Today in
World War II History

Marines raising US flag on Tarawa, Gilbert Islands, Nov 1943 (US Marine Corps photo No. 2-5)

80 Years Ago—Nov. 30, 1943: US takes unoccupied Abaiang and Marakei Atolls north of Tarawa in Gilberts.

Construction of the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico is completed.

Mignano Gap in Italy, WWII (US Army Center of Military History)

80 Years Ago—Nov. 29, 1943: US VI Corps launches an assault north of the Mignano Gap in Italy.

Essex-class carrier USS Hornet (CV-12) is commissioned at Newport News, VA; now a museum ship in Alameda, CA.

Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill at the Tehran Conference (US Library of Congress: LC-USZ62-32833)

80 Years Ago—Nov. 28, 1943: US Marines secure Tarawa Atoll.

Eureka Conference begins in Tehran, Iran: Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin will agree to a spring 1944 invasion of western Europe and a Soviet declaration of war on Japan after Germany’s defeat.

US Sixth Army (Southwest Pacific) establishes the Alamo Scouts, an elite volunteer team to reconnoiter behind enemy lines.

Patch of the Alamo Scouts, US Sixth Army, WWII

US Boeing B-29 Superfortress heavy bomber (US Air Force photo)

80 Years Ago—Nov. 27, 1943: Brig. Gen. Kenneth Wolfe assumes command of new US Twentieth Bomber Command at Salina, KS, the first unit with B-29 Superfortress bombers.

US initiates accelerated landing craft program to meet needs of upcoming invasion of Europe (Operation Overlord, D-day).

German WWII-era Messerschmitt Me 262A jet at Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, McMinnville, OR (Photo: Sarah Sundin, March 2019)

80 Years Ago—Nov. 26, 1943: Hitler observes Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter aircraft and insists it be developed as a “blitz bomber.”

In the Gilbert Islands, USS Enterprise performs the first carrier night air intercept in the Pacific (F6Fs guided by radar), the first coordinated by a carrier Fighter Director Officer.

In night-fighter mission from USS Enterprise, Medal of Honor recipient Lt. Cdr. Edward “Butch” O’Hare is lost in his F6F Hellcat (Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport is named after him in 1949).

Off Algeria, German Luftwaffe sinks British troop transport HMT Rohna with Hs 293 glide bomb; 1149/1755 US soldiers & British crew are killed, the worst troopship loss in US history.

Movie premiere of musical Girl Crazy, starring Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland.

Lt. Edward “Butch” O’Hare in front of a Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat fighter, spring 1942 (US Navy photo)

Thanksgiving menu from escort carrier USS Wake Island, 25 Nov 1943 (US Navy: 031125-N-0336C-001)

80 Years Ago—Nov. 25, 1943: US celebrates Thanksgiving. Read more: “Thanksgiving in World War II.”

Australians take Sattelberg, New Guinea.

Battle of Cape St. George: US Destroyer Squadron 23 under Capt. Arleigh Burke sinks 3 Japanese destroyers (Onami, Yugiri, Makinami) in the last naval surface battle in the Solomon Islands.

Colossus Computer is first tested in Birmingham, England, the world’s first all-electric computer.

US poster, 1943, honoring Dorie Miller, recipient of the Navy Cross for his actions at Pearl Harbor

80 Years Ago—Nov. 24, 1943: Escort carrier USS Liscome Bay is sunk by Japanese submarine I-175 off Makin in Gilbert Islands; 644 killed, including African-American Pearl Harbor hero Doris “Dorie” Miller.

US Marines fighting on Betio, Tarawa Atoll, Nov 1943 (US National Archives: 127-N-63458)

80 Years Ago—Nov. 23, 1943: US Marines secures Betio in Tarawa Atoll.

French Expeditionary Corps under Gen. Alphonse Juin arrives in Italy.

Philadelphia Phillies owner William Cox is banned from baseball for betting on his own team.

Crowds celebrating release of Lebanese prisoners by French, 22 November 1943 (Public domain via Wikipedia)

80 Years Ago—Nov. 22, 1943: Lebanon’s Independence Day: Free French provisionally recognize Lebanese independence and release leaders.

RAF launches its first 2,000-ton night raid on Berlin—2,000 Germans are killed and the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is destroyed.

Sextant Conference begins in Cairo, Egypt, with US Pres. Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Chinese Gen. Chiang Kai-shek.

Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart (Rodgers & Hart) dies of pneumonia in New York City, age 48.

Chinese officers at the Mena House Hotel for the Sextant Conference, Cairo, Egypt, Nov 1943 (public domain via WW2 Database)

Longues-sur-Mer gun battery, Longues-sur-Mer, France, September 2017 (Photo: Sarah Sundin)

80 Years Ago—Nov. 21, 1943: German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel is placed in command of Atlantic Wall defenses in France to defend against an Allied invasion.