Air Operations, Bonin Islands

30th Heavy Bombt Group B-24s attack shipping and naval base facilities at Chichi Jima and Haha Jima.

Air Operations, CBI

• 10 10th Air Force B-25s attack bridges at Bawgyo and Hsipaw.
• 37 10th Air Force P-47s attack troops, defensive positions, and supplies at five locations.
• 28 P-47s support Allied ground forces around Bhamo and Pinwe.
• 15 P-47s attack targets of opportunity while sweeping the road between Kyaukme and Namyao.

• 42 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack fuel dumps and the town area at Ishan, and road and rail traffic and targets of opportunity around Chiuchiang, Foochow, Wanling (Burma), and several other locales.
• 13 58th Very Heavy Bomb Wing B-29s unable to attack their primary target in Japan attack Shanghai and other alternates or targets of opportunity.
• A 426th Night Fighter Squadron P-61 crew downs a twin-engine bomber near the airfield at Chengtu at 2000 hours.
• Another P-61 crew probably downs another twin-engine bomber an hour later in the same area.

Air Operations, East Indies

• FEAF B-24s attack the Ambesia airfield and the Kendari areea on Celebes.
• B-25s attack the Langoan and Mapanget airfields on Celebes.

Air Operations, Europe

• 160 Lancasters of No. 3 Group are sent to hit the Homberg oil refinery. The bombing is scattered at first but then becomes very concentrated, culminating, according to the Bomber Command report, in 'a vast sheet of yellow flame followed by black smoke rising to a great height'. This is a very satisfactory raid after several previous attempts by Bomber Command to destroy this oil refinery.
• 3 Lancasters are lost.

• 2 Wellingtons make RCM sorties.

• 274 Lancasters and 9 Mosquitos of Nos. 1 and 8 Groups are sent to Aschaffenburg. The object of this raid is to destroy the local railway yards and lines. The local report says that 50 bombs fell in the railway area, causing much damage to the marshalling yards and railway workshops but the main through lines were not cut. Many other bombs fall in the center and north of the town. About 500 houses are destroyed and 1,500 seriously damaged. Many old buildings are hit, including the local castle, the Johannisburg, which is hit by 5 high-explosive bombs and has a 4,000lb 'blockbuster' burst near by. The roof and upper stories of the castle are burned out.
• 2 Lancasters are lost.
• 176 Halifaxes, 79 Lancasters and 18 Mosquitos of Nos. 1, 6 and 8 Groups are sent to hit the oil refinery at Castoop-Rauxel. The local report says that 216 high-explosive bombs, 78 duds and many incendiaries hit the oil plant and caused such a large fire that the fire-fighters could do little more than allow it to burn itself out. It is believe that the refinery produced no more oil after this raid. Bombs fall in many other places, including some important industrial and coal-mining premises.
• 4 Halifaxes are lost.
• 270 aircraft including 232 Halifaxes, 20 Mosquitos and 18 Lancasters of Nos. 4 and 8 Groups are sent to bomb Sterkrade. The target is again the synthetic oil refinery. Bomber Command's report says that the plant was not damaged, though some labor barracks near by were hit.
• 2 Halifaxes are lost.
• 138 Lancasters and 6 Mosquitos of No. 5 Group are sent to hit the Mittelland Canal. The canal banks are successfully breached near Gravenhorst. Later photographs showed that water drained off over a 30 mile stretch and that 59 barges were stranded on one short section alone.
• 2 Lancasters are lost.

This recce picture was taken on 26 November and clearly shows the breached banks of the Mitteland Canal amid the heavily pock-marked countryside.

Mitteland Canal Breached

• 123 Lancasters and 5 Mosquitos of No. 5 Group are sent to attack the Dortmund-Ems Canal. The canal is hit near Ladbergen with some of the Lancasters coming down to 4,000ft to get beneath the cloud. A breach is made in the only branch of the aqueduct here which had been repaired since the last raid and the water once again drains out of the canal.
• There are no losses.

• 29 Mosquitos are sent to Stuttgart, 26 to Hannover, 19 to Worms and 4 to Wesel, 24 Halifaxes and 18 Lancasters lay mines off Oslo, 9 aircraft are on Resistance operations, and there are 80 Mosquito patrols and 38 RCM sorties.
• 2 Mosquitos and 1 Halifax of No. 100 Group are lost along with 1 mine-laying Lancaster.

Air Operations, Japan

• 61 of 109 58th Very Heavy Bombt Wing B-29s dispatched from Chengtu, China attack an aircraft factory at Omura with 199 tons of bombs. 6 B-29s are lost in the day’s operation, including one that lands in the Soviet Union. This mission turns out to be the XX Bomber Command’s largest of the war.
• A Saipan-based F-13 of the 20th Air Force’s 3rd Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron is downed while photographing targets in the Nagoya area.

Air Operations, Philippines

• FEAF B-24s attack the Lumbia airfield and the Matina airfield on Mindanao.
• V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack supply dumps and barges around Ormoc and targets of opportunity across the central Philippines.
• 35th Fighter Group P-47s down a Ki-46 'Dinah' reconnaissance plane, a D4Y 'Judy' dive bomer, and an A6M Zero over Negros at 1115 hours.

China

Gen Albert C. Wedemeyer suggests to Chiang Kai-shek that he should concentrate the Chinese forces in the southwest of the area of Kunming, capital of Yunnan, to confront the Japanese threat to the Generalissimo's capital.

China Sea

The US submarine Sealion (SS-315) sinks the Japanese battleship Kongo as well as the destroyer Urakaze in waters to the northeast of Formosa. The Kongo was actually build in England as a battlecruiser, and delivered to the Japanese in 1913. The ship was modernized in 1936-37 to gain battleship status.

Eastern Front

Tirana is occupied by Albanian resistance fighters, the Germans having pulled out the day before. Durazzo is also taken.

Tirana and Durazza falls to Albanian rebels. The 46th Army finally gains a foothold on Csepel Island and immediately pushes strong forces across. The Germans begin to move elements of the Feldherrnhalle Division south to counter this threat.

France, Home Front

Maurice Paléologue, author and diplomat, dies at the age of 85.

Italy

The Polish 3rd, Carpathian, Div, Polish II Corps, 8th Army, opens up an offensive south of Faenza, taking Monte Fortino and pushing on to the north.

Pacific

• US cruisers and destroyers shell the air base of the Japanese navy in Matsuwa Island, in the Kurils.
• The battleship Kongo is sunk by the US submarine Sealion (II) (SS-315) near Formosa.

Philippines

On Leyte the US advance by 32nd Div, X Corps, from the north coast is strongly held in the Ormoc Valley. The 7th Div, XXIV Corps, also begins to try to move toward Ormoc, attacking north from around Baybay.

Western Front

The 49th and 51st Divs, 2 formations of the XII Corps, British 2nd Army, advance swiftly toward Venlo. The American 84th Div, XXX Corps, fails in its attempt to capture the villages of Müllendorf, Wurm and Beeck. In the US 9th Army sector the XIX Corps starts the final phase of the attack on the Rur River.

Units of the 10th Arm Div, XX Corps, US 3rd Army, open an offensive toward Saarbourg with task forces 'Standish' and 'Chamberlain', on the left and right flanks respectively. Their thrust is halted by the Germans on the Orscholz defensive line.

In the XII Corps sector, the 80th Div widens its bridgehead over the Nied, making contact with units of the XX Corps. The 104th Regt of the 26th Div takes Albestroff, an important road junction. US 7th Army command orders the XV and VI Corps to attack and capture Strasbourg, originally an objective only of the VI Corps, since the latter's advance is too slow.

Images from November 21, 1944

The battlecruiser Kongo had been built by the British shipyard Vickers in 1912. In 1929 she was re-built as a battleship, as seen here in 1929-30. She was further modified in the 1930s to become a 'fast battleship'.

The Battlecruiser Kongo

The Japanese Destroyer Urakaze Which Blew Up and Was Lost with All Hands

Near the town of Filigare, Italy, on Highway 65, the 19th Engineers of the 5th Army have constructed a rock quarry. Due to heavy rains it became necessary to rebuild as well as repair roads to expedite military traffic. Rock is first blasted loose and then pushed down into the quarry by bulldozer in upper left, and reduced to size with pneumatic trip hammer and sledge hammers, for use as foundations for road as well as repairs

Rock Quarry for Road Repairs

Fifth Army, South of Bologna, Italy

These 'Bee-Hive' charges as they are called by men of the 19th Engineers of the Fifth Army, are used to blast these heavy rocks into smaller pieces before being used. Here they are connected in series by the engineers. Army name for these 'bee hives' is (shaped charge-M-I.)

Working the Rock Quarry

British 40mm anti-aircraft gun protects US engineers at work building a bridge in Italy, 21 November 1944

British 40mm Anti-aircraft Gun Protects US Engineers

A Collaborator Is Executed by French Police. Rennes, Ille-et-Vilaine, France, 21 November 1944

M8 Greyhound from 30th Infantry Division Moves Out from Kinzweiler, Germany, 21 November 1944