Today in World War II History—November 14, 1939 & 1944
Infantry-Tank Team of French 5th Armored Division, France, late 1944 (US Army Center of Military History)
85 Years Ago—Nov. 14, 1939: British Air Transport Auxiliary begins recruiting female pilots (previously all male).
In Lagunillas, Venezuela, an oil refinery fire kills 500 and destroys the town.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, 1944 (Imperial War Museum: TR 2625)
80 Years Ago—Nov. 14, 1944: British Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory dies in a plane crash in the French Alps, on his way to assume command in Southeast Asia.
French First Army opens assault toward Belfort Gap in France.
Movie premiere of documentary Combat America, produced by Clark Gable from footage he took on his five missions with the US 351st Bomb Group based in England.
Capt. Clark Gable and a B-17 Flying Fortress with the US Eighth Air Force in England, 12 June 1943 (US Army photo)
