November 26th, 1942 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Sloop HMS Woodstock launched.
Destroyer HMS Carron laid down.
FRANCE: During the night of 26/27 November, RAF Bomber Command aircraft lay mines off two Biscay Bay ports: two each lay mines off Lorient and St. Nazaire.
NETHERLANDS: During the night of 26/27 November, 19 RAF Bomber Command aircraft lay mines in the Frisian Islands.
GERMANY: U-650 commissioned.
U.S.S.R.: Stalingrad: The Russians have thrown a ring of fire and steel around the German Sixth Army trapped in Stalingrad, the city it had come to capture three months ago. It failed, and now this once proud army faces destruction by the avenging Russians.
Three days ago Lieutenant-Colonel Filippov, the commander of the 14th Motorized Infantry Brigade of the Russian XXVI Tank Corps, led his detachment, with light fulls on in the pre-dawn darkness, to the German-held bridge over the Don at Kalach. He was counting on the Germans assuming that his were captured tanks being taken to a nearby German anti-tank warfare training school for practice. The bridge was primed to be blown up, but Filippov's ruse worked. The Germans waved him on and he captured the bridge, holding it with his small force until the rest of the town was captured.
The next day Soviet tanks poured over the bridge and met up with the southern arm of the pincer movement 30 miles to the southeast at Sovetsky. The ring was closed.
Inside it are Paulus' Sixth Army and part of Hoth's 4th Panzer Army, 270,000 men comprising 22 divisions. There are also the remains of the Third and Fourth Romanian Armies, whose men have been surrendering in their thousands. The situation is reminiscent of the Germans' early great encirclement victories, and the Russians' aim is the same as their enemy's was: the destruction of the trapped divisions.
Paulus wants to break out to safety in the west. When he was told of the Russian link-up at Sovetsky he sent a signal to Hitler: "Army heading for disaster. It is essential to withdraw all our divisions from Stalingrad." But Hitler has ordered him to stand firm: "I will do everything in my power to supply the Sixth Army adequately and to disengage it when the time is convenient."
Göring , inspired by the Luftwaffe's successful supply of the Wehrmacht's "hedgehogs" last winter, has promised Hitler he will be able to airlift sufficient supplies to keep Paulus's army in being until the Russians are driven off. But the Luftwaffe is going to be hard-pressed. Virtually every transport aircraft in the air force will be needed to carry the daily total of 500 tons of fuel and ammunition necessary to sustain the trapped army. Many of its transport aircraft have been sent to the Middle East; two-thirds of them are unserviceable at any given time. The weather is appalling. The only two airfields still in German hands are in danger of falling to the Russians. As Paulus says the, the Sixth Army is heading for disaster.
TUNISIA: The British First Army continues to advance. The British 78th Division captures Medjez el Bab.
Blade Force engages in its first armored battle on the plain south of Mateur. A US armored battalion raids the German air base at Djedeida.
LIBYA: Twelve USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-24 Liberators fly three missions against the port area at Tripoli, scoring direct hits on two vessels, one B-24 bombs a ship at Homs harbor while P-40s patrol over the Bengasi and Derna area.
THAILAND: USAAF planes attack Bangkok oil refinery.
NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, the stalemate continues on Gona front. Further frontal and flanking attacks of 126th Infantry Regiment, U.S. 32d Infantry Division, toward Sanananda makes limited progress: The 1st Battalion (-) is pinned down on the Soputa- Sanananda track after a 100-yard (91 meter) advance; on the left, the 3d Battalion (-) drives east to within 700 yards (640 meters) of the Killerton trail; on the right, Company L and the Australians finally overrun the bitterly contested food dump. The Urbana Force halts frontal and right flank attacks on the Triangle and prepares to make a strong effort on left, since the Japanese are disposed in less strength west of Entrance Creek and the terrain is more favorable. The Warren Force, under personal observation of Major General Edwin Harding, Commanding General 32d Infantry Division, makes a determined effort to advance after strong air and artillery preparation. The Japanese retire into bunkers during the bombardment and emerge afterward to meet the attack. The 3d Battalion of the 128th Infantry Regiment (-) and 1st Battalion of 126th Infantry Regiment (-) advance abreast, the latter on the left followed by the 1st Battalion of the128th. Little is accomplished by the attack. Company I of the 128th Infantry Regiment and the Australian 2/6th Independent Company, Maroubra Force, charged respectively with securing the west and east ends of New Strip, are unable to advance. The Japanese retain air superiority over Buna front and sink a lugger bound for Hariko with ammunition. The 127th Infantry Regiment, U.S. 32d Infantry Division, reaches Port Moresby from Australia.
In Northeast New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force P-40s, A-20 Havocs, and B-25 Mitchells attack airfields and antiaircraft positions in the Buna area while B-26 Marauders strike the Salamaua area.
AUSTRALIA: At 0320 hours local, Japanese bombers attack the Darwin town area and the Strauss and Hughes Airfields.
Minesweeper HMAS Gladstone launched.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Japanese Lieutenant-General Imamura Hitoshi formally assumes command of the 8th Area Army at Rabaul, New Britain Island. (The 8th Area Army is responsible for the 17th Army in the Solomon Islands and the 18th Army in New Guinea.) Colonel Sugita presents a paper outlining the current situation on Guadalcanal and suggesting withdrawal. General Imamura refuses to formally accept the paper because it is defeatist. Major Hayashi arrives from Guadalcanal with the news that all rice and barley there would be entirely consumed that day.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: A USAAF Eleventh Air Force B-24 Liberator reconnoitering Holtz Bay harbor on Japanese-held Attu Island spots shipping targets which are subsequently hit by four B-26 Marauders escorted by four P-38 Lightnings; one cargo ship is damaged. Reconnaissance is flown over Rat Island, Agattu and Semichi Islands and the Japanese-held Kiska Island shipping and the north coast of Attu Island; two P-38s and a B-26 sustain minor damage.
CANADA: Corvette HMCS Chambly commenced refit Liverpool, Nova Scotia.
U.S.A.: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders nationwide gasoline rationing, beginning 1 December.
The motion picture Casablanca premieres at the Hollywood Theater in New York City. One copy of the film was rushed to the theater to take advantage of the military events occurring in North Africa. Directed by Michael Curtiz, this romantic drama set in December 1941 Casablanca stars Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Dooley Wilson and S.Z. Sakall. This was just another Warner Brothers film and nobody had any idea that it will be considered one of the greatest films ever made.
Destroyer USS Nelson commissioned.
Destroyer escorts USS Stadtfield and Martin laid down.
COLOMBIA: The nation severs diplomatic relations with France.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-263 met an Allied submarine, which fired two torpedoes, but both missed their target.