3 November 1942

UNITED KINGDOM: The Lockheed Ventura light bomber makes its RAF Bomber Command debut with a daylight raid by No. 21 Squadron. (22)

Corvette HMCS Calgary arrived Londonderry to refit from Cardiff.

Corvette HMCS Kitchener arrived Londonderry for Operation Torch.

FRANCE: During the night of 3/4 November, RAF Bomber Command sends 29 Wellingtons to mine Biscay ports; one aircraft is lost. Nine aircraft lay mines off La Pallice and five each off Brest, Lorient and St. Nazaire.

NETHERLANDS: The Lockheed (PV-1) Ventura Mk. I flies its first mission with RAF Bomber Command. Three aircraft are unable to find their primary target, a factory at Hengelo, and bomb railways instead. No aircraft lost on this day.

GERMANY: U-198 commissioned. During the day, RAF Bomber Command dispatches three Stirlings to Lingen to bomb a factory.

U.S.S.R.: Premier Joseph Stalin describes U.S. military aid as of little effect.

EGYPT: German and Italian units begin to withdraw, until Hitler orders "no retreat." Rommel is astounded at the lack of pressure from the British, trapped as they are in their own confused traffic jams.

El Alamein: The Desert Fox is in retreat. The German general last night ordered his Afrika Korps to withdraw in the face of a new offensive launched by General Montgomery's revitalized Eighth Army. Today Hitler sent an order to hold the Alamein position, but it was too late. Rommel did halt his retreat for a while, but this may only reduce his chances of securing a new defensive line.

The decisive breakthrough came after concern had been voiced by Churchill about the slow progress of the attack. Montgomery switched to the less well-defended German lines inland. This attack codenamed "Supercharge", involved a westward attack by the infantry of XIII Corps under General Leese, with the armoured divisions of X Corps under General Lumsden to resist attacks from Rommel's Panzers. The 9th Australian Division maintained diversionary attacks nearer the coast.

The Allied attack began in the early hours yesterday - and the German counter-attack was fierce. More than 200 British tanks were put out of action. But at the end of the day the Allies still had over 600 serviceable tanks against barely 30 for the Germans. With fuel for even these tanks desperately short Rommel ordered a retreat, leaving the way open for the Eighth Army.

The 1st Armoured Division of X Corps, British Eighth Army, is unable to penetrate the Axis' antitank screen. Since the Axis is obviously withdrawing, General Bernard Montgomery, General Officer Commanding Eighth Army, orders an attack to outflank the screen. During the night of 3/4 November, the 51st Infantry Division and a brigade of the Indian 4th Division drive quickly to the Rahman track south of Tel ci Aqqaqir, breaking through the screen in the southern sector and forcing the Axis to turn it. Allied aircraft fly over 400 sorties against enemy retreating along coastal road.

Rejecting out of hand Field Marshal Rommel's proposal to withdraw the Afrikakorps, now down to about 40 tanks, to the Fuka line, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler orders him to stand and fight.

US Army, Middle East Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb tanks, motor transport, landing ground, ammunition dumps, mainly in the Rahman Track area and on the road between Fuka and El Daba, and also hit town of Fuka and Ghazal station; P-40s fly several escort and fighter-bomber missions, attacking ground targets in support of the British Eighth Army. Allied aircraft fly 400+ sorties against Axis troops retreating along the coastal road. During the night of 3/4 November, British and Indian troops outflank and break an Axis tank screen in the sector south of Tell el Aqqaqir.

LIBYA: Five US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb the port area at Tobruk.

INDIA: Delhi: Chiang Kai-shek puts 15 Chinese divisions under the command of Lieutenant-General Stilwell for the Burmese campaign.

INDIAN OCEAN: U-181 came upon a lifeboat and provided drinking water to its occupants.

CHINA: Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek agrees conditionally to plans formulated during a recent conference in India, promising 15 divisions from Yunnan, provided the Allies furnish strong sea and air forces. Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell, Commander in Chief US China-Burma-India Theater of Operations, Chief of Staff to Chiang Kai-Shek and Commander in Chief Northern Area Combat Command (NCAC) in Burma, is to command the Chinese Army in India (CAl) during Burma operations. Chiang's promise of the Yunnan divisions leads to accelerated planning for the reorganization of Yunnan force, called Y-Force.

NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb the airfield and wharf at Lae.

EAST INDIES: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-26 Marauders bomb Dili on Portugese Timor Island.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Guadalcanal: The 2nd Battalion 7th US Marines begin a fire fight with Japanese units east of the Metapona River. Without radio contact, air or naval support, Colonel Hanneken conservatively pulls back. When he is finally able to contact Vandegrift in the afternoon, 1st Battalion 7th Marines, by boat, with 2nd and 3rd Battalions 164th are sent to reinforce. With initial assistance of the Cactus Airforce, and the artillery of 3rd Battalion 10th Marines, they turn the tide east of the Lunga Perimeter. In the closing moments 2-7 receive friendly fire from the Cactus Air Force.

General Hattori has arrived on Guadalcanal to observe and report the situation of the 17th Army to Tokyo. His initial accounts are of battalions crushed by shelling; the "actual situation is beyond imagination." He reports that no future contribution from the 2nd Division should be counted on.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: USAAF Fifth Air Fore B-17 Flying Fortresses attack a ship south of Gasmata, New Britain Island.

PORTUGUESE TIMOR: A squadron of USAAF Martin B-26 Marauder bombers carry out a raid on the Japanese stronghold of Dili. This raid is watched by most of the Australians; at "Sparrow Force" HQ a signaller discovers that one of the radio sets netted into the same frequency as the bombers. Men clustered around the set listening to the flight leaders giving instructions and the replies from his pilots; as the last plane came in for it's bomb run the listeners heard the pilot say "bombs away" followed by "port engine hit by flack." The damaged plane fell out and the flight leader urged "come on Hitchcock, make formation." As his plane limped along Hitchcock was heard to call 'Zeros on my tail, Zeros on my tail'. The Australians watched as the dogfight took the planes south towards Darwin, and eventually out of their sight. (William L. Howard)(188, 189, 190, 191)

U.S.A.: 78th Fighter Group and 82d, 83 and 84th Fighter Squadrons move to March Field, Riverside, California on 3 Nov 42 to prepare for overseas duty.

Congressional elections are held today for seats in the 78th Congress that will convene in January 1943:

- In the Senate, the Democrats lose nine seats, the Republicans gain ten and independents lose one; the Democrats still control the Senate with 57 of 96 seats.

- In the House of Representatives, the Democrats lose 45 seats, the Republicans gain 47 and independents lose two. The Democrats still control the House with 222 of the 435 seats.

CARIBBEAN SEA: CHR J. Kampmann, Canadian merchantman, ex-Danish registered freighter (2,260 GRT), was torpedoed and sunk in the Caribbean, north of Venezuela, in position 12.06N, 062.42W, by U-160, Kptlt Georg Lassen, Knight's Cross, Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, CO. There were 19 survivors from her crew of 27 men. CHR J. Kampmann was part of convoy TAG-18.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-boats sink another six freighters from convoy SC-107. (Henry Sirotin)

U-181 sank SS East Indian.

U-504 sank SS Porto Alegre.

U-521 sank SS Hahira in Convoy SC-107.

U-89 sank SS Jeypore in Convoy SC-107.

After being attacked and heavily damaged by an aircraft, U-431 was forced to return to base.

The flotilla doctor was able to give instructions via radio on treatment of a crewmember of U-436 who was suffering from appendicitis.