November 20th, 1941 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Light cruiser HMCS Ontario (ex-HMS Minotaur) laid down.
Minesweeper HMS Rye commissioned.
ASW trawler HMS Bredon launched.
Corvette HMS Poppy launched.
Aircraft carrier HMS Unicorn launched.
Frigate HMS Rother launched.
FRANCE: General Maxime Weygand, Governor-General of Algeria, is removed from his post in North Africa by the Vichy government due to German pressure.
GERMANY: U-597 commissioned.
U.S.S.R.: General der Infanterie von Briesen LII Armeekorps is killed at Andrejkawa. (138)(Russ Folsom)
LIBYA: The British operation Crusader continues. The British 4th Armoured Brigade again loses heavily. British General Cunningham orders the Tobruk garrison to begin their planned breakout attacks. Rommel begins to understand the extent of the British attack and issues orders concentrating his forces at Sidi Rezegh.No. 80 Squadron RAF begin using Hawker Hurricane fighter-bombers, the Hurribomber, in the Western Desert. (22)
General Weygand is removed from his post in North Africa by the Vichy government due to German pressure.
JAPAN: Tokyo: Japan makes a proposal (Plan B) to the USA.
Foreign Minister TOGO Shigenori sends a message to the Japanese ambassador in Ankara, Turkey, that includes the following: "Insofar as Japanese-American negotiations are concerned, in proceeding upon these negotiations for the adjustment of diplomatic relations on a just basis, conferences have been in progress since the 7th. However, there is great disparity between their opinions and our own. In the light of the trend of past negotiations there is considerable doubt as to whether a settlement of the negotiations will be reached. Insofar as we are concerned we have lent our maximum efforts in order to bring about a settlement of the negotiations. However, the situation not permitting any further conciliation by us, an optimistic view for the future is not permitted. In the event that negotiations are broken off, we expect that the situation in which Japan will find herself will be extremely critical. The above is for your information alone."
All communications are cut to Etorofu Island, Kurile Islands. Tankan Bay is the assembly point for the Japanese naval vessels that will attack Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Transport, President Coolidge arrived with elements of the 27th BG (L) and the 35th PG. Navy Department disapproved Hart’s proposal to keep the Asiatic Fleet in the Philippines but refuses to provide him with further guidance. Hart protests directly to Stark but no response was made. (Marc Small)The 5th Air Base Group also arrive in Manila. This group has been sent to the Philippines to support the 7th Bombardment Group (Heavy), the second B-17 group ordered to the Philippines.
Admiral Thomas C. Hart, commander of the Asiatic Fleet, orders the destroyer tender USS Black Hawk (AD-9) and the destroyers USS Alden (DD-211), Edsall (DD-219), John D. Edwards (DD-216) and Whipple (DD-217) dispatched to Balikpapan, Borneo, the Netherlands East Indies. (Marc Small)
PACIFIC OCEAN: Hart ordered tender Blackhawk and four destroyers dispatched to Balikpapan in the Netherlands East Indies.
U.S.A.: The motion picture They Died With Their Boots On opens at the Strand Theater in New York City. Directed by Raoul Walsh, this western drama about General Custer and Little Bighorn stars Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Arthur Kennedy, Gene Lockhart, Anthony Quinn, Sydney Greenstreet, Regis Toomey and Hattie McDaniel. Appearing on stage is Woody Herman And His Orchestra.
The spectre of a coming war hangs over America, but even as they listen to the latest news from the Atlantic, Britain, Germany and the Russian front and await the arrival on the west coast of Japan's special envoy, US citizens are buying their Thanksgiving Day turkeys and shopping early for Christmas. Holiday trade will be up 5 to 15% over last year. But not all the economic news is rosy. Congress and the president are preparing anti-inflationary tax legislation, and Roosevelt is threatening a government takeover of the coal mines.
The president, in announcing that he will delay his planned trip to Georgia, blames the coalminers' strike, but insiders say that he wants to hear what Japan's special envoy, Saburo Kurusu, has to offer. There is not much optimism, given the tenor of recent statements by Japan's leaders in Tokyo.
President Roosevelt did get the Neutrality Act amended and he is hearing less and less from "America Firsters". One restaurant in New York removed a flag belonging to Charles A Lindbergh until, the owner states, "he comes to his senses."
The Japanese Ambassador to the U.S., NOMURA Kichisaburo presents the following draft proposal to U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull: "(1) Both the Governments of Japan and the United States undertake not to make any armed advancement into any of the regions in the South-eastern Asia and the Southern Pacific area excepting the part of French Indo-China where the Japanese troops are stationed at present. (2) The Japanese Government undertakes to withdraw its troops now stationed in French Indo-China upon either the restoration of peace between Japan and China or the establishment of an equitable peace in the Pacific area. In the meantime the Government of Japan declares that it is prepared to remove its troops now stationed in the southern part of French Indo-China to the northern part of the said territory upon the conclusion of the present arrangement which shall later be embodied in the final agreement. (3) The Government of Japan and the United States shall cooperate with a view to securing the acquisition of those goods and commodities which the two countries need in Netherlands East Indies. (4) The Governments of Japan and the United States mutually undertake to restore their commercial relations to those prevailing prior to the freezing of the assets. The Government of the United States shall supply Japan a required quantity of oil. (5) The Government of the United States undertakes to refrain from such measures and actions as will be prejudicial to the endeavours for the restoration of general peace between Japan and China."
ATLANTIC OCEAN: USN destroyer USS Nicholson (DD-424), with Task Unit 4.1.5, escorting convoy HX-160 (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, to U.K.), depth charges a sound contact about 195 nautical miles (361 kilometers) north-northeast of St. John's, Newfoundland, in position 50B030'N, 50B040'W.