Yesterday      Tomorrow

November 13th, 1944 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Civil air services to London are restored, with the first flights carried out by Railway Air Services.

WESTERN EUROPE: Four USAAF Eighth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses and eight B-24 Liberators fly Mission 713 dropping leaflets in the Netherlands, France and Germany during the night.

     Weather prevents all tactical operations by the USAAF Ninth Air Force except for night patrol and weather reconnaissance by the IX Tactical Air Command.

NETHERLANDS: In the Canadian First Army's II Corps area, the Canadian 3d Division takes over the sector formerly held by U.S. 82d Airborne Division; the airborne division reverts to the control of the First Allied Airborne Army.

FRANCE: The US 3rd Army has crossed the Moselle River north of Thionville. To the south they advance toward Falquemont and Morhange.
German units withdraw from St. Dies in the face of pressure from the US 7th Army.

US forces penetrate the heavy defences of Metz, but they meet strong resistance as they press on to the Saar.

In the U.S. Third Army's XX Corps area, the 359th Infantry Regiment of the 90th Infantry Division recovers Kerling and moves through a dense mine fields to establish contact with the 357th near Oudrenne; the 358th continues down Bois d'Elzange ridge, hampered more by mines than by Germans, to positions near Inglange. Cattenom bridge is opened to traffic, and vehicles and weapons begin crossing in a steady stream. A battalion of the 378th Infantry Regiment, 95th Infantry Division, completes reduction of Fort Yutz and takes Basse Yutz; final elements of the 377th, cross into the Uckange bridgehead, where Bertrange and Imeldange are easily cleared and a German counterattack is repulsed. The 5th Infantry Division drives north on Metz: The 11th Infantry Regiment, on left, takes ground around Fey, Pournoy-la-Chetive, and Coin-les-Cuvry; the 10th overruns Forts Aisne and Yser, south of Bois de l'Hôpital; elements of the 2d Infantry Regiment, having crossed the Nied Françai  se River south of Sanry-sur-Nied, take Ancerville. Engineers construct a bridge near Ancerville. German efforts to drive the 2d Infantry Regiment of the 5th Infantry Division back across the Nied River during night fail. In the XII Corps area, a German counterattack against the Sanry bridgehead forces an outpost of Combat Command B, 6th Armored Division, back, but the main line holds; one Combat Command A column continues toward Faulquemont assisted by the 317th Infantry Regiment of the 80th Infantry Division; another clears the Germans from Arraincourt. Combat Command B, 4th Armored Division, and 35th Infantry Division begin a drive on Morhange, an important communications center: Combat Command B, followed by the 137th Infantry Regiment, pushes through Villers-sur-Nied to positions north of Marthille on the left and to the ridge commanding Achain on the right; the 134th Infantry Regiment clears Achain on the left and reaches Rougemont Ridge on the right. The 328th Infantry

  Regiment, 26th Infantry Division, continues slowly through the woods on Koecking ridge under heavy fire; the 101st Infantry Regiment is still checked to the right rear at St Médard and Haraucourt, exposing the right flank of the 328th Infantry Regiment.

     In the U.S. Seventh Army area, XV Corps begins an offensive northeast toward Sarrebourg with the 44th Infantry Division on left, 79th on right, and 106th Cavalry Group (Mechanized) screening the northern flank. The 44th Infantry Division, with the 324th and 71st Infantry Regiments in assault, attacks toward Avricourt from the Leintrey area, coming under heavy fire. The 79th Infantry Division attacks with the 314th and 315th Infantry Regiments from the Montigny area and drives to the outskirts of Ancerviller. In the VI Corps area, an attack of the 100th Infantry Division on the northern flank of the corps is delayed by a German counterattack, which is repelled with the aid of artillery fire. The Germans begin burning St Die in preparation for withdrawal.

     In the French First Army area, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and French Brigadier General Charles de Gaulle visit General Jean-Joseph Lattre, commander of the First Army, at Besançon. In the I Corps area, a blizzard prevents even limited action.

GERMANY: During the night of 13/14 November, 15 USAAF Fifteenth Air Force bombers hit the I.G. Farben synthetic oil refinery at Blechhammer; one other aircraft bomb Glewitz. Two aircraft are lost.

FINLAND: Last Finnish naval units leave the Kemi-Tornio area. The German-Finnish sea war has ended.

ITALY: In the U.S. Fifth Army's British XIII Corps area, the Indian 8th Division renews their assault on Mt. TS. Bartolo and takes it in hard fighting.

     In the British Eighth Army's V Corps area, the 138th Brigade of the 46th Division expands the Montone bridgehead to the Mt. Poggiolo area; the 128th Brigade takes St. Varano. The depleted 167th Brigade, 56th Division, is committed on Highway 9, between the 4th and 46th Divisions.

     A thick overcast covering northern Italy during the morning vastly curtails USAAF Twelfth Air Force medium bombers which attack only a railway bridge at Padua while fighter-bombers continue to hit communications north of the battle area and also the oil pipeline across the Po River at Ostiglia.

YUGOSLAVIA: The Germans evacuate Skopie, hitherto their headquarters in Macedonia.

GREECE: The Anglo-Greek agreement of 9 March 1942 is amended in order to place Greek armed forces under the British high command. All of Greece has now been liberated.

U.S.S.R.: Polar Fleet and White Sea Flotilla: MS "T-899" (ex-RT-412 "Kolguevets") - due to collision, in Murmansk port inner harbour (later raised and went into service)   (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

CHINA: Four USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb Man Pwe while four others blast three warehouses at Wanling. Over 60 P-40s, P-51 Mustangs, and P-38 Lightnings on armed reconnaissance over southern China and as far west and southwest as Burma and Thailand hit numerous targets of opportunity including shipping, troops, and railroad targets.

BURMA: In the British Fourteenth Army's XXXIII Corps area, the Indian 5th Division and East African 11th Division make patrol contact near Kalemyo.

     Over 100 USAAF Tenth Air Force fighter-bombers attack numerous targets in northern Burma and close support strikes are made in the Pinwe area, bridges at Namhkai, Meza, and Thegyaung, troop concentrations and supplies at Loi-Lum and Namhpakka. The ferry crossing at Shweli is hit by 12-hour delay bombs, the Nawnghkio landing ground is strafed, and numerous targets of opportunity along the Irrawaddy River and rail lines in northern Burma are hit. Transports fly 300+ sorties to forward areas.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Aircraft from three USN carrier task groups (Task Group 38.1, TG 38.3, and TG 38.4) of Task Force 38, under Admiral McCain, hit Japanese shipping and port facilities at Manila and in central Luzon. At the former place, TF 38 planes sink light cruiser HIJMS Kiso, destroyers HIJMS Hatsuharu and Okinami, and auxiliary submarine chaser Cha; and five army cargo ships and as well as four merchant cargo ships, and damage destroyer HIJMS Ushio. At Cavite, Navy carrier planes sink destroyers HIJMS Akebono and Akishimo, a fleet tanker and a guardboat. TF 38 planes also sink an army cargo ship at Cabcaben, and an auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 116 some 20 nautical miles (37 Kilometers) west of Cavite.

In the U.S. Sixth Army's X Corps area on Leyte, the 21st Infantry Regiment of 24th Infantry Division gains 400-600 yards (366-549 meters) as it continues to clear Breakneck Ridge. A battalion of the 34th Infantry Regiment reaches its objective, Kilay Ridge (named for Henry Kilay, a Filipino soldier who owned it), without opposition. This commanding position lies about 700 yards (640 meters) west of Highway the 19th Infantry Regiment, is maintaining roadblock.

     USAAF Far East Air Forces B-24 Liberators pound Fabrica Aerodrome on Negros Island while fighter-bombers hit shipping and other targets of opportunity. A few fighter-bombers hit Sanbon Field near Legaspi on southeastern Luzon Island while B-25 Mitchells, with P-38 Lightning cover, hit San Roque Airfield and the town of Zamboanga on Mindanao Island.

EAST INDIES: Over Halmahera Island and in the Ceram Island area of the Netherlands East Indies, USAAF Far East Air Forces fighter-bombers and A-20s bomb airfields and various targets of opportunity.

NEW GUINEA: In Dutch New Guinea, Pegun Island is attacked by two waves of 70 USAAF Far East Air Forces A-20 Havocs.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: The Australian 5th Division relieves the American 40th Infantry Division in the Cape Hoskins area on New Britain Island.

CANADA:

U.S.A.: Destroyer USS Turner laid down.

Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-276 was commissioned at New York and LT Antonio NS Santa Cruz became her first commanding officer on 5 December 1944, as she departed New York for the Southwest Pacific where she operated during the war.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-1052 collided with the vessel "Saude" (352 tons) south of Bergen, Norway. The ship sank when the U-boat suddenly reversed and removed the bow from the vessel and left a huge hole in its hull causing the vessel to take on water and sink.

Top of Page

Yesterday             Tomorrow

Home