World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 24 Nov 1941

• German Luftwaffe Leutnant Heinz Schnabel and Oberleutnant Harry Wappler received 28-day solitary confinement sentences by their British captors for their nearly-successful escape attempts from a prisoner or war camp in Britain. Masquerading as Dutch pilots in the RAF, they managed to get airborne before realizing they had not enough fuel to reach France, causing them to turn back to Britain. ww2dbase [TH]
• Elements of German LVI Panzer Corps captured Rogachevo, Russia, north of Moscow. To the south of the Soviet capital, XXIV Panzer Corps captured the road junction at Venyov 30 miles east of Tula. ww2dbase [Battle of Moscow | CPC]
• German submarine U-124 sank British cruiser HMS Dunedin 650 miles east of Natal, Brazil at 1521 hours, hitting her with two torpedoes. 236 were killed; 250 survived the sinking, but only 67 would survive the entire ordeal, succumbing to wounds, drowning, and shark attacks. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British landing ship HMS Prince Leopold landed 90 men of British No. 9 Commando battalion at Butte de Houlgate, France, who captured some classified documents and immediately returned to Britain aboard the same ship. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German 4th Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla attacked Allied convoy FS.654 off East Anglia, England, United Kingdom, sinking British tanker Virgilia (23 killed, 17 survived) and Dutch ship Groenlo (10 killed). ww2dbase [CPC]
• The United States government announced the takeover of the defence of Dutch Guiana in South America as a precaution against the Germans securing the use of the French base at Dakar in Africa. ww2dbase [AC]

• The walled city of Terezín (German: Theresienstadt) began its conversion into a ghetto for Jews. Its mission was to serve as a transit camp for Jews en route to concentration camps to the east. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Theresienstadt Concentration Camp | Terezín, Cechy | CPC]

• Katori departed Yokosuka, Japan for Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Katori | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]

• German and Italian tanks advanced and split the British XXX Corps in Libya, but Allied aircraft halted the attack. The offensive was uncoordinated and achieved little. ww2dbase [Operation Crusader | CPC]

• USS Gar departed New London, Connecticut, United States. ww2dbase [Gar | New London, Connecticut | CPC]

24 Nov 1941 Interactive Map