15 November 1943

UNITED KINGDOM: London: The Allied Expeditionary Air Force (AEAF) is formed to control all Allied tactical air operations in connection with Operation "Overlord." RAF Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory is named commander of the AEAF and USAAF Brigadier General William O Butler is named Deputy Commander. The new unit will have control of two RAF units, Tactical Air Force, which is redesignated the Second Tactical Air Force (2nd TAF), and Fighter Command, which is redesignated Air Defence Great Britain. AEAF will be given operational control of the USAAF's Ninth Air Force in December. AEAF is disbanded on 15 October 1944.

Destroyer HMCS Chaudiere (ex-HMS Hero) was commissioned into the RCN at Portsmouth.

Destroyers HMCS Haida, Huron and Iroquois departed Loch Ewe with the 19-ship convoy JW-54A to Kola Inlet. All ships were Tribal-class destroyers. The trip with JW54A was an uneventful passage to Archangel. On the return trip, with convoy JW55B, the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst was sunk. Although not actively involved in the sinking, the three Canadian destroyers contributed indirectly to the battle's outcome.

FRANCE: Tonight the British Special Operations Executive lands six agents in France and takes 12, including Francois Mitterrand, back to Britain.

During the night of 15/16 November, RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos hit four cities: five bomb Dusseldorf, two each attack Bonn and Duisburg and one attacks Krefeld.

Continuing their offensive toward Rechitsa, Soviet forces cut the rail line between Gomel and Pinsk.

The guns are silent along the entire Italian line. The invading armies are exhausted. The plight of the defenders is no better. Both the British and Americans have given their all in the Fifth Army sector. On 5 November the British 56th Infantry Division attacked Monte Camino, a barren 3,000-foot mountain which the Germans had covered with mines and booby-traps. At the half-way point, they faced a series of brutal counter-attacks by the 15 Panzergrenadier Division but held on. They were finally forced to retire through sheer exhaustion. The US VI Corps suffered days of attacking elusive German defenders. It was only then that General Mark Clark gave the order to withdraw.

Milan: SS men rounded up nearly 2,000 Italian workers in the industrial suburbs of Milan today and held them as hostages against further sabotage. Even so, explosions have continued to rock this northern city and other forms of sabotage have become widespread. Milan's population has already been fined £1 million; more communal punishments have been threatened.

Frantic efforts are being made to remove thousands of British prisoners of war to Germany. Many took advantage of the confusion following the armistice and escaped. More have linked up with the fast-emerging communist-led partisan movement in the north. Former Italian soldiers are also swelling the guerrilla's ranks.

Resistance continues to grow against the German occupiers and Fascist collaborators. Six Fascists were killed in ambushes in the Florence district.

It was inevitable that Italy's Jewish population should bear the brunt of Nazi fury. At least 7,500 Jews are being rounded up in Rome and herded in trains bound for German death camps. Hundreds more are being sheltered from the Gestapo in Rome's labyrinth of catacombs where Christians once sheltered from persecution.

Whilst entering harbour at Bari destroyer HMS Quail is mined and has to be beached. She capsizes on 18 June 1944 at 40 05N 17 52E while under tow to Taranto for repair. (Alex Gordon)(108)

The U.S. Fifth Army halts their advance in order to reorganize in preparation for another assault on the Winter Line. The 7th Armored Division is withdrawn from left flank of British X Corps to 15th Army Group reserve in preparation for movement to England. The 82d Airborne Division, largely engages in policing Naples, is also to be withdrawn to England before their next offensive. The 1st Armored Division begins arriving at Naples about this time.

GREECE: B-25 Mitchells of the USAAF Twelfth Air Force's XII Air Support Command bomb Kalamaki Airfield.

Forty six USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Eleusis Airfield near Athens; P-38 Lightnings provide escort.

CHINA: Twenty USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators are dispatched against the Hong Kong-Kowloon area. Bad weather prevents 15 bombers from bombing the targets however, five bomb the docks at Kowloon.

BURMA: On the north Burma front, the Chinese 38th Infantry Division is moving reinforcements forward for the 112th Regiment. The 114th Regiment arrives at the front and is followed in early December by the 113th. In the 11th Army Group's Fourteenth Army sector, the Japanese take Fort White in IV Corps area, having forced the British to abandon it.

NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, over 30 USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Alexishafen. Meanwhile, 88 B-25 Mitchells heading for Wewak and Boram with an escort of 16 P-40s are intercepted by Japanese fighters that are escorting bombers attacking Gusap; the resulting battle causes the B-25s to abort the attack; the Americans claim 20 of the Japanese aircraft shot down with the loss of two P-40s. P-47 Thunderbolt pilots claim five more aircraft destroyed over Wewak.

MARSHALL ISLANDS: USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Jaluit and Atolls.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Bougainville, the beachhead perimeter is expanded to the inland defense line Dog.

Twenty USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators strike Buka Airfield on Buka Island north of Bougainville. On Bougainville Island, 18 B-24s bomb Kahili (Kihili) Airfield in the southern part of the island while fighter patrols destroy or damage several barges along the coast and destroy two fuel dumps at Tonolai Harbor off southern Bougainville. During the night of 15/16 November, P-70 night fighterss harass Kahili (Kihili) Airfield. .

Corvette HMCS Baddeck completed forecastle extension refit Liverpool, Nova Scotia.

Frigate HMCS Port Colborne commissioned.

Frigate HMCS Sussexvale (ex-HMCS Valdorian) laid down.

Submarine HMS L-23 arrived Halifax for ASW training.

Corvette HMCS Lindsay commissioned.

U.S.A.: Escort carrier USS White Plains (CVE-66) is commissioned at Astoria, Oregon. The USN now has 31 escort aircraft carriers in commission.

Submarine USS Plaice launched.

Escort carrier USS Tulagi launched.

U-565 sank HMS Simoom.

U-453 torpedoed destroyer HMS Quail. Damaged beyond repair.