World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 8 Nov 1942

• USS Juneau departed Nouméa, New Caledonia. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• USS Gunnel used infra-red signals to guide ships to a invasion beach in Operation Torch. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Axis defenses in Egypt fell back to Sidi Barrani. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• US 152nd Infantry Regiment departed Nouméa, New Caledonia for Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The 164th Infantry Regiment and the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the US 7th Marine Regiment moved east toward Koli Point on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands in an attempt to envelope the Japanese forces in that area. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• The first combat victory by the new Seafire naval fighter occurred when a New Zealander, Sub-Lieutenant A. S. Long, shot down a Vichy French Martin 167 bomber over Mers-el-Kébir harbour in French Algeria. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]

• USS S-31 arrived at Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska, ending her fifth war patrol. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Allied forces attacked French ports of Casablanca, Oran, and Algeria in North Africa during Operation Torch. The French garrison at Safi, near Casablanca, surrendered to the Americans; meanwhile, Algiers surrendered at 1800 hours. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
• Two former US Coast Guard cutters renamed HMS Walney (Captain F. T. Peters R.N.) and HMS Hartland (Commander Godfrey P. Billot) each carrying 200 American infantry entered Oran with the intention of denying the harbour facilities to the Vichy French. Both vessels came under intense crossfire from French warships and were sunk with heavy losses. The survivors were taken prisoner. Captain Peters miraculously survived but was killed in a plane accident two days later. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross and the American Distinguished Service Cross. Commander Godfrey P. Billot of Hartland won a Distinguished Service Order. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]

• Tenryu arrived at Tassafaronga Point, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands and disembarked supplies. On her return voyage to Shortland Island, Solomon Islands, she was attacked by US motor torpedo boats PT-37, PT-39, and PT-61, but they failed to cause any damage. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]
• William Halsey inspected Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. Staying overnight, he personally experienced a Japanese naval bombardment which he later admitted filled him with fright. ww2dbase [Main Article | Event | Facility | CPC]

• USS Wahoo departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her second war patrol. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Air Group 11 came on board ww2dbase [Main Article | DS]

• The 5,060-ton Panamanian registered steam merchant ship Plaudit was in the Indian Ocean heading for Capetown, South Africa, carrying 1,075 tons of rubber, 1,000 tons of manganese ore with jute, gunnysack and tea. Owned by the South Atlantic Steamship Company, her final destination was to be the United States however at 2055 hours whilst off Port Elizabeth, South Africa she was struck on her port side by a torpedo fired from German submarine U-181 (Kapitänleutnant Wolfgang Lüth). The blast wrecked the Plaudit's bridge wing and the radio shack, so the ship was unable to send out a distress signal. The submarine surfaced after a while and opened fire with her deck gun as the vessel did not appear to be sinking; between 15 and 20 rounds were fired until the Plaudit sank. The guards manned the stern gun of the Plaudit stayed at their posts until the ship went under; the third engineer with the cook and another guard were lost. ww2dbase [HM]

• USS Haddock fired 3 torpedoes at a transport just off the coast west of Pyongyang, Korea; all torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• USS Grayback attacked a Japanese convoy in the Solomon Sea; all torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• The Japanese Army formally took command of the Davao Penal Colony in southern Philippines. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• 25 Jewish professional watchmakers were transferred from Majdanek Concentration Camp to Auschwitz Concentration Camp; they were later transferred to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp where they would work in a workshop to sort and repair watches stolen from killed Jews for use by German troops. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]

• Many units of the German Luftflotte 4 were transferred from Stalingrad, Russia to North Africa. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• USS Ancon arrived off Fehala, French Morocco and began disembarking invasion troops at about 0630 hours. During this day, she sent out boats to rescue survivors of sinking transports sunken by French coastal guns. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

8 Nov 1942 Interactive Map