Air Operations, Bismarcks

V Bomber Command B-24s attack the Cape Gloucester airfield on New Britain while B-25s attack targets on the New Britain coast.

Air Operations, CBI

• During the night, RAF Wellingtons attack targets in Rangoon.

• 8 14 Air Force P-40s strafe boats near Ansiang.
• 6 P-40 fighter-bombers attack fuel and ammunition dumps at Luchiangpa.
• P-40s air-drop supplies to Chinese Army forces encircled at Changte.

Air Operations, Europe

• No. 192 Squadron, flying from Foulsham, inaugurates No. 100 (Bomber Support) Group's operations by dispatching 4 Wellingtons on radio-countermeasures (RCM) flights.
• There are no losses.

• 4 Mosquitos are sent to Essen, 29 Stirlings and 15 Wellingtons lay mines off the French coast and there are 7 OTU sorties.

Air Operations, Marshalls

18 VII Bomber Command B-24s sent from Nanomea to attack Maloelap Atoll abort in the face of bad weather, but 2 from that flight and 10 others based at Canton Island are able to complete the mission.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-24s attack Alexishafen while B-25s attack Kalasa and motor vehicles near Waroe.

Air Operations, Solomons

• 17 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Malai in the Shortland Islands.
• Several US Navy PVs attack Mawareka.
• AirSols fighters attack numerous targets on Bougainville, Choiseul, and in the Shortlands

Allied Planning

The Teheran Conference ends. In response to Stalin's pressing requests, absolute priority is given to OVERLORD, the invasion of northern France, and ANVIL, the landing in southern France. Stalin promises that Russian will join the struggle against the Japanese after they have beaten the Germans. From Teheran Roosevelt and Churchill go back to Cairo, where their advisers pick up the threads of the Cairo Conference.

Eastern Front

The Soviets pull out of Korosten in their second significant setback in this sector. The Russians close to within 11 km of Zhlobin.

Believing the German counterattack to have ended for the duration of the autumn muddy period, the 1st Ukrainian is taken by surprose when the XLVIII Panzer Corps unleashes another attack in the Zhitomir area. The LIX Corps also attacks at Korosten and after a bitter battle recaptures the town from the 60th Army.

During November the Germans committed 3 panzer divisions, 2 SS panzer grenadier divisions, 2 infantry divisions and 1 security division to the front line. One panzer, 1 mountain and 2 infantry divisions have left or were destroyed, leaving the Ostheer with 24 panzer, 10 panzer grenadier and 155 infantry divisions.

From Norway to the Crimea, the Germans have 2,850,000 soldiers. Dietl's 20th Army in Norway has 176,000 ment, approximately 40,000 of which are combat infantry, leaving the main line armies with around 2,650,000. Actual combat infantry in the line are becoming a rare breed as losses mount and replacements become increasingly scarce.

Army Group North, with 44 infantry divisins, have a battel strength of only 140,000 combat infantry, 100 operational panzers and assault guns and 2,400 arty pieces. It faces Leningrad, Volkhov and Northwest Fronts with 355,000 combat troops in their rifle divisions, 650 tanks and Su's and 3,700 arty pieces.

Army Group Center has 46 infantry divisions but disposes of only 147,000 combat infantry, 216 panzers and assault guns and 2,600 arty pieces. Facing it are the Belorussian, West and 1st and 2nd Baltic Fronts with 650,000 combat soldiers, 3,000 tanks and Su's and 6,720 arty pieces.

Army Group South, the most heavily committe of all the German army groups, deploys 44 infantry divisions with 140,000 combat infantry, 270 panzers and assault guns and 2,200 arty pieces while Army Group A has 17 infantry divisions with 54,000 combat soldiers, 100 tanks and assault guns and 800 arty pieces.

Attacking these armies are the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts and the North Caucasus Front. Combined, the rifle formations of these fronts total 899,000 combat infantry (616,000 facing Army Group South), 4,250 tanks and Su's and 9,300 arty pieces. It is apparent from these figures that the Ostheer is massively outnumbered. The average German infantry division at the front has a combat strength of just under 3,200 infantry.

Italy

The attacks 8th Army have now cleared the first ridge beyond the Sangro. In preparation for the start of Operation RAINCOAT, the attack of the enemy positions on Monte Camino, units of the 5th Army begin a series of diversionary attacks against San Pietro and lower reaches of the Garigliano to deceive the Germans.

In the eastern sector the British 4th Arm Bde and the 34th Div move towards the coast and take Fossacesia. On the left of the line the New Zealand 2nd Div is now also across the Sangro.

Pacific

Gen Walter Krueger orders the setting up of a special force to invade the Arawe peninsula on the south coast of New Britain, on December 15, before the main landing in the Cape Gloucester area.

United States Command

Gen Alexander Vandergrift is appointed to become commandant of the US Marine Corps with effect from January 1, 1944.

Images from November 30, 1943

An Overturned Sherman Tank, 30 November 1943

A Diamond T Tank Transporter, 30 November 1943

The Sangro River November 1943: An Indian soldier pushing his vehicle which is bogged down in deep mud in the Sangro area.

An Indian Soldier Pushing Vehicle in Deep Mud

US Army truck stuck in mud in Italy, 30 November 1943

US Army Truck Stuck in Mud

Roosevelt and Marshal Stalin at a dinner party at the British Legation in Tehran on the occasion of Churchill's 69th birthday, 30 November 1943.

Churchill's Birthday in Tehran

WAVES Aviation Machinist's Mate 3rd Class Violet Falkum turning the Pratt & Whitney R-1340 radial engine of a SNJ-4 training plane, Naval Air Station, Jacksonville FL, 30 November 1943. (US National Archives

Wave Turning a Radial Engine

Italian civilians and German soldiers next to a "Sturmgeschütz III" (Piazza del Popolo, Rome, November 1943)

German Armored Vehicle in Rome

Tanks of NZ 18th Armoured Regiment approaching Guardiagrele in November 1943 (4th NZ Armoured Regiment archive)

New Zealand Tanks Approaching Guardiagrele