allied advances are stopped by stiff German defenses.
Phil Kohn can be contacted at ww2remembered@yahoo.com.