Sarah Sundin's Blog, page 152

Today in World War II History—November 29, 1941

Football program for the 1941 US Military Academy vs. US Naval Academy football game. On page 180 of the program is a bow view of the USS Arizona with text that says, “It is significant that despite the claims of air enthusiast no battleship has yet been sunken by bombs.” (Smithsonian Institute)

80 Years Ago—Nov. 29, 1941: Italians counterattack near Sidi Rezegh, Libya, and almost destroy New Zealand battalion.

Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia; Navy wins 14-6.

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Today in World War II History—November 28, 1941

US Army Air Forces recruiting poster, 1942 (US Government Printing Office)

80 Years Ago—Nov. 28, 1941: USS Enterprise departs Pearl Harbor to deliver Marine F4F Wildcats to Wake Island, saving the carrier from the coming attack.

All resistance ends in East Africa as 20,000 Italians surrender to the British at Gondar, Ethiopia.

US Army maneuvers in North and South Carolina conclude.

Movie premiere of Abbott and Costello’s Keep ’Em Flying to coincide with War Department’s Keep ’Em Flying Week.

US 30th Division in Army maneuvers, Cheraw, South Carolina, 19 Nov 1941 (US Army photo)

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Today in World War II History—November 27, 1941

Joe DiMaggio kissing his bat, 15 Dec 1941 (Library of Congress)

80 Years Ago—Nov. 27, 1941: US commanders warn land and naval forces of possible Japanese attacks on Hawaii, the Philippines, Malaya, or Dutch East Indies.

New song in Top Ten: “Chattanooga Choo Choo.”

Joe DiMaggio (New York Yankees) with 56-game hitting streak is voted American League MVP over Ted Williams (Boston Red Sox) with .406 batting average.

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Today in World War II History—November 26, 1941

Sailors of Japanese carrier Zuikaku winching up the anchor, Itrup, Kurile Islands, 26 Nov 1941; en route to attack Pearl Harbor (Japanese government photo, public domain)

80 Years Ago—Nov. 26, 1941: Japanese fleet departs the Kurile Islands for the attack on Pearl Harbor.

US Secretary of State Cordell Hull submits final proposal for peace to the Japanese, demanding removal of all troops from China and Indochina.

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Today in World War II History—November 25, 1941

Explosion on HMS Barham, 25 Nov 1941 (Imperial War Museum: 5608-07 FLM 1984)

80 Years Ago—Nov. 25, 1941: British battleship HMS Barham is sunk by U-331 off Bardia, Libya (862 killed), the only undamaged Allied battleship in the Mediterranean.

US rejects Japanese proposal and insists that Japan withdraw from Indochina and China.

In Berlin, Hitler meets with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, agreeing on elimination of Jews.

In Berlin, six Axis nations renew the Anti-Comintern Pact (opposed to Communist International), and nine other nations sign, including Denmark—in Copenhagen, thousands protest the signing of the pact in the first major protests in occupied Denmark.

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Today in World War II History—November 24, 1941

Erwin Rommel with the German 15th Panzer Division in Libya, 24 Nov 1941 (US National Archives: 242-EAPC-6-M713a)

80 Years Ago—Nov. 24, 1941: Two German POWs in Britain escape by forging papers & stealing an RAF plane, but are recaptured when they run out of fuel.

German Gen. Erwin Rommel splits Allied forces in Libya, but fails to advance.

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Today in World War II History—November 23, 1941

Pieter Gerbrandy, Prime Minister of Dutch government-in-exile, London, 23 Sept 1941 (Dutch National Archives: 935-1713)

80 Years Ago—Nov. 23, 1941: US Army occupies Surinam (Dutch Guiana), with cooperation of the Dutch government-in-exile, to secure bauxite mines (aluminum).

First Soviet truck convoy crosses frozen Lake Ladoga to supply besieged Leningrad.

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Today in World War II History—November 22, 1941

Werner Mölders, Jun-Jul 1941 (German Federal Archives, Bild 183-B12003)

80 Years Ago—Nov. 22, 1941: German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis is sunk in the South Atlantic by heavy cruiser HMS Devonshire after having sunk 22 Allied merchant ships.

Luftwaffe ace Werner Mölders is killed in a landing accident while a passenger on a German He 111 bomber, the first pilot in the world to achieve over 100 victories.

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Today in World War II History—November 21, 1941

MGM movie poster for Shadow of the Thin Man, 1941 (public domain)

80 Years Ago—Nov. 21, 1941: Australian garrison at Tobruk attempts breakout to meet up with British thrust across Libya.

Movie premieres of Shadow of the Thin Man, starring William Powell & Myrna Loy, and western They Died with Their Boots On, starring Errol Flynn & Olivia de Havilland.

George R. Stewart’s bestselling novel Storm is published, which leads the US National Weather Service to begin naming storms in 1953.

British Crusader tank passing a burning German Panzer IV in North Africa during Operation Crusader, 27 Nov 1941 (Imperial War Museum: E 6751)

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Today in World War II History—November 20, 1941

US poster featuring Norman Rockwell’s “Freedom from Want,” 1943

First edition cover of Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1941

80 Years Ago—Nov. 20, 1941: Japanese negotiators in Washington, DC, present their final proposal—they will withdraw from Indochina in exchange for a free hand in China and relaxed trade restrictions with US.

Norwegian government-in-exile in London endorses the Norwegian resistance group Milorg.

Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder is published.

The United States celebrates Thanksgiving on the third Thursday in November in 32 states, according to Roosevelt’s 1939 decree; but 16 states will celebrate on November 27. (Read more: Thanksgiving in World War II).

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