November 14th, 1943 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Wigan, Lancashire: Ernest Bevin, the minister of labour, explained his plans for employment after the war here today. He foresaw that controls would be required for several years and a "human budget" would be needed every year to allocate labour. Rehousing alone would provide jobs for five million. "There is hardly a home in this country that is not short of domestic utensils. I want to compel the manufacture of goods of proper quality - no rubbish - to replenish our homes," said Mr. Bevin.
Submarine HMS Anchorite laid down.
FRANCE: VICHY FRANCE: Marshal Petain, having tried and failed to reintroduce a measure of legitimacy and thus free France and himself from the head of government, Pierre Laval, and his collaborationist clique, is now virtually a German prisoner.
Petain planned to say in a speech that he represented legitimate authority in France, and that on his death power would revert to the National Assembly. However, the contents of the speech were communicated to Hitler, who ordered Petain not to give it. Instead, the Germans plan to launch a campaign of repression and terror against the Resistance, exploiting what is left of Marshal Petain's reputation.
GERMANY: U-794, the Germany navy's first true submarine, goes into service at Kiel: it has a Schnorkel to provide the engines with oxygen while it is submerged.
U.S.S.R.: Manteuffel's 7th Panzer Division is ordered to counterattack south of Zhitomir from near Berdichev.
ARCTIC SEA: U-636 lays 24 mines in the Yugor Strait, but without result.
ITALY: The British 8th Indian Division with the 2nd New Zealand Division captures Perano.
The Italian Socialist Republic (RSI), or Salò Republic, led by Benito Mussolini, is established as an independent fascist state of Northern Italy to continue the war against the Allies. RSI holds a conference in Verona today to discuss many factors: to established the structure and socialization of the new republic, that the acts of the Grand Council on 25 July 1943 are those of traitors and the need to stifle partisan actions. A bill of 18 articles is written by the party secretary Alessadro Pavolini and endorsed by Mussolini. After the conference, Pavolini organizes the first of many RSI attacks on insurgents when 17 anti-fascists in Ferrara are killed. The focus of the RSI is to avoid a civil war.
Operations by the USAAF Twelfth Air Force's XII Air Support Command are curtailed by weather, and only battle area patrols are flown; RAF Desert Air Force fighter-bombers hit trains on the east coast near Avezzano; and fighters strafe the airfields at Furbara and Tarquinia.
YUGOSLAVIA: RAF Desert Air Force fighter-bombers hit targets along the Dalmatian coast southeast of Metkovic and at Sarajevo.
NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells attack a supply and bivouac area west of Sio.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Bougainville, after a delay to await an air strike, replenishment of water supply, and repair of communications, the 21st Marine Regiment, supported by five tanks, renews the battle for the Numa Numa and East-West Trails junction, advance along jungle tracks using tanks for an armoured spearhead, and takes it and establish perimeter defense.
During the night of 14/15 November, USAAF Thirteenth Air Force P-70 night fighters hit the Shortland Island-Faisi Island area, claiming a seaplane and two barges destroyed.
GILBERT ISLAND: B-17 bombers raid Tarawa.
Nine USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators from Nukufetau Island in the Ellice Islands bomb Tarawa Atoll.
MARSHALL ISLANDS: Nine USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators from Nanumea Island in the Ellice Islands hit Mili (Mille) Atoll.
U.S.A.: Off BERMUDA: A U.S. torpedo is accidentally fired at U.S.S. Iowa with President Franklin Roosevelt on board. It exploded by chance in wake of Roosevelt's ship. (Glenn Steinberg)
Jack McKillop adds: On 12 November 1943, the destroyer USS William D. Porter (DD-579) departed Norfolk, Virginia, and the following day rendezvoused with the battleship USS Iowa (BB-61). The battleship was on her way to North Africa carrying President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Cairo and Teheran Conferences. During battle drills on the afternoon of the 14 November, the crew of the destroyer inadvertently fired a live torpedo at Iowa however, the destroyer signalled Iowa in plenty of time to allow the battleship to turn hard to starboard, parallel to the torpedo's wake. The torpedo exploded some 3,000 yards (2,743.2 meters) astern of the battleship. USS William D. Porter completed her part in the mission and steamed west to Bermuda, where she arrived on 16 November.
Submarines USS Barbel and Cavalla launched.
Frigates USS Brownsville and bath launched.
Destroyer escorts USS Bronstein, O'Neill and Roberts launched.
Destroyers USS McGowan and McNair launched.
Minesweeper USS Shelter launched.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The USN battleship USS Iowa (BB-61) and her escorts are east of Bermuda. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt is aboard en route from the U.S. to Casablanca, French Morocco, for a conference in Tehran, Iran. During battle drills destroyer USS William D. Porter (DD-579) inadvertently fires a live torpedo at USS Iowa . (Glenn Stenberg)