WW2Pacific.com

NOVEMBER 1942
El Alamein offensive underway in Egypt
The US has no carriers in service in the Pacific. Enterprise is repairing at Noumea; Saratoga repairing at Pearl.   Lexington had been sunk at Coral Sea, Yorktown at Midway, Wasp by submarine, Hornet at Santa Cruz.

• Nov 1-4. Kokumbona offensive on Guadalcanal.
• Nov 2-12. Battle with Japanese landing at Koli Point.
• Nov 4 . US troops land at Aola Bay escorted by Callegham's cruisers.
  Nov 4 . Rommel starts withdrawal.
• Nov 7 . Japanese mass an invasion force at Truk.
• Nov 8 . Operation "Torch" : Allies land 110,000 men in North Africa.
  Nov 8 . Transports depart Noumea with U.S. 152nd Infantry for Guadalcanal.
• Nov 9 . Scott's cruiser force departs Noumea to escort 3 cargo ships.
• Nov 10. "End of the beginning" speech by Churchill.¹
  Nov 10. Callegham's cruiser force sails for Guadalcanal with 4 more transports.
  Nov 10. U-608 lays mines off New York City.
• Nov 11. U.S. transports begin unloading, all three damaged by bombers.
  Nov 11. Damaged Enterprise departs repair yard at Noumea with welders still aboard.
• Nov 11-12. Cruisers patrol Sealark Channel off Guadalcanal.
• Nov 12. Marines consolidate to await big Jap landing attempt.
  Nov 12. U.S. lands 6,000 troop convoy on Guadalcanal. San Francisco and Buchanan damaged by bombers.
• Nov 12-13. Naval Battle of Guadalcanal begins. Japanese 2 BB, 1CL, and 9 DD attempt to bombard Henderson Field. Meet 5 U.S. cruisers and 8 DD.
  Light U.S. forces walloped: Atlanta, Juneau, 5 DD sunk. But Japanese withdraw losing 2 DD.
• Nov 13. Japanese battleship Hiei damaged the night before is attacked by aircraft and scuttled.
  Nov 13. Japanese convoy of 11 transports and 12 DD delayed by one day.
• Nov 13. Tobruk retaken by British in N.Africa.
  Nov 13. FDR signed a measure lowering the minimum draft age from 21 to 18.
• Nov 13-14. Japanese cruisers bombard Henderson Field.
• Nov 14. Enterprise and Henderson aircraft attack cruisers ; heavy cruiser Kingasa sunk. Enterprise planes transfer to Henderson Field as she withdraws.
  Nov 14. Jap troop convoy of 11 ships and 12 DD attacked by U.S. aircraft - 7 troopships and 9 destroyer transports sunk.
• Nov 14-15. Battleship and destroyer fight to end the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. Japan lost battleship Hiei and 2 DDs. U.S. lost 3 destroyers.
  Nov 14-15. Surviving 4 Japanese transports beach themselves to unload troops.
• Nov 15. 2,000 of 10,000 Japanese troops landed on Guadalcanal, without equipment.
• Nov 16. This Marks the end of Japanese advancement in the Pacific. Whereas Midway evened the fight, Guadalcanal put the U.S. on the road to victory.
  Took over 2-1/2 more years of hard fighting to convince them to give up.
• Nov 17. Allies move in New Guinea towards Buna and Gona.
• Nov 18-24. Marines advance to Poho, Guadalcanal.
• Nov 19. Marines cut off Japanese on Point Cruz.
• Nov 20. Soviet counteroffensive, Battle of Stalingrad begins.
• Nov 21. Carlsons raider battalion is fighting deep in Guadalcanal.
• Nov 22. Americans fall back at Point Cruz to a stable line.
• Nov 23. U-boats sink 729,000 tons of shipping; route chanaged to Persian Gulf.
  Nov 23. U.S.Woman's Coast Guard Reserve (SPARS) estabished. (Semper Paratus -- "Always Ready"
• Nov 24. Japanese forces land at Munda Point, New Georgia, Solomons.
• Nov 25. Japanese submarine I-17 lands 11 tons of supplies at Kamimbo Bay, Guadalcanal. Submarines supply of beleaguered Japanese on Guadalcanal continue through November.
• Nov 26. Halsey promoted to full Admiral for winning Naval Battle of Guardalcanal.
• Nov 27. French scuttle their warships in Toulon Harbor
• Nov 28. "Cocoanut Grove" nightclub fire in Boston, 492 people perish.
• Nov 29. USAAF B-17s damage two Japanese destroyers off New Britain. Aircraft from Henderson Field sink 2 Japanese cargo ships off New Georgia.
• Nov 30. Battle of Tassafaronga, Japanese supply destroyers sink US cruiser Northampton (CA-26), damage 3 more.
• Nov 30. U.S. has 39,400 troops on Guadalcanal ; Japanese have 25,000.
  1 "This is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." - Churchill
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