November 4th, 1941 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Leicester: A woman who refused to sign up for war work with the army ordnance department is fined £2.
Submarine HMS Unbroken launched.
Submarine HMS P-511 (ex-USS R-3) commissioned.
Submarine ORP Jastrzab (ex-USS S-25) commissioned.
FRANCE: U-81 left Brest, but headed back some hours later after discovering they did not have charts for their operational area.
GERMANY: U-509 commissioned.
FINLAND: Second evacuation of Soviet troops from Hanko. One destroyer and one sweeper lost in mines.
U.S.S.R.: Feodosia falls the the German 170th Division. The Germans are making good progress throughout the Crimea.
Soviet submarine V-2 launched.
Soviet submarine M-58 sunk by depth charges from Romanian destroyer Maria.
SOUTH AFRICA: Cape Town: British and South African naval ships have intercepted a Vichy French convoy carrying tin and rubber from Indochina to Germany. The convoy of five ships, escorted by a sloop, the D'Iberville, was captured by four cruisers. The ships tried to scuttle, but boarding parties took them over and prevented the holds from flooding.
The action has already drawn predictable protest from Vichy which regards it as akin to piracy. The convoy was carrying "supplies for the natives of French West Africa, and for French people in the unoccupied zone", according to a statement from Vichy. "There was no contraband or material that could be used for war." For some time Britain has watched impotently while Germany brings vital war supplied into Europe on French vessels.
On 30 March a convoy of four French merchantmen escorted by the destroyer Simoun was seen passing the Straits of Gibraltar. When Royal Navy ships ordered the convoy to halt it took refuge in the Algerian port of Nemours. At the time Vichy said that the ships were bringing food to the native Algerians. Later the convoy reached Marseilles. It was carrying rubber from Thailand. This time the Allies have ensured that the rubber has not got through.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES:
Major General Brereton
arrives on Pan American Clipper to take up his appointment as Commander, FEAF,
bringing with him a draft of revised Rainbow-5
calling for defence of entire Philippine Commonwealth.
General Douglas MacArthur, commander of US Army Forces Far East, receives a letter from General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, indicating that the Congress would " .... give us everything we asked for." However, the tanks, guns and men requested would not be arriving until April 1942.
CANADA: Corvette HMCS The Pas arrived Halifax from builder Montreal, Province of Quebec.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: USN PBY-5 Catalinas of Patrol Squadron Seventy Three (VP-73) based at Skerja Fjord, near Reykjavik, Iceland, continue their air coverage for convoy ON-31 (U.K. to North America).
British Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) oiler Olwen reports a German surface raider attack about 738 nautical miles (1 367 kilometers) west-southwest of Monrovia, Liberia, in position 03.04N, 22.42W. Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic, Vice Admiral Algernon U. Willis, RN, orders heavy cruiser HMS Dorsetshire (40), accompanied by armed merchant cruiser HMS Canton (F 97) to investigate. Light cruiser HMS Dunedin (D 93) and special service vessels HMS Queen Emma and Princess Beatrix are ordered to depart Freetown, Sierra Leone, to join in the search. HMS Dorsetshire and Canton part company, with the former heading southeast and the latter steaming toward a position to the northwest, to be supported by USN Task Group 3.6, light cruiser USS Omaha (CL-4) and destroyer USS Somers (DD-381), which are at this time well to the northwest of the reported enemy position. Light cruiser USS Memphis (CL-4) and destroyers USS Davis (DD-395) and Jouett (DD-396), near to Olwen's position, sear ch the area without result; USS Omaha and Somers search unsuccessfully for survivors.