Air Operations, CBI

• A joint coordinated USAAF–RAF bomber offensive begins against Rangoon-area strategic targets.
• Despite bad weather throughout the region, 11 490th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s and an unknown number of RAF bombers attack Japanese installations in the Rangoon area, including the Mingaladon airfield at Rangoon. Escort for the B-25s is provided by the 530th Fighter Squadron.
• 60 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s on loan to the 10th Air Force fail to locate the airfield at Zyatkwin or the locomotive repair shops at Insein due to heavy clouds over both targets, but several B-24s attack the airfield at Akyab on the return flight to India. 2 B-24s crash on takeoff, killing all aboard, and 1 B-24 that is fatally damaged by ground fire over the target crashes with all aboard.
• P-51s of the 311th Fighter Group’s 530th Fighter Squadron down 4 Ki-45 'Nick' fighters over Rangoon and Mingaladon at 1300 hours. 2 of the P-51s are lost. This is the 311th Fighter Group’s combat debut, and the first appearance of P-51 fighters in combat anywhere in the world.

• Planes from 14th Air Force attack Formosa for the first time by hitting the airport at Shinchiku, destroying 42 aircraft on the ground at Shinchiku airfield.

• On the basis of recent aerial intelligence reports, the 14th Air Force mounts its first attack against the Shinchiku airfield at Formosa. Led by the 23d Fighter Group commanding officer, Col David L. Hill, 14 11th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s, 8 449th Fighter Squadron P-38s, and 8 newly committed 311th Fighter Group P-51A fighter-bombers fly from their temporary base at Suichwan across the Formosa Strait at low altitude to attack the crowded Shinchiku airfield. The P-51As and P-38s down 14 fighters, bombers, and transports over the base at 1700 hours, and then the B-25s and P-51As destroy 42 Japanese aircraft on the ground. There are no USAAF losses.
• 16 14th Air Force P-40s attack boats in the Changte–Hanshow area.

Air Operations, Europe

US planes attack 2 airfields near St Omer.

• 262 aircraft including 236 Halifaxes and 26 Lancasters of Nos. 4, 6 and 8 Groups are sent to Frankfurt.
• As on the previous night, there are no major diversions and the bomber force take a relatively direct route to the target. The German controller is unsure which is the target, Mannheim or Frankfurt. He eventually chooses Frankfurt where the flak limit is 15,000 feet. In the bombing, Goethe's house is badly damaged.
• 11 Halifaxes and 1 Lancaster are lost.

• 3 Mosquitos are sent to Berlin, 48 aircraft lay mines off Brest and Texel and in the Frisians and there are 28 OTU sorties.
• 1 mine-laying Stirling is lost.

Air Operations, Gilberts

• VF-1, in F6Fs, arrives at Tarawa aboard 2 escort carriers. As soon as Betio’s airfield (renamed Hawkins Field) is rehabilitated, VF-1 will begin a land-based combat tour.
• Just after sunset, 13 Marshalls-based G4M 'Betty' bombers, aided by parachute flares, attack the US invasion fleet off Makin with torpedoes. No hits are scored. In a second attack against the northern US carriers, USN F6Fs guided by a VT-6 radar-equipped TBF down 3 'Bettys' at sea between 1725 and 1928 hours. Lost in this action, however, is Lt-Cdr Edward H. (“Butch”) O’Hare—the VF-6 commanding officer, the U.S. Navy’s first World War II fighter ace, and a Medal of Honor recipient. It is possible that O’Hare’s F6F is the victim of the TBF, which also claims an aerial victory this night.

Air Operations, Marshalls

Task Group 50.1 carrier aircraft continues the ongoing attack on the Mille Atoll.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack targets on the Bogadjim road.
• A 348th Fighter Group P-47 downs a Ki-46 'Dinah' reconnaissance plane near Wewak at 1010 hours.

Battle of the Atlantic

The German submarine U-849 is sunk by US Naval land-based aircraft (VB-107) in the South Atlantic area.

Burma

Allied aircraft begin a series of co-ordinated attacks against Japanese installations in the Rangoon area.

China

Japanese forces occpy Changteh in Hunan Province.

Eastern Front

The Soviets mount a new effort in the central sector between Mogilev and Gomel. They succeed in breaking through the German lines on a broad front in the area of Propaisk, north of Gomel, reaching the Gomel-Mogilev road and threatening to surround enormous German forces.

Propaisk falls as the Belorussian Front crosses the Berezina south of Zhlobin. The West Front unleashes a new attack against the 4th Army. Such constant fighting has a severe impact upon the German forces, draining the strength of their thinly stretched divisions.

The German counterattack before Kiev grinds to a halt. Limited advanced have been made toward Korosten but Kiev remains in Soviet hands.

Italy

Allied Supreme Command approves the plan for Operation SHINGLE, a landing at Anzio on the west coast behind the enemy's 'Gustav' line.

The headquarters of the French Expeditionary Force, which is to be attached to the American 5th Army, arrives in Italy from Africa.

New Britain

In the Battle of Cape St George 5 Japanese destroyers taking men to Buka in the Solomons are surprised by 5 US destroyers led by Capt Arleigh Burke off Cape St George. 3 Japanese ships, the Onami, the Makinami, and the Yugiri, are sunk in a night action. US forces suffer no sunk or damaged vessels. This is the last of the night sea battles which have characterized the Solomons campaign.

New Guinea

The Australian 9th Div at last captures the final Japanese positions at Sattelberg north of Finschhafen.

Pacific

The US destroyer Radford (DD-446) sinks the Japanese submarine I-19 north of the Gilbert Islands.

Scenes from November 25, 1943

U-849 Under Attack by a US Liberator, 25 November 1943

Crossing Sivash, November 1943

Soldiers go through Sivash holding each others hands because of the risk to fall in a 2-3 meter long pit. November, 1943

Soldiers Go Through Sivash Holding Each Others Hands

Thanksgiving on Amchitka, 25 November 1943