8 November 1944

UNITED KINGDOM: The transfer of training functions from the USAAF Eighth Air Force’s VIII Air Force Composite Command to combat groups is completed and the VIII Air Force Composite Command ceases to function as personnel are attached to the Air Disarmament Command (Provisional) by the US Strategic Air Forces in Europe (USSTAF). The airfield at Denain/Prouvy, France is assigned to HQ Eighth AF; this is the first step in establishing an VIII Air Force Services Command Service Center on the European continent so that Eighth AF can service and administer its own aircraft and personnel in the area.

WESTERN EUROPE: Weather cancels USAAF Ninth Air Force operations against military depots and troop concentrations in Germany, and fortified positions in France; a mission against rail bridges in Germany is recalled due to weather; fighters fly escort, attack railroads, bridges, factories, supply dumps, and command posts; the IX and XIX Tactical Air Commands support the US 28th Infantry Division in the Schmidt, Germany area (V Corps begins withdrawing the Kall River bridgehead) and Third Army elements start an assault on enemy fortifications in the Metz, France area.

NETHERLANDS: Walcheren: Canadian and British commandos, joined by Dutch and French units, overran the last enemy defences on Walcheren Island and opened the Scheldt Estuary to Allied shipping sailing up to the port of Antwerp. Among the 8,000 prisoners taken was General Daser, commanding the German "Dyspeptic Division", the 70th, largely manned by chronic invalids.

RAF bombers had blown a 400-yard gap in the Westkapelle dyke, and the whole of the centre of the island had been flooded. Backed by guns of HMS Warspite, troops in amphibious craft landed on sanddunes and waist-deep in water, advanced into Middleburg, the island capital, where Dutch families and German troops jammed the upper storey of houses. Fighting came to a halt as the Dutch welcomed the liberators. The Germans made no attempt to resist; they sat watching cheering crowds before being taken prisoner and evacuated by boat. It will be two or three weeks before Antwerp can be opened. The 70-mile Scheldt channel must be swept for mines and Antwerp's port installations repaired.

The 21 Army Group begins an extensive regrouping in order to place the British Second Army along the Meuse River facing eastward.

USAAF Eighth Air Force bombers hit two targets: eight bomb the industrial area at Enschede and one hits the airfield at Dekooy.

During the night of 8/9 November, eight USAAF Eighth Air Force bombers drop leaflets over the Netherlands.

FRANCE: The U.S. Third Army opens an offensive toward the Sarre River. The XX Corps makes final preparations for an assault on the Metz fortified area. By dawn the 90th Infantry Division, which is to make the main effort, completes a secret move to Foret de Cattenom in preparation for an attack across the Moselle River through Koenigsmacker and the Maginot Line. The 10th Armored Division is moving north to attack in conjunction with 90th Infantry Division. The 95th Infantry Division begins a diversionary action (Operation CASANOVA) at 2100 hours when the 377th Infantry Regiment, crosses the Moselle River in assault boats just south of Uckange after an engineer detachment clears the east bank; against light resistance. They move inland some 400 yards (366 meters), but accurate German fire prevents bridging; simultaneously with the river crossing, two battalions of the 377th Infantry Regiment begin clearing a German pocket west of the Moselle in the vicinity of Maizières-lês- Metz. XII Corps begins a drive toward the Sarre River at 0600 hours after preparatory fire. The 8oth Infantry Division, with three regiments abreast on the north flank, attacks across the Seille River, taking Eply, Nomeny, and Aulnois-sur-Seille. The 137th Infantry Regiment, 35th Infantry Division, seizes Malaucourt and Jallaucourt while the 320th Infantry Regiment, in conjunction with the 26th Infantry Division, attempts to reach the Morhange plateau but is stopped at Fresnesen-Saulnois on the left and short of Bois d’Amélecourt on the right. The 26th Infantry Division employs three regiments abreast on the right flank of the corps: the 104th Infantry Regiment, reinforced by two small Task Forces. seizes Vic-sur-Seille and Seille bridges there; the 101st Infantry Regiment overruns Moyenvic and takes its bridge, then begins a costly action for Hill 310 (C6te St Jean); feinting toward Dieuze on right flank of corps, the 328th Infantry Regiment seizes Bezange-la-Petite and

Moncourt; the 2d Cavalry Group, attached to the 26th Infantry Division, protects the flank of the corps along the Marne-Rhine Canal.

In the U.S. Seventh Army area, XV Corps issues a field order for an offensive to begin on 13 November. Infantry of the 44th and 79th Infantry Divisions are to breach enemy positions and the French 2d Armored Division is then to drive through the gap to exploit.

GERMANY: Major Walter Nowotny, a highly-decorated Luftwaffe hero with 258 "kills" under his belt, dies when his Me262 crashes.

The USAAF Eighth Air Force flies Mission 705: 690 bombers and 890 fighters are dispatched to make a PFF attack on the I. G. Farben synthetic oil refinery at Merseburg the marshalling yard (M/Y) at Rheine: 201 B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb the refinery with the loss of three aircraft and 77 B-24 Liberators bomb the M/Y without loss. Eleven other aircraft hit targets of opportunity.

During the day, 136 RAF Bomber Command Lancasters are dispatched to bomb the Meerbeck synthetic oil plant at Homberg; 134 bomb the target. One Lancaster is lost. The raid opens well and two large fires are seen but smoke then conceals the target and later bombing is scattered.

During the night of 8/9 November, RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos bomb two targets: 45 hit Hannover and nine attack Herford without loss.

FINLAND: The Finnish demobilization begins. By 5 December some 380 000 men are released from military service. The ongoing war against Germans in northern Finland slows down as the Finnish forces are reduced in size and veterans are replaced with 19 year-old conscripts (this new phase of the war is nicknamed 'the Children's Crusade').

In the British Eighth Army’s Polish II Corps area, the 3d Carpathian Division is clearing the hills between Modigliana and Dovadola and takes Dovadola. The 5th Kresowa Division presses toward Castrocaro, gaining Mt. della Birra without opposition. The British V Corps makes slow progress in the Forli area. After nightfall, the 46th Division begins an attack across the Rabbi River, the 128th Brigade crossing at St. Martino in Strada and the 138th Brigade, upstream from there.

USAAF Twelfth Air Force medium bombers strike the rail line in the Brenner Pass and other lines running into Italy from the northeast and bomb bridges in the central and western Po Valley, damaging several and destroying the bridge at Mantua; fighters and fighter-bombers hit communications in the Bologna area, but concentrate most of their operations against bridges and rail lines in the Parma area in an effort to disrupt battle area supply lines.

YUGOSLAVIA: USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb three tactical targets: 21 bomb Prijepolje, seven hit Sjenica and six attack Mitrovica; heavy cloud over the targets forces 70+ others to abort. One aircraft is lost.

During the night of 8/9 November, RAF bombers of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group bomb four targets: 31bomb a highway choke point at Sjenica; 23 hit a highway choke point at Novi Pasar; one attack a pontoon bridge at Visegrad; and two bomb targets of opportunity.

GREECE: The Indian 4th Division arrives in Salonika; elements move to Thrace to avert a threat of civil war between Nationalist Liberation Front (EAM), a part of the Greek Communist Party, and its armed forces the Greek National Liberation Army (ELAS), now in control there, and non-Communist nationalist guerrillas.

CHINA: Two USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells hit railroad tracks at Lohochai in southern China. Meanwhile, 15 B-25s and 13 P-40s and P-51 Mustangs attack storage buildings, villages, and other targets of opportunity throughout the Mangshih area.

British Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Commander South East Asia Command (SEAC), issues a directive calling for Operation ROMULUS (the Arakan part of Operation CAPITAL), to clear the Arakan coastal sector.

In the British Fourteenth Army's XXXIII Corps area, the Indian 5th Division finishes clearing the Japanese from the region south of Tiddim with the unopposed occupation of Fort White, previously a Japanese strongpoint.

Over 80 USAAF Tenth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts support ground forces in the Mawlu area, bomb personnel, supplies, and communications facilities at Tunhong, Chaungdauk, and Kutkai, gun positions at Hsipaw, the Man Hpa town area, Kawlin Airfield and targets of opportunity along the Kawlin-Pinwe railroad and eight B-25 Mitchells knock out the Bawgyo railroad bridge.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: Two USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells hit railroad tracks at Duc Tho.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: The Japanese land another division at Ormoc, Leyte Island, about this time and send it into the mountains of central Leyte.

In the U.S. X Corps area, the 24th Infantry Division’s 21st Infantry Regiment, despite a raging typhoon, continues attack on Breakneck Ridge but cannot force the Japanese back. The 19th Infantry Regiment succeeds in clearing the ridge, which has been barring its advance, but is still short of Hill 1525; elements move 1,000 yards (914 meters) west to occupy the next ridge. The 21st Infantry Regiment drives to Hill 1525. In the XXIV Corps area, patrols of 382d Infantry Regiment, 96th Infantry Divison, locate a Japanese force about 2,600 yards (2 377 meters) west of Patok.

USAAF Far East Air Forces B-24 Liberators again hit Alicante (Escalente) Airfield in the northeastern section of Negros Island.

EAST INDIES: On Celebes Island, Netherlands East Indies, USAAF Far East Air Forces B-25 Mitchells bomb Langoan Airfield on the northeast tip of the island while P-38 Lightnings on sweeps over the Kendari area on the southeast corner of the island and hit parked aircraft, shipping, the nickel mine, and other targets of opportunity. On Halmahera Island, B-25 Mitchells attack Kaoe Airfield on the northeast corner of the island and Hate Tabako Airfield in the Moluccas Islands.

BONIN ISLANDS and VOLCANO ISLANDS: USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators from Saipan hit shipping at Chichi Jima and Haha Jima Islands. A single B-24 on a snooper mission bombs Iwo Jima Island during the night of 8/9 November.

Seventeen B-29 Superfortresses of the USAAF Twentieth Air Force's XXI Bomber Command fly Mission 5. The target is one of the airfields on Iwo Jima; six manage to bomb through a hole in the cloud cover; but others fail to bomb the target. Japanese aircraft drop phosphorus bombs on the formations, damaging a B-29. One B-29 ditches, the first aircraft lost by the XXI Bomber Command on a combat mission.

PACIFIC OCEAN: A wolfpack, headed by USS Growler, closed a Japanese convoy for attack, with Growler on the opposite side of the enemy from USS Hake and Hardhead. The order to commence attacking was the last communication ever received from Growler. After the attack was underway, Hake and Hardhead what sounded like a torpedo explosion and then a series of depth charges on Growler's side of the convoy, and then nothing. All efforts to contact Growler for the next 3 days proved futile and the gallant submarine, veteran of seven successful war patrols, was listed as lost in action against the enemy, cause unknown.

U.S.A.: Washington: Franklin Delano Roosevelt went to bed shortly after midnight this morning knowing that after rough campaigning by the Republican candidate, Thomas Dewey, he has been elected president for the fourth time. The aggressive Republican campaign included criticism of Roosevelt's family and end of his dog, Fala.

The president's victory was comfortable, though not a landslide. The latest results show President Roosevelt leading in 35 states with a total of 413 votes in the electoral college, against Mr. Dewey's lead in 13 states with only 118 votes. In terms of the popular vote, Mr. Roosevelt has so far won 23 million votes, and Mr. Dewey has won 20 million.

Mr. Roosevelt was resting today, but his press secretary issued a statement. "What is really important", it said, "is that we have again demonstrated that democracy is a living force."

The Democrats have gained 23 seats in the House of Representatives, and seven in the Senate. They have also kept control of Congress.

Destroyer USS Henry W Tucker launched.

Minesweeper USS Minivet launched.

Minesweeper USS Recruit commissioned.

Coast Guard manned Army FS-348 was commissioned at Kewaunee WI with LTJG M. R. Cook, USCGR, as commanding officer. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific area during the war. She was decommissioned on 28 September 1945.