Air Operations, Carolines

8 of 9 B-29s dispatched from the 73rd Very Heavy Bomb Wing’s Saipan-based 500th Very Heavy Bomb Group make their unit’s combat debut with an attack against the Japanese submarine base at Truk.

Air Operations, CBI

• 10th Air Force P-47s mount approximately 90 effective sorties against Japanese Army ground troops at Chaungdauk, Mankang, Nawngtao, and near Indaw, and the airfield at Kawlin, rail traffic, several bridges, a radio station, and targets of opportunity along the Irrawaddy River.
• 4 14th Air Force B-25s attack Wanling.
• 459th Fighter Squadron P-38s down 2 Ki-48 'Lily' bombers off Cheduba Island at 1155 hours.

• 10 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack the airfield at Kweilin Airdrome.
• 5 B-25s and 6 14th Air Force P-40s attack the airfield at Chingmen.
• More than 70 fighter-bombers attack numerous targets in southern China and northern French Indochina.
• 38 P-51s and P-40s attack the airfield at Hengyang.
• After diverting from their primary target in Japan because of bad weather, 24 58th Very Heavy Bomb Wing B-29s attack Nanking, and 15 B-29s attack various targets of opportunity.
• 75th Fighter Squadron P-40s and P-51s down 8 Japanese fighters over the Hengyang airfield at 0800 hours.
• 51st Fighter Group P-51s and 449th Fighter Squadron P-38s down 5 Ki-27 'Nate' fighters over Lampang at an unspecified time.

• 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Lai Kam, Phuc Yen, and a bridge spanning the Mekong River.

Air Operations, East Indies

• FEAF B-25s attack targets along the Ninring River on Celebes.
• B-25s and fighter-bombers attack the Namlea airfield on Boeroe and shipping near Halmahera.
• P-38s attack the Kendari airfield on Celebes.

Air Operations, Europe

• 122 Lancasters of No. 3 Group carry out a G-H attack on the synthetic oil refinery at Castrop-Rauxel. The bombing is believed to be accurate.
• There are no losses.

• There are 2 Wellington RCM sorties.

• 237 Lancasters and 8 Mosquitos of No. 5 Group are sent to Harburg. The aiming point for this raid is the Rhenania-Ossag oil refinery, which had been attacked several times by American day bombers.
• 7 Lancasters are lost.
• 209 Lancasters and 19 Mosquitos of Nos. 1 and 8 Groups are sent to Dortmund. The aiming point is the Hoesch Benzin synthetic oil plant in the Wambel district. A local report confirms that the plant is severely damaged. Other bombs hit nearby housing and the local airfield.
• There are no losses.

• 41 Mosquitos are sent to the Kamen oil factory, 12 to Osnabrück, 9 to Wiesbaden, 6 to Gotha and 3 to Erfurt, 26 Lancasters and 24 Halifaxes lay mines off Oslo, in the Kattegat and in the Elbe River, and there are 59 Mosquito patrols and 36 RCM sorties.
• There are no losses.

Air Operations, Japan

Failing to receive a recall order, 29 of 96 58th Very Heavy Bomb Wing B-29s dispatched from Chengtu attack Omura with radar through heavy clouds. Results are negligible, and 5 B-29s are lost in the day’s operations, including 1 that lands in the Soviet Union.

Air Operations, Philippines

• Nearly 300 Task Force 38 carrier aircraft destroy a Japanese reinforcement convoy in Ormoc Bay. 4 of 5 transports are sunk and the last runs aground while withdrawing toward Manila. Also sunk are 4 Japanese destroyers and a minesweeper. The only ship to survive the massacre is a submarine chaser.
• FEAF B-24s attack the Dumaguete airfield on Negros.
• V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack shipping near Palompon, Leyte and targets of opportunity around Valencia, Leyte.
• VF-15 F6Fs down 3 Ki-44 'Tojo' fighters at sea at 0940 hours.
• 18th Fighter Group P-38s down 7 A6M Zeros in the Panay-Cebu-Negros area between 0910 and 1000 hours.
• A 475th Fighter Group P-38 downs a Ki-43 'Oscar' fighter over Ormoc Bay at 1015 hours.
• VF-15 F6Fs down 11 Ki-43 'Oscar' fighters over the Ormoc Bay area between 1030 and 1045 hours.
• VF-44 F6Fs down 5 fighters over the Ormoc Bay area between 1050 and 1140 hours.
• 2 VF-51 F6Fs down a P1Y 'Galaxy' bomber at sea at 1125 hours.
• V Fighter Command, 475th Fighter Group, and 49th Fighter Group P-38s down 4 J2M 'Jack' fighters and 4 A6M Zeros over Ormoc Bay between 1235 and 1245.
• 49th Fighter Group P-38s down 4 Ki-44 'Tojo' fighters near Ponson Island at 1330 hours. Carrier-based F6Fs down 2 D4Y 'Judy' dive bombers, 1 B6N 'Jill' torpedo bomber, and 1 B5N 'Kate' torpedo bomber at sea between 1430 and 1700 hours.

Air Operations, Ryukyus

Several 14th Air Force B-25s attack Wan Island.

Air Operations, Volcano Islands

29 30th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Iwo Jima. Accompanying the VII Bomber Command heavy bombers for the first time are VII Fighter Command P-38s on loan from the 21st Fighter Group and flown by pilots from the 318th Fighter Group.

Bonin Islands

Iwo Jima is shelled during the night by a US destroyer and cruiser task force led by Rear-Adm A. E. Smith. The bombardment commences at midnight and goes on during the next day, when land-based aircraft also take part.

Burma

The British 36th Div is forced to halt after an unsuccessful attempt to outflank the Japanese positions in the important Pinwe area.

China

Aircraft of the US 14th Air Force attack Hengyang airfield, captured by the Japanese, so effectively that it is made unusable for the Japanese bombers.

The Japanese capture Kweilin and Liuchow air bases. The Americans have previously rendered Liuchow unusable.

Eastern Front

Malinovsky begins a general assault toward Budapest in order to support the exhausted 46th Army. The new offensive aims to break the 8th Army defenses along the Tizsa. Fierce fighting ensues as the Germans put up a stiff defense.

France, Home Front

Churchill and Eden attend Armistice Day ceremonies in Paris.

Japan, Home Front

The giant aircraft carrier Shinano joins the Japanese fleet. Shinano is considered unsinkable, with a special steel deck 30 centimeters thick over a layer of concrete considered capable of withstanding any kind of bombing attack. She carries 70 planes and is rightly considered a major boost to Japan's fading naval strength in the Pacific.

Philippines

A Japanese convoy is attacked off Ormoc by planes from 8 carriers from TF 38 commanded by Rear-Adm Frederick Sherman. 4 destroyers, the Hamanami, Naganami, Shimakaze and Wakatsuki, and Minesweeper No. 30 are sunk as well as 4 transports with nearly 10,000 troops.

Western Front

In readiness for the offensive by the US 9th Army in the Ruhr valley, northeast of Aachen, the units of the British 2nd Army take up their positions in the southern sector allocated to them.

In the US 3rd Army sector, the offensive units of the XX Corps continues, some units of the 95th Div succeed in establishing a bridgehead over the Moselle near Thionville, and begin the assault on Fort Yutz, and the 6th Arm Div, with support from the 80th Div of XII Corps establishes bridgeheads over the Nied River. The 35th Div continues to advance through the forest of Château-Salins. Units of the 4th Arm Div and the 26th Div push on in the direction of the right flank of the XII Corps, the first toward the area between Conthil and Rodalbe, the second reaching Rodalbe itself. German civilians are evacuated from Metz.

The headquarters of the I Corps of the French 1st Army asks for, and obtains, permission to defer the start of Operation INDEPENDENCE from November 13 to the following day, as they have still to complete their plan of attack.

Images from November 11, 1944

Parade on 11 November 1944 along the Champs-Elysées. General de Gaulle, head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic, and Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister, followed by the procession of officials

Parade in Paris

DD Shimakaze – off Leyte 11 November 1944 - Four destroyers — Shimakaze, Wakatsuki, Hamanami and Naganami — and three transports were sunk. Rear Admiral Mikio Hayakawa went down with Shimakaze

Shimakaze off Leyte

The starkness of the Hürtgen Forest as the battle began to rage in November 1944

Hürtgen Forest

The Japanese destroyer Wakatsuki burns off Leyte, Philippine Islands after being attacked by U.S. carrier planes, 11 November 1944

Japanese Destroyer Wakatsuki Burns

Winston Churchill and General Charles de Gaulle walk down the Avenue des Champs-Elysee duirng the French Armistice Day parade in Paris, 11 November 1944.

Churchill and de Gaulle

IJN Convoy TA4 under attack, 11 November 1944 | HIJMS destroyer Wakatsuki (??) , Imperial Japanese Army transport Takatsu Maru (upper left, ??? ) and Kasii Maru (upper right, ??? ) at Ormoc Bay. On 20 October 1944, US troops invaded the island of Leyte. The Japanese commander in the Philippines, General Tomoyuki Yamashita, in 8-9 November began to reinforce and resupply the garrisons on Leyte. In this Convoy no TA-3 and TA-4 from Malina to Ormoc, four destroyers — Shimakaze (?? Island Wind) , Wakatsuki, Hamanami (?? Beach Waves) and Naganami (?? Long Waves) — and three transports were sunk. Rear Admiral Mikio Hayakawa went down with Shimakaze. (Source: Gakken, Rekishi Gunzo Vol.51. Photo: USA Air Corp)

IJN Convoy TA4 under attack

Battalion repairing a building for hospital occupancy in Aachen, Germany, 23 November 1944. Construction began 11 November 1944. Photo: Riel Crandall

Repairing a Building

Members of the 91st Reconnaissance Squadron attending a class on the new M-1A flame thrower, 11 November 1944

Flame Thrower Class