World War II Timeline: November 12, 1942-November 28, 1942
The U.S. government chooses a site in Los Alamos, New Mexico, to build a lab devoted to the development of the atomic bomb on November 25, 1942. Learn about this and the other important World War II events that occurred during the month of November 1942 below.
World War II Timeline: November 12-November 28
November 12-15: The United States loses nine ships and the Japanese lose five in the waters off Guadalcanal. This is one of the most ferocious naval battles of the war, and a tactical victory for the United States.
November 20: The RAF launches its most destructive raid against Italy in this war, devastating the northern industrial city of Turin.
In an address to the French people, Vichy prime minister Pierre Laval encourages the Vichy alliance with the Third Reich in the face of continued threats from "Jews and Communists."
November 22: In a stunning turnaround, some 270,000 soldiers of the Nazi German Sixth Army are surrounded by the Red Army in Stalingrad.
November 23: The U.S. Women's Coast Guard Reserve is established.
November 24: The Japanese begin construction of a new airfield at Munda, New Georgia, their new base of operations in the Solomon Islands.
November 25: The U.S. government selects a site in Los Alamos, New Mexico, to build a lab devoted to the development of the atomic bomb.
November 27: Citing betrayal by Vichy France, Adolf Hitler disbands the Vichy army.
November 28: Against the recommendation of Erwin Rommel, his accomplished general on the ground, Adolf Hitler insists that his beaten Nazi German forces fight to the death in the North African desert.
World War II Headlines
Below are more highlights and images that outline the events of World War II, including the French reaction to Operation Torch.
Erwin Rommel defies Adolf Hitler and retreats in Egypt: On October 23, 1942, British lieutenant general Bernard Montgomery's Eighth Army struck Nazi Germany's Afrika Korps near the village of El Alamein, Egypt. After 12 days of desperate fighting against an army twice the size of his own, German general Erwin Rommel finally ordered his corps to retreat -- in defiance of Adolf Hitler's command to fight until they won or died. In those 12 days, the Nazi Germans lost 12,000 men and 350 tanks. Rommel had no more than 80 tanks remaining for the 1,400-mile retreat through the desert to Tunisia, where he hoped to find reinforcements and supplies.
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Operation Torch offered as substitute for invasion of France: Above, Allied forces make an amphibious landing near Algiers on November 8, 1942. Few American troops based in Europe had been under fire, and they did not know whether Vichy French defenders would resist the landings. Military considerations aside, Torch was tricky politically because Joseph Stalin was insisting that U.S. and British forces commit significant numbers of men to European combat with an invasion of France. Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill knew such an assault was not yet possible and offered Torch as a substitute.
French surprisingly resist Torch invasion: It took Franklin Roosevelt's intervention in July 1942 to resolve a serious dispute between U.S. and British military advisers. He sided with the British plan to invade North Africa in order to engage the Nazi Germans as soon as possible. French Morocco and Algeria were chosen as the sites for this attack since the Allies would face only French troops, who might let the Allies land unopposed. That is not how it turned out.
After the November 8, 1942, landing, the French troops did defend the landing sites. Here, a British ship takes a hit not far from shore. Negotiations with the French troops' commander, Admiral François Darlan, were needed to end the fighting on November 10. Darlan was assassinated in December by a French monarchist.
A classic problem of amphibious warfare was getting troops from ship to shore; from the large vessels in which they left port to the enemy-held beach. Andrew Higgins, a Louisiana boat builder, resolved this problem with his Higgins boat, which would evolve into the LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel). Transported by ship, then released near the target area, the Higgins boat took troops to the beach and released them through bow ramps. More than 20,000 Higgins boats of many types were built. General Dwight Eisenhower later said: "If Higgins had not designed and built those LCVPs, we never could have landed over an open beach. The whole strategy of the war would have been different." The 1942 landings in French North Africa involved more than 500 vessels and 65,000 men. The landing craft included early-model Higgins boats, some without ramps. However, British craft (largely makeshift) predominated. The 1943 landings in Sicily and Italy were more sophisticated. Complex planning was required to ensure the optimum balance of men and materiel in each vessel; to coordinate air and naval support before, during, and after the landing; and to meet the logistical challenges of consolidating and swiftly expanding the beachhead. In both campaigns, amphibious forces made "end runs" to cut the enemy's lines of communication: successfully in Sicily, but without the desired outcome at Anzio. The intricacy of amphibious operations peaked in the planning for D-Day (June 6, 1944), when more than 130,000 men hit five Normandy beaches. For months afterward, those beaches operated as ports. The last major amphibious landings in Europe -- in southern France in August 1944 -- had typical outcomes: Formidable Axis defenses were virtually negated by Allied air and naval superiority. The troops reached shore with relatively few casualties. |
Check out the next section for a timeline and headlines detailing World War II events from early December 1942.
Learn more about the significant events and players of World War II in these informative articles:
