Air Operations, Bismarcks

38th Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Gasmata, 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Rabaul and 1 V Bomber Command B-17 attacks the Rabaul dock area.

Air Operations, Europe

• 43 aircraft lay mines from Lorient to the Frisians; 14 aircraft make leaflet flights over France.
• 1 Halifax is lost on the leaflet operation.

Air Operations, New Guinea

22nd Medium Bomb Group B-26s attack Gona in support of US and Australian ground forces while B-25s attack the airfield at Lae.

64th Bomb Squadron crew at Mareeba, Queensland, Australia

A 64th Bomb Squadron crew at Mareeba, Queensland, Australia, November 17, 1942. From 1942 to 1945, up to 10,000 Australian and US service personnel used Mareeba Airfield as a staging post for battles in New Guinea and the Pacific. The Americans referred to it as Hoevet Field in honour of Major Dean Carol "Pinky" Hoevet who was killed on 16 August 1942. Units that were based at Mareeba during World War II included No. 5 Squadron RAAF, No. 100 Squadron RAAF, the Australian 33rd Light A-A Battery, 19th Bomb Group USAAC, 43rd Bomb Group USAAC and 8th Fighter Group USAAC.

Burma

Gen Wavell decides to cancel the proposed major amphibious operation against Akyab and instead, on November 19 issues orders for a more limited advance by 14th Indian Div down the Mayu Peninsula perhaps to be followed by a shorter seahorse operation against Akyab.

Eastern Front

In Stalingrad, the German assaults are annihilating the 62nd Army. The group at Tynok and Spartakovka has been reduced to 300 troops at the hands of the 16th Panzer Div. Another problem now besets the Soviets: ice on the Volga. Ice on the river stopped boat traffic three days ago, as the river was impassable.

Efforts to air-drop supplies to the 62nd Army have come to nothing, because the Red Army has such a slender strip of land and most of the material falls into German hands. Luftwaffe reconnaissance has detected Soviet build-ups to the northwest of the city, which worry Paulus.

Soviet Prisoners Captured in the Caucasus, 17 November 1942

Malta

Over the next 4 days a convoy, code named STONEAGE, passes from Gibraltar to the island. None of the 4 freighters is lost and of the 3 cruisers and 10 destroyers which form the escort, only one vessel a hit. The long period of heavy attacks on the stand is over and the siege has come to an end.

Mediterranean

The British submarine Utmost is sunk by the Italian torpedo boat Groppo northwest of Marittimo, Italy with the loss of the entire crew of 33.

New Guinea

The Australians and the Americans continue to advance closer to the Buna-Gona beachhead. A Japanese convoy of destroyers lands 1,000 fresh troops at Basabua in the evening. The Japanese positions around Gona, Buna and Sanananda have been strongly fortified since September and are now well garrisoned also.

North Africa

The vanguard of 8th Army has reached Derna on the coast and Mechili inland.

British paratroopers land at Souk-el-Arba airfield, commandeer French motor transport and leave at top speed for Bizerta.

The 36th Brigade of the British 78th Div makes contact with the Germans west of Djebel Abiod, about 60 miles west of Tunis. The British 1st Army commander orders the 78th Div to concentrate for the advance on Tunis. Further south the 2nd Battalion, 509th Parachute Regiment, takes the Gafsa airport.

Pacific

• The US submarine Searaven (SS-196) sinks the Japanese transport Nissei Maru (833t) in Flying Fish Cove off Christmas Island.
• The US submarine Salmon (SS-182), attacking a Japanese convoy off the west coast of Luzon, sinks the repair ship Oregon Maru (5873t) about 65 miles northwest of Manila.