Today in World War II History—November 24, 1939 & 1944

US airmen reading a bulletin announcing their Saipan-based unit’s first bombing of Tokyo, Japan on 24 Nov 1944 (US National Archives)
80 Years Ago—November 24, 1939: Gestapo execute 120 Czech students accused of participating in anti-Nazi conspiracy.
British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) is created by Act of Parliament.

Map of Allied 6th Army Group front, 26 Nov 1944 (US Army Center of Military History)
75 Years Ago—Nov. 24, 1944: US B-29 Superfortresses bomb Tokyo for the first time.
Japanese capture Nanning, completing a land corridor between occupied China and Indochina.
In controversial decision, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower orders the 6th Army Group not to cross the Rhine but to drive north and assist Patton’s Third Army.
In Terrace, BC, Canadian conscripts (many are French-Canadian) mutiny when they hear they might be sent overseas, the largest mutiny in Canadian history; put down by 11/29; news of the mutiny is censored.