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• Minoru Ota was assigned to the 8th Fleet. ww2dbase [Minoru Ota | CPC]
• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Buin, Bougainville. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | CPC]
• Germany withdrew 25 submarines from the North Atlantic to attack the Allied shipping off North Africa; on the same day, submarine U-173 damaged destroyer USS Hambleton, oiler USS Winooski and troopship USS Joseph Hewes near Casablanca, French Morocco, sinking Joseph Hewes and killing 100. On land, the French garrison at Casablanca officially surrendered to the Americans. ww2dbase [Operation Torch | AC]
• German 13.Panzer Division managed to avoid encirclement near Ordshonikidse, Ukraine. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Allied troops pushed all Axis troops out of Egypt. ww2dbase [Second Battle of El Alamein | CPC]
• British 36th Infantry Brigade landed at Bougie, Algeria unopposed. ww2dbase [Advance into Tunisia | CPC]
• Bernard Montgomery was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. ww2dbase [Bernard Montgomery | CPC]
• Chuichi Nagumo was named the commanding officer of the Sasebo Naval District. ww2dbase [Chuichi Nagumo | CPC]
• The Japanese force at Gavaga Creek, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, under a combined US Marine and US Army attack since 9 Nov, began to fall back toaward the Metapona River to avoid envelopment. Meanwhile, the US Army 182nd Infantry Regiment (less the 3rd Batalion) arrived at Guadalcanal. ww2dbase [Guadalcanal Campaign | CPC]
• USS Skipjack attacked a Japanese transport off the Palau Islands; all four torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Skipjack | CPC]

• USS S-31 departed Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska. ww2dbase [S-31 | Unalaska | CPC]

• Leonardo da Vinci sighted Dutch freighter Veerhaven, en route from Buenos Aires, Argentina to the United Kingdom, in the Atlantic Ocean at 0300 hours. At 0611 hours, the Italian submarine attacked with gunfire, scoring fatal hits. All 46 aboard the Dutch ship took to two lifeboats and survived the sinking. 23 of them were later picked up by Brazilian submarine chaser Gurupi and the other 23 were picked up by Argentinian tanker Juvenal. At 0945 hours, Leonardo da Vinci sighted two aircraft and submerged. At 1900 hours, she sighted a large passenger liner, but was unable to keep up with the fast target. ww2dbase [Leonardo da Vinci | CPC]

• USS Helena made rendezvous with a convoy of transports off San Cristobal, Solomon Islands and escorted the convoy to Guadalcanal. ww2dbase [Helena (St. Louis-class) | CPC]

• Italian naval infantry landed on Corsica, France in Operation C2. ww2dbase [Corse | AC, CPC]
• Vichy France became occupied by German and Italian troops in order to defend against a potential Allied invasion. The American embassy in Vichy was seized by German troops by force. ww2dbase [Scuttling of the French Fleet | Vichy | TH, CPC]

• TBF Avengers from escort carrier USS Suwannee, using aerial depth charges, attacked and sank a Vichy-French submarine southwest of Casablanca in what would be the first successful attack of an enemy submarine by aircraft from an escort carrier. ww2dbase [Operation Torch | J. J. Clark | Casablanca | DS]

• Isaac Sweers arrived at Gibraltar. Immediately, she was sent out to rescue the survivors of Dutch transport ship Nieuw Zeeland, which had been torpedoed by German submarine U-380 about 80 miles (130 kilometer) east of Gibraltar. The survivors were disembarked at Gibraltar later on the same day. ww2dbase [Isaac Sweers | CPC]

• Captain Takahiko Kiyota, commanding officer of Nachi, was promoted to the rank of rear admiral in preparation for assignment as a cruiser division commander. ww2dbase [Nachi | CPC]

• USS Enterprise departed Nouméa, New Caledonia with welders still working aboard. ww2dbase [Enterprise | Nouméa | CPC]

• USS Haddock fired 4 torpedoes at transport Venice Maru in the Yellow Sea, sinking her with one hit. ww2dbase [Haddock | Yellow Sea | CPC]

• The 5,681-ton Norwegian merchant steamer Alaska, damaged by German submarine U-510 on 31 Oct, arrived at Lisbon, Portugal. The Alaska's master, Berge Mevatne, later received the Krigskorset (The War Cross with Sword), the highest Norwegian war decoration, which had only been awarded to 19 in the merchant marine, for his bravery during the rescue of the survivors of French troopship Président Doumer which led to his own ship being damaged. ww2dbase [Lisbon | HM]

• German 6.Armee succeeded in reaching the Volga River in Stalingrad, Russia, with a 600-yard frontage near the Red October steel factory. In Germany, Hitler announced during Beer Hall Putsch celebration that Stalingrad, Russia was almost in German hands, but that he did not want to keep the city just because of its name. ww2dbase [Battle of Stalingrad | Stalingrad | TH]

• USS Alabama began her shakedown cruise in the Chesapeake Bay on the east coast of the United States. ww2dbase [Alabama | CPC]
• The first ship was launched at the new Kaiser Richmond Shipyard No. 3 in Richmond, California, United States. The ship would later served with the US Navy as USS George O. Squier, lead ship of her class of troop transports. ww2dbase [Kaiser Richmond Shipyards | Richmond, California | DS]

11 Nov 1942 Interactive Map