November 17th, 1942 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Minesweeper HMS Postillion laid down.
FRANCE: In Vichy France, Marshal Henri-Phillipe Pétain appoints Pierre Laval his successor, which reflects increasing German control over the Vichy French government. After the Germans invaded Vichy on 11 November, Pétain had become nothing more than a figurehead. Laval, President of the Council, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of the Interior, and Minister of Information, receives the power to make laws and issue decrees.
The USAAF Eighth Air Force’s VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 20: 2 locations are targeted: Twenty three B-17 Flying Fortresses and 12 14 B-24 Liberators bomb the U-boats pens at St Nazaire but six B-24s dispatched to hit Maupertus Airfield at Cherbourg abort due to cloud cover.
During the night of 17/18 November, 14 RAF Bomber Command aircraft drop leaflets over the country with the loss of one Halifax. Eleven other aircraft lay mines off two Bay of Biscay ports: six lay mines off Lorient and five lay mines off St. Nazaire.
NETHERLANDS: During the night of 17/18 November, 14 RAF Bomber Command aircraft lay mines in the Frisian Islands.
GERMANY: During the night of 17/18 November, RAF Bomber Command aircraft lay mines: five lay mines off the Heligoland Bight the body of water south and east of Heligoland Island, three lay mines off the port of Danzig and two off Pillan.
BALTIC SEA: During the night of 17/18 November, two RAF Bomber Command aircraft lay mines off the Danish island of Bornholm.
POLAND: During the night of 17/18 November, an RAF Bomber Command aircraft lay mines off the port of Gdynia.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: A convoy passes Gibraltar bound for Malta. They will reach Malta on the 20th. None of the four transports will be sunk. This is Operation Stonehenge.
Convoy MW-13 (Egypt to Malta) consisting of four merchant vessels escorted by the light cruisers HMS Euryalus (42), Dido (37) and Arethusa (26) and ten destroyers, departs Alexandria to deliver badly needed supplies to Malta. This is known as Operation STONEAGE.
U-331 sunk in the Mediterranean north of Algiers in position 37.05N, 02.27E after she had been badly damaged by a Hudson aircraft of No. 500 Squadron based at Tafaraoui, Algeria, she signalled surrender to a seaplane but was attacked by a torpedo-equipped aircraft Albacore from the British aircraft carrier HMS Formidable (Sqns 500 and 820). 32 dead and 17 survivors. Most of the killed were machine gunned in the water by aircraft. CO Kptlt Freiherr Hans-Diedrich Von Tiesenhausen (Knights Cross) emigrated to West Vancouver, Canada postwar and had a personalized license plate reading "U-331".
LIBYA: The advance of the British 8th Army reaches Derna on the coast and Mechili, inland.British troops at Djebel Abiod and French troops at Medjez el Bab repel simultaneous German attacks.
USAAF Ninth Air Force P-40s patrol over Tobruk and the Derna road.
ALGERIA: USAAF Twelfth Air Force air action is limited to routine patrols in the Tafaraoui area.
TUNISIA: The General Officer Commanding British First Army orders the 78th Division to concentrate for an advance on Tunis. The 36th Brigade, 78th Division makes contact with the Germans west of Djehel Abiod, 70 miles (113 kilometers) west of Tunis. To the south, the 2d Battalion, U.S. 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, occupies Gafsa Airfield.
BURMA: The amphibious operation against Akyab is cancelled by General Wavell. He then orders an advance by the 14th Indian Division which is more limited. It will advance down the Mayu Peninsula.
FRENCH INDOCHINA: Four USAAF Fourteenth Air Force P-40s hit construction equipment at Dong Cuong Airfield.
NEW GUINEA: 1,000 fresh Japanese troops are landed by sea at
Buna, Gona and Sanananda. The strong
fortifications built since September now have a full complement of defenders.
Port Moresby: The steady advance of the Australian army across the Owen
Stanley Mountains in Papua continues. Yesterday all seven Australian
battalions completed the crossing of the swift-flowing Kumusi river, in the
north. In the advance from Port Moresby the Australians found evidence that
the enemy had been reduced to eating not only grass but also dead
Australians. Approximately 5,000 survivors of Japan's original drive on Port
Moresby earlier this year, together with 4,000 reinforcements sent from
Rabaul are now retreating to the north coast.
Australian and U.S. forces continue toward the Japanese beachhead in the Buna-Gona area. The Australian 16th Brigade, Maroubra Force, spends the night between Isivita and Sangara, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) southwest of Popondetta. The U.S. 32d Infantry Division's Task Force Warren suffers another setback as Japanese planes put two more supply luggers out of action, leaving only one serviceable and necessitating supply of vital items by air until more luggers become available. The Wairopi Patrol (units of the U.S. 32d Infantry Division) reports to the Australian 7th Division at Wairopi. Japanese destroyers land the III/229th Battalion and 300 reinforcements for the 144th Regiment at Basabua, 2 miles (3,2 kilometers) east of Gona in the evening. The strong fortifications built by the Japanese since September now have a full complement of defenders.
In Papua New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-26 Marauders hit Gona Mission as the US 32d Infantry and Australian 7th Divisions continue to move toward the Buna-Gona beachhead. B-25 Mitchells bomb airfields at Lae, Northeast New Guinea.
EAST INDIES: Six Australian Beaufighter Mk ICs of No. 31 Squadron based at RAAF Coomalie Creek, Northern Territory, Australia, attack Moabisse and Bobonaro in Portugese East Timor with the loss of one aircraft.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: On New Britain Island, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb Gasmata while a lone B-24 Liberator bombs the wharf area at Rabaul.
CANADA:
HMC ML 097 commissioned.
Corvette HMCS Saskatoon completed refit Halifax, Nova Scotia.
U.S.A.: Washington: President Roosevelt today defended the agreement which the Allied commander in North Africa, Lieutenant-General Eisenhower, has reached with Admiral Darlan, the former Vichy leader as "a temporary expedient." Four days ago, Darlan announced that he was "assuming responsibility for the government in Africa with the consent of the American authorities." President Roosevelt made it plain, however, that this did not mean that the United States would back Darlan. "We are opposed to Frenchmen who support Hitler and the Axis", said Roosevelt.
The US Alien Property Custodian, under the "Trading With the Enemy Act" seizes the shares of the Silesian-American Corporation, as a Nazi-front. (Scott Peterson)
Minesweeper USS Skill commissioned.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: