November 1st, 1942 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The Westland Welkin High Altitude fighter prototype (DG 558) makes its maiden flight. Two 1,650-hp Rolls-Royce Merlin engines drive it to 387mph, with a ceiling of 44,000-feet and a range of 1,200 miles. (Emmanuel Gustin)(22)
Trawler HMS Bowell renamed HMS Miscou.
Corvettes HMCS Baddeck and Port Arthur arrived at Londonderry, having escorted the 50-ship convoy SC-105 from St. John’s. Both ships were Flower-class corvettes. SC-105 departed New York City on 11 Oct 42 and arrived safely in Liverpool on 31 Oct 42 with all of ships intact.
FRANCE: Workers strike in protest against forced labour.
RAF Bomber Command (A-20) Bostons bomb Ft. Rouge Airfield at St. Omer; three others bomb the docks at Calais as an alternative target. One Boston is lost.
BALTIC SEA: Finnish SS Agnes torpedoed and sunk by Soviet submarine SC-406 12 miles north of Rixhöft.
U.S.S.R.: Close combat between the Soviet garrison of Stalingrad (62d and 64th Armies) and the German Sixth and Fourth Panzer Armies of Army Group B continues, but the garrison has proved itself capable of weathering maximum effort of the Germans. In the Caucasus, the Red Army has frustrated every German effort to reach Grozny and is containing attacks toward Tuapse, but German Army Gioup A captures Alagir, blocking the Ossetian Highway, which extends from Alagir to Kutais.
CRETE: Eight US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberators strike the airfield and dispersal areas at Maleme.
EGYPT: Cairo: The enigmatically-named unit known as "L" detachment of the Special Air Service Brigade has been expanded into the 1st Special Air Service Regiment. The handful of survivors of Major David Stirling's 12-month experiment in mayhem behind Rommel's line will be steadily augmented by other veterans of irregular warfare. These include the Middle East Commando (30 officers and 300 rankers of whom Stirling wants only a third); a Free French SAS squadron (14 officers, 80 others); the Greek "Sacred Squadron" (14 and 100); and the Special Boat Section (15 and 40). Special units still outside Stirling's empire include the Long Range Desert Group; the Special Operations Executive; the Parachute Regiment; Popski's Private Army; and some commandos.
US Army, Middle East Air Force P-40s escort RAF bombers and hit ground targets in the battle area around El Alamein.
INDIAN OCEAN: SS Mendoza, an 8,234 ton British Ministry of War Transport which sailed from Mombasa, East Africa, is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-178 about 70 nautical miles (129 kilometers) east-northeast of its destination, Durban, South Africa. This ex-Vichy French ship is carrying 153 crew and some 250 passengers when it blew up taking the lives of 28 of her crew and 122 service personnel.
NEW GUINEA: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb the airfield and dump area at Lae, Northeast New Guinea.
SOLOMON ISLANDS:
On Guadalcanal, the 1st Marine Division, with artillery, naval gunfire, and air support, launches an attack toward the Poha River. The 5th Marine Regiment, followed by the 2d Marine Regiment (less the 3d Battalion) in reserve, crosses footbridges over the Matanikau River at 0630 hours and drives west about 1,000 yards (914 meters) in two columns to positions short of Point Cruz, the 1st Battalion , the right flank column, meeting considerable delaying opposition along the coast. The Whaling Group (3d Battalion of the 7th Marine Regiment and scout-sniper detachment) crosses the river upstream and advances west on the inland route to protect the left flank of the 5th Marine Regiment. To forestall expected Japanese landings in the Koli Point area, east of the Lunga perimeter, the 2d Battalion of the 7th Marine Regiment starts east toward the Metapona River. The only authenticated US bayonet charge of the campaign is conducted by Company I. By nightfall they are west of Point Cruz.
The first squadron of Marine Aircraft Group Eleven (MAG-11), Marine Scout- or Dive-Bombing Squadron One Hundred Thirty Two (VMSB-132) begins arriving at Henderson Field, Guadalcanal. The squadron is equipped with SBD Dauntlesses.
USAAF Fifth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses strike shipping in the Buin area of southern Bougainville Island. Kahili Airfield on southern Bougainville is also attacked.
U.S.A.: Destroyer escort USS Edsall launched.
NORTH ATLANTIC: Convoy SC 107 reaches the air support gap south of Greenland. During this night four U-boats sink eight merchantmen. A ninth is sunk during the day. The weather then worsens and the German lose contact with the convoy. (Henry Sirotin)
Destroyer USS Borie sank from damage received after ramming U-405 in the North Atlantic. 27 crew lost. 49 men died when this U-boat was lost. There were no survivors.
U-565 shot down RAF 233 Sqn Hudson and heavily damaged another.
U-126 sank SS George Thatcher.
U-174 sank SS Elmdale in Convoy TRIN-20.
U-178 sank SS Mendoza.
U-173 sailed from France on her second and final patrol.
U-664, on her maiden patrol, was severely damaged by depth charges dropped by a Catalina of USN Squadron VP 84, and had to abort to France.