10 November 1942

UNITED KINGDOM: London: Buoyant after the desert victory at El Alamein, the Allied landings in North Africa, the relief of the island of Malta and prospects of success in Russia - but still warning of hardships to come for the people of Britain - Churchill told a Mansion House dinner tonight: "This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps the end of the beginning" for the Allies.

Submarine HMS Tiptoe laid down.

Submarine HMS Universal launched.

Corvette HMCS Ville de Quebec arrived Londonderry for Operation Torch duties.

FRANCE: Eighteen RAF Bomber Command (A-20) Bostons are dispatched to continue attacks on the large German ship at Le Havre but it had been moved. Sixteen aircraft bomb the dock area. Two Bostons crash in the sea.

During the night of 10/11 November, RAF Bomber Command aircraft lay mines off three Biscay ports: five lay mines in the Gironde Estuary and one each off Bayonne and St. Jean de Luz.

NETHERLANDS: During the night of 10/11 November, 30 RAF Bomber Command aircraft lay mines in the Frisian Islands.

GERMANY: Hitler, Laval and Ciano meet at Munich to discuss the situation in Africa. Hitler decides to hold on.

U.S.S.R.: Units of the XLVIII Panzer Corps are sent north from around Stalingrad to reinforce reserves in the area of the 3rd Romanian Army. This action comes in response to reports of a Soviet build up in that area.

CRETE: Six US Army, Middle East Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb the port area at Candia.

Submarine FS Meduse damaged off Casablanca on 8 November 1942 by American aircraft. Beached at Mazagan north off Cape Blanco and wrecked after being bombed again by an aircraft from light cruiser USS Philadelphia.

After being battered with depth charges in the Mediterranean, the periscope of U-565 was damaged so severely that the boat was forced return to base.

British destroyer HMS Martin (G 44) is struck by three torpedoes fired by German submarine U-431 and sinks about 88 nautical miles (163 kilometers) north-northeast of Algiers, Algeria, in position 37.53N, 03.57E. Only 63 of the 224 crewmen on the destroyer survive.

Italian submarine R.Smg Emo is scuttled after an attack by antisubmarine trawler HMS Lord Nuffield (FY 221).

ALGERIA: Oran falls to US forces. Patton's units begin moving into Casablanca. In Algiers, French Admiral Francois Darlan, commander of the Vichy French military, acting on the advice of General Alphonse Pierre Juin, Commander-in-Chief French Morocco, orders a general cease fire of Vichy troops throughout French North Africa. U.S. Major General Mark Clark, Deputy Commander Allied Expeditionary Force, on receiving news of Darlan's cease fire order, announces that "all civil and military authorities will be maintained in their present functions." French General Henri Honere Giraud arrives at Dar Mahidine and is received by Darlan who offers to turn command over to him. Giraud agrees to accept Darlan's leadership with the proviso that Giraud be named commander of the troops. Darlan orders Lieutenant General Georges Barre, commander of French forces in Tunisia, to group his forces in the vicinity of Medjez el Bab, Tunisia, and prepare to engage the Germans.

No heavy gunfire announced the beginning of Operation Torch. As the huge fleet loomed out of the darkness two days ago and waves of landing craft raced across the ocean swell, shipboard loudspeakers broke the silence: "Don't shoot," they blared in French, "we are Americans." The invaders were hoping fervently that French defenders in Morocco and Algeria would welcome them as friends. It was not to be. All three invasion forces faced fierce French resistance. At Algiers, where 33,000 troops were to land, two British destroyers, HMS MALCOLM and HMS BROKE, flying American flags, came under shellfire as they tried to land 600 US troops. The MALCOLM was badly damaged; the BROKE was sunk. The 250 men who managed to get ashore were made prisoners. The beach parties were more successful.

By early evening, General Juin had surrendered Algiers. Oran, under attack by a landing force of 39,000, fell today, but not without heavy losses. Bad weather foiled an airborne attempt to take the town's airports.

Destroyer HMS Martin is torpedoed and sunk by U-431 85 miles NE of Algiers at 37 53N 03 57E. Martin was incorrectly identified by Korvettenkapitan Wilhelm Domnes as a Leander class cruiser and he observed three of the four torpedoes that he fired to hit the destroyer. There are 161 casualties and 63 survivors.

Sloop HMS Ibis is attacked by Italian aircraft 10 miles North of Algiers at 37N 03E. She shoots down three of the attacking aircraft but a torpedo dropped by another hit the ship amidships and she capsized and sank almost immediately. 102 survivors are picked up by cruiser HMS Scylla after dark. (Alex Gordon)(108)

Troops of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division and of Combat Command B, U.S. 1st Armored Division, converge on Oran; Regimental Combat Team 16 has leading elements within the city by 0830 hours; Combat Command B columns enter Oran from the before French surrender at 1230 hours. .

USAAF Twelfth Air Force Spitfires escort a convoy, fly reconnaissance, and attack tanks and other vehicles in the Oran area.

FRENCH MOROCCO: The toughest resistance was to come at Casablanca where 34,300 troops were to land. The French battleship JEAN BART, still under construction, used her 15-inch guns to challenge the US battleship USS MASSACHUSETTS until eight direct hits put the French ship out of action. Major General George S. Patton Jnr., the US commander, arrived on the beach to find his army in chaos with landing craft waiting to be unloaded and men, unused to battle, cowering in foxholes as French aircraft roared in from the sea strafing tempting targets. Wearing two pearl-handled Colt revolvers, Patton strode among his men bellowing orders until they moved slowly forward.

French resistance in the Port Lyautey area ends. U.S. forces from Fedala close in on Casablanca and prepare for concerted assault at dawn tomorrow. Combat Command B, 2d Armored Division, breaks off their drive toward Marrakech from the Safi area and marches toward Mazagan in order to conserve strength for the attack on Casablanca.

LIBYA: The British Eighth Army takes Sidi Barrani recently evacuated by Panzerarmee Afrika.

Fifteen US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb the port area at Bengasi.

EGYPT: Lieutenant-General Bernard Law Montgomery is knighted and promoted to general. The British Eighth Army clears the Halfaya Pass.

EAST INDIES: On Timor Island, the commander of "Sparrow Force," the Australian and Dutch troops that landed on the island in December 1941 and continued fighting a guerilla war against the Japanese, radios that the 2/2nd Independent Company, one of the two Australian units of the force, urgently needs relief.

NEW GUINEA: The 25th Australian Brigade takes Gorari. This cuts off General Horii and the Japanese forces at Oivi.

The Japanese are forced back from Oivi by Australian 16th Brigade. Japanese troops doggedly contest the Australian pursuit down the northern face of the Owen Stanley Ranges. In the air, USAAF B-26 Marauders bomb antiaircraft positions and supply dumps along the Sanananda-Soputa trail; A-20 Havocs hit positions at Soputa as Australian ground forces push the Japanese from Oivi toward the mouth of the Kumusi River.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Guadalcanal: The Japanese survivors (about 3000) that escaped from the pocket on the Metapona River, east of the Lunga perimeter are led inland by Col. Shoji. During their trek around the Marine perimeter, they will be pursued by Col. Evans Carlson's 2nd Marine Raiders. They will reach other Japanese forces west of the perimeter after 13 days, subsisting on what edible items they can find in the jungle. The jungle, disease and the 2nd Raiders will whittle their number down to about 1300.

The 7th Marine Regiment (-) and 2d Battalion of the 164th Infantry Regiment continue the reduction of the pocket astride Gavaga Creek and they make an unsuccessful attempt to close gap in line. Westward offensive toward Kokumbona is renewed by the 2d Marine Regiment. 1st Battalion of 164th Infantry Regiment and 2d Marine Regiment (less 3d Battalion) attack west from Pt Cruz with 8th Marine Regiment protecting left rear.

Fifteen Japanese Navy "Zeke" fighters (Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters) attempt a fighter sweep over Guadalcanal. There are 31 Marine F4F Wildcat fighters in the air but only two are able to intercept the Japanese; one "Zeke" is shot down.

PACIFIC OCEAN: USN high speed minesweeper USS Southard (DMS-10) sinks Japanese submarine HIJMS I-15 about 47 nautical miles (88 kilometers) south of Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, in position 10.13S, 161.09E. All 91 crewmen are lost.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: The USAAF Eleventh Air Force flies reconnaissance over Semichi, Segula, Alaid, and Japanese-held Attu and Kiska Islands; five B-24 Liberators and a B-17 Flying Fortress bomb Kiska Island, but they cannot bomb the Kiska submarine base and return with some bombs; two P-38 Lightnings fly local air coverage.

U.S.A.: The 78th Fighter Group, USAAF, departs March Field for New York City where they are due to sail on the Queen Elizabeth on 24 November.

The Boeing XB-40-BO flies for the first time. This is the prototype of the B-17 with extra armament and armour.

German submarine U-608 lays mines off New York City, east of Ambrose Light. Ambrose Light is located about 10 nautical miles (18 kilometers) east-northeast of Highlands, New Jersey, in position 40.27N, 73.48W.

The Cuban Minister of State announced that diplomatic relations with the Vichy Government had been broken off.

Nicaragua and Haiti severed diplomatic relations with France.

Eight survivors of US freighter WEST KEBAR reach Guadelupe, French West Indies. (Rodney Sanders)(83)

U-505 shot down RAF Hudson a/c, Sqn 53/L in the Caribbean. The II WO and one lookout from U-505 were seriously wounded. The boat was damaged heavily and returned to base. 12 days later the wounded II WO was transferred to the Milk Cow U-462.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Soviet submarine M-121 sunk by mine off the Norwegian coast - Varangerfjord. All crew - 22 men - lost.

U-128 sank SS Cerinthus and Start Point.

U-181 sank SS KG Meldahl.

U-81 sank SS Garlinge.

U-73 fired four torpedoes at the battleship Rodney from a distance of nearly 3 miles; not surprisingly, all missed.

U-77 fired four torpedoes at the aircraft carrier Furious, with no result.

U-128 captured an officer and the chief from the sunken ship Start Point. Some hours later the captives were transferred to the milkcow U-462.

U-458 fired three torpedoes at a destroyer, with no result.

U-608 laid a minefield in New York Harbor near the Ambrose lightship, but it was detected before any ships were lost to it.

One seaman from U-620 was killed in another air attack. [Bootsmaat Josef Leisten].

U-561 fired four torpedoes at the carrier Argus, with no result.

Off French North Africa, aircraft escort vessel USS Chenango (ACV-28) flies off 76 USAAF P-40Fs into Port Lyautey and they are landing on the airfield by 1200 hours.

French submarine Le Tonnant unsuccessfully attacks USN aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV-4) and submarines Meduse and Antiope conduct similarly fruitless attacks against battleship USS Massachusetts (BB-59) and heavy cruiser USS Tuscaloosa (CA-37).