Air Operations, CBI

23rd Fighter Group P-40s down 3 A6M Zeros over the airfield at Kweilin and Lingling during 2 separate morning engagements.

Air Operations, New Guinea

374th Troop Carrier Group airlifts a US Army infantry battalion to Pongani from Port Moresby.

Air Operations, North Africa

The US 9th Army Air Force is formed.

Air Operations, Solomons

• 19 G4M 'Bettys' mounting a low-level torpedo attack against a US reinforcement convoy at 1305 hours are thwarted by Marine Corps F4Fs, 347th Fighter Group P-39s, and antiaircraft fire from the ships. 3 transports are damaged and 1 heavy cruiser is seriously damaged when intentionally struck by a damaged 'Betty', but 16 of the 'Bettys' and 7 A6M Zero escorts are downed. 3 F4Fs and 1 P-39 are lost.
• V Bomber Command B-17s attack shipping in Tonolei harbor.

Baltic Sea

U-272 sinks after colliding with another U-boat, U-634, near Hel.

U-272

Battle of the Atlantic

U-515 sinks the British destroyer tender Hecla (10,850t) west of Gibraltar. 279 on board are lost. 568 survivors are picked up by the British destroyer Venomous.

Battle of Guadalcanal

During the night the Japanese naval squadron is reported by the radar stations between Savo Island and Cape Esperance. In Iron Bottom Sound between Savo and Guadalcanal a furious battle breaks out. The US forces include the aircraft carrier Enterprise, the battleships Washington and South Dakota, the cruisers San Francisco, Pensacola, Portland, Helena, Juneau, Atlanta, Northampton and San Diego, 22 destroyers and 7 transports, with 79 aircraft on board the Enterprise and 194 more based on Guadalcanal and New Hebrides. The Japanese force includes the carrier Junyo and Hiyo, with 95 aircraft, the battleships Hiei, Kirishima, Kongo and Haruna, the cruisers Atago, Takao, Sendai, Nagara, Tone, Chokai, Kinugasa, LSuzuya, Maya and Tenryu, 30 destroyers, 14 submarines and 11 transports. This fleet is supported by 215 aircraft from bases on New Britain. The battle is fought out both by the naval and air forces with the following outcome: the American lost the light cruisers Atlanta and Juneau and 7 destroyers, while the cruisers San Francisco, Portland and Helena, the battleship South Dakota and 4 destroyers are damaged. The Japanese have to record the sinking of the battleships Hiei and Kirishima, the heavy cruiser Kinugasa, 2 destroyers and 7 of the 11 transports that should have landed over 10,000 men as reinforcements on Guadalcanal. Only 4,000 men and a few tons of supplies are later able to be unloaded at Tassafaronga.[MORE]

Smoke rises from two Japanese aircraft shot down off Guadalcanal on 12 November 1942. Photographed from USS President Adams; ship at right is USS Betelgeuse.

Japanese Planes Shot Down Off Guadalcanal

"The Slot" (New Georgia Sound) runs down the center of the islands, from Bougainville and the Shortlands (center) to Guadalcanal (lower right).

'The Slot' (Click map for larger image)

San Francisco (center) after being hit by a Japanese plane in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, 12 November 1942. Ship at left is President Jackson.

US Cruiser San Francisco Hit by Japanese Plane

Caribbean

The US gunboat Erie (PG-50) is torpedoed by U-163 and is beached northwest of Willemstad, Curacao to prevent sinking.

Eastern Front

In the Caucasus the Germans extricate 13th Pzr Div from a brief Soviet encirclement south of the Terek but are still under considerable pressure in this sector.

Fighting rages unabated as the 6th Army pounds the 62nd Army. The Germans are already bogged down in costly, close-quarters fighting with the small and aggressive combat groups that simply refuse to give up. Luftwaffe reconnaissance over the Rumanian 3rd Army sector detects a build up of Soviet forces, which Fremde Heer Ost believes will be used for a limited counteroffensive against the Rumanian lines.

Guadalcanal

The enemy pocket along Gavaga Creek is completely eliminated. The action has cost the Japanese 450 killed, and the few who have eluded the trap are being harassed while retiring toward Mount Austen, by Col Carlson's 2nd Raider Battalion marching west from Aola Bay.

The 1st Battalion, 164th Infantry, recrosses the Matanikau and the entire 164th Infantry goes into division reserve. Once back across the Matanikau, the bridges are destroyed and air and naval forces fight to keep the Japanese away.

The American advance stalls in the face of a strong Japanese counterattack. Carlson sends out 4 patrols to various points to make contact with other US units and the Japanese. Co E reports it has made contact with the 7th Marines at 1000 hours and learns a large Japanese force has escaped the trap and may be moving toward Binu. Co C calls 10 minutes later reporting a large Japanese force armed with machine guns, mortars and 20-mm cannon is 3 miles southwest of Binu. Carlson moves his 3 other companies to attack and surround the Japanese. From various reports Carlson concludes the Japanese have split their force and are preparing a surprise attack on the rear of the 7th Marines. C Company runs into some Japanese in the woods on the edge of a broad field and are soon pinned down under machine gun, mortar and 20-mm cannon fire. The company withdraws under covering fire of its own mortars. At 1630 Carlson arrives to find C Co disorganized. E Co is brought up to fight the Japanese, as C Co goes into reserve. Air support arrives at dusk and bombs are dropped in the woods. The Japanese force withdraws which Carlson soon discovers and withdraws his own force back to Binu arriving at 2300.

Transports and cargo ships from New Hebrides and New Caledonia arrive off Lunga Point and begin unloading. They withdraw at 1815 under destroyer escort after all the troops, totaling about 6,000 and including RCT 182 of the Americal Division, and part of the supplies are ashore, because of news that a heavy Japanese naval force, including 2 battleships, is moving south toward the island. Warships remain to engage the enemy.

Mediterranean

• The British anit-aircraft ship Tynwald sinks on a mine off Bougie, Algeria with the loss of 20 crewmen.
• U-660 is preparing to attack convoy TE-3 when she is detected by the corvette HMS Lotus. Three depth charge attacks are made by Lotus before being replaced by Starwort. At 1059 the U-boat surfaces and surrenders before sinking stern first at 1105.

U-660

New Guinea

The Australian 25th Bde takes Gorari, while the Japanese manage to withdraw behing the Kumusi River without loss.

First Group of US Army Nurses To Go Overseas

The first contingent of U.S. Army nurses to be sent to an Allied advanced base in New Guinea carry their equipment as they march single file to their quarter on November 12, 1942. The first four in line from right are: Edith Whittaker, Pawtucket, Rhode Island,; Ruth Baucher, Wooster, O.; Helen Lawson, Athens, Tennessee,; and Juanita Hamilton, of Hendersonville, North Carolina, (AP Photo)

North Africa

Units of the British 1st Army, airborne troops dropped by US C-47s, take Bône, 150 miles east of Algiers. Commando units land near the harbor and seize it. Axis aircraft attack repeatedly during the day, hitting military and civil objectives. 2 companies of American airborne troops, attached to the British 1st Army, are dropped on Duzerville airport, 6 miles southeast of Bône, and occupy it. The Paratroop Task Force. consisting of the 60th Troop Carrier Group and the 2nd Battalion of the 509th Parachute Infantry, is placed under operational control of the British 1st Army at Algiers.

Units of British 1st and 7th Arm Divs enter Tobruk.

The German U-boat U-130 sinks 2 American transports, the Hugh L. Scott (AP-43) and the Edward Rutledge (AP-52), off the coast of Morocco.

The sinking of American freighters, Edward Rutledge, Tasker H. Bliss and Hugh L. Scott at Fedala Roads, November 12, 1942.

Sinking of American Freighters

Sinking of American Freighters

The first German supply ships begin docking in Bizerta despite the efforts of the local French commanders to block the harbor and prevent this. Also landing at Bizerta and Tunis are units of Gen von Arnim's army.

United States, Home Front

The draft age is lowered from 20 to 18. Roosevelt estimates that the US armed forces will embody nearly 10,000,000 men by the end of 1943.

Vichy France

German troops take over Marseilles and reach the fortified area of Toulon, which the Germans announce will not be occupied.