November 25th, 1943 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: General Jan Christiaan Smuts, the Prime Minister of South Africa, in a speech to the United Kingdom Branch of the Empire Parliamentary Association states that the continued collaboration of Britain, Russia, and the United States is imperative. He suggests further that Britain consider working closely in the future with the smaller democracies of Western Europe, and warns that the future of the Empire might depend on greater fusion of the centralization in London and decentralization in the Commonwealth.
RAF Air Chief Marshal Leigh-Mallory, heading the Allied Expeditionary Air Force (AEAF), activates his headquarters at Bentley Priory, Stanmore, Middlesex, England. The RAF Second Tactical Air Force and RAF Air Defence of Great Britain (former Fighter Command), and later Lieutenant General Lewis Brereton's USAAF Ninth Air Force come under.
Corvettes HMCS Kincardine (ex-HMS Tamworth Castle) and Orangeville (ex-HMS Hedingham Castle) laid down.
Minesweeper HMS Rifleman launched.
Frigate HMS Lawson commissioned.
Minesweeper HMS Postillion commissioned.
NETHERLANDS: During the night of 25/26 November, four RAF Bomber Command aircraft lay mines in the Frisian Islands.
FRANCE: The Gestapo rounds up students at Strasburg university.
USAAF Eighth Air Force bombing by P-47 Thunderbolts is inaugurated by the VIII Fighter Command in an attack on Saint-Omer airfield by the 56th and 353d Fighter Groups. Two other fighter groups, the 55th (P-38 Lightnings) and 352d (P-47 Thunderbolts), carry out offensive sweeps in the Lille area; the fighters, including two escorting groups, fly over 330 offensive sorties.
During the night of 25/26 November, RAF Bomber Command aircraft lay mines off seven Bay of Biscay ports: seven aircraft lay mines off La Pallice; six off Gironde with the loss of one Stirling; five each off Brest, Lorient and St. Nazaire; three off Bayonne and two off Cherbourg. Twenty eight other aircraft drop leaflets over Northern France.
GERMANY: During the night of 25/26 November, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 262 aircraft, 236 Halifaxes and 26 Lancasters, to Frankfurt-am-Main; 237 bomb. As on the previous night, there are no major diversions and the bomber force takes a relatively direct route to the target. The German controller does not know whether Mannheim or Frankfurt is the real objective but he eventually chooses Frankfurt, where the flak is restricted to 15,000 feet (4 572 meters). Twelve bombers, 11 Halifaxes and a Lancaster, are lost, 4.6 per cent of the force. Another attack is carried out on Berlin by three Mosquitos.
U-245 launched.
U.S.S.R.: Attacking in the Propoisk area, north of Gomel, Soviet forces achieve breakthrough on a broad front and cut the highway between Gomel and Mogilev, greatly increasing the peril to Germans in Gomel.ITALY: The U.S. Fifth Army's plan for amphibious operations at Anzio (Operation SHINGLE) is approved. A single infantry division, reinforced, is to establish a beachhead and attempt to join the main body within a week.
The French increment of the Fifth Army general staff arrives from North Africa by air to prepare for arrival of French Expeditionary Corps (FEC) under General Alphonse-Pierre Juin.
USAAF Twelfth Air Force light and medium bombers of the XII Air Support Command, along with Allied airplanes, bomb gun positions and defended points in the Lanciano-Fossacesia area; medium bombers also Ancona, Italy; USAAF and RAF fighters attack vehicles, gun positions, and strongpoints in the Casoli-Castelfrentano-Lanciano-Fossacesia area.
YUGOSLAVIA: USAAF Twelfth Air Force medium bombers hit Sarajevo and Travnik.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: U-593 encountered an enemy submarine off St. Tropez in the Mediterranean. Both boats fired torpedoes, but neither achieved a hit.
EGYPT: Cairo: In a heavily-guarded, barbed-wire-protected compound in the shadow of the Pyramids outside Cairo, Churchill, Roosevelt and Chiang Kai-shek today ended a meeting to plan the next moves in the war against the Japanese empire. Called the "Sextant Conference", this has been the seventh wartime summit meeting between Churchill and Roosevelt, but the first involving the Chinese Nationalist leader.
The first days of the conference were attended by Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, the supreme commander in South-east Asia, and General "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, the C-in-C of US Ground Forces in Burma, China and India. Mme Chiang acted as interpreter for her husband. The conference compound has had to accommodate 320 delegates - 201 British, 90 American and 20 Chinese. Over 40 villas and a hotel were taken over and cleared of guests, and a specially installed telephone system connected the hotel conference rooms with delegates' villas. A tented camp was erected by US engineers for the 1,000 troops guarding the conference. Three Bedouin families on the site were persuaded with gifts to move. No official statement will be released until Chiang Kai-shek is back in China and Churchill and Roosevelt have left for another secret meeting.
CHINA: Fourteen USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells and 16 P-38 Lightnings and P-51 Mustangs attack the airfield at Shinchiku, hitting a parking area, hangars, barracks, and other buildings. Thirty two Japanese aircraft are claimed destroyed in the air and on the ground. Sixteen P-40s on armed reconnaissance over the Hanshow-Chanpte area sink two 60-foot (18,3 meter) boats and 15 sampans and strafe many small supply and troop carrying boats.
BURMA: In a raid on Rangoon, B-24 Liberators of the 308th Bombardment Group (Heavy), borrowed from the Fourteenth Air Force, are unable to bomb because of bad weather, but USAAF Tenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells, covered by P-51 Mustangs, manage to hit Mingaladon airfield, damaging the field and claiming two airplanes destroyed. Japanese fighters intercept and in the ensuing battle the B-25s and P-51s claim two shot down; two P-51s are lost.
FORMOSA: Forty-Two Japanese aircraft are destroyed on the ground at Shinchiku airfield, as the US 14th Air Force mounts its first attack on the island. This mission was under the command of Colonel "Tex" Hill, Commanding Officer of the 23d Fighter Group. The attack force consisted of 14 North American B-25C Mitchells of the 11th Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 341st Bombardment Group (Medium); eight battle worn but newly arrived North American P-51A Mustangs of the 76th Fighter Squadron, 23d Fighter Group; and eight Lockheed P-38 Lightnings of the 449th Fighter Squadron, 51st Fighter Group .
Taking off from Suichwan, the attack force flew at low altitude over the Formosa Straight to avoid detection. The P-38s led the mission with the job of destroying any airborne enemy aircraft; they shot down 15 of 20 defenders. The B-25s came next at 1,000 feet (305 meters) dropping fragmentation bombs on the airfield. The P-51As, which claimed five airborne enemy aircraft, came in next strafing followed by the P-38s making one more strafing pass. Approximately 22 enemy aircraft (4 by the P-51As) were destroyed without the loss of any Fourteenth Air Force aircraft.
NEW GUINEA: The final Japanese position at Sattelberg falls to Australian forces.
A company of the Australian 2/48th Battalion enters Sattelberg, Northeast New Guinea, and raises the Australian flag at 1000 hours local..
In Northeast New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force P-39 Airacobras strafe Bogadjim Road.
Lockheed (Model 18-40-11) Lodestar, ex-Netherlands East Indies Air Force serial number LT9-08, registered VH-CAB by the Australian airline QANTAS, crashes into a hill shortly after talking off from Ward's Strip, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. All 15 aboard are killed.
NEW BRITAIN: Captain Arleigh Burke, in command of 5 US destroyers of destroyer Squadron 23, finds and sinks 3 of 5 Japanese destroyers enroute to Buka in the Battle of Cape St. George. This is the last of the night sea battles of the Solomons Campaign.
From Glen Boren's diary: 25 November 1943. Bunker Hill in commission six months today. For some reason, Lt. Kelly landed his F6F on Tarawa. He busted it up some so it was left there.
Last time, I mentioned Lt. Bill Kelly landing his F6F on Tarawa. I was unable to remember the details, so I called him last week to find out.
Seems his wingman couldn't get his tailhook deployed, so after circling the ship for a while they were to try a landing at Tarawa. Tarawa had a Jeep set up with a radio for control and told them to land short as the war was still going on at the far end of the field. Kelly landed first and pulled into a revetment. His wingman cracked up on landing but was not hurt. Tarawa was expecting Butch O'Hara for some reason and Kelly was treated to a hero's welcome for a few minutes until he assured them that he wasn't Butch.
Anyway, that is the story on that. Kelly returned to the ship and the other pilot was picked the next day along with a few vital parts of the aircraft.
The Americans celebrate "Thanksgiving" today. Glen's diary:
After Tarawa was declared "secured" four days after our disastrous landing most of the 2nd Division was relieved by an army outfit and sent back out to the troop transports but one company was left behind and given the task of sweeping up the atoll to kill or capture the Jap holdouts. We got assigned as artillery support for this outfit so were were still on Tawara on Thanksgiving Day. When the last Jap was killed, we five members of the HandS Instrument Section set up our base on a little coral outcrop near the tip of the long leg of the atoll. We had nothing to do so we just basked in the sun, swam in the warm lagoon, and tried to forget the horrors we had just experienced. We spent Thanksgiving Day, 1943, on our little island "paradise". We did get a turkey dinner, though. The Navy was doing its best to help their Marines ashore and sent landing boats up the length of the atoll all loaded with hot chow. We even got ice cream.
GILBERT ISLANDS: On Apamama Atoll, the Apamama Occupation Force, based on the 3d Battalion of the 6th Marine Regiment, is en route to atoll.
On Tarawa Atoll, after scouting about half way up the eastern side of the atoll, Company D of the 2d Marine Tank Battalion is recalled to the village of Eita to prepare to reconnoiter other atolls. The 2d Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, continues an uneventful trek up the Tarawa Atoll. The first unit of the garrison air force, USN Fighting Squadron One (VF-1) equipped with F6F Hellcats, takes off from escort aircraft carriers USS Barnes (CVE-20) and Nassau (CVE-16) and land on Betio Island.
Just after sunset, 13 Japanese 'Betty" bombers (Mitsubishi G4M, Navy Type 1 Attack Bombers) from the Marshall Islands attack USN ships off Makin Atoll with torpedoes; no hits are scored. In a second attack, USN F6F Hellcat pilots guided by a Torpedo Squadron Six (VT-6) radar-equipped TBM Avenger, shoot down three "Bettys" at sea between 1725 and 1928 hours local. However, the commanding officer of Fighting Squadron Six (VF-6), Lieutenant Commander Edward "Butch" O'Hare, is lost. O'Hare was a Medal of Honor recipient for action on 20 February 1942 when he shot down five Japanese bombers who were attempting to bomb a USN aircraft carrier.
MARSHALL ISLANDS: Carrier-based aircraft of USN Task Group 50.1 attack Mili Atoll.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: The Battle of Cape St. George is fought during the early hours as the five ships of USN Destroyer Squadron 23 intercept five Japanese destroyers off Cape St. George on the southern tip of New Ireland Island. USS Charles Ausburne (DD-570), Claxton (DD-571), and Dyson (DD-572) sink HIJMS Onami with torpedoes and HIJMS Yugiri with gunfire; the same three U.S. ships, joined by USS Spence (DD-512) and Converse (DD-509), sink HIJMS Makinami with torpedoes and gunfire and damage HIJMS Uzuki. The USN destroyers suffer no damage.
PACIFIC OCEAN: USN destroyer USS Radford (DD-446) sinks Japanese submarine HIJMS I-19 about 54 nautical miles (101 kilometers) west of Butaritari Island, Makin Atoll, Gilbert Islands, in position 03.10N, 171.55E.
CANADA: Oiler HMCS Dundurn commissioned.
U.S.A.: Submarine USS Atule laid down.
Destroyer USS Tingey commissioned.
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-600 sunk in the North Atlantic north of Punta Delgada, in position 40.31N, 22.07W, by depth charges from the British frigates HMS Bazely and HMS Blackwood. 54 dead (all hands lost).
U-849 sunk in the South Atlantic West of the Congo estuary, in position 06.30S, 05.40W, by depth charges from a US Liberator aircraft (VP-107/B-6). 63 dead (all hands lost).
U-445 left the base at St. Nazaire for patrol, but shortly into the journey struck bottom and was forced to turn back.