November 16th, 1941 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Destroyer HMS Tumult laid down.
Submarine HMS P-39commissioned.
GERMANY: U-603, U-604 launched.
Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels publishes in the German magazine Das Reich that "The Jews wanted the war, and now they have it"- referring to the Nazi propaganda scheme to shift the blame for the world war onto European Jewry, thereby giving the Nazis a rationalization for the so-called Final Solution.
U.S.S.R.: German forces continue their almost unimpeded advance through the Crimea. Kerch has fallen and Sevastopol is besieged with the Soviet resistance being very stubborn. Their advance on Moscow continues very slowly.MEDITERRANEAN SEA: U-433 sunk at 2155hrs in the Mediterranean south of Malaga, Spain, in position 36.13N, 04.42W, after being damaged by depth charges and gunfire 25nm east of Gibraltar by the British corvette HMS Marigold. 6 dead and 38 survivors.
IRAQ: Iraq breaks diplomatic relations with Vichy France.
JAPAN: Two units of the Japanese Navy's Advance Group, Pearl Harbor Strike Force, depart Yokosuka today. The 2nd Submarine Unit consists of seven submarines two of which are carrying "Glen" seaplanes (Kugisho E14Y1, Navy Type 0 Small Reconnaissance Seaplanes). All seven arrive on station off Hawaii on 6 December; one, with a "Glen", is stationed about 26 nautical miles (48 kilometers) north of Oahu; three are station between Kauai and Oahu, and three, one with a "Glen", are stationed between Oahu and Molokai. One submarine of the Support Group, HIJMS I-10, also departs. On 7 December, HIJMS I-10 is underway between the Fiji and Samoa Islands.
HONG KONG: The converted passenger liner SS Awatea, escorted by the armed merchant cruiser HMCS Prince Robert (F 56), arrives here this evening, carrying two battalions consisting of 96 officers (plus two Auxiliary Services supervisors) and 1,877 Canadian troops under Brigadier John Lawson, Commanding Officer West Brigade. The units are The Royal Rifles of Canada and The Winnipeg Grenadiers. The Canadians will boost the garrison in Hong Kong, but, as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill himself has pointed out, two semi-trained battalions are unlikely to deter Japan from war, but will merely increase the numbers of prisoners the Japanese can take. The Canadians seem only too aware of this. "Oh God, another Dunkirk," Signalman William Allister said when he heard where he was going. "No fella," another voice added, "at Dunkirk they had somewhere to go." The 212 vehicles assigned to the force are aboard the freighter SS Don Jose but these vehicles will never reach Hong Kong.
The Don Jose had only just reached Manila, Philippine Islands when the war with Japan begins, and the U.S. forces are given approval to use the Canadian equipment in the defense of the Philippines.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Air Force USAFFE is redesignated the FEAF. (Marc Small)
AUSTRALIA: Brereton dispatched by MacArthur"> MacArthur on a three-week, 11,500-mile jaunt to Rabaul, Port Moresby, Townsville, and Melbourne, to comply with Marshall’s directive of 30 SEP 41 regarding use of airfields in British Empire areas.
NEWFOUNDLAND: USN Task Unit 4.1.5 clears Argentia to assume escort duty for convoy HX-160 (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada to U.K.); between 17 and 28 November, heavy seas will cause varying degrees of damage to destroyers USS Mayo (DD-422), Nicholson (DD-424), Babbitt (DD-128), Leary (DD-158) and Schenck (DD-159). The convoy is not attacked by U-boats.
U.S.A.: Destroyer USS Howorth laid down.