Yesterday      Tomorrow

November 12th, 1942 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: In London, Free French Brigadier General Charles DeGaulle, Commander in Chief Free French Forces, informs Admiral Harold Stark, Commander, U.S. Forces in Europe, that there is no chance of the Free French coming to an agreement with Admiral Jean-Francois Darlan, the civil and military chief of French North Africa. .

NORTH SEA: U-336 collided with the escort minesweeper M 1906. The damaged U-boat had to return to base.

FRANCE: German troops occupy Marseilles and approach Toulon, where the Vichy fleet is ordered to sail to Africa to avoid capture.

GERMANY: First flight of the Heinkel He219 Night Fighter Prototype. (Ron Babuka)

BALTIC SEA: U-272 sunk near Hela, in position 54.45N, 18.50E, after a collision with U-664. 29 dead and 19 survivors.

During training in the Baltic Sea, U-665 collided with the support ship Wilhelm Bauer.

U.S.S.R.:  The Germans extricate their 13th Panzer division after it is encircled  south of Terek in the Caucasus.
Baltic Fleet, Ladoga and Onega Flotillas: Submarine "Sch-306"is mined or sunk due to collision with U-boat, at the West part of Finland Gulf. (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Minesweeper HMS Algerine is torpedoed and sunk off Bougie at 36 47N 05 11E by the Italian submarine Ascianghi.

U-660 scuttled in the Mediterranean near Oran, in position 36.07N, 01.00W, after damages by depth charges from corvettes HMS Lotus and Starwort. 2 dead and 45 survivors.

FRENCH MOROCCO: German submarine U-130 slips in among the ships anchored in Fedhala Roads and fires three torpedoes at three USN transports. All three transports, USS Edward Rutledge (AP-52), Hugh L. Scott (AP-43) and Tasker H. Bliss (AP-42), are hit and burst into flames and are abandoned. The first two hips sink shortly but USS Tasker H. Bliss burns until 0230 hours tomorrow before sinking.

ALGERIA: The British First Army takes Bone, 150 miles (241 kilometers) east of Bougie, without opposition, but German planes make damaging attacks later in day. The British No. 6 Commando lands by sea and secure the port. USAAF Twelfth Air Force C-47 Skytrains drop two companies of the 3d Parachute Battalion at Duzerville airdrome, 6 miles (9,7 kilometers) southeast of Bone. Duzerville Airfield is bombed by German aircraft during the night of 12/13 November. The Paratroop Task Force (USAAF 60th Troop Carrier Group and the 2d Battalion of the U.S. 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment) is placed under operational control of the British First Army at Algiers. In the air, USAAF Twelfth Air Force fighters fly patrols over a wide area around Oran.

EGYPT: The US Army Middle East Air Force (USAMEAF) is dissolved and replaced by Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron, Ninth Air Force, commanded by Lieutenant General Lewis H Brereton. The major components of this unit are: IX Bomber Command (Brigadier General Patrick W Timberlake) at Ismailia, IX Fighter Command (Colonel John C Kilborn) en route to Egypt, and IX Air Service Command (Brigadier General Elmer E Adler). The Ninth Air Force begins combat operations in Egypt, providing tactical air support to the British in the drive westward across North Africa.

LIBYA:  Units of the British 1st and 7th Armoured Division enter Tobruk. The town is a shell, its port installations largely destroyed.

TUNISIA: German reinforcements land.

CHINA: Lieutenant General Josepeh Stilwell, Commander-in-Chief U.S. China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater of Operations, Chief of Staff to Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek and Commander of the Northern Area Combat Command in Burma, sends a memorandum to Chinese Foreign Minister T.V. Soong suggesting that a commander be chosen at once for the Yunnan Force (Y-Force); that units to participate in the offensive be designated and reorganized; that available 75-mm guns be sent to Yunnan; and that incompetent commanders be removed.

NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, Gorari falls to the Australian 25th Brigade. During the Japanese retreat across the Kumusi River. Lieutenant General Horii Tomitaro is drowned during the retreat and 600 soldiers die. Japanese resistance outside their beachheads at Buna and Gona has collapsed.

The 2d Battalion of 126th Infantry Regiment, U.S. 32d Infantry Division, moves toward Gora and Bolu. The 3d Battalion of the 126th, is airlifted from Port Moresby to Pongani and the troops immediately start overland toward Natunga.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: 

     Eleven Japanese transports carrying 13,500 troops and supported by a force of cruisers and two battleships, HIJMS Kirishima and Hiei, leave the Shortland Island area and head for Guadalcanal Island; during the afternoon the reconnaissance value and defensive capability of the B-17 Flying Fortress are ably demonstrated when a single B-17 sights a carrier 350 nautical miles (648 kilometers) off Guadalcanal Island and maintains contact for two hours before returning to base with claims of six "Zeke" fighters (Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters) shot down.

     The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal opens: Six U.S. transports of USN Task Force 67 (Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner) are unloading about 6,000 troops, including Regimental Combat Team 182 of the Armybs Americal Division, in Lunga Roads under the protection of air and surface forces. These are reported to Japanese headquarters at Rabaul, New Britain Island, Bismarck Archipelago, by Japanese observers, as three battleships, three heavy cruisers, 11 destroyers and five transports. At 1305 hours local, 19 "Betty" bombers (Mitsubishi G4M, Navy Type 1 Attack Bombers), escorted by "Zeke" fighters (Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters), make a low-level torpedo attack against the ships. The Japanese aircraft are intercepted by USMC F4F Wildcats and USAAF P-39 Airacobras and 16 "Betty" bombers and seven "Zeke" fighters are shot down by the fighters and antiaircraft fire. Three transports are damaged and the heavy cruiser USS San Francisco (CA-38) is damaged when hit by a crashing bomber; destroyer USS Buchanan (DD-484) is hit by friendly 5-inch (12,7 centimeter) shell. Twenty four sailors on San Francisco are killed, 45 are wounded and the after fire control radar is destroyed; five men are killed on Buchanan and  Their unloading is interupted shortly afternoon by an Japanese Navy air strike.

     U.S. search planes spot the Japanese Bombardment Force consisting of the battleships HIJMS Hiei and Kirishima, the light cruiser HIJMS Nagara and 13 destroyers under Rear Admiral ABE Hiroaki, steaming south at 25 knots. They also spot Destroyer Division 4 and Rear-Admiral TANAKA Raizobs 13 transports trying to catch up with the battleships.

     Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner pulls his transports out in the evening. He leaves Rear-Admiral Daniel J. Callaghan with Rear Admiral Norman Scott and heavy cruisers USS San Francisco (CA-38) and Portland (CA-33); light cruisers USS Helena (CL-50), Atlanta (CL-51) and Juneau (CL-52); and destroyers USS Aaron Ward (DD-483), Barton (DD-599), Cushing (DD-376), Fletcher (DD-445), Laffey (DD-459), Monssen (DD-436), O'Bannon (DD-450) and Sterett (DD-407), to face the Japanese battleships. Admiral Callaghan is in tactical command, due to 15 days seniority over Admiral Scott. Scott had successfully commanded the US forces in their victory at the Battle of Cape Esperance in October.

     The first 12 P-38 Lightnings as well as USMC and USN aircraft, are moved from Tontouta Airfield on NoumC)a, New Caledonia Islands and Espiritu Santo Island to Henderson Field to bolster the defense of Guadalcanal Island.

     USAAF Fifth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb Japanese shipping at Tonolai harbor in southern Bougainville Island.

The US Army 182nd Regiment lands on Guadalcanal.

On Guadalcanal, a Japanese pocket along Gavaga Creek is completely eliminated. The action has cost the Japanese 450 killed, and the few who have eluded the trap are being harassed, while retiring toward Mt Austen, by the 2d Marine Raider Battalion marching west from Aola Bay. The Kokumbona assault force completes withdrawal across the Matanikau River.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: USAAF Eleventh Air Force bombers are on alert at Umnak and Adak Islands to attack any reported naval targets; intermittent fighter patrols fly over Adak Island.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Kamsack commenced refit Liverpool, Nova Scotia.

U.S.A.:  The draft age is lowered from 20 to 18. It is estimated that US armed  forces will amount to 10 million by the end of 1943.

Submarine USS Billfish launched.

Canadian SS Lillian E Kerr sunk after a collision off Massachusetts Bay. No survivors.

The Air Corps Board, which had been established before World War II to develop and determine military requirements, is redesignated the Army Air Forces Board.

GUATEMALA severs diplomatic relations with France.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Whilst covering the returning convoy MKF.1 escort carrier HMS Archer is torpedoed and sunk West of Gibraltar at 36 15N 07 45E by U-155 (Kapitanleutnant Adolf Piening). The torpedo caused a sympathetic explosion of the contents of the carrier’s bomb room and she sank very quickly leaving only 12 survivors to be rescued by HMS Gladiale.

HMS Sanguenay collides with merchant ship Azara, East of Newfoundland, and accidental release of her depth charges blows off her stern.  She is towed to St. Johns and then Halifax but never repaired. (Alex Gordon)(108)