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• British newspaper The Times estimated that 82,000 Polish people had been killed since Poland became occupied. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Franz Halder noted in his diary that, in a meeting Adolf Hitler held with his top military leaders on this date, Hitler no longer talked about ending the war in 1941; instead, plans for Soviet targets east of Moscow, Russia were made for spring and summer of 1942. Meanwhile, 70 miles west of Moscow, German 4th Panzer Army attempted to penetrate the gap between the Soviet 30th and 16th Armies which were pushed back on the previous day, but stubborn Soviet resistance slowed the German advance in the area of Istra. ww2dbase [Battle of Moscow | CPC]
• HMAS Sydney was intercepted by German raider Kormoran 140 miles west of Shark Bay, Australia, with Kormoran firing the first shot at 1730 hours. Both ships were heavily damaged after the 20-minute battle. ww2dbase [Sydney | CPC]
• In northern Russia, Soviet 4th and 52nd Armies continued to attack Tikhvin, held by the Germans, 120 kilometers east of Leningrad. Meanwhile, near Leningrad, General Feofan Nikolaevich Lagunov drove an American-built M1 Scout Car across the frozen Lake Ladoga and declared it safe to use as a truck route. ww2dbase [Siege of Leningrad | CPC]
• German 2nd Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla attacked Allied convoy FS.650 10 miles east of Lowestoft, England, United Kingdom, sinking tanker War Mehtar and transports Aruba and Waldinge. German torpedo boat S.41 collided with a convoy escort and sank. British destroyer HMS Garth was damaged by friendly fire during the engagement. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 6 prisoners of war and 8 Polish Jews were killed in Vilnius, Lithuania. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | CPC]

• During this month, the excavated fossils of the Peking Man were packed up at the Cenozoic Research Laboratory of the Beiping Union Medical College, and the US Marines stationed in China, who already received orders to be withdrawn, were supposed to bring the bones back to the United States for safekeeping. During the hurried transit between Beiping and the port of Qinghuangdao, the boxes vanished, and had not been found to this day. ww2dbase [Beiping | CPC]

• Leonardo da Vinci departed La Pallice, La Rochelle, France at 1816 hours for a war patrol. ww2dbase [Leonardo da Vinci | La Rochelle, Poitou-Charentes | CPC]

• Shokaku departed the Inland Sea with Zuikaku for Hittokappu Bay in the Kurile Islands to join the ships massing for the Hawaii Operation. ww2dbase [Shokaku | Inland Sea | CPC]
• Kaga departed Saeki Bay off Oita, Japan for Etorofu Island, Kurile Islands. ww2dbase [Kaga | Oita | CPC]

• Italian Ariete Division halted the advance of British 22nd Armoured Brigade at Bir el Gubi, Libya; 40 British Crusader tanks were destroyed or disabled. Elsewhere, British 7th Armoured Brigade continued its advance toward Tobruk, capturing Sidi Rezegh airfield in the process. To the north, tanks of the British 4th Armoured Brigade engaged German tanks of the 21st Panzer Division. ww2dbase [Operation Crusader | CPC]

• HMS Hermes arrived at Simon's Town, South Africa for a refit. ww2dbase [Hermes | Simon's Town | CPC]

• The Japanese embassy in Washington DC, United States was instructed that, should war be decided with the United States, Japanese public radio broadcast would include the code phrase "higashi no kaze ame" (“east wind rain”), with the Soviet Union "ita no kaze kumori" ("north wind cloudy"), and with the United Kingdom "nishi no kaze hare" ("west wind clear"). This clear preparation for a likely war was intercepted by the Americans. ww2dbase [Washington | CPC]

• A ground echelon from US Marine Aircraft Group 21 was dispatched to Midway Island to prepare the island to receive aircraft. ww2dbase [Midway Bases | Midway | CPC]

19 Nov 1941 Interactive Map